In last week’s blog post we started a lead capture planning process, so now we’re ready to start putting things together into what you’d need to do to your website. Since the people visiting your site are probably going to be seeing other competing websites as well, let’s start with your first impressions and how to make sure they stick around long enough for the rest of what we have in store.
- You should know who you are targeting and what they want from you – and build your website accordingly. Just to rehash what we just went over in the previous post, you should build your site following your plan for what you want it to generate for you – who you want it to attract. This is why we made this “step 1”. You’ll need to keep those notes in mind as we put everything together.
- Your website should feel like “the right place” for them – If they feel like they’re in the right place then they won’t leave and check out your competition. They’ll stick around and see what all you have to offer. If your site is built with a good enough (and specific) plan then you won’t have a problem with this one.
- The site should not “drive people away”. If you’ve ever looked at a site that was built without a plan you can usually tell. Buttons are all over the place, you have to think harder to find your way around, you’ve got too many font colors or sizes, it’s distracting, or whatever other “turn offs” there might be. You want to drive people to your website to close them, not have your website scare people off. That doesn’t mean your site has to look cutting edge or that you need to have tons of bells and whistles. Even a simple template website can be the perfect, uncomplicated tool for the job as long as you use it well and give people what they want. To see how our tools can help check out our “Getting The Right Look” video for tips.
Overall, visitors should immediately be able to find three key things:
- Listings. This one seems obvious, but need to metion it anyway. People want to kick some tires and see what’s out there.
- Area information – you’re a local expert. This one’s a little less obvious and I see quite a few websites forgetting this one. We’ll talk about why it matters in an upcoming post.
- Transaction advice – you’re an industry expert. People want to know how to buy or how to sell. If the process was simple or if everyone already knew everything then there’d be no reason to have real estate agents. But since there is a need for agents your website needs to show that you are an agent and you can help them buy and sell.
In next week’s post we’ll start taking a look at those three things we’ve identified that visitors want from your website. Each of those contents will get its own focus so you’ll know what shopping pages, what area info, and what transaction advice would be a good fit. If needed, take some quick notes and I’ll be back