Note: One of the better website analytics tools out there is Google Analytics. To see Google Analytics Case Study for Re/Max Click Here.

Hits – This one has been around since the beginning, and you’ll still hear a great many people say things like “How do I get more hits on my website?” The truth is, you really shouldn’t look at hit count for any meaningful measure of what’s happening on your site.

A “hit” is a file sent to a browser by a web server. If you have text and 10 images on a page, the stats will record 11 hits for every time that page loads in a browser. That’s because each image is a hit. 20 images, 21 hits. As you can see, this doesn’t tell us anything valuable at all. So, hearing someone bragging about 20,000 hits a day doesn’t tell you how many visitors were there, or how many pages they viewed, only files downloaded.

Visits – Each time a user comes into a site, it is recorded as a visit. One user may visit a site several times in one day. In real estate, they may be coming in at different times of the day to search for listings. Obviously, the more visits your site gets, the more likely you are to generate business from it.

Visitors – There are a great many statistics measurement software and online solutions out there. But, they all definitely measure visitors, as this is a very important metric for your future success. Properly recorded, you’ll only show one visitor count if the same visitor enters the site several times that day. The site will attempt to track the IP address of the visitor, or set a cookie on their hard drive to uniquely identify that visitor and not count them twice in a day. Their visits will get counted, however. So, one visitor stat may yield multiple visit counts.

Your goal is to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization), various forms of marketing, and maybe some PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing to continue to increase your visitors over time. If you’re not growing the visitor count, you’re not going to generate more business from your website or blog.

Page Views – This is another very important measurement of how effective your site is, and how useful it is to your visitors. It counts the number of pages viewed, and most will give you an average page views/visit in their statistics. This tells you if your site visitors are finding their way around, as well as if they are locating other information from your navigation that they want to view. Another word for this is “stickiness.” Are they sticking around. You want lots of page views, and definitely a reasonable average per visit, indicating they are moving around in the site.

Another way some statistical tools report this is as “depth of visit.” How deep into the site did the visitor go? You can see a graph of the number of visitors that only viewed one page, and another with those who viewed 20 or more pages, as an example. Watching these statistics, and trying to improve on them, means that you want to create content that visitors want, and give them easy ways to locate it and navigate to it.

One thing we need to remember as real estate sites with IDX searches is that many repeat visitors will be coming back over and over directly to the search page. They bookmark it, search for a while, and they leave without moving around elsewhere in the site. So, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up if your average page views aren’t growing like we want, but our time on site is getting longer …see the next item.

Length of Visit – The statistics tool should also give you data as to how long visitors are staying on your site. Of course, the longer the better, as that means they’re finding what they want. As mentioned above, many of your repeat visitors may only come to the site to search for listings. They have bookmarked the IDX search page, and they never leave it on most visits. That’s OK. You’ll see that the time on site is excellent, meaning they like your search interface.

You should always be tracking your site’s performance with these statistics, no matter which analytical tool or software you choose. The goal is to grow the number of visitors, while increasing the time they stay and the number of pages they view. That’s how you build a loyal audience who eventually become leads and commissions.

Now, disregard all of the above! That’s the standard thinking that creates “standard” websites. Standard websites create standard business volume. Exceptional websites create exceptional income. Don’t use a thought process that assumes, incorrectly, several things:

• Seller prospects only want to see that you’re going to present their homes well on the Web.
• Sellers live there, so area information isn’t important if I don’t want buyers.
• Unless I want buyers, I don’t need buyer or area info pages with a great deal of content.

How Web-savvy do you think your customers are? Many probably have more knowledge than you do. And, the use and understanding of the Internet is increasing quickly among consumers. If this is the case, why would you think that a prospective listing client wouldn’t care about buyer information on your site?

One Realtor with a successful business-generating website told me that he gets listings all the time from sellers who tell him that the comprehensive information on his site is why they gave him a call. They know that the more there, the more visitors, and the greater the possibility that their home will be sold quickly. And, we don’t even need to ask, as his site generates a LOT of buyers as well.

If we’re on the same track now, then we agree that a successful real estate website, one that generates business, must have comprehensive content for buyers, sellers, and others, like investors. Plus, there are things to think about in the area of SEO, Search Engine Optimization. Here are some guidelines for content:

Planning – Lay out a plan for your site, main pages, sub-pages and how the visitor will get to major information.

