The Y2K Marketing Tune-Up

Copyright 10/30/99 by Chas. Campbell and MNRealty.com

Part Three - Web Site Recipe

OK, here it is, my description of what I think the Realtor Web site of the next century should start with....

First, GET YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME that you own and control.

Your web site should be the virtual YOU, the person you want others to see and work with on-line. How many years have we said "Perception is Reality" - now we say "Perception is Virtual Reality." So I think first and foremost, your web site needs to have a personality.

Many gurus disagree about personal brochure material and info about yourself. Some say that the customer doesn't care about you and that to put a nice personal brochure on-line doesn't DO anything for the visitor. I say "nuts" to that! You NEED a good personal brochure to be the BEGINNING of your site. RAPPORT is the first step in the sales process and visitors are wondering how to separate you from the multitudes and they also wonder who they can TRUST and who they will LIKE to buy or sell with - so giving them a nice piece of background IS something important to the visitor.

You NEED good photos of you on your site! Eye contact is essential for rapport and trust. If you don't put good photos on-line, the visitor wonders why not..... who are they dealing with?

Part of your personal brochure should be personal. What are your interests, passions, causes, and interests? These become "starting points" for common ground in developing a relationship with prospects. And where's that informal shot of you, or you-and-your-dog, or you-and-your-family, or you-and-your-fishing-boat to prove that you have a life?

Now, the problem is, too many stop with just the personal brochure on their sites and then it DOES seem egotistical. The idea is to have your bio information available as a CHOICE for the visitor, and not the final or only destination. So now you need to develop more CONTENT as we webmasters call it - the actual "guts" of your site.

There are so many choices for web sites nowadays, all claiming to be the best. Since most of these offerings are national in scope and mass-production oriented, they are "templates" - offering add-on pages seemingly by the pound.

Long before the internet, most offices had a "resource room" with lots of pre-printed materials about the company and other universal real estate stuff. When you were a "rookie," you would gather up a bunch of this to help in making presentations. As you gained success and experience, you learned that you needed to create your own individual marketing materials that went beyond the corporate stuff and pointed out your own special programs and local information.

The same is true now on-line. Many of these large template sites are like the "resource room" - generic stuff that's better than nothing at all but best when added to your own specialized stuff as well. If you just buy the templates and standard package without customizing and personalizing it - it looks pretty weak even if there are 25 pages... And what about personality? If you are merely a template site, then you look just like all the others. Is this the "virtual you" you want to present?

So look at a web site as EVOLVING over time as you add more pieces and collect more links, resources, templates, etc. Start with a good personal design, something that "feels like" you. INTRODUCE YOURSELF! And welcome visitors to your site. Give them a very short description of what you offer on your site. Then add your personal brochure as one of the first "Sub-pages" or sections on you site.

Here are some ideas for web site sub-pages or sections:

About Me - Your personal brochure. As it grows, you can sub-divide it into "professional" and "personal"
Listings - People wanna look at houses. Put the best link to homes for YOU, meaning YOUR listings or listings without lots of banner ads in competition with yourself.
Guestbook - Some kind of easy and non-threatening feedback form. Expand this to heavily offer special services and programs that are different and zero in on your locality or niche.
Financing - Either link up with your loan people, use a mortgage calculator or something, or put a first rate financing section together. This will depend on your business - might be a big section if you work with investors or first-time homebuyers.
Community & School Information - the general stuff
"Tours" - Very powerful but harder to build. Grab your digicam and "tour" your market area or town. You can shoot historical stuff, new developments, parks, home styles, whatever suits your niche. Write up captions or notes as you go.
My "Team" - collect info and photos about all the people you work with to make a transaction. You appear "bigger" by listing those who you work with, plus it is an advantage to customers to have all the contact info on your page.
Networking - Look for opportunities to network with other services and businesses that match up with your Niche. Promotions, links, give-aways, coupons - get creative!
Buyers/Sellers - Depending on what you do and offer, address some of the services you offer. Be specific. Be different.
Marketing Plan - Pretty much put your presentation on-line, whatever you do.
History - Who doesn't love local history and it demonstrates a deep connection as the "local pro."
Niche - Remember my previous article? - This should be a big part of your content. Look at your target market and develop information related to their needs. Try NOT to be generic. Get as much original and local info as possible.
Links - Be careful! Don't try to do it all - Others do it better. Look for links that are harder to find or higher in quality or don't do it at all. Also be careful not to send your visitors away to competition or distractions.
Guides - "Sponsor" some type of information guide. Make it relevent and local. Examples; restaurants, day care, home services like lawn and snow maint. This can tie into networking too.
Fun!!! - It is AOK to have fun; show your family photo album, be a school booster, take some gag photos, sponsor some contests. Just don't make it the main event on your site.....

So here's a few ideas to take into your own Y2K brainstorming sessions for next year.
If you think the internet is "here to stay," make sure you budget enough and move "The Internet" from number #68 on your daily to-do list up to one of the top-10!

Chas. Campbell is the Publisher and Webmaster of MNRealty.com,
An independent Minnesota Real Estate Web Server and Host.