One of the most popular features on the Agent News site is the Site of the Day. This is where Realtors can find the best-looking, most informative sites to admire and where consumers can find the most 'Net service-oriented Realtors. We discovered that a few of our favorites had the same designer in common, 4 Guys Web Design Group.
4 Guys Web Design Group is a team of seven skilled and creative men and women combining more than 63 years of experience. Dave Neinberg, principal, shares his suggestions for Realtors who are looking to build or improve a Web site.
So if you are kicking the tires on creating your own Web site, or are not happy with the site you currently have, read on.
A.N.: What do most Realtors want to know about Web site design?
D.N.: The number-one concern is cost, but the focus should be on quality and effectiveness. The biggest problem is that people will say they don't want to spend over $2,500, because that is a common entry level price -- that will only get you a rock-bottom design. For us, the hardest thing is convincing Realtors of the value of a good Web design.
A.N.: Why are Realtors better off hiring a pro to design their sites?
D.N.: We are talking about quality. The major reason is that they are responsible for your online identity.
A.N.: What are the biggest mistakes you see on the Web as far as Realtors are concerned?
D.N.: They design Web sites like newsletters. It's almost as if they went to a school and learned to write the opposite of the way you should do it. Their Web sites look unorganized and unprofessional. They use too many fonts, write in all capital letters, and use too many exclamation points, which is extremely amateurish. They don't know how to edit for impact and clarity, so their communication isn't clear. That is a product of not putting yourself in the hands of a professional. When you use a low-dollar designer, you are going to have a lot of incorrect marketing strategies that don't work on the Web.
A.N.: How can you tell the difference?
D.N.: About half the Realtors we work with already had Web designers. They tell us that they hired people who have a program that does HTML, but they quickly learned that there is a big difference between those people and a true Web designer. A professional will know how to best market your strengths.
A.N.: Is the truth hard for Realtors to hear?
D.N.: All Realtors are proud of their Web sites, but the key is that your clients are getting their impressions of you from your Web site. If your Web site is difficult and unorganized, customers are going to conclude that you are difficult and unorganized. The thing is to convince Realtors that there is a direct correlation between quality and the amount of sales that you will make off the Web.
A.N.: You provide domain names for your customers. Why are domain names so important?
D.N.: That's a no-brainer. The number-one thing is to establish credibility. If you have an e-mail address at aol.com, people won't take you seriously. Using a large subdomain name like that makes you appear less stable, less professional, and less committed to the medium. Not only that, but search engines on a subdomain will rank you lower. And I don't see e-mail disappearing, so with your own domain name, you will never have to change your letterheads or business cards.
A.N.: What about agents who are affiliated with a large broker? Does the broker's site serve them well?
D.N.: For some reason that I can't understand, most large brokers' sites are horrible. There are few that are well done. A large broker site is difficult to pull off correctly, but we feel we did one the way it should be done. Atlanta Northside Realty is a good example. Brokers need the same kinds of information and updates that an individual Realtor's site does. And there are things the broker has to watch out for, too. Since there is significantly more information, the navigation scheme can be poor, or the information often isn't well organized, or it is simply overwhelming. A good designer can organize the information into usable chunks for the visitor. The site can also be designed for the wrong resolution, which means the visitor is constantly scrolling, which is a major no-no. All good sites work at 640 by 480, which works for the average visitor.
A.N.: Why don't brokers' sites work for individual agents?
D.N.: Often, they don't give adequate information. Brokers see the Web as a place to put their brochures. They decide to get on the Web, hire a designer, and they think they are saving money by using the content in their brochures. They are throwing their money away. What they need is a broad range of information, with local area information being the most important. They should also include their listings. Many only include their agents or listings. An agent will be just part of a bad marketing strategy with no hope of standing out in this kind of environment.
A.N.: Where do you begin with a Web page design?
D.N.: We have a six-page questionnaire to fill out. We want to know who are the people you want to do business with on the Web. Most Realtors are looking for buyers or sellers or both. You have to know your audience. We try to figure out your personality and recreate that online. If a Realtor is friendly and outgoing, the site should reflect that.
A.N.: What is the importance of varying the content?
D.N.: I think the one word that sums that up is "hope." If I can tell that you haven't done anything new on your site in six months, I will wonder if you are still in business. Our sites have a date change every day, so the sites always appear fresh, even if there has been no recent change in the content.
A.N.: How is Web page design different than hiring a public relations company or an advertising agency?
D.N.: It isn't. The process is the same. It is marketing for a specific medium. There are several ad agencies that are great at Web site design, and most ad agencies are starting to get into it. There are few good designers, and sometimes they start with real estate sites and then move on to bigger clients.
A.N.: Why are you interested in Realtors if you are already doing larger clients?
D.N.: I used to be a real estate investor, so I understand real estate issues better than most. I enjoy Realtors as people, and I like working with them.
A.N.: What is the most important information for Realtors to include on their sites?
D.N.: The most visited area on any Realtor's site is listings, followed closely by local area information. That is what consumers click on. They love to click on the listings.
A.N.: What can an agents do to really make their sites special?
D.N.: On the Internet, you are not marketing to people who necessarily live in the area; you are marketing to the world, so include articles of interest about the area. When I moved, I wanted information about Texas, and it was very difficult to find. I would have been more apt to call someone who gave the kind of information I was seeking. It builds a bond to the consumer. Now, some people will take the information and still choose another Realtor, but that happens. But most of the time, if I go to five Realtors and one is so much more useful, I will naturally go with that person. The same is true on the Web.
As far as listings go, I would stay away from using the MLS format, which is not geared to appeal to consumers. And as far as the large MLS organizations go, I can't believe they can't afford an interface specialist to help them with doing a better job of presenting the listings. It is a mystery. Our clients use virtual tours to showcase their homes.
A.N.: Do you keep statistics on the success of your Realtor clients? What kinds of results are they seeing from the Web?
D.N.: All of our Realtor clients are experiencing success. Ron Snyder with homebuyersinfo.com told me that within six days, his site paid for itself with more than $500,000 generated in sales, and he is considering hiring an assistant to help with the leads. Yvette Wampler has done more than $2.9 million in sales off the Web in less than six months. Dave Lockwood says that in a year, his business has gone from zero generated from the Internet to more than one-third. These are powerful testimonies.
A.N.: Sounds great. What are some of the things you do to assure your clients' success?
D.N.: One thing is make sure our clients are noticed by the search engines. You have to know how the search engines work, so that they rank them high. There is really an art to this. We have a sister company that spends hundreds of hours investigating and evaluating what works and doesn't work. We have also built sophisticated tools and written some programs to automate the process. All of our clients go in the black within six months.
A.N.: What can a good Web design cost?
D.N.: Our sites begin at about $4,000, and the upper end is around $10,000. You can get them for less, but you get what you pay for. To me, it doesn't make sense to save $1,500 in development costs against netting hundreds of thousands in potential sales. You will get a good return, so it doesn't make sense to cut corners. Realtors need to understand more about value. If you look at cost only, I will guarantee you will get a bad Web site.
A.N.: Funny -- that's the very thing Realtors tell their customers. How come they don't apply it to marketing themselves?
D.N.: The ones who do are already doing it in all of their media. The Realtors we deal with are already at the top of their profession. They understand the importance of presentation and are willing to invest in it. The Web is yet another medium that will separate the top-producers from the also-rans.
Published: February 27, 1998
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