Each page is an information unit – You might think of this as “each page is an answer to a question.” The ideal web page is probably anywhere from 300 to 600 words, as you can answer a specific question very well in that length. For SEO, use one or two key phrases that apply, and work them in as often as possible without making reading difficult.

Every real estate site should have pages dealing with:

• Areas and neighborhoods
• Larger subdivisions
• The negotiation process
• Title and insurance
• Transaction process
• Current and previous sold property stats
• Your interpretation and comments on the market
• Inspections and repair negotiations
• Building and zoning codes
• Utilities information
• Local business information

If that doesn’t seem like a whole lot, those are categories, not pages. A successful site will have multiple pages in each of those categories of information. Don’t despair though, as you can get help from others … for free.

You may already be acquainted with subdivision or neighborhood association people who would love to give you information, maybe even writing for you with an email. Copy/paste, and you’ve got a page.

You definitely already know inspectors, movers, interior designers, repair people, builders, and other real estate related business people. Many would be happy to email you a short page about their business, with an image.

Example: Ask one home inspector to talk about Radon, and then you edit and use “radon” and “radon in YourTown” as key words. Do the same with another inspector, but make it mold or something else.

Take a break and think about all of the people you know who can write a short email to you about what they do pertaining to real estate. Then ask them. Promise a link back to their site, and I bet you’ll get some action. If they don’t have the time, ask if you can re-write or paraphrase one of their site pages.

To summarize, think of pages not as pages, but more as answers to questions, or bite-size chunks of very specific information with one or two key phrases. Arrange them in categories that are major pages, and then the individual subject pages as sub-pages. Then, get to writing or soliciting original content!

How many hands can they shake? How many meetings can they attend? What’s the cost to sponsor groups, and what’s the membership they impact? These are all questions that illustrate the limiting nature of personal involvement at the local level. Once you realize that Internet social and business networking is exactly the same, but leveraged dramatically, you can get really excited about it. After all, can someone in Oregon see what you’re doing in Florida? They can on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Let’s take a look at the two dominant networks, Facebook and LinkedIn, and at the facets of these sites that can have a positive impact on your website’s traffic, and ultimately bring you a great deal of business. Really, the positive aspects of these sites are exactly the same, though there are differences in how they’re accomplished and the makeup of the membership.

Facebook is more social, while LinkedIn is very business-to-business oriented. However, Facebook is showing very strong growth, and many business people are finding it to be an excellent resource. You’ll connect with far more consumers on Facebook than you will on LinkedIn. But, the business connections on LinkedIn can lead to referrals that leverage the value of the contacts.

• You place your personal and business profile up on these sites for all of the world to view. Accomplishments, awards, education, specialized training, and your business goals are all there if you want them to be. Visibility.
• In a few minutes time online, you can ask or answer questions, interacting with people from all parts of the country and the world. Your direct contacts have their own direct contacts, creating a possible sphere of influence far greater than any you could develop locally via personal interaction.
• A referral or recommendation is much easier, thus you can get more of them. Your direct contacts can recommend you to someone else with a few keystrokes, no letter or personal meeting required. They’ll be far more likely to do so. LinkedIn formalizes this process more than Facebook. On LinkedIn, there are formalized recommendation formats that can be keyed to your specific areas of expertise. What? Let’s say that you work both residential and commercial real estate. You can have those two segments of your profile, each with recommendations specific to that expertise.
• Both sites allow the sending of questions, but again, LinkeIn has formalized the process more. A question, once answered by all who are interested, can be closed out, and a Best Answer and Good Answer selected. The person who supplied that answer builds “expertise credit” in the category. In other words, if you are answering real estate related questions, Best and Good Answers get you more visibility in that category. That’s possible future business.
• While listings are all local, as that’s where the homes are that you service, buyers are world-wide. You can network locally for listings, but people moving into your area from afar have no way to know who you are unless they find you somehow. With almost 90% now using the Internet to search for real estate, these networks are one way in which they can locate you.
• Feed your site information to the networks with RSS feeds. Both of these sites have ways in which you can have your site content show up automatically once published. You write it once, and display it multiple places. It’s a personal form of the syndication that news organizations have used for many years.

An example of more focused networking is Active Rain. The real estate and mortgage professionals who participate on this site are able to share information, as well as refer business. Active Rain’s new Listing Router tool allows participating sites to receive leads from other Active Rain sites around the country.

