Today's Real Estate Website has become more than just a pretty picture. With the advent of technology, the proliferation of syndicated listings, IDX, and Web 2.0 your website is can become a portal of knowledge for the home buyer.
I titled my post KIS because with this influx of technology we see a lot of websites becoming a massive accumulation of pages and images. I visited a website that had over 80 links on the home page. While that might seem good to some the average Internet user does not want to fish through all of it. Some people try to compete with Realtor.com while others choose the simple route. Localism is probably the best chance an Agent has at becoming successful on the Internet. Stop trying to be the master of all. Instead put your efforts into becoming the authority of your marketing area or more specifically your community. Unless you are blessed with a $10,000,000 trust fund, you simply do not have enough time or money to spend on trying to master it all.
Leverage the Internet with the tools that make the most sense.
- A website developed by a company that specializes Agents. Get one with a good content manager so you can have the option of adding and or tweaking content.
- Get IDX. Bring the inventory to your website so you can have a "sticky site". A sticky site simply refers to a site that attracts re-visits. What a better attraction than having the MLS on your website.
- Syndicate your listings. Let the Internet do the work for you. Choose a web developer that has syndication built in.
- Blog - Blogging and Social Networking are great way to distribute content and to also foster Link Popularity and Trackbacks. Having your Blog separate from your website is a good idea too. This gives your site a relationship with another authoritative site.
- Build Links see my post http://activerain.com/blogsview/788414/Link-Popularity.
- Keep the content fresh. You need to build a collection of pages about your community. Don't be lazy and think 5 hours later you'll have a website or blog that will be ranked #1. Keep working at it all the time. You don't need to spend hours per day. Do it in smaller spurts.
- If you really want to leverage the Internet write articles that you can post on article sites.
By applying some of your time, the payoff could be big. The Internet is a constant evolving thing and your website should be too.
Keep up to date with website trends and tips on the RE/Advantage blog.
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