I'd be interested in knowing how many first gereration websites actually worked. Our initial website has been through eight changes. Over the course of the changes we have slowly introduced content as opposed to a lengthly auto biography that, frankly, even bored me. Therein lies the problem for many folks who pay someone else to build your site. If you have not experimented with sites for yourself, and a developer asks you what you would like, what are the odds you will get something working on the first try? If you just want a landing page to send clients to, it may be fine, but, a site that draws clients from the internet? Probably not. Seems our typical first intention is to say who we are and what we can do. Hey, thats great to show your relatives, but who else would be interested? Take a good look at your web site, can you easily see a home search option? Do you think surfers are looking for that, or, your brag article? Do you have only one website? It's a lot easier to experiment and find different options with multiples. As the market is constantly changing, our website are also. How many sites feature foreclosures, REO's and the like versus 2 years ago? I'm not an expert web develper or tech wiz, that is not the point, do you know what people like! All about me? Nahhh, where are the homes????
I sure don't tweak mine enough. I think a good website solves a consumer's problem quickly. No one care how much character, experience, blah, blah . . . right off the bat. They want instant gratification.
Randall - Agreed, I think the "who we are" section comes into play after other information...
Frank and Jodi: People want information about homes, about market treneds, about neighborhoods and schools, about family activities. Who we are is sescondary to their search process.
Frank and Jodi, I don't concentrate on my site enough. I have made changes over the years but much improvement i needed. I do want to increase my blog present. This is where I can actual follow and know where my new customers are coming from.
Roberta - Yes, and that is another reason we need to tweak occasionally, old info does not look good
Frank - Many folks will inevitably end up at your home page, does it look as good as your blog?
I do add information to my site, and have been working on it more, however am considering looking at other blog sites as I think they get found more quickly.
Jean - We started with 3, we tried different things on each to see what produced results. I do not think there is a magic number. Right now we have 40 (we are in 4 states) . They range from very specific www.atlantacountryclubhomessale.com to broad strokes www.atlantarelocate.com we design ourselves...
Sharon - You are doing both, I think that is vital. If something else beside blogs comes down the road, I'll NEVER get out of this chair!
I try to introduce something different every week -- but it is so hard to keep up with making the changes. ~ Evelyn
For a while, I did not do anything with my website. Now, I tweak it more often. Lately I incorporated my blog so new contents appear quite often. I only have 1 website but bought several domain names which I plan to use in the future.
Evelyn - If I stay away from tweaking websites for to long, it is a hassle as I have to remember what to do...
Rosalinda - Very smart buying quality domain names. I think adding actual websites will increase the value. We try to buy names that can be of use by another company, It is great to own your name, but, I think more value in location-area names...
I have been editing mine quite a bit - I love adding content about the various aspects of real estate:)
Great question and reminder.
Before I got caught up in AR, I was constantly on my website. Now I have let is slip from neglect.
From April to June the site was constantly revised and tweaked, as I learned SEO, relevance, keywords, etc.
Then I started having better search results from the blog, but for good conversion it takes the blog and website.
I really need to get back to the website - take time to implement the ideas I have come across to make it better.
Thanks,
Richard
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