These networking sites are powerful exposure tools, and you simply can’t overlook them in planning for the future. In all of your entries and interactions on these sites, you’re placing links back to your website, and when you can, to specific pages or posts that answer specific questions. This builds credibility, but also site traffic. And, it’s coming from sources that are real estate related, as that’s the way you’ve set up your profiles.

The real estate professional who wants an effective Internet presence should also be carefully following this mobile trend as well. Let’s expand our nomenclature to an “effective technology marketing presence.” It ties together the Internet with the mobile market via SMS text messaging and mobile web sites. There are already a number of major retail marketers using text messaging and mobile web sites to allow their customers to shop from their cell phones.

Ralph Lauren has a site specifically designed for selecting clothing from a cell phone (Polo Ralph Lauren goes mobile), placing an order, and having it shipped or picking it up at a retail location. Sears has also created a mobile shopping site. When you locate and purchase your item on your cell phone, you need only wait for the text message telling you that it’s ready to pick up at the chosen store location.

Yes, I agree that you can’t sell a home over a cell phone connection. But, you can facilitate mobile access to real estate information for the consumer. There are free and paid services available to allow a drive-by prospect to text in for home information using the text address on a yard sign rider. They are at their highest interest level sitting out at the curb. That’s when a text message with the details of price, bedrooms and features will have the most clout.

But, there’s more to do than that. With the iPhone, the Android phones coming out, and ever more Web friendly cell phone hardware, the average consumer will be able to access a live domain from in front of the home as well. Now it just gets better, with access to color photos and more detailed information than a text message can provide.

How does your website look if viewed from a mobile phone screen? Most are a complete disaster, as they just aren’t set up to be viewed in that very small screen format. And, the navigation is a horror as well. Or, there is an ad to access a real estate website with a mobile phone, but the domain address that must be typed in is just too long, so they don’t use it. So, what is a real estate professional to do to compete in the very near future when a high percentage of their prospects are demanding mobile access to information?

Work with professionals in web design, and particularly the real estate website field, to develop a mobile web presence that works along with your regular website to provide what the prospect wants, where they want it.It isn’t about everything being available, but there are certain portions of your site that would be of value to the mobile visitor.

Most people will be content with very in-depth research on their home or office computers. However, they will want some information to be readily available when they’re on the go. Particularly in the area of listing information when they’re driving around, you’ll want to be able to give that buyer prospect a quick information-fix. The impulse to learn more may be long gone by the time they get back to a computer.

There’s another facet to presenting a mobile presence effectively. With the average consumer becoming more technologically proficient every day, they appreciate the vendors, or Realtors, who are keeping pace. They’re far more likely to visit your regular site when they do return to their computer, just because they were impressed with your technological presentation of mobile info.

This isn’t an area in which you can “go it alone.”Consult with your real estate website company representatives. Begin to at least discuss a future mobile presence for your site. You’re ahead of the curve right now, but you know how fast things are moving. Get your mobile plan together soon.

Just entering the key phrase “real estate” into a Google search yields a whopping 594 Million results! In your area, county, or town, there are thousands of web search results related to real estate. They’re not going to drive by, so how do you stand out and get found? We all know that we need to continually work on SEO, and many pay to advertise with pay-per-click marketing. Those are fundamental and effective things we must do. But, what else can we do that’s cost effective and will bring us more site visitors?

Signage – Whether it’s yard signs, decals or magnetic vehicle signs, or our sign over the door of the business, they should all display your website address. They’ll remember it, and go home to see what you have to offer on your site. In today’s highly mobile world, phones are browsing the web, so they may visit your site from street-side.

Business Cards – You’ll find that your website address and email address are now more important than your phone number on your business cards. They don’t stop calling, but will go to your site for information that they’d rather get anonymously than with a phone call.

Printed Materials – This is everything in print about your company, and in your marketing. Your letterhead, signature blocks on email, newspaper ads, homes magazine ads, and promotional items. If it’s in print out there with your company name, then your web domain should be there as well.

Social and Business Networking – I’ve mentioned in other articles about writing content for your website that comes from questions asked by your prospects and clients. If one person asks, there are many on the Internet searching for that same answer. If you are doing this, then there’s another very valuable traffic generation tool right in front of you.

