For many homebuyers, your Web site will be the first impression they get about your company. First impressions are vital to the establishment of successful business relationships. Template sites, or sites that have a look and feel that are sold to over and over again may be all right for an individual agent, but are no longer acceptable for brokerages because online home buyers are looking for services and features unique to your company. Remember you want to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Professionalism is key. Too many businesses lack professionalism and credibility today. Convey a professional image and you will earn trust and credibility with your prospects immediately.

The best test for your site is to pretend you are looking to buy or sell your home. Navigate your site as if you were a homebuyer and see if you can find your way around to the information you need quickly. How soon do you get frustrated? The average attention span of an online visitor is about 5-10 seconds. That's not a lot of time to capture the lead. Make sure your site flows smoothly and provides information quickly.

This is one of the biggest mistakes companies make on their sites. If your site has buttons on one page and then the layout, color, format or design of those buttons either disappears or changes drastically from one page to another, you have a real problem! Your users are getting confused and frustrated as they try to gain information from your site. Imagine if you were given a map of Chicago, but with every turn of a page, the key and format changed. You’d get lost and frustrated so quickly, you’d probably throw the map away! Users will do the same with your Web site if it is hard to navigate. It is extremely important that your site has a clear, consistent navigation that appears on every page no matter where the user is on your site.

If your home search and listing information isn't updated frequently, your Web site is not effective enough to be worth the money you spent on it. The most important feature you can offer your visitors is new content. New content is helpful to them and keeps them coming back to the site. Make sure that not only is your home search information current, but your list of agent's and contact information, open houses, press releases and company information is current and updated regularly. A consumer and Realtor-friendly news service like Realty Times is also helpful. Realty Times' news is free and the stories are updated daily. If you are a subscriber to Realty Times' iMarketing, you can put your Market Conditions' Report on your Web site, as well as let Realty Times push your report and your Web site out to the leading portals such as Realtor.com, MSN and Homes.com. Consumer inquiries that come to your brokerage from MCR are yours - with no referral fees.

Is your site designed around your company's logo and marketing presence? Does the site convey the image about your brokerage that you wish to convey to prospective customers and prospective agent recruits? If your site does not have a look and feel that is consistent with your brokerage's marketing campaign, it needs a design update. Your site should have a consistent, professional appearance with content that concentrates specifically on the areas of real estate in which your brokerage specializes. Remember, a Web site is an opportunity to 'sell' your company to a prospective client or even a potential new agent. Make sure it reflects what you do as a company clearly and effectively.

Have you ever gone to a retailer's Web site only to find they don't sell their clothes online? What's the point? Why have a Web site for clothing if someone can't search for and purchase clothes? The same is true for real estate Web sites. If you don't have a home search engine, you need to get one ASAP. With today's IDX technology you should have at least have your own brokerage's listings on the site, if not the entire IDX data for your area. If your company’s site does have a home search engine, is your site framing someone else's solution? If so, are you sure you're getting all of the requests? If you do receive requests, are they timely? The best solution is a custom search engine directly integrated into your website that lets you get the leads right away.

Believe it or not, your site should be as brief as possible. Ninety percent of Web site users skim material -- they don't read it word for word! Ask yourself- have you read this entire Web site from start to finish? Chances are you haven't. The same is true for your customers. If your site is too wordy, or goes on too much about your company, you're making a mistake. Keep the wording and instructions on your site clear, concise and brief.

Clutter is your biggest enemy on web sites. If your site is busy with too much going on -- blinking animation, inconsistent graphics, colors, and layout, your site is most likely way too frustrating for your user. Your site should be clean with lots of 'white space'. Don't use repeating patterned backgrounds, colored text or fonts that are hard to read. If you use photographs, make sure they are clear and crisp images with no distortion. If you can't find what you need in a matter of 60 seconds, chances are neither can your customer.

Many development companies advertise and push the concept that “Content is King” on you through their marketing campaigns. Some boast about how they’ll offer you hundreds of pages of content on a template web page for a low price. What it really offers you is a template site that 'frames' out other web sites content, running you the risk of losing customers to other Web sites. Hundreds of pages of content is way too much for a Web site! The phrase 'Content is King' really refers more to quality than quantity. These days, it's hard to find people that have time to read through a 950 page novel much less a Web site. Be careful when it comes to providing too much content. Keep content amounts to a minimum. Instead, improve on the content that you feel is most relevant to the people who choose you as their real estate company and weed out the stuff that is just taking up space. Giving away information for free to users who submit their contact information is a much more effective practice (i.e. sending videos, brochures, etc.).

Examples of effective content materials:

1. Listing Information
2. Comparable Sales Data
3. Market Conditions Reports(tm) - see Realty Times
4. Customer Service/Satisfaction Info
5. Mortgage Info
6. Auctions
7. Consumer and Realtor-friendly real estate news - see Realty Times
8. Testimonials
9. Title Insurance Info
10. Open Houses
11. Agent Info
12. Relocation Services
13. Buyers Info
14. Area Information
15. Sellers Info
16. Agent Recruitment

Remember that your site is your company's first impression not only to a prospective client, but to a prospective agent as well. Many agents will surf the web to find a company that they feel would best suit their needs. Make sure your web site has some information about the benefits of working for your company. Also, you'll find that customers appreciate knowing more about your hiring practices.

If you think your site may need a redesign, contact a few friends and staff members and run what is called a ‘beta test’ on the site. A beta test is when you navigate all areas of the site to find out where there are holes and what may need improving. You may also find spelling errors and broken links, two common, yet bad mistakes on Web sites. Have each evaluator write down their thoughts, both positive and negative about the site.

Once you have determined where your site may need help, contact a professional development company that can assist you with the process. Make sure they are familiar with usability studies and statistics as they relate to your business. You’ll see increased results immediately.