I've been pondering the idea of having a website, however I have no clue what I should include in it. I want it to be creative. If anyone has anything in your real estate website that your clients have commented on please do tell.

Thanks

Point 2 Agent has a great website. The base site is FREE!! Lots of pre-built content. Great back end tools. Great prospect management.

I pay $49.00/mo for the upgraded service and it is DEFINITELY worth it. Go to this like to sign up

http://www.joerealestatefw.com/ForAgentsRegistration.aspx?in=UIDIWP

Joe, do you get many leads from your point 2 website?

the thing I have against them is they're not creative and they're very limited with SEO tweaking. plus you have the same content that every one else on point 2 has.

If you are even kind of serious about real estate, you MUST have a website. You have a lot of catching up to do.
If you are looking for a great company for websites, use these guys. You will not be sorry.

Hey Guys,

I think I should re-state my question. I already have a graphic design artist thats going to make it for me, she's extremely creative and an amazing artist. I need ideas of what to put in my website. I have been in real estate for 5 years have had no problem with getting leads in regular marketing methods, I just want a place for my leads to go to learn more about me and to see my testimonials. I also want another venture to possibly pick up more leads. So back to my question ( is there anything in your website that your clients commented on which they thought was a great idea, or maybe something on your website that you think is vital?)

Once again thanks for all comments!

It depends on where you expect your traffic to come from. If you expect your traffic to come from search engines and web links - then all you really need is listings and/or access to the MLS - and some forms for visitors to fill out to contact you for home searches and evaluations.

If you expect your traffic to come from advertising you do locally in mailouts, newspapers, etc. - then you need all of the above plus whatever you are telling people in your advertising that you have on your website. eg. specialized information about the market areas, neighborhoods, info for buyers and sellers, etc.

Perky, Yes I get a lot of leads. I find that you can do a lot of changing to the website, you just need to know how. check out this website This is a p2a site. Very custom.

I had good placement on Yahoo (1st page) and then have slipped some since I have not changed my content recently. They also offer a blog and that helps a lot with seo.
Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

The question was essentially what do or did CLIENTS or LEADS like about a website. That seems to mean people that the poster has talked to, or is actively working with, ones he can direct to his website for further indoctrination, and NOT as an internet lead generator. The poster seems to be considering what I'd call a "vanity" website. Vastly different animal.

If you are working with buyers who've not yet decided on what they'd like to buy, offer a "members only" area where, after signing up, they can view listings on their own. From the sign-ups, you can send them market updates, your views on real estate, area pros/cons, etc. Things that are addressed to each member personally, so they think it is just them you are contacting. You'd be surprised how much they like that. Find ways to make them feel special, and you put yourself above the competition. Offer perhaps free screensavers that your graphic artist can render. Have a "people and their pets" area. Mostly all people have pets they love and love to talk about, share pictures and stories.

Basically, find ways to make people feel special and appreciated; while at the same time, indoctrinate them with why YOU are special in your field, and why people who've worked with you appreciate you. Tell stories about other people and their experiences. People love to read about other people. This takes time and thought, but it's worth it.

This might be your first mistake. This artist might be great at putting together a pretty site but if she is like most graphic artists she knows nothing about SEO and will make mistakes that are hard to fix after the fact. ie. Every site I have seen done by a graphic artist has had canonical domain issues.

Have your site done by a website SEO expert and then have the artist decorate it.

The most important thing for a website is content. Words. Text. Write anything and everything about real estate in your area.

I have to disagree with Bigtoe. I have worked with many designers who were both outstanding at SEO AND made my sites very easy to adapt to new technologies. You just have to make sure they understand what your goals are. If you have to, go ahead and tell them about all the "tips & tricks" you have up your sleeve. It won't hurt and they will probably be happy to do it your way.

Equity Manager - I stand by my statement. I just looked at your site and without going past the first page I see you have the canonical domain issues I was talking about.