Many real estate professionals have recognized the value of the social and business network sites. They set up their profile and answer questions from consumers about real estate in their area. Too many of them miss an opportunity here though. Write the answer as a page on your site, or a post on your blog. Then, when you get a question on a social site to which that page pertains, place the link in the answer. You still answer the consumer’s question, but you add value with the link, and you get a new site visitor. It’s far better than just the generic link to your site with your answer, and they’re far more likely to click on it to learn more about the question they asked.

The networking is intense at ActiveRain. Real estate professionals discuss virtually every topic related to the business of real estate, serving customers, and marketing. Leads are referred the customary way through this network, however, with the addition of the new Listing Router tool, ActiveRain routes site visitors to local real estate professionals who participate. When a visitor to a site on one side of the country uses a special search function requesting information in an area on the other side of the country, a local participating ActiveRain member will get that visitor routed right to them.

Let’s talk about a few of these social and business sites and how you can use them to generate business and website traffic.

Myspace – This is the younger set, but many real estate professionals are making contact with first-time homebuyers here. As with any of these sites, don’t hover and attack if you see the words real estate or home buying in a post. Be there as a helpful resource, and don’t force yourself on other users.

Facebook – This site is growing very fast, and it is bringing in a great many business people as well as consumers. It’s a bridge from the social to the business community, and can be an excellent place to establish yourself as the real estate expert in your area. Again, the value of these sites is placing yourself out there to be found when someone has a need. Be responsive but not forceful. Your knowledge will be appreciated when it’s presented as helpful advice in response to their questions.

LinkedIn – Business is the main focus of this network. Comprised of industry groups, including several Realtor groups, LinkedIn is more for Business to Business networking. However, it’s one you don’t want to slight. Think about it. Referrals from other real estate professionals, mortgage brokers, title companies, inspectors and others can be cultivated with strong business relationships on this site.

Twitter – The short 160 or fewer character posts on Twitter started out to be just “here’s where I am or what I’m doing” posts. However, business is using Twitter quite effectively. If you have RSS feeds available from your website or blog, you can feed your site excerpts to Twitter with links back. Once set up, you don’t do anything extra for it to happen.

Those are the “big four” of networking, but there are other sites with more narrow focus. They all have some value, but you can decide which are the best to accomplish your goals.

Hits – This one has been around since the beginning, and you’ll still hear a great many people say things like “How do I get more hits on my website?” The truth is, you really shouldn’t look at hit count for any meaningful measure of what’s happening on your site.

A “hit” is a file sent to a browser by a web server. If you have text and 10 images on a page, the stats will record 11 hits for every time that page loads in a browser. That’s because each image is a hit. 20 images, 21 hits. As you can see, this doesn’t tell us anything valuable at all. So, hearing someone bragging about 20,000 hits a day doesn’t tell you how many visitors were there, or how many pages they viewed, only files downloaded.

Visits – Each time a user comes into a site, it is recorded as a visit. One user may visit a site several times in one day. In real estate, they may be coming in at different times of the day to search for listings. Obviously, the more visits your site gets, the more likely you are to generate business from it.

Visitors – There are a great many statistics measurement software and online solutions out there. But, they all definitely measure visitors, as this is a very important metric for your future success. Properly recorded, you’ll only show one visitor count if the same visitor enters the site several times that day. The site will attempt to track the IP address of the visitor, or set a cookie on their hard drive to uniquely identify that visitor and not count them twice in a day. Their visits will get counted, however. So, one visitor stat may yield multiple visit counts.

Your goal is to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization), various forms of marketing, and maybe some PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing to continue to increase your visitors over time. If you’re not growing the visitor count, you’re not going to generate more business from your website or blog.

Page Views – This is another very important measurement of how effective your site is, and how useful it is to your visitors. It counts the number of pages viewed, and most will give you an average page views/visit in their statistics. This tells you if your site visitors are finding their way around, as well as if they are locating other information from your navigation that they want to view. Another word for this is “stickiness.” Are they sticking around. You want lots of page views, and definitely a reasonable average per visit, indicating they are moving around in the site.

Another way some statistical tools report this is as “depth of visit.” How deep into the site did the visitor go? You can see a graph of the number of visitors that only viewed one page, and another with those who viewed 20 or more pages, as an example. Watching these statistics, and trying to improve on them, means that you want to create content that visitors want, and give them easy ways to locate it and navigate to it.

One thing we need to remember as real estate sites with IDX searches is that many repeat visitors will be coming back over and over directly to the search page. They bookmark it, search for a while, and they leave without moving around elsewhere in the site. So, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up if your average page views aren’t growing like we want, but our time on site is getting longer …see the next item.

