People will always ask what is your traffic and what can we be doing to increase our SEO.  But I think we are ignoring half the battle when we only focus on traffic.  We need to start asking what your average visitor time is on site.  How many registrations are we receiving and what is our conversion ratio?  Currently we are launching a major redesign to our website and are having to address all these issues. 

In 1998 when we first launched boulderhomesource.com IDX did not even exist,  We input listings manually and our page was just an extension of our off line marketing,  shockingly it actually worked.  Today we are having to focus on SEO, which includes Dynamic Database Driven content, manually input area specific content, Link Strategies, Blogging, Social Media, Long tail, short tail programs, and the list goes on.  Wow times have changed.

Creating a sticky site is becoming just as sophisticated and complex to get people to tell us who they are.  There are two very different camps in the online world "forced registration" and "opt in registration."  I have tested both extensively.  In January when we utilized forced registration we received over 400 registrations a month with a conversion ratio of less than 1% and our average time on site was 4 minutes.  In March I turned off forced registration and our registration count has dropped to 30 registrations a month, but our conversion ratio has climbed to 7% and our time on site has risen to over 9 minutes.  Both scenarios are creating the same amount of closings, but the man hours for scenario two are considerably less.  But in scenario two we are missing a tremendous amount of opportunity.  Their has to be a better way?

Here is our belief on the better way.  In our next launch of boulderhomesource.com we will allow the consumer to fully search on the MLS data, but will be moving sold data, listing history, and neighborhood trending behind the registration curtain.  This way we will allow the consumer to visit the site and get the information they came for, but also will provide additional information that will entice them to register.  It is no longer enough to just offer automatic email updates. 

In addition the consumer is becoming far more sophisticated and it is no longer enough to offer one landing page.  Where and how the consumer enters the site needs to immediately speak to why they came.  This can be achieved through GEO coding and dynamic creation of their entry experience based of the keywords that are bringing them to the site. 

In January when we launch the new site I will let everyone know how the numbers work.  Before then, if you have any strategies that work or see where we are going down the wrong path please let me know.  I am always open to help and ideas.