So you go out and get yourself a great looking web site, and either by a PPC campaign or a good SEO program your site is developing a good deal of traffic. But even with those top rankings your gut tells you that your site is not reaching its full sales potential.

 The next step you take is analyzing your web site. You notice that the site is lacking "call to action" points like quick contact forms. You also improve navigation to better funnel visitors to these and other action points on the web site. You see little or no improvement.

The Number One Mistake Of Real Estate Web Sites

When web surfers visit a real estate web site the overwhelming majority could care less about who the agent or company is that owns the web site. To them, real estate agents are a dime a dozen. In fact, poll after poll shows that real estate agents are among the least trusted professionals. Maybe that's why agents overcompensate by trying to sell themselves on their web site instead of trying to sell homes to potential buyers.

You know what I mean. I call it the "warm fuzzies". Many agents like to put pictures of puppies, kittens, and kids or grandkids on their web site instead of focusing on the needs of the buyer. I know what some of you are thinking: "I need to do this to build a relationship with my web site visitor." That may have worked 10 or 15 years ago, but today we are in a fast food, 24 hour Wal Mart, quickie mart world where people want (and expect) their needs and demands to be met RIGHT NOW.

A Time And A Place For Everything

Relationship building IS an important part of converting prospects into buyer clients. But the primary focus of your web site should not be trying to entice someone to contact you by virtue of the "warm fuzzies" dripping throughout your pages. Go ahead and put a few of these photos and a paragraph or two on your bio page, but keep them off the rest of your site.

The time to build a relationship with a potential client is when you talk to them on the phone or meet them in person. Your tone of voice, appearance, and demeanor are your trusted tools to foster this relationship.

Taking Your Ego Out Of The Equation

So now that you have deleted the warm fuzzies from your home page and other content pages, what do you replace them with? You focus on your ideal buyer client demographic. Knowing your buyer client demographic is NOT just knowing their income range, education level, and price point for a new home. It's about knowing everything about the everyday lives of this potential buyer. What challenges do they face during the week (commuting, day care, home schooling, etc.)? Do they have any spare time? What do they like to do with that time? It's these any many more questions that help you develop the profile of your ideal client.

After gathering this information you then write ad copy that appeals to this buyer. Your goal is to come up with a tag line, heading phrases, and ad copy that speaks directly to this buyer demographic. By doing this you not only engage them on yor web site, but you also start to begin building the bonds of trust between you and this prospect.

Along with the ad copy your site needs to contain information that the buyer will find interesting. For example, if your ideal potential buyer lives an active outdoor lifestyle you might want to include articles, information, and links about local fishing, golf, running clubs, or other similar topics. If your selling to high end clients you may want to include articles and links about arts and entertainment as well as detailed local real estate market statistics.

It's all about appealing to that specific buyer demographic - not trying to be something for everyone. It's all about target marketing. One of my favorite examples of this was a Cadillac commercial that ran a few years ago. When you think of the Cadillac brand, more than likely you think about terms like "rich", "sophisticated", "expensive", and similar terms. But what first struck me as odd about this TV commercial later struck me as brilliance. The music playing in the background of the commercial was "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin. Who the heck would ever put Led Zeppelin together with Cadillac? But it was sheer genius. They were trying to appeal to that 40-something buyer that grew up listening to Zeppelin. They were trying to change the perception of Cadillac from "stuffy" to "exciting". And it worked.

Quality, Not Quantity

One of the frequent compaints I hear from real estate agents is that they have a hard time converting web site visitors to buyer clients. They complain that most of the leads they get from their web site are junk (FWIW, I consider contacts made by web site visitors as "prospects" and not leads. To me it's only a lead if they agent makes contact and qualifies that prospect).

But if you focus on your ideal buyer client demographic, over time you will see the quality of your leads begin to improve. Sure, if someone outside your targeted demographic visits your site they may get turned off by what they read. But those aren't the buyers you are going after anyway. There are some things that you can try and do to funnel these people off to different sections of your web site (i.e. create sections for first time buyers, 1031 exchange candidates, etc. and tailor those pages to that buyer demographic). But again, you have to be careful about getting away from that ideal demographic that you know that you can convert into your buyer client.

Getting top search engine rankings or winning the PPC war are an important part of the success of your web site. But it's equally important to remember that your web site is a key marketing piece and not a billboard for a list of your accomplishments, designations, and family photos. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BUYER!