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Personalize Your Site - Use your "about me" page to connect to users

The first article in this series discusses user trust in your web site. Agents have a great opportunity to create trust and, just as importantly, connect with their users. User your "About Me" page to express what you are all about. Most agent web sites market real estate within a certain geographical area or housing project (at least they should). The one page that should exclusively sell the agent alone should be their own profile page. Here is YOUR chance to shine. Here are some things to talk about on this one page:

How much experience do you have?
What is your educational background?
What are your qualifications?
What special groups (boy scouts, religion, animals, charity, etc.) are you involved with?
What pets to you have, prefer, like?
Where did you grow up?
Why do you like real estate?
Do you skydive?
Do you motorbike?
Do you enjoy the nightlife?
What car do you own?
What type of house do you own?
What are your goals?
What are your commitments?
What is your personality like (serious, ambitious, fun, outgoing, lazy, creative, techy, etc.)
Do you have a family?
What other connections can you make with your users?

Describe yourself in words. Describe yourself in pictures, logos, etc. Add some flash. Add a photo slide show from Photobucket.

Ask yourself, "who do I want to work with?" "what can I say/show to connect with them?" "would I work with me?" "what image should I portray?" You will come up with some great ideas and in the end connect to your users. If you want to connect with many people in general then keep your content very generic and general. If you want to work with a specific client base then targe them. "I'm a biker and want to work primarily with bikers," will cut out a large number of users but it will get you what you want.

Be careful to limit your "about me" content to the "about me" page. If people want to know about you they will go looking. Use your site to market your real estate and area and when people trust the content they will seek your profile out. When they get there you can let it shine and convert them to work with you.

For more real estate web site personalization ideas visit the Table of Contents - Personalize Your Site page.

Posted by Agent Web Design on 03/05/2007 02:23 PM

Comments (8)

agent web design personalize

8 Comments on Personalize Your Site - Use your "about me" page to connect to users

MAR

2007

Thanks! Good suggestions. I see some thing I can add to my about me page.

Marchel: Great to hear! Let our readers know how it goes and if you have any other ideas not already listed.

These are great suggestions. Thanks for sharing the info!

While I like the suggestions- I would say it has to depend on where that "About Me" page is located....is it the home page? Is it a prominent link? Or is it off to the side/bottom etc? In which case - let them know who you are....

I'm not so sure people really care about what I do on my "free" time. I think they should be concerned about my qualifications, and keep it at that. This isn't supposed to be "My space",....or is it?

MAR

2007

Christina: You bet!

Sabine: I agree. The link needs to be available from every page. I would say not to put the information itself on the front page. Whatever you want search engines to focus on needs to be on the home page. Yet, your users need to be able to find you.

Tom: I think clients want to know there is a little person to the agent. We're not MIB. At the same time, I don't think we need to share our horoscope or details about the latest date. As long as we seem to have a third dimention then we may connect with our users.

Clients only really care about the agent in regard to what the agent can do for them. They are like little kids - its all, "me, me, me." "What are you goihg to do for me today?" "When are you going to show me houses again?" "When are you going to get my house sold?" That is why they will call you at 7:30 am or even 10:45 pm - because they don't think you have a "life"... except as it revolves around them and their needs. And if you can't make yourself available to them, they will find an agent who can!

An airline once had the best slogan (they should have never gotten rid of it) - We Have To Earn Our Wings Every Day! The flying public doesn't really care how long they have been flying or what the pilots do in their off hours (as long as they haven't been drinking). They only want to know if the plane will take off on time, land on time, and will their luggage show up with them. Promise them that and offer the best fare and they are probably flying on that airline. The same is true about real estate agents. Prospects only want to really know what you are going to do for them now... not what you have done in the past. If I am hiring F. Lee Bailey to defend me in a murder trial, do I really care if he has been a boy scout leader or has a toy poodle? "Oh, that's so sweet. I think I'll hire him!" Ha!

So rather than having an "About Me" page, perhaps it is better to just punctuate your body text with all of those accolades and experience levels throughout the consumer pages of your site, like your "Helping Buyers" page or your "Helping Sellers" page. As a long-time resident, I have been licensed for over 10 years and I'm a Life Member of the Top Producer club, ("So what?", the reader is thinking). So because of my knowledge of our area, my many years of experience and my successful real estate track record, I know I can help you find the perfect home! There - you have told them more about you while also turning your background into a "plus" statement for why they should use you.

Win: Though I agree that many clients will choose an agent because they "only want to really know what you are going to do for them now" I hear stories and have experienced many instances where clients choose an agent because they "connect" with them and trust them. Have you ever been at an open house where the potential buyer has been driving around on a Saturday looking at a dozen homes, you strike up a conversation not even related to real estate and convert them as a client? Have you ever had a fellow church member whom you work well with ask you to represent them and you've never pitched them for business? They simply know you're trustworthy and you've worked well in the past. Of course people want to know you are going to get the job done but without a little 3-dimentional view into your life they could care less who you are...just like you said.

The same concepts apply to the web. Many people like to work with people they can relate with. They want someone who has shared their experiences and who they can trust. I think an agent can connect with people if their "about me" page is done correctly. I think they can convert more leads. Be careful not to place this content on the home page, however. If people "only want to really know what you are going to do for them now" they will see it as you market your content on the home page. If they want to know "about you" they will look for it.

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