Length of Visit – The statistics tool should also give you data as to how long visitors are staying on your site. Of course, the longer the better, as that means they’re finding what they want. As mentioned above, many of your repeat visitors may only come to the site to search for listings. They have bookmarked the IDX search page, and they never leave it on most visits. That’s OK. You’ll see that the time on site is excellent, meaning they like your search interface.

You should always be tracking your site’s performance with these statistics, no matter which analytical tool or software you choose. The goal is to grow the number of visitors, while increasing the time they stay and the number of pages they view. That’s how you build a loyal audience who eventually become leads and commissions.

So, what do we mean by online or social networking? It’s all about sending messages to one another in real time, and getting back responses quickly. But, it’s also about introductions. We introduce our contacts to others, and they can introduce us to their network. It becomes an ever-growing circle, encompassing more people who in some way keep up with what we are doing or saying.

A large part of these networking services is information retrieval as well. It isn’t just searching on Google, but also searching within a network for answers to questions, and sharing those answers with our circle of contacts. And, it seems that new services just keep popping up. The big names are:

• Twitter.com – This text and email communication tool has grown tremendously since it began. Leaving “tweets” as they are called, is placing short bits of information out via cell phone text message, RSS feeds or even voice to text conversion. It is used a lot to keep people who “follow” you posted as to where you are and what you’re doing.
• MySpace.com – More for the younger set, but infiltrating older age groups as well, this is a social networking site for exchanging information, sharing music and just about anything else two people would like to share online.
• Facebook.com – Facebook is a lot like MySpace, only for an older age group. It is also used to communicate over distance, send messages, and share information with a social network.
• LinkedIn.com – This is a business and professional network of the first order. It is set up with a resume profile, connections to others in your field, business or company, finding employment and making deals. With more than 10 million users, it is a great place for a business person to network.
• Industry Specific – An example for our purposes would be Trulia Voices. Trulia is a real estate search site. The Voices segment allows consumers to ask questions to be answered by real estate professionals. The questions are frequently area-specific, and you can sign up to receive notices of questions in your area.

As a real estate professional, you may just be getting a handle on a productive website or blog. And, thinking about signing up for and participating in multiple networking sites is the last thing you have time for. You’ll need to make the time, as this is the future of your business. Instead of spending hours every week going to meetings and community functions to shake 50 hands and make contacts, you could be meeting and connecting with thousands online in the same amount of time.

• Consider your immediate and current sphere of influence to be your 1st level connections.
• On these networks, your 1st level connections can and will introduce you to their’s, and you’re building 2nd level contacts, and so on.
• You soon make contact with consumers in the market to buy and sell real estate in your area. They use these forums to ask questions.
• At LinkedIn, you can network with title companies, real estate attorneys, other Realtors, movers, and other businesses that are real estate related.

There are some specific etiquette concerns when using these network resources. They may be free in most cases, but you shouldn’t abuse them. A recent example that was publicized was a home buyer who asked a question on Facebook. They received dozens of “USE ME!” emails and contacts from real estate agents. They were not amused. These weren’t productive answers to their question, but just hurled requests for attention, much like throwing a handful of business cards into a group of people.

Your goal in working within these network sites is much the same as it is in personal networking at the Rotary Club. Be friendly and around. When a real estate related question is asked, be there with a courteous and informative answer. Just keep doing it, and you’ll build relationships over time that will bring you business. And, when consumers on these sites start to recommend you to their online connections, you’ve dramatically expanded your sphere of influence without shaking a hand or attending a meeting.

Wait, you say! I work residential real estate, so I really don’t have a niche. Actually, you have several.

• Single family homes
• Townhomes
• Condominiums
• Foreclosures
• Investors
• First time buyers
• Neighborhoods, subdivisions or areas
• Relocations

You may not do all of these, but would you if you had the clients? And, each of these is a niche that can provide opportunities to create very focused content, with key phrases your competition isn’t targeting.

