The Web has changed enormously over the past three years. It’s no longer sufficient to simply have a presence, a photo and copy about yourself. For a Web site that makes money, you must have a significant presence, a presence which differentiates you from all the other Realtors in your marketplace.

A successful real estate web site in 1999 takes thought and planning, and that is before you even begin to think about how it can make money. Here is a list of things to do to ensure that your Web site is worth every dime and every minute you spend on it.

1. Understand the purpose of your site. What's your goal? To attract buyers, to attract resellers, or is it simply "institutional" advertising? Define before you start what you are trying to accomplish and remember you can never be all things to all people.

2. Identify your audience. Who will benefit from your services? International customers, local customers and clients, out of area, out of state? Gear your content to your audience. For example, if you specialize in accounting, you would target tax payers, working adults, investors and the like. Know the details of Roth IRA's, Pension plans etc.. Explain the nuances of employing your children and the differences in "gifting" to them and "willing" to them. Be the expert for your audience!

3. Implement strategies to generate leads. Don't put ALL the information on your Web site. Set up autoresponders for people to request the information they really want. An autoresponder delivers the info directly to their email box, but it also gives you the email address of the requester. This is a lead. Without autoresponders, you may never know who is visiting your site. Local business information works well as autoresponder content.

4. Provide good, informative content which changes on a regular basis. You are competing for bookmarks. If visitors know that you will have new content for them next month, they are more likely to bookmark your site for a return visit. And they will tell their friends. They might not be ready to buy or make use of your service today, but when the time comes, you want them to remember you and your site.

5. Don't depend on hyperlinks for content. Your ultimate goal should be to control as much information on your site as you can. Hyperlinks, although attractive to Net Newbies as the easy road to site information, take a lot of care and feeding. Nothing screams site neglect as much as link rot - the dreaded 404 Not Found message. Plus, you may be ultimately held responsible for whatever is at the other end of that hyperlink.

6. Be aware of copyright issues. Don't use material that you have no legal right to use. Almost everything is covered by copyright law - this includes 20th century music, photos on other Web sites, written material. In some cases, it even covers linking to another site within a frame.

7. Don't create your site as a monument to your ego. State your credentials and experience briefly without any marketing hype. Resumes are boring. The information about you should be behind a button - at the end of the list, not at the top of the list. It's also nice to let your personality and interests show. If you have a golden retriever, display a photo of yourself with your dog. There are 50+ million households in this country with dogs. Those people generally feel an affinity for other dog owners and may make an instant connection with you.

8. Offer interactivity and entertainment - things for people to do, not just information for them to read. If visitors participate in your site, they are more likely to bookmark it and/or remember it. Interactivity can take many forms: calculators, trivia quizzes, send an electronic greeting card, an Encarta search, currency conversion are a few examples.

9.Don't forget your local audience. Include site content of local interest (summer concert schedules, local art fairs, etc.) Be sure to use your web site address in all ads and displayed in your front window to remind locals to visit your Web site. Address should show your full web site address i.e: http://www.yourdomain.com. Mine is http://www.wynnea.com and should be placed in every add you place.

10. Have a system in place to follow up leads. When you get an inquiry, answer your e-mail immediately. It sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many businesses don't check e-mail on a daily basis. Then contact the people again in a week or so. Then again, two weeks later. Put them on your general e-farm list and use a mass-mailer like WorldMerge. In general, Web visitors check many different sites and send e-mail to several of the same businesses. The first response they receive in answer to their inquiry is usually the business they choose to work with.

With all this to consider you should be able to develop the kind of Web site that people will want to visit and return to, and do they will want to do business with you. You'll have a Web site that makes you money.

Published: July 9, 1999

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