In reading many AR posts about things not to do on your personal agent website, I have put together a list of the some of the most common areas of opportunity (mistakes!) that agents have on their websites that I have seen working with 1000s of agent websites in our company and others. Here goes:

1. Prioritizing your Site
   What do your visitors want when they come to your website? Make sure your site addresses these 3 main key consumer objectives of why they are at your site in the first place:
1. To search properties - so make it easy and obvious for them to do so.
2. To get your contact details - make sure your name, email contact form and main number is on every page and prominent on the homepage
3. To see if you are legit - yes, people will use your website to see if you all that. Make sure that you reinforce your value by taking the time to concisely sell who you are. Its amazing how many agents do not do this effectively and rely on the canned blurb that comes with the website or just waffle on about how great they are. If you are lucky enough to have testimonials, use them.
   
   
2. Poor Writing
   Many people think that a lot of text on the page is fantastic for SEO purposes. Well, that is true to a point but you actually have to keep someone on your site after they get there for the site to really work for you. If there is pointless text or links all over the page, it really affects the usability. Think of your website as a treasure map, you know where you want the reader to get (that would be the treasure "listing"), so tell them how to get there and keep all your 1000s of words about "insert your market" homes and "insert your market" real estate measured above the fold. You can always go nuts 600 pixels down the page.
   
   
3. Bad Navigation (or way too much)
   Many agents obviously want to show that they firstly know everything there is know about their markets and secondly that there is a link to get you there fast. But too many links in the form of text links or images (worse!) can be very counter-productive. People are mainly coming to your site to do the 3 main things in #1, so just get them quickly to the place that they want to be and amazingly most will figure it out. The best way to do this is reduce on-screen clutter and reduce redundant links, images and text.
   
   
4. Hype!
   I know its a competitive business and the market is tough these days, but every agent thinks they are the BEST!!! You need to go beyond that you are the best and explain WHY you are the best. By doing this people will gain confidence in your abilities. One of the best ways to do this is have a page where you give a brief professional history (one paragraph max) with some bullet point achievements (no more than 5) and add as many testimonials as you can below it. People will maybe read your bio, but will be drawn to the testimonials like people to before and after weight-loss photos. Even better, If you can, add yourself to a site like Kudzu.com where you can be ranked and commented on by your previous clients. Then link to it from your site. This definitely puts yourself out there for criticism but it lends a huge amount of credibility. If someone has something bad to say about you, respond. Sometimes things go wrong in real estate transactions and working with clients, but addressing bad situations and mistakes professionally often turns a bad comment into an opportunity. Be a professional and have the courage of your worth and convictions.
   
   
5. Frames
   Don't use them if at all possible. Frames are an archaic html function that allows you to "frame" another website within your website. This rarely works out well. Most of time frames are used to display a 3rd party IDX property search provider (listingware,etc) in an agents site. There are far more elegant ways to do this these days. Frames are so '96!
   
   
6. Please, No Moving Stuff!!!
   Yes, it is fantastic that website text can scroll, blink and change colors. It doesn't mean you should do it to make your site, or the page element/link that you are trying to highlight, more obvious. Often websites end up looking like the Vegas strip where all the blinking scrolling just kind of blends together. There are cases when this can be effective, but subtley is often rewarded online. Also, that flash you love with your name flying in with the house fading up from nowhere may be great, but again is just a distraction from what people are looking to do on your site (the 3 things in #1). Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
   
   
7. Text Images
   Don't do it. Yes I like the fancy fonts too, but why waste the opportunity to get some SEO credit from putting in some nice H tags and real text. Plus if someone has bad eyesight and has the text size large it will severly affect the accesibility if they can't read the links.
   
   
8. Irrelevant Information
   Stay on topic! Many agents with a lack of much of anything meaningful to say start going on about some things that leave me scratching my head. Keep it relevant and if you must talk about your love of cats or dogs to appeal to the cat or dog lovers out there tuck it away in an inconspicuous place on your site if you absolutely must. At the end of the day, most people are looking for an agent who can help them buy or sell a home for the best price with a smooth transaction - not whether they are a cat or dog person. really, most people don't care. Stay on topic and stay relevant to the majority of visitors! Things you can talk about if you are at a loss for something to say include:
• Descriptions of your market areas
• Commentary on local and relevant market conditions (feel free to spin this one a little but not too much!)
• Profiles of previous transactions
• FAQs and Buyers/Sellers guides. Most of the default "For Sellers" and "for Buyers" sections of agent websites are so generic and don't really sell what YOU can do. Rewrite them keeping in mind that many people do not know as much about buying and selling homes as we think they do. Tell the story of how you can make this special and how you are different in how you meet buyers/sellers needs by doing (insert your story here).
• Special reports -  I know of a few agents that do well out of offering special marketing reports on certain areas and or moving kits (which is a  glorified pdf of moving tips - but it works) which they require people to register for.
  
  
9. Put Down the Phone (Get a Professional Photograph!)
   In your photograph you want to convey professionalism, personality and approachability. After all this what consumers are looking for. Professional doesn't mean Glamour Shots either... There was a time when having a photo with a phone in your hand showed that you were busy and waiting for their call. Now it just says you are outdated. One more thing, if its been a while since your last photo please get a recent photo online.  Having a grossly out-of-date photo is nothing but misleading and when you do meet the person it can be kind of weird for them and can send negative messages.
   
   
10. Registration
    I have left the most contentious topic to last... Registration or more accurately the ability to collect personal consumer information is one of the most hotly discussed topics that I encounter. For the record, I fully support the notion of requiring registration to recieve valuable information (IDX listings) and access to additional search tools (save search, property updates). From a business perspective it makes more sense and in most cases results in more leads, and contrary to popular opinion not all of these leads are garbage. In my experience only around 20% are phony/donald ducks .
    
    However, the horse has preverbially bolted through the gate. We are left today with a competitive landscape where many brokerages/agents have opened up the MLS data for all to see and there isalso the fact that "forced" registration to view listing detail just plain pisses consumers off these days. Consumers see it it as a premature requirement for their personal information - Hell, they just want to see some homes and most are well over a year out from even seriously considering talking to an agent.
    
    Forcing registration limits your ability to meet consumer's situations and expectations. So... what do we do? We need to take another look at how our websites work and look at new tools that we can use in order to drive leads and capture business. The next generation of real estate website WILL NOT have forced registration, it's just too late for that. These websites will have tools that are compelling enough for consumers to want to register to use and in registering provide realtors a valuable profile to use in converting that contact into a client. We as an industry have to listen to and understand consumers and give them what they want, whoever does this first and best will win in the long term.
    
    What does this all mean for agents today? Many of the most successful agents that have a predominantly online business model, require registration on their site. Until a time comes that you can confidently convert a higher percentage of visitors into clients through having an open system and tools worth registering for, I would think seriously about putting in registration. A slightly annoyed registered user is better than no registered user at all. "A bird in the hand...", as they say. But be sure to know, you will make some people mad. On the other hand, if you have a great site that effectively communicates your value enough for people to want to contact you and you don't want to alienate any visitors, you know the answer. At the end of the day it is your business and up to you to decide, but whatever way you choose it is important to understand the implications of your decision either way.

Hope you find this post useful.

Cheers,

Scott Lockhart
Chief Technology Officer
RE/MAX Greater Atlanta
www.atlantarealestate.net