If you look at the traffic statistics for a real estate site with high traffic, you’ll be surprised at the search phrases that bring many of the visitors. It’s called the “long tail” of search. Much more than “yourtown real estate,” they’re coming in on phrases like (assume “yourtown” in front or in back of most of these):

• New homes for sale
• Foreclosure homes
• Condominium projects
• Condominiums in town
• Downtown condominiums
• Building codes and restrictions
• Subdivision locations
• Land use restrictions
• Homes for sale in
• Land for sale in
• Townhomes in downtown
• Single family homes in
• Home styles in
• Downtown condo covenants

There are a great many more, and you can even combine some of those into others. The point is that you can spend your time and effort in creating content that’s focused on these niche words and phrases. There will be far less competition, and you’ll do much better in the search engines. You don’t need a novel on these topics. Here are some example titles for SEO and short 300 or so word pages:

• Denver Downtown Condominium Projects
• Typical Denver Condominium Covenants
• Denver Condo Covenants to Beware Of
• Denver Condominium Sold Statistics
• Price Trends for Denver Condos
• Denver Downtown Condominiums Map
• Negotiating for Your New Denver Condo

There’s more, but you’re getting the idea. By developing short content pages with these titles and the key phrases in the page, you’ll be developing that niche with SEO, and your competition will be left behind in the long term.

We’ve only touched on the tip of the opportunity iceberg. Do the same for commercial, investors, foreclosures, short sales, and other specialty property types or types of transactions. Your site can develop several niches, each as a major page with sub-pages for each title and phrase. Why compete for the major words when you’re able to get first page search positions for the lesser-used key phrases?

Let’s talk about neighborhoods and subdivisions as a niche. Think of them as your farms, as this is a familiar concept in real estate marketing. Instead of post card farming a large subdivision, think of it as a sub-site on your website. It becomes a major page, with sub-pages for (again, subdivision name before or after phrases):

• Covenants and Restrictions
• Homes for Sale
• Condominiums for Sale
• Area Maps
• Business and Shopping
• Area Schools
• Area Churches
• Sold Property Statistics
• History and Development

Again, you get the idea. While hundreds of your fellow Realtors are fighting for major competitive key phrases, you can “work the fringes” for neighborhoods and subdivisions. You will get very targeted traffic, as there are searchers wanting information specific to these neighborhoods.

If you want your website to actually bring you business, working the niche property and transaction types can be your best tool. Just getting away from the normal real estate site plan will help. You know, the site with about a dozen pages, with these buttons on the home page:

• Search Listings
• About Me
• Buyer Information
• Seller Information
• My Listings

Take that site and compare it to one with some of these choices:

• The Denver Condo Scene
• Downtown Denver Living
• XYZ – A Subdivision in Demand
• Investing in Denver Area Real Estate
• The Denver Foreclosure Market

These pages can take you to sub-pages with very specific focus on things we’ve talked about in this article. Trying to put too much information into one page is poor SEO strategy. Besides, if a site visitor arrives at your site on a search for “downtown Denver condo covenants,” they’ll be thrilled to come to a page that has that as the only topic. That’s why Google and the other engines will give that page a good position as well.

First, if you’re not using some type of analytic or statistics software to track your site’s visitors and the pages they view, you may not even know where you need to concentrate for improvement. Once you know what’s going on, you can do what is necessary to make it better.

How many people are visiting your IDX search page? How long do they stay there, as searches usually make it one of the “stickiest” pages on your site? Few of us would deny that we need to improve these statistics. But, how do we do that?

When I visit real estate websites, one of the first things I look for on the home or main page is the navigation link or button(s) to get to the IDX search page.

• Where on the home page is it located?
• Is it “above the fold?” This means high enough that normal screens would not require scrolling down to see it.
• How prominent is it? Is it lost in a lot of clutter?
• What does the button or link say? Is it clear that they will find ALL of the local listings with that one click?
• Will they get to them with ONE click?
• Once they get to the IDX search page, what’s above the fold? They need to see quickly that they’ll find what they seek there.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the “prominence” thing on your home page. Though not related to IDX, how much of your precious screen space is taken up at the top by images or non-navigation items? Many people use notebook computers, and a lot of real estate sites waste up to a third of their usable screen space with images and things that serve no purpose and provide no value to the visitor. Choose a theme or template that provides good navigation that makes it easy to see where to click to locate what they want.

Where is your IDX search link or button in relation to the others? If your “About Me” button is higher, before the IDX button in the navigation structure, change it. Just get into the searchers’ shoes. How many do you think sit down at the computer and say “I’ll do a search to find out about a Realtor” versus doing a search to find homes? At some point, they’ll want to know about you. But that point will never come if they leave because they didn’t get to the IDX page easily.

