Why Your Website Isn't Bringing You Clients

Though I am unable to find a trusted source for a number, I'm pretty comfortable in saying that more than 95% of all real estate websites are totally ineffective in bringing business to the agent or brokerage. I didn't use the term "leads", as there are some that manage to gather visitor contact information in some ways, however, these leads just do not seem to turn into commissions. Let's pretend that I'm a visitor to your website. I am considering purchasing a home in your area and arrive at your home page.

What I Want Area real estate news Area neighborhood info Sold property statistics & property searches Knowledgeable local real estate commentary What is it like to live in your area, city, etc?

What I Usually Get Your photo & bio Why you're the best 12 buttons to mortgage calculators, weather, etc. Links out to school and government sites Links out to restaurants, local sites & night life

The visitors to your website are coming from all sorts of referrer sites and search engines, using many different search keywords and phrases. You can't hope to have precisely what they want on your home page. However, you should have a very easy and fast way for them to find it. Too many navigation buttons turn visitors off. It is better to take buyers to a Buyer Information Page with links to sub-topics of interest to buyers, than it is to have a button on the home page for every topic.

And, whether you like it or not, most real estate site visitors do not arrive at your site wanting a sales pitch, your biography, or to see what you look like. They want to know about real estate and, specifically, your local area real estate. That brings up the other items. It is OK, and quite helpful, to link out of your site's articles to other sites for schools, government, restaurants, entertainment, etc. However, they could have found those with searches on "yourtown schools." And they probably already have. What they would expect to see on your site is information they can't find at the school site. Or they may want to know what you think are the best parks in the area and why.

Consider a blog platform for your website to help you address your visitors' needs. You just might find it fun as well! Nobody wants to be a "lead" anyway. I like to call them all my "readers." A regular reader who values your site's content will usually convert from reader to client.