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2005 REALTOR® Website Survey

by Brandon Cornett

Premise
1. To conduct a broad survey of Realtor* personal-marketing websites.
2. To evaluate these sites based on the criteria listed below.
3. To publish these findings for the benefit of all Realtors with websites.

Methodology
Over a period of two months (April - May, 2005), I reviewed 255 Realtor's websites from 12 different companies / franchises, and spanning more than 30 states. These were personal marketing websites, not corporate or franchise “carbon-copy” sites.

These sites were built (or bought) by individual Realtors like yourself. Their common purpose was to educate prospects and, ultimately, persuade them to choose the site owner as their Realtor. In other words, these sites were designed to sell.

After each review, I made notes on how I thought the website performed in several key areas:

1. First impression (from a prospect's perspective).

2. Organization of content.

3. Persuasive power of content.

Though it wasn't my initial purpose, I soon found myself recording common “trouble spots.” I thought there would be value in pursuing this line. So I began making notes about areas that could easily be improved within each of the sites visited.

Then the counting began.

Percentages are rounded to the nearest half percentage point. (23.5% becomes 25%, and so on.)

What's the point of all this?
The point of this survey is not to say what's right or wrong with absolute authority. After all, web marketing isn't black and white, but a thousand shades of gray. What works for one website might fail miserably for another. It depends on the audience, the subject matter, the stage of the relationship between marketer and prospect, etc.

The only true way to find out if something works is to practice the three T's ... try it, test it and track it.

With that being said, there are certain “best practices” that work for the majority of websites a majority of the time — quality content, good organization and clean layout, to name a few.

I don't claim to be an all-knowing authority on website content. But I have been in this game long enough (personally and professionally) to offer a few pointers.

Here then are the top-ten pointers I would offer for the top-ten website mistakes:

Not Enough Content — 20% of surveyed sites
Some of the websites surveyed had little to not content, aside from the usual suspects (mortgage calculators, current interest rates, etc.).

There was nothing to welcome readers. Nothing to tell them what to do. Nothing to tell them what was available on the site (other than the navigation). In short, nothing to differentiate the website or the Realtor who owned it.

It's not that you have to write a novel. In fact, less is usually more on the web. But you have to say something to (A) stop the reader in his or her tracks, (B) briefly explain the value of your site and the information available on it, and (C) tell the reader what to do next. These are absolute minimums, not suggestions.

Why do you need to tell visitors what to do? Won't they figure it out on their own? Sure, some of them will. But clear instructions require very little effort to write. And even if that effort increases your response rates by 5%, hasn't it been worth your time?

Incidentally, the simple act of adding clear instructions / calls-to-action has been shown to increase response rates by as much as 500%. So is it worth your time? Better believe it!

Meaningless Graphics — 25% of surveyed sites
Here's a pop quiz. What does a hippopotamus have to do with real estate? Give up? So did I, when I encountered a purple hippo in the “Buyer's Resources” section of one particular website.

I looked around the page to see if there were other hippos that might support or explain the first. I clicked through to other pages to see if there was an overall animal theme happening. I even read the content on the page to see if the hippo's presence would be explained.

Did the hippo represent something? Was he (she?) the purple hippo of real estate expertise? Was it a mascot of sorts? Did it have something valuable to tell me about current interest rates?

Alas, nothing. Just a purple hippo ... alone and unexplained ... on a page about home buying.

This is just one example of the 25% of sites that had meaningless, unexplained, mystery graphics.

Now, if you happen to be the owner of that site with the purple hippo, please don't be offended. I'm not poking fun (well, okay, maybe a little). I'm trying to point out that such a graphic can distract your readers / visitors from what you really want them to do.

They might spend more time pondering the purple hippo than reading your well-crafted copy. In other words, the hippo's presence could be hurting your conversion rates.

Here are some out-of-place, unexplained graphics I encountered on other websites:

• A stock photo of a woman who appeared to be in a classroom taking a test. (On a “contact me” page of all places.)

• A stock photo — and a fuzzy one at that — of a man in a suit walking through a city intersection and speaking joyfully into his cell phone. (On a “seller's resources” page.)

• A forest. (On an “available homes” page. No, it wasn't a lot for sale. Just a forest.)

• A racecar. (On an ”about me” page. I assumed the site's owner was a racecar driver, or maybe just liked racecars.)

Web readers scan and skim for the information they need. If you draw their attention away from your content with meaningless graphics, you're giving them one more reason to click away and visit some other Realtor's website.

Use graphics to support your message. Use graphics to help your readers perform a task or comprehend information. Don't use graphics simply for the sake of using them.

Too Much “Love” — 25% of surveyed sites
There's nothing wrong with showing compassion toward a client. In fact, there's a genuine shortage of compassion in business these days.