Let’s put it plainly … your IDX page navigation button or link text should be the most prominent of all of your links or buttons. Their eyes need to move to it first. If you’re paying for clicks with a Pay-Per-Click PPC account, many experts will tell you to take them directly to the IDX page if that’s what your ad text and the search phrase were targeting.

Okay, we’ve managed to get them to our home page, and we get that click to the search page because our navigation makes our link for it the most prominent on the page. What then? Again, if you have too much header image space above the search entry area, they may have to scroll downward to do normal search criteria entry. Try not to create this situation. Web visitors are very quick to leave a page based on a few seconds of first impression. If it looks like they can do what they want easily, they’ll stay.

Survey after survey, the numbers just keep increasing for real estate prospect use of the Internet. And, they consistently state that their main goal is to search for listings. At some point, they will want to look at statistics, read about you, and even ask for a special report. But, none of those things will ever happen if they don’t find those listings first.

Another problem with promises of position is what key phrases the positions are showing for. It is relatively easy to get top positions for phrases or key words nobody uses in their searches. It’s like searching for your own name in Google. You’ll find that you show up right at the top, but who is searching for real estate in your area with your name?

The search engines are constantly changing their criteria and algorithms. They are getting better all the time at locating the most relevant content for the search term entered. Part of that is your site’s overall coverage of that term and related terms that they have identified. Google has created “related term” lists for “real estate.” They are secret, but likely include terms like title insurance, deeds, surveys, etc. Your site will begin to gain attention from the search engines over time with your content. That’s content about all kinds of topics related to your area and real estate. Write about:

• YourTown real estate
• Title insurance and binders
• Homeowner concerns and insurance
• Valuation of a home
• Land use regulations and building codes
• MLS home searches and how-to’s
• General area information
• Schools and government information
• The list goes on and on

What you want is an ever-growing body of content that is related to living in your area, and buying and selling real estate. Yes, it’s a lot of work. But, your future income from the Internet is dependent upon it. Remember though that your customer is the site visitor, not the search engine. So, all content should be written for that visitor, easy to read, and full of information. Then, just try to work in your key words and phrases in page titles and in the text. Remember, visitor first, search engines second. If you don’t do it this way, you may lure a visitor from a search, but they won’t stay long enough to become a commission.

If you agree that you need lots of quality content, where in the world will it all come from? You don’t have to write it all. You may not be able to or want to write any of it. Get an assistant with spelling and writing skills, hire a friend and give them your notes and ideas. Use freelancers from sites like eLance.com and Guru.com who are bidding to write real estate content. Those are all ways in which to get quality articles for your site. But, there are other ways, and they are free and you will do little or no work to get them!

Associations and Subdivisions — The average person is well aware of the value of Internet exposure, and subdivision or neighborhood association officers are no different. Especially if they have their own website, they are willing to write announcements articles about their association and neighborhood for you. The link back to their site is the lure, as well as spreading the word. Go out and network with them, offering to put up their articles, and to enter their announcements and events. They’ll email them to you for insertion.

Business owners and vendors — “ This is a great resource for you. How many movers, electricians, plumbers, home inspectors, furniture store owners, home repair people and others can you contact. Virtually anyone who has anything to do with the home is a great resource for articles for your site. They’ll write how-to’s and advice for your site visitors, and they’ll do it for a link to their site. If they don’t have a site, they will do it for a mention of their business, phone number and email address. These articles will be full of relevant key words for a real estate site. And, your visitors will get good homeowner information as well.

Local government personnel — One real estate professional gets weekly emails from the town Public Relations person. They are full of announcements, town meeting notes, area promotional material and more. The beauty of it is that they are not on any website, so it is original material. He emailed permission to put them in his blog, and they said yes and thank you! He gets original material weekly for just the time it takes to copy and paste it out of the email.

Reverse networking and content to boot — The same real estate broker goes to a business every couple of weeks and offers to do a short 30 second video of their business with a profile. The owner is happy to provide brochure material or even to write the text in exchange for this feature on the broker’s site. The chamber of commerce even announced this little service to their members! Using a free service, Animoto.com, the broker puts up snappy Hollywood production style videos like mini-commercials. The text is just more content. He also has met more business owners in a few months than he had in the two years prior!

See, it’s not a task you should fear. Get out and start generating content that doesn’t need to come from your fingers on the keyboard.