I've never made one before so all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks! http://www.nwlocalhomes.com

Right off the bat, I do not like that thing talking to me. Nothing makes me scoot out of a website faster than that.

I know some people think it's cool but lots of people think it's annoying.

On a more positive note, it does look clean and tidy. You need more text though or you'll have a devil of a time getting found in search engines.

Instead of that virtual person, I would suggest putting a slide show of listings or that open house or something there that people will be looking for when they come to your site...trust me, they're not coming to have a cartoon guy talk to them.

I have site pal as well on my web site. I actually would like to have the customized versions. I also would like to have streaming video, podcasting, and blogging added to my site.

Anything you can do to look different is good I think. One thing I probably should do though is have site pal only talk the first they go to the page automatically.

The important thing is what do your customers think. Ask their opinion on the virtual guy.

http://www.JohnRHorton.com

lol as soon as i get some customers I'll be all over that cool. I wanted to get the site together before I started shouting it off the roof tops. Thanks Perky, I just thought that sitepal would make it memorable and it only plays that once but I can understand how it might put some off. So links aren't as good as paragraphs of text?

The little virtual guy is fine, it's quick and is not looped into playing over and over again. Sites with constant music playing I click right out of, even if I have the option to turn it off I find it annoying.

Yes you need more content on your site but content is endless because you also need to add fresh content to keep up with the search engines (hence blogs = fresh content). Content gets stale and falls out of favor with search engines. SEO is a pain, thats why I hired a marketing company with writers so they can write content for me and add it to the site.

gotcha. To this point my site is free, I don't want to pay until I get some money in my pocket. I don't know how to put a blog right onto my page so I idx my wordpress blog onto it. Not sure if it makes a difference.. eventually I figured it would be best to have someone make my webpage and have them keep it up 2 date with fresh content. All of that takes money though.

Kalib-
Nice to see a fellow P2A site.

If you log on to the P2A message board you will find
a ton of help to get your site tip top.

Your site needs quite a bit of work.
1.Switch to a Vertical Menu only.
2.Utilize all 15 pages.
3.Create an "About Me" menu button.

My P2A site has a Google PR of 3/10 in only
3 months! Look at it and see how I maxed it out. I will
soon get the paid site and 250 pages.

Tom

please explain.
1. why only vertical? This creates less room for my idx on the homepage.
2. Thanks, I thought I could only use 10 pages.
3. Why an about me? Who actually reads those?
4. How long does it take to get any pr at all? i'm at 0

Just curious and thanks for the help! As I said, first time with a web site

another question, is i have those same lifestyle and home development pages they give you with the site, doesn't it hurt to have the same info as everyone else though?

From what I have read it does hurt but I am no expert on this topic. I could be wrong.

The IDX does not need to be on your home page....Just add a MLS Search button, if they want to search they will.

ok thanks, do you know how long pr takes to get goin?

It all depends on your market, every market is different.

K20-
Vertical is the norm. It is familiar.
15 pages for the standard site-Don't put IDX on the homepage...
make it a menu item.
Pics help people complete the "story" of your site.
PR-Is a mystery
Tom

lol pr is a mystery. I just want people to come to my site without payin out the @$$. Just kind of a crapshoot? I got another question. What do you write about in your blogs? The more I use a certain word like my city name the better chance it comes up on search engine right? When writing a blog I see some people write articles and others write a short paragraph on something.. which one to do?

Yes, definitely get rid of the talking avatar. Such devices are effective, but you would make your website visitors more comfortable if you put up a picture of yourself with some play buttons underneath that plays a personal message from you. This looks like a generic, group real estate site to me (which may be the intention), but it could still use a personal touch. Who are you and your group? What types of homebuyers and sellers do you serve. What can you do better than anyone else out there? Those are the things that draw people to do business with you. Also, get rid of the animated monkey. It's cute, but remember, it takes a thousand of those guys to accidentally come up with Shakespeare. What can only one accomplish?

I hope this was helpful. My purpose isn't to offend, but to instruct.

Best,

James

Thanks so much for the help, all criticism is appreciated. Can't make a great site my first time. Got rid of the monkey and talking guy now. Changed my homepage a little bit. I have no clue about seo/pr works so I'm basically using the site as a helpful/referral site for people I meet/prospects to check out. Think it's ok to start putting on flyers, cards etc?

I noticed you are using meebo IM on you site. I added it to mine about a week ago and wondering how it is working out for you?

at this point I don't have anyone coming to my site so it's been very ineffective. Has it been good helpful to you?

Well my husband can IM me from work since he is not suppose to be using yahoo email. But other than that nothing yet. I have traffic but so far no one uses it.

Might be a waste of space then huh?

It might be...I want to give it some more time before I decide.

k20, since it's not taking up valuable space on your regular home page, I would leave it. Being on the Contact Me page makes sense and someone may very well use it.

Don't be discouraged though if people don't - they most likely aren't going to come to your site and want to chat with ya, they want to see what's there.

Go to statcounter.com if you do not have a web traffic analyzer, and install the code (really easy, just cut and paste) on your website. Then you can see how many people are visiting your site, how long they're staying, etc. I check our website on statcounter nearly every day. It's been helpful in deciding which pages to expand, and which ones to just forget about.

I also use statcounter.com and it's great seeing where everyone is coming from. When I run an ad in a paper for example I can see how many of my hits are coming from their online link. It's great to see if it is generating traffic.

It is great but I haven't got any hits from anywhere except people from agentsonline.. but I like statcounter. I'll keep meebo on my contact page, just not on my home page.

Well, your website is still new isn't it?

yes very true. I'm going to have to get some new cards with my website on them now. That will probably help!