But when you're speaking to anonymous web visitors about your “desire to share their deepest dreams with them” ... it's too much, too early. Here are some other lines I encountered:

• “I want the same exact things that you want.” [Actually, no, you don't. I want a nice house for a good price. You want to help me find one so you can earn a commission. Your prospects are not ignorant about your intentions.]

• “I want to share your dreams with you.” [Sorry, but that position is already filled by my wife. I need a knowledgeable Realtor, not somebody else to share my dreams with.]

• “I feel a deep, personal connection with all my clients.” [This one is downright unnerving.]

You get the picture.

Remember, you don't need to convince your prospects about your compassion. They will (or won't) learn that through your relationship with them. But the very definition of “prospects” means you don't yet have a relationship with them.

People shopping for a Realtor don't want to be loved. They want to be taken care of professionally. They want their financial best-interests looked out for. They want to make a profit (sellers) or make a solid investment (buyers).

Show them your compassion, don't tell them. Show them you care about them as clients by the things you do, not by the words you speak.

Broken Links — 30% of surveyed sites
Broken hyperlinks happen for several reasons: (A) The link points to a file (URL) that no longer exists. (B) The link points to a file that has moved. (C) An image on a web page is not properly referenced.

Regardless of why broken hyperlinks happen, you should make sure they don't find their way into your website. When you do find them, you should correct them immediately.

Broken links say a lot about your website, and none of it's good. They say...

• This is an amateur and unprofessional site.

• This site is not managed by anyone. (Known as the “ghost-town effect”)

• The owner of this site has no attention to detail.

• The owner of this site does not care about the site, so why should I care?

Obviously, you don't want your visitors to think any of these things. So conduct a daily walkthrough of your website — weekly at the least. Click all the links (especially those that link to off-site information, as this information may have been moved without your knowledge). Make sure all images display properly.

A daily review will only take you two or three minutes, depending on how large your website is. But no matter how long it takes, it's essential.

For a faster and more thorough approach, enter each of your web page URLs into the link checker at this site: www.validator.w3.org/checklink. It will perform an automated diagnostic check of the hyperlinks on each page.

Some of the “errors” the program returns will merely be recommendations. You can be the judge of that. But it's a quick way to check links for basic functionality — especially on larger sites with a lot of links and pages.

Clutter / Disorganization — 40% of surveyed sites
About 60% of the websites I visited had clear organization. From the home pages of these sites, I could tell at a glance what kind of information was available. But the other 40% had no clear structure or organization whatsoever.

I got the impression that these authors put new content wherever there was room for it, whether that was the best place for it or not. After clicking around, I eventually found sections I suspected might be there.

But it was only through a good deal of searching and assumption — two things a regular visitor would never do — that I was able to find my way.

No Instructions / No Call-To-Action — 55% of surveyed sites
Yes, it's true the Internet differs from traditional marketing media (such as magazines and direct mail). The Internet had been a communications and idea-sharing tool long before advertisers came along. And yes, it's true you need a slightly different mindset when selling your services online.

But a common thread between offline and online marketing is the need for a strong call to action. A surprising 55% of surveyed websites had no call to action (that I could see) on their home page. Even after clicking through to other pages, I had trouble finding anything that resembled a call to action.

You don't know what people are going to do when they reach your site. You don't know where they're going to click or what they're going to read first. But if you don't at least offer some road signs on what you want them to do, you have little hope of turning them into clients.

Visit your home page right now and ask yourself, “What am I steering my visitors toward? What action(s) am I asking them to take?” If you can't find anything that answers these fundamental questions, you might need to rethink your content.

Educational websites seek to inform readers. Marketing websites attempt to persuade readers. Effective marketing websites combine the two approaches. This combination is what I recommend to you. Provide quality information, but use it as a mechanism that drives the reader toward that critical phone call or email.

Low-Quality Headshot Photos — 55% of surveyed sites
Those of you who know me also know how I feel about the constant use of headshot photos. I don't see that they contribute much to your marketing efforts. But that's another survey entirely.

With that said, if you're going to use a headshot photo on your marketing pieces and website, at least use a quality photo. By “quality,” I mean a professional photo in professional attire using professional-grade graphic representation. In other words, a nice photo displayed properly.

At least 55% of the sites I looked at had photos that were overly compressed. This means they were probably opened, edited and re-saved many times. Editing and re-saving a photo (like you would do using Photoshop) usually results in over-compression and lost data. When you see a digital photo that looks blurry or “fuzzy,” over-compression is often to blame.

When you get a quality digital photo, mark the file with the word “original.” For instance: “headshot_original.jpg.” Don't ever modify and re-save your original. Over time, this results in too much compression and erodes the quality of your image.

If you want to crop, brighten or do anything else to the original, make a copy of it first. That way the original stays intact, and you can do whatever you want with the copy. You can shrink it, for instance, and save it as “headshot_small.jpg.” This leaves the “headshot_original” unchanged.

And when you need a high-quality version of your photo to do something else with, you always have the original, unaltered copy.

