Z57 Website and Marketing Support

Website Content


Content

Now that you have created a strong Design for your site (it matches your branding and your area, portrays a professional image, and is organized in a way that makes it very easy to use and navigate), you are ready to begin working on customizing the Content in your site.

Content is the real meat of your website-- this is what gives visitors a reason to come, to stay, to give you their contact information, and to return.  We provide you with some default content and pages, but I strongly recommend that you tweak these pages to give your site a more personal feel and to suit your specific business and target market better.

The following are a list of priorities for you to work on based on proven consumer behaviors.

Get Listings on Your Website

The #1 reason for a visitor to go to a real estate website is to look at pictures of homes for sale (this is what 70-80% of all visitors are looking to do).  If you are not meeting this most basic consumer need, you are severly limiting your potential success with the internet. 

There are two main sections for you to display pictures of homes for sale in the area:

If you do not have an IDX solution, or if you do not know what IDX is, please Click Here. You should not procede any further with your website without an IDX solution, that is how important it is.

Pages to Customize

Miscellaneous

By default, your website links to Mortgage 101 in the Mortgage Center and under your local resources.  If you would prefer not to use them, you can use one of these unbranded mortgage calculators instead.

Welcome Message

Your Welcome Message will be one of the first things visitors look at when they arrive on their site to determine whether they are in the right place or not. The content here is also important to search engines and so it should contain relevant area and real estate terminology (ie Key Phrases).

Many agents make the mistake of putting biographical information into their welcome messages. 70% of all people who come to your website are going to be looking for one thing inparticular: Pictures and information about homes for sale in the area. After that, people want to see information about the area and the schools. Only about 5% of people are actually interested in looking at more information about the agent. It is extremely important that you keep the welcome message very customer-centric.

  • DON'T use words like "I" "me" "us" "we" "our", or talk about yourself or your company at all.
  • DO write a few sentences about the current market conditions (if you can keep it up to date), what the area is like, why people love living there, nearby attractions, etc.
  • DO incorporate Key Phrases related to real estate and your target areas for search engines
  • DON'T write lengthy paragraphs. People use the internet to SCAN, not to READ. If your homepage scrolls like toilet paper, there is a problem. Therefore:
  • DO use short sentences and paragraphs, lists, bullet points, bold text to highlight important words, and hyperlinks to other pages in your site.
  • DON'T use excessive formatting, punctuation, capitals, loud mismatched colors, flashing, or scrolling.
  • DO keep your homepage clean and professional. This is, afterall, a valuable extension of you and your business, not a pop up ad.

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Find a Home

The Sign Up page for MLS access on your website is the number one lead generator at your disposal, since MLS access is the number one saught for feature on real estate sites. How this page is set up will have a major impact on the amount and the quality of leads you receive.

In order to capture somebody's contact information, you need to make them see that the value of what they will receive is worth exchanging a piece of their privacy. No value= no leads. If you do not have some kind of *IDX solution* on your website, now is a very good time to get one.

Sample:

"Register Below for FREE Unlimitted Access to Search through All Homes in the San Diego area Instantly!"

Using words like free, unlimitted and instant are hot triggers for internet users. Capitalize important words like Search and Home.

For iHomefinder Users:

Since we already know that getting visitors to sign up for the automated Listing Alerts through iHomefinder is one of the easiest and most effective methods of followup, it is a good idea to set up your Find a Home page so you can encourage this.

Let them know what Listing Alerts are and give them a link to the Listing Alerts page so they can sign up. Try something like this:

"Become a VIP Buyer! Click Here to Search All Homes for Sale AND to Start Receiving Properties that Match Your Search Criteria as Soon as They Hit the Market!
Login To Your Existing Property Organizer Account
OR Sign the GuestBook below to Search All Homes for Sale in the San Diego Area Instantly"

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Local Resources

The Local Resource section is designed as a tool for you to easily create an organized database of useful websites for your visitors. One thing to keep in mind with this and any other kind of website content: it isn't about having the most information, it is about having the most relevant information.

Suggestions for Local Resources

You should think of your Local Resource section as an online Relocation Packet, or a Concierge Center. Here are some ideas for the types of things you can add to your Local Resources:
  • Chamber of Commerce, Official City Sites, Local Business Directories
  • Employment, local job searches/postings
  • School districts, school websites, Extracurricular Activities, Youth Activities
  • Hotels, Airports
  • Utility Companies (electric, water, cable, internet, etc)
  • Local Attractions, Recreation, Golf Courses
  • Entertainment, Movie Theaters, Shopping
  • Dining, Nightlife
  • Special school and community events
  • Local tax info, Lenders, Appraisers, Home Stagers
  • Hardware stores, Landscapers, Painters, Carpeting, Cleaning services
  • Popular specialty stores, Salons, Pet groomers
  • Daycare, Preschools 
  • Baby sitting and pet sitting services
  • Anything else you can think of

Strategies for Local Resources

Keep it relevant. There are a million websites out there that you could potentially link to for your visitors. You want to bear in mind, however, that your visitors are using a real estate website for a reason, and that because they are thinking about moving somewhere in your area. Therefore, any links you add to the local resources should be able to directly help them with one of the following: 

  1. Research the Area and/or Schools (chamber of commerce, schools, transportation, local attractions, recreation, entertainment, etc.)
  2. Research the Market and/or Real Estate Process (official city websites, tax information, mortgage information, etc.)
  3. Find Local Businesses Related to Real Estate and Moving (lenders, appraisers, inspectors, movers, etc.)
  4. Find Local Businesses and Resources to Help Establish themselves after their Move (utilities, home improvement, employment, family services, etc.)
Keep it organized. A database cannot be very useful if nobody can find anything they are looking for. Be very concientious as you choose your categories. Pay attention to what your users would expect to see in this kind of a database. Make sure you keep your categories well consolidated so that you don't run into a problem with resources that could belong in multiple categories. Take advantage of the automatic alphabetizing the website does for each of your categories and the resources within categories. Be consistent with the way you name and describe your resources. Avoid using resource images so that everything lines up and it is easier for users to scan. 

Feel free to use my sample Local Resources as a guide for picking and organizing your categories: here

If you would like to download a copy of the Power Point Presentation from my Local Resources Webinar, you can do that: here (note: you will probably need to disable your pop up blocker for this)

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Custom Pages

Your website comes with additional blank "Custom Pages" that you can use to create a wide range of unique content.  This unique content is very important both for your visitors' experience on your website and for search engines.  You can use these to display your expertise on the area and the various aspects of real estate, to aid visitors conducting their research in preparation to buy or sell their home, and to reach out to the community and your sphere of influence.

Ideas for Custom Pages:

If you run out of custom pages, you can always purchase more, or you can utilize other content pages in the site that you may not be using

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