If you succeed in generating traffic and bringing visitors to your site, how will you impress them once they get there? For some examples of what to do and what not to do, put yourself in your target customer's shoes and check out the Internet marketing efforts of your competition. Do a Google search for your city, your specialties and the words "real estate" or "realtor" (without the quotation marks). What do those sites contain? Are you seeing all generic content for sellers and buyers? Is there anything unique about any agent that would encourage a prospect to connect them? Or is it the same blah, blah, blah you see on every site?

Two Key Pages

Real estate websites generally include several pages of information specifically for buyers and sellers. These pages do add value by attracting visitors and helping with search results placement. However, it's the personalized content on a website that may well determine whether or not a visitor takes that next step and contacts you. Would you pay for an expensive four-color brochure that spoke in generalities about the real estate industry and didn't focus on you? Of course not. Yet agents often rush to get their sites launched and neglect the essential element of self-promotion. Don't settle for a website with canned verbiage that says nothing about how special you are. Your site must have these two key pages: "About Us" and "Testimonials."

"About Us" Page

For now, forget about keywords and search engines. The content on your site should focus on converting casual visitors to potential customers. What makes you different from every other agent? Why should a visitor contact you? What information can start to build trust and make a prospect comfortable enough to pick up the phone or send an email? You must have an "About Us" page and it should contain:

• Your experience
• Your professional qualifications
• Your specialties
• Areas served (cities, communities, neighborhoods)
• How you treat customers
• Something personal about you
• Your photo
  

If you haven't personalized your page or site with all the preceding items, you probably have visitors who quickly scan your generic information and move on. It's essential you capture their attention so they stay long enough to learn about you and your services and become comfortable contacting you.

TIP: Use "Meet" and your name for your "About Us" titles, such as, "Meet Lori" for the navigation tab on your website and "Meet Lori Greer" for the title of that page. It's friendlier!

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Sharon Hassler is author of the downloadable ebook, "So You Think You Want A Website: Internet Marketing 101 for Real Estate Agents." She is owner/manager of 4 web page and directory sites for professionals in the real estate industry. A former loan officer and real estate agent in Southern California, Sharon served as Communications Manager for First American Title-Arizona for 11 years. For more about the author, real estate agent directory, and the ebook, please visit www.GoGetRealEstate.com.