Over-compression was just one of the photo-quality issues I encountered. Poorly-scanned headshots, grainy photography, too dark, too light ... you name it.

It's an “attention to detail” thing. Having a low-quality photo is worse than having no photo at all. Think about it this way — real estate is a detail oriented business. If you don't take the time to oversee details like your own photo, what confidence does that give your prospect that you can handle their details ... their life-changing, finance-impacting details?

With the amount of competition you have as an agent or Realtor, you have to pay attention to the details. Always.

I also encountered a lot of high-resolution (print quality) headshot photos. One was a whopping 400dpi, the kind of resolution you would use for a glossy print magazine ... not a website.

High-resolution photos do not look any better on a monitor than their low-resolution (72dpi) web-worthy counterparts. They only take five times as long to download. Have you ever visited a website where the photos downloaded one line at a time, slow like molasses? Those are high-resolution photos.

One final word about the headshot photos. Please, oh please save the “Glamour Shot” photos for romantic occasions. They're not remotely business-like. Enough said.

Content Not Formatted for Web — 65% of surveyed sites
In the 20 years or so that the Internet has been a communications medium, certain things have been learned about how web users read websites.

Adhering to those guidelines means you're making your content as readable as possible to the largest number of readers. Ignoring those guidelines means you're limiting your readership.

• Limit the width of your text columns. The eye has trouble following wide columns of text on a monitor screen. Sites with a lot of content often use a three-column layout for this purpose (like this one). This puts a high amount of information on the page while enhancing the readability.

• Use plenty of meaningful (not clever or cute) headers and subheaders. This lets the reader skim down the page to preview the content.

• Use shorter sentences and paragraphs than you would in print. Notice how all the paragraphs in this report are four lines or less?

• Summarize your message within the first sentence or paragraph of your copy. In journalistic circles, this is known as the “inverted pyramid” writing style. It enhances long copy in any format — especially on the Web.

• Bullet points (like these) work wonders in breaking up website copy. Bullets help you capture the scanners and skimmers with your most important points. They also reduce eye-fatigue and make your copy more inviting overall.

If people can more easily read and comprehend a site, they're more likely to take the desired action — to sign up for your newsletter, to fill out a contact form, to pick up the phone and call.

No Way to Collect Email Addresses — 65% of surveyed sites
It surprised me that nearly 65% of surveyed sites had no way to capture the email addresses of visitors. If I were a Realtor, information capture would be the second-highest priority of my website. Generating a direct response from readers would be the first.

How do you capture this information? Newsletters work well, provided they offer something of value. You can offer plenty of reasons for someone to sign up: free home-buying or selling tips, market updates, the latest interest rates, information on area schools, etc.

Offer something — anything — that lets you capture their email address.

One of the interesting things about offering a newsletter through your website is the way it reveals how many people are (or aren't ) using your site. The day I posted my newsletter sign-up box, I immediately began getting subscribers. It was an exciting eye-opener.

More importantly, it revealed how many people had been visiting my site before the newsletter came along — visiting and then leaving, with no way for me to stay in touch.

If I had it to do over again, I would've had the newsletter ready the same day I launched the website. Yes, it's that important.

Not Enough Focus on the Reader — 75% of surveyed sites
“Enough about me ... let's talk about you.” That should be the mantra of real estate marketers. But most of the surveyed websites (just shy of 75%) looked more like online resumes than anything designed to help or motivate the reader.

The home pages of these sites had an “All About Me” nature to them. If I were a regular consumer (and not a researcher), I would have left these sites within the first three seconds. As a prospective client, I would've been insulted by how these sites showcased the Realtor's accolades while making me search for the information valuable to me.

This skewed focus — too much Realtor, not enough prospect — signifies one of the greatest obstacles I see in real estate personal marketing today. Fall prey to it, and you'll create a gulf between you and your prospects ... an irreconcilable difference between what your prospects want to hear and what you're inclined to tell them.

This inclination comes from a handed-down “we've always done it this way” mentality. It does not come from any tested and proven fundamentals, statistics or survey results.

In other words, Realtors perpetuate this watered-down form of marketing because they're taught to do so, not because it works for them.

Right about now, many readers (perhaps even yourself) will say, “But I do get results from my marketing. It's working just fine, thank you.”

Results, yes, but optimum results?

• If you've tested the “old school,” Realtor-focused methods against the value-driven, reader-focused methods that I propose — and you've found the older methods more effective — then I'll get down off my soapbox.

• If you can show me the test results that show how self-focus outperforms reader-focus, I'll eat my words without salt or pepper.

• But if you're marketing “in the blind” because you haven't tested anything, you have nothing to lose (and everything to gain) by trying something new.

Put your reader / prospect in the driver's seat. Ride shotgun for a change. See what happens.

To Republish This Article:

You are welcome to republish this article on your website when the following conditions have been met:

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  Brandon Cornett is the founder of www.ArmingYourFarming.com

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