Staging Your Website

Take a moment to think of your real estate agent website and envision it as a home that you are about to list. Go through each page on your website as you would each room of a home. Identify the selling points, as well as, the low points.

There are many similarities between a home for sale and a real estate agent website. I think the most important commonality is that of the effective use of negative space, known as whitespace in the web design world.

If you, as a real estate agent, go to list a home, do you not make suggestions to the homeowner on how to make the home look more appealing? If a room is full of clutter, knick-knacks and too much furniture, do you suggest that items be placed in storage while the home is listed? The goal is to make the space to appear larger and more inviting. Read more

Right This Way

Like thousands before me, I worked my way through college in the restaurant industry. Possibly a precursor to my current role as a consultant, I found myself in charge of training duties.The most important point that I could instill in a new hostess was that of leading the patrons to a table.

For a busy restaurant, there is always a plan or strategy involved in with seating guests. It is up to the hostess to implement that plan in a way that allows the guests to feel welcomed, yet not corralled like cattle.

In a way, the patrons are looking for guidance. No one goes to a fine dining restaurant expecting a sign saying, “Sit Anywhere You Like”. That is for fast food and truck stops. Instead, patrons expect someone to greet them and let them know that, “We have a wonderful table prepared for you. Right this way…” Read more

Does Your Real Estate Agent Website Portray Your Business Properly?

What type of real estate business do you specialize in? Do you sell high-end homes? Are you the king of first-time home buyers? Do you focus on a specific geographic area, like a neighborhood?

Now that you have answered that question, does your real estate website represent your business niche? Could a new visitor to your website identify that niche easily?

Try this little test. Ask people in your life that know you are a real estate agent, but aren’t familiar with your business niche, to visit your site. Ask them to identify what you type of real estate transactions you specialize in. If they can’t, you have some work to do. Read more

What Is “Remarkable” About Your Website?

Why would someone bookmark your website? Is there something on your website that can’t be found on any other real estate agent or mortgage broker website? How does your website differ from those of your competition?

These are questions that you should be able to answer.

If you are seeking return visitors, inbound links and viral marketing for your website, it is crucial that you give the public something different. No one is going to be compelled to tell their friends about a real estate website with a canned buyers and sellers guide, a dated About page and an antiquated home search. There is nothing special about that type of a site. Read more