A real estate website that does not go anywhere in the search engines is just a very expensive business card.

what the heck is a canonical domain issue?? sounds like a church parish not SEO.

http://www.seolc.com/glossary.php


Canonical URL
A canonical URL is the preferred internet address for a website. Frequently, two alternate URL's will access the same site: http://www.example.com and http://example.com. This can have a diluting effect on your search engine representation and PageRank. Thus, it is best to use a 301 redirect to force all visitors to one specific URL.

Basic SEO. If your website designer does not understand the basic fundimentals then they are not the ones to build the initial website. Bring in the designer afterwards.

Equity actually has 4 different urls pointing to his home page. When getting a webste built ask for referal sites and check out their placement in the search engines.

My recommendation would be to just follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines. They're pretty straight forward have actually have quite a bit of intrinsic value when it comes to SEO:

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769

Just be unique. I know thats a cliche, and really there aren't too many things you can do to be totally unique... but just do the opposite in most cases. If most real estate sites have a similar layout, go in another direction. Don't duplicate similar content found elsewhere. Offer something other sites do, however that may not be so ground breaking on a wider internet term. And listen to what people say in the forums!

I recently wrote a blog post on just this topic - that is, creating sticky content for your site...

Read it here:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/283862/1-Great-Content-Ideas

Minimally,

you need an MLS search, drip marketing campaign/lead capture form, your featured listings with lots of photos, and a blog

The most important thing to have on your website is words. Search engines and people read words. You need to have all of the info that you can come up with about real estate and real estate in your area. So do your research and start writing.

A website with too many words will detract from true visitors, though a website with too few faces a tougher time in the search engines.

Write natural content. Personally, I would likely create pages with this content:
- about me
- current listings
- around 6 months worth of sold listings
- historical prices/trends (a link to the local board statistics page, for example)
- some unique articles concerning buying and selling homes for potential clients.

Hi Sell Factor,

Of course you need a website, I would say 90% + of agents now operate with a website and to many it is the main source of business - where have you been for the past 8 years?

The best thing for you to do is to study and put some research into your main competitors and their websites, see what you like and what works well on their websites. Take a look in the major SE's to see sites that you like and work well, they are there for a reason.

A website is not something that you just put up in a day (even though I have done that!), it is best to get everything prepared before you even go to design.

Get a rough idea of what pages that you want up together, and an idea of what market you want to target.

Then the most important thing is finding a good designer which is best to go on recommendation as there are so many rogue web designers out there that promise you this, that and the other.

Why do people come to you to buy a property? Because you are a professional and you know what you are talking about, it's obviously the same with webs designers.

My website is as wordy as a website can get and I had 7 new leads yesterday 3 of which signed up for new listing notification. For a small town that's not to shabby. People actually do read the stuff.

There is a great article on RISMedia called 10 Must-Haves for Your Real Estate Web Site that was published on November 30th.

Here is the link http://rismedia.com/wp/2007-11-29/10-must-haves-for-your-real-estate-web-site/

The most simple solution would be to employ a good SEO company which is also into Web designing. They can just be the answer to all your questions!!

wow its so captivating, that i've ask a simple question and not one person was able to answer it. I'll put it in simple terms.... Have any of your clients commented on something in your website that THEY felt was helpful or creative.

Kindest Regards,

Mary-Lynn

Actually, your question was answered by a bunch of people but for some reason you need it spelled out. Here you go.

C-O-N-T-E-N-T

Keep it civil please

seo is fairly simple i just started over as I moved to a new market and I am starting to shoot up the rankings, i should be on the front page within about a month. If you need some help pm me

custom is the only way to go if you have point 2 agent or something alike your website will be just like every other agents.

Unique content and a lot of site promotion, especially SEO, will get you where you want to go. I like the advice that someone gave earlier, just do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and stand out from the crowd online, then don't hold back on putting marketing money into the site and you should be off and running.