Service! That’s what a good web site provides, the same as does a good RealtorŪ. In fact, your web site IS you - your representation of yourself to visitors whom you welcome to your site the same as you would to your office.

Consumers visit you to get help, to gain information. They want to buy or sell a home without making a mistake. You’re there to make them feel “taken care of.” Thus, your job on the web is as always - assisting consumers in making realty decisions. But to get started, you need a high-content web site.

Creation of your web site begins in your head and with a yellow pad. You must be honest with yourself and write down your greatest strengths. Why? Because most RealtorsŪ portray themselves online as generalists, thus you may be better off in positioning yourself as a specialist, employing the theory that it is better to get, say, 50% of a smaller “niche” pie instead of a wafer-thin slice of the same pie that everyone else fights for.

When you "position" yourself well to visitors, they form a distinction between what you provide and that of other Realtors. You demonstrate your specialty on your home page through a main headline, subheads, relevant graphics, and links to position-related information.

How do you determine your strengths, your positioning specialty? Chances are you’re already promoting yourself that way. Are you a dynamo with Lakefront homes? Are you a horse property specialist?” A mountain/resort property expert?

Once you’ve thought through your specialty (or even several) write it down on your yellow pad. Next, think about what sub-points are important in your specialty. Ask yourself: “If people want my specialty, what will they most want to know?”

Make your selections in an outline form, with main points followed by sub-points. Write down everything you can think of for each point. What you are also creating here are many of the main and sub-links that you will later put onto your home page and internal ones. Once you have exhausted your thinking, go on the web and study RealtorŪ web sites until you can make distinctions between them.

Do these things and you will have likely done more serious planning about your site than do 95% of all agents. Also, notice that you did not have to know one thing about computers, software or the Internet. But this is also the point where you may turn to an expert who does - someone who designs web sites, ideally ones for RealtorsŪ. And, fortunately, you can often see links to them at the bottom of RealtorŪ pages that you admire.

Site designers abound, but you want one skilled in doing RealtorŪ sites. Prices vary and you generally get what you pay for. If you want a web site merely so you can tell prospects that you have one, you don’t need much of a site. For you, a very basic “template” site may be fine. These “canned” sites feature off-the-shelf formats with most realty and local links built-in, however, some modification is offered. Sadly, most agents who get template sites make few changes, and thus one looks almost identical to the other (from the same vendor) in a given metro area.

Visually, most template sites differ only in the agent photo shown, main headlines and subheads, and in bio information. A consumer, who has visited several and noticed that the other information is basically the same, will likely not visit another one.

Part II: Template or Custom - How to Make a Great Web Site