well.... we have increased the website and google presence substancially in the last ninety days. We have savoured the jewels of wisdom and pondered the advice given previously.

Now.... I added google analytics.

I am looking at graphs and charts that talk about;
98 pageviews,
1.81 pages per visit ... so far i'm assuming I'm ok
57.41 bounce rate.....????
4.52 average time on site<< time they actually spend looking about we presume.
37.04% new visits so by conclusion 63% have been here b4?

This still stymies me as the conversion sign up rate is hovering at ZERO with almost 4,000 hits this month.

With my humble hat in my hand where would you direct me now?

David I think you will have more conversions when you get pages per visit higher. You may want to make the home search even more prominent.

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Carolyn Gjerde-Tu

Davis CA Real Estate
Granite Bay Real Estate Sacramento Real Estate

That means almost 60% leave your site once they land on it and go no further as there is nothing there of interest, not easy to find what is of interest, etc.

I am no expert but, based on what works in our area, my initial thought is that the video should not be there as it seems to be the focal point and is wasting valuable space. Does a visitor really want to a video with a realtor speaking when they first arrrive on a site? The site should not be about you. That is wasting their time. It should be about what a visitor want to find. They want to find properties and/or search for homes. Your site is not gettting 60% of the visitors to view more pages...

I would try taking the video off and see if your bounce rate decreases and you can get some conversions.

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Welcome to your guide to Orange County, Ca Real Estate and MLS Search, and the home to the world's best climate at San Clemente Real Estate where you can enjoy luxury coastal living with a beach close lifestyle.

I would also worry about your average pages per visit. The bounce count as viewing 1 page. With a 57.41% bounce rate and a 1.81 pag/visit average we can determine the average number of pages that those that do not leave immedently view. They on average look at only 2.9 pages.

Both those numbers indicate that your site is not holding the browers attention. So you need to look at the type of traffic your site is receiving or the design of the site.

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Neal M
Jackson MO Real Estate, Cape Girardeau Missouri Real Estate, Cape Girardeau Real Estate
HouseViewOnline™ is southeast Missouri’s leading site for touring real estate online. See 100’s of properties from Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Perryville & Sikeston Missouri. Properties are displayed in photos taken by our professional photographer. We are proud to work with Realtors and real estate agents through out SE Missouri.

None of the eight video's within the site are self promotion, They all lead to what can be found. They are in specific categories of List, sell, looking to list for spring 2008, Become a VIP Buyer, Buyer agency, all related and I think relative topics.
The video's do not engage unless clicked. Since their initial upload in early January they have garnered in excess of 200 views.

Thank you for explaining bounce rate.

I welcome all your responses and input. Many of the "ideas" I am drawing from are the Proctor type of websites. Our market has some 5.5 million people with 50% in home ownership with a Real estate sales force of sum 26,000 members.

Last edited by David Pylyp : Today at 05:50 PM. Reason: humility - That's funny but I know how you feel.....keep working on it and good luck with more conversions. Look at the bright side that 63% return. I think the most important thing is them seeing properties. Why else would they sign up? Figure out where they are leaving your site and make adjustments.

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Charlotte NC Real Estate | Lake Norman Real Estate |
Charlotte Homes for Sale

David -

If you're relying heavily on the videos, you might have your problem. IMO, people go to the internet to search for information. It's easiest to find this info by reading scannable text. On top of that, most people browse the internet from work, and they can't have any audio - which kills video.

If people looking for real estate information were looking for video, they would go to youtube, not google, to find it.

IMO, try adding some written content, and shift your focus away from video.

Also - remember that people search for real estate on the internet to search for real estate (find properties for sale.) Right now, your main calls to action don't include a "search all properties." You're promoting your listings, and promoting information. Make your main CTA "search all properties" and you'll hold more visitors.

Also - you mention 98 pageviews - what is this, per day? If it's per day, based on your other stats, you're getting 1600 visitors/month not 4000.

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Eric Bramlett

Take your blogging to the next level. PM Me For a Free Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog on YOUR URL!!!

Austin Real Estate | Austin Texas Real Estate | Austin Condos

Get rid of the video on the home page. If they have value to your visitors create a special page for them. On the home page put some text and links to your property searches.

Before posting video to Youtube, watermark the video with your web address. Hopefully that will drive traffic to your site. Videos are great for people searching for videos on a subject, but most people coming to your site are wanting to find property, not hear whhat you have to say. Give them what they want and maybe they will stick around long enough for you to get to say something.

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Cal
Orange Beach Condos | Gulf Shores Condos | Keller Williams Gulf States

The Gulfshoreslife.com Team serves the Baldwin County Alabama Real Estate market from The Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay to the Southern Shores of the Alabama Gulf Coast: Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Fort Morgan, Point Clear, Fairhope, Montrose, Daphne, Spanish Fort, AL. Referals are welcomed. For more information on AL Gulf Coast Real Estate, please contact me or visit our website.

Sarasota Association of Realtors

David, when I went on your site, I had to look around for what is probably too long to find a way to search the MLS...I would suggest something bigger and easy to find.

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Susan Zanzonico
Morristown NJ Real Estate
Chatham NJ Real Estate
Summit NJ Real Estate
Weichert, Realtors
Morris, Union and Essex County NJ Real Estate

The instant MLS access is displayed 3 times on the home page; twice now in red as a high lite and in the top left corner as a template. I deleted the video from the homepage entirely.

Access to the MLS is thru a portal; Here in Toronto, Canada, Clients of the agent can have live real time access to listings because they sign a virtual buyers agency agreement. This request comes to me as an approve/decline email based on their signin (login info) provided.

Anyone can access MLS.ca or realtor.com so why promote another site with MLS.ca access? (Thats why I deleted that whole radio button)