10 Tips for Successful Web Sites

The best Web sites provide excellent service to prospects and clients. Use these tips to make sure your company’s Web site is a success.

1. Content is critical. Consumers visit your page to find out something. Provide as much valuable information as possible. Content should include community-related information about schools, government, and shopping; maps; home- and moving-related vendor information; and MLS listings, if available.

2. Go easy on graphics. Not everyone has high-speed Internet access, and big graphic files take a long time to load. Your page should load in 15 seconds or less—even on a slow computer.

3. Don’t forget the basics. Be sure your phone and fax numbers, your address, and a link to your e-mail are prominently displayed on every page.

4. Update often. Keep content fresh so that return visitors will not be bored. Updating daily is ideal, updating weekly is realistic, and updating monthly is a bare minimum.

TIP: If you update your site at least weekly, add an “updated on” date on your front page to impress visitors with your timeliness.

5. Invite prospects to return. Encourage prospects to return to your site with contests, quizzes, and weekly news and trends updates. Post the results only on the site so that participants must come back to see them.

6. Answer e-mail. Including a link to your e-mail is a must. Equally important, however, is prompt follow-up on your e-mail messages. Never put off answering an e-mail until the next day.

7. Create links. Create highlighted links so that people can easily move around your site. Also establish relationships with owners of related sites so they’ll include links to your site. Don’t provide too many links out of your site, though. Once people leave, they may not return.

8. Register with search engines. People surfing the net rely on search engines for help in finding the right Web pages. Make sure prospects find your page by registering with the top search engines.

9. Rely on experts. Today’s easy-to-use software makes creating a basic Web site less daunting, but it still involves a lot of work. Chances are that your time would be better spent selling real estate. Hiring an expert to create your site or working with a template site provider will achieve a much more professional look and enable you to include features that make your site more eye-catching, interesting, and useful.

TIP: To find the right expert to design your Web site, look at the bottom of Web sites you admire for links to their designers.

10. Conduct research. When your site is ready, visit it yourself. Find out firsthand how easy it is to use, and make sure all your links work. Also, try to find your site by using search engines. Make adjustments before someone else tells you they are necessary.

Adapted from Michael Antoniak, “Nine Tips for Improving Your Odds,” Today’s Realtor®, February 1997, and William Koelzer, “Successful REALTOR® Web Sites,” Thinksold.com, 1999

Ways to Get More Mileage From Your Company Site

* Burn your Web site on CD-ROM and give it to your sales associates to include in their listing presentations. —Jo-Ann Forster, Wimbish Riteway, Miami

* Be sure that your receptionist has the Web URL and can direct prospects to the site.

* Balance individuality and time management when planning your site. Unless you have a full-time technology pro on staff, consider hiring an outside company to update the site at least biweekly. —Dave Petruncio, CRB, Realty Executive, Hinsdale, Ill.


TIP: Make sure your Web site looks different from those of your competitors so that prospects remember you. If you’re using a template site as a base, have a designer create a specialized opening page that’s yours alone.

* Get your affiliate partners to help pay for your site, then give them ad space on the home page. —Kevin Lewis, RE/MAX DFW Associates

* Stay connected to the site with Internet-based call forwarding. In this way, calls are immediately transferred to an available associate or to the company’s receptionist. —John Reipsa, McColly GMAC, Munster, Ind.

* Put the customer first. Just as you do with every other form of marketing, focus on how the company can benefit buyers and sellers, not just on how great you are.