|
The
Importance of Image
|
|
Someone once
said and a country songwriter once warbled that clothes do
not make the man. The
point, of course, is that you should not judge a book by
its cover. And
while this is such good advice, the fact is that most of
us DO judge books by their covers. We DO judge people by the way they dress and online, we DO
judge agents by their Websites.
IT’S
WHY CURB APPEAL MATTERS
Every agent
knows the importance of a property’s curb appeal and
understands that a home’s décor is a huge part of the
appeal. This
is true even though the prospective buyer is NOT buying
the furnishings, just the real estate.
So why is it then that so many real estate agents
present themselves online with a bleak looking Website or
with a template site that many other agents share?
Well that is a rhetorical question so I’m not
going to answer it but if you have been thinking about
improving your online image, visit me at http://www.sellrealestate.net/customweb.htm.
What you do online really does matter.
SHATTERED
IMAGES
Imagine
being introduced to one of the beautiful people dressed in
the latest Paris fashion. Everything about this person
screams a million bucks and then the gorgeous one smiles
and reveals several brown, partially decayed front teeth.
It is off-putting to say the least.
PROSPECTS’
EXPECTATIONS
Something
very much like this happens when you find a very appealing
book cover, house or Website that fails to live up to its
promise. Which goes to show that while image is important,
reality has to live up to the promise or your prospects
will be disappointed.
In terms of marketing and specifically in terms of
Websites, it means that a good Web designer must pay a
great deal of attention must both to image and to content.
|
|
|
|
|
Words
and Ideas as a Backdrop |
|
A truly
awful or offensive Website will simply not attract
any prospects no matter how great the actual
content. But it is also true that a very attractive Website may appeal
to prospects but fail to hold them if the content is
poor. Content
is the substance of the Website and includes
graphics but also includes the words on the pages,
the feedback forms, the interactivity of the
Website---its core values.
IDX
IS GOOD CONTENT
It
should be obvious to anyone that prospective buyers
want to have access to all the MLS data.
They want to see EVERY house for sale,
compare features, request Email listing alerts and
the whole nine yards.
And, it is obvious to any real estate
professional that his or her Website should contain
this information with one little proviso.
As a real estate agent, you want to display
all the MLS data for your prospects but you want
every listing in the database to come with your
contact information front and center.
When this happens, your prospects get what
they want and you get what you want.
A good thing!
To find out about IDX options that will work
for you visit us online at http://www.sellrealestate.net
and click on IDX Solutions.
When you put your cursor over that link,
you’ll find a whole drop down menu of helpful Web
pages that show you how to generate leads using IDX on
your Website.
LET
YOUR EXPERIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE
Beyond
listings, prospects want to know such things as how
location affects value, the importance of getting
the right loan, how to get the maximum price for
their home, the current rate of home appreciation in
the area—in other words, things that any well
informed real estate agent should know but rarely
displays on the Website.
For additional ideas on Web content visit http://www.sellrealestate.net/
RealEstateLeadGenerator.htm and if you like what
you see, you can sign up online. Call me toll free
at 888-814-5347 for a promo code number that will
save you $100 on this very effective Website.
|
|
|
|
|
The
Third Leg of a 3-Legged Stool |
|
All of
this talk about graphics, images and content
supposes that there are only two main players in
this game---you and your prospect.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
There is another player and his name is
SEARCH ENGINE.
There are, of course, several different
individual search engines but without the
cooperation of one of more of them, online buyers
will never find your Website.
LIMITS
ON YOUR CREATIVITY
This
third player definitely puts limits on your
creativity. While
you and your Web designer might think that Flash
graphics send the perfect image and message to
your prospects, the search engines have technical
difficulties with Flash making it an unwise choice
for your Website.
TOO
MUCH IMAGE – TOO LITTLE CONTENT
Too
much of the image side of your Website will hurt
your chances with good search engine placement.
Your Web designer needs to know what search
engines search for and how the search engines
actually search (scan or crawl) a Web page.
If the home page is all graphic, there is
very little for the search engine to see or read. Since the search engine evaluates your Website based on
content not on graphics, you run the risk of
losing search engine support if your site is too
heavy on the graphical side.
THE
RIGHT WORDS IN THE RIGHT PLACE
Just
because search engines prefer words to graphics
does not mean that you can simply write on and on
about anything on your Web page. Search engines
are programmed to look for words on your page that
support your keyword phrase or phrases.
The text and meta tags on your Web pages
must be written by a professional who knows what
the search engines are looking for and who knows
what keyword phrase will bring you the best
results. For
more specific information on what search engines
want visit http://www.sellrealestate.net/
SearchEnginePlacement.htm.
|
|
|
