What Does Your Real Estate Website Say About You?

Websites are the public faces of real estate professionals. No other single marketing tool comes close to equalling the importance of a website. They deliver the first images and words about an agent or a brokerage that prospective clients and customers see.

If a site doesn't connect with consumers in a matter of seconds, that first impression could be a real estate professional's last chance to win a new client. Sites that consistently fail to be compelling can do serious damage to a perfectly competent real estate practice.

Yet hundreds of thousands of agents and brokers publish sites that miss the mark by miles. After spending thousands to build and host a site, they spend even more for canned content that can do more harm than good.

News you can't use

Some use services that carry national or regional economic news feeds that provide "national" or "regional" information on market trends. Other sites use "how to" content written for the broadest possible audience in terms of geography, price tier, age group. The chances are good that much, if not most, canned content misses the mark for three reasons:

• It's so generic that it doesn't convey that the site's owner has any particular expertise or focus;
• Competing agents and brokers in the same market may carry the same canned content, which creates confusion and defeats the purpose of the site; and
• It occupies space on your site that could be put to much better use.