Intro - The Cold Truth

Great web design consists of one major primary principle with a strong secondary: Content delivery is the objective and it should be presented well. If not, plan to pay for your popularity.

Content is King 

Most great agent web sites (5%) have several to many high quality pages and/or UNIQUE tools. Most worthless agent web sites (95%) have several to many worthless pages and link to every tool on the planet regardless of its application.

What makes a great page? Great, unique, original content surrounded by great presentation.

What makes a great site? Great pages that are easy to find and have a focus. They cannot be pages that are duplicates from other sites.

Web Site Popularity

Just having great content won't put you at the top of search engines. You must understand SEO and site popularity. You either understand it or you pay someone who does.

Common Agent Sites 

Most real estate agent web sites that I bump into (because I am a design geek I have seen thousands of sites) are products of an agents desire to follow the trend believing it will bring them some type of business. If agents will change their mentality and provide great content and present the content well the business will find them...or they can design a shoddy site and pay for its popularity and then get mad when it doesn't convert.

Web Site Purpose 

If you are going to spend one dime or one second on a web site be sure you know why you are doing it. If it is because "every good agent needs a site" then you are wasting precious resources. If it is because you want to serve your clients with great information or a great experience then you are on the right track.

If you simply want a web profile, otherwise known as an online brochure, then plan your site as such and don't deviate. Just don't expect much search engine traffic. Unless you drive the traffic yourself with great print material or ad space (or you pay someone to make your site popular) you won't see it.

Once you decide what your purpose is then begin planning but don't vary from your proposed target or you will have a site that does what every other agent's site does: link to mls, describe why the market is so great, brag about the agent, link to every other web site on the net, and provide really little value.

Create Great Value

Put yourself in your clients' shoes. If you want to buy or sell a house what do you really want to see? If you want a great agent what do you REALLY want to know?

If agents want to provide real value and reap the results here are some necessary components (among others): MLS search tool, well written real estate articles, great design. Make a list of 50-500 real estate related topics. Create one page for each topic writing no less than 4 paragraphs with a minimum of 3-4 sentences each with a key word or phrase in each page. Arrange the topics into categories and create simple-to-use navigation (we'll get into this later). Link to several (not every) tools that fit your sites focus. Look around you. Type a search into Google for the city you are in and the words "realtor" (i.e. miami realtor). What comes up? The top 10 sites (not including paid ads) will likely have been on the net for 2+ years and/or have dozens of well written pages and/or hire companies to search for other web sites to link to the agent's site. They have time on the net, great content, and/or they pay for popularity.

If you are simply doing a brochure site then you will only want 6 to 10 great pages covering key topics that you want highlighted. Don't hit every topic because your site becomes diluted. Unless you plan to pay a lot of money for ad space, SEO, or print materials don't plan for many hits because there are way too many real estate agent sites out there for major search engines to care about yours - cold but true. Engines only care about great content and site popularity. If you don't plan to write a lot of content, you have a small budget yet expect a lot of traffic, hold off on the web site. Focus on other business generating activities that will provide a MUCH higher ROI. Just one good open house could net you more business than 95% of Realtor web sites net for their agents. The reality is that very few agents ever get one transaction from their site without spending a ton of time and money.

Review your site and determine if your site is like everyone elses. If it is, that's why you haven't seen any action from it in the 3 years it's been online, even if it really does look great.

Summary 

The internet is about great information and/or great popularity. If you plan to do a site, understand its purpose and expect the appropriate results. You really can have a great site that generates quality leads. It will take a lot of work, time, and/or money depending on your internet skills. It will likely take the place of the time or money you would spend on a farm or some other considerable activity. If you do a site, shoot for the stars or don't shoot at all.

Good luck and happy writing!