by Stan Smith

You know something is wrong – but you just quite can’t put your finger on it. You visit other realtor’s websites and you have to admit to yourself that your website wouldn’t take the blue ribbon at the Miss Website USA pageant. If this is sounds like you – then this article will give you the tips you need to give your website a “Success Makeover”

Makeover Tip #1: Less is More!
The difference between a professional-looking website and an eyesore can be measured by the amount of fluff on the homepage. Websites that have flashy color schemes, blinking animation, and a grab-bag of fonts are quickly dismissed by web visitors as unprofessional and perhaps a little incompetent. However websites with subtle color schemes, consistent font usage and a clean, easy to understand layout are greeted with enthusiasm and trust by web visitors.

Here is what you should look for:
- Color Preferences o Select colors that convey professionalism, integrity, competence and trust. The colors that do the best job at doing this are blue, green, white, tan and maroon (avoid fire engine red it tends to excite rather than relax) o Colors to avoid would be: Black (too dark), Yellow (strains the eyes), Grey (too drab and institutional), and Purple (gaudy). Any colors that you are unsure of – discard. Your instincts are usually right.
- No Background Textures o Avoid putting watermarks, patterns or textures in the background. These designs tend to make the screen busy and hard to read. If your visitors have to strain to read your website – they will click away.
- Minimize the Use of Large Graphics on Your Homepage o Pictures slow the download time of your website. Studies show that you have 3-6 seconds to catch your visitor’s attention before they click away. You don’t want to waste this precious window of opportunity on flashy pictures or animation. The only pictures that I would put on your homepage would be your “Featured Homes” photos. These pictures are useful and are great attention grabbers. Just make sure that their file size is as small as you can get while still maintaining their quality.

Special Note:
This is a sensitive subject so I will be blunt and move on: Don’t put your picture on your website unless you have an absolutely great picture. Enough said.

Makeover Tip #2: Make Your Website Easy To Browse
Save the complicated navigation schemes and avant-garde link placements to the “Fashion” websites. Your website should be a lesson in simplicity. Here is what you should look for:
- Put your main navigation on the left-side of the page.

Here’s why: People have been trained to looking for navigation links on the left hand side o Left-hand navigation will definitely show up on the screen. Navigation placed on the right hand side can be clipped off the screen and links on the bottom may not show unless the user scrolls down. I strongly recommend that you use simple text links. While picture links may look cute, they are hard to update and sometimes are hard to understand. Again, the simpler the better.
- Divide your home page into three easily identifiable areas.

Here are the areas:
One area for Buyers – This section has everything that a home buyer would need to research a new home purchase

One area for Sellers – This section is the home sellers information “paradise” .

One area for “Featured Homes” – This section has the necessary photo eye-candy to get the home buyers dreaming about their new home purchase. It also shows prospective listers how well you market your homes. - Your homepage should link to the following pages:

About Me: Don’t make the mistake of putting your resume on the homepage. Frankly, new visitors to your website are not interested in you – yet. They want to get educated on the listings in your market. Once they have their information appetite satisfied they will focus on you.

MLS Listings: Create a nice neatly-laid out page for your MLS listings. I don’t put this information on the homepage because this information tends to overwhelm the first-time visitor who would like to get oriented before they plunge into the website. However make sure your link to your MLS listing is prominently displayed on your homepage. o Partner Links: Build another page that will showcase businesses to which you would like to send referrals. I will talk more about the hidden benefits of this link page in just a moment.

Makeover Tip #3:
Pack your website with information. Homebuyers and sellers are the most information-hungry consumers known to man. And for good reason, their home purchase will probably be the largest financial transaction they will ever make!

So the typical homebuyer spends weeks researching the details of the home buying process. But, if you would take a quick look at most realtors’ websites, they have little to no information on buying or selling a home! Most realtor websites are listing heavy and information light – a definite no-no. Let me tell you why an information-packed website does well:

- Search Engines Love Websites with Relevant and Helpful Information. Search engine designers put a great deal of pride on their search engine’s ability to give relevant and helpful results. As a result, they reward websites with lots of helpful information with high rankings in their search engine.

If your website is packed with free articles, tools, and tips – it will naturally do better on the search engines. If you would like to learn about some other proven search engine tips – check out our new eBook “Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed” at www.RealtorInternetTips.com - An info-packed website gets more repeat visitor. People will come to rely on your website for information and come back for more. And the more they come back the more chances you have to convert them into clients. You can learn more about how to create high-performing Real Estate Websites by enrolling in my Realtor Internet Tip Mini-Course – by sending a blank email to realtortips@getresponse.com

Makeover Tip #4:
Create A Referral Generating Links Page I teach in my book that generating a steady stream of online referrals is critical to putting your real estate business on auto-pilot. The best way to get online referrals is to create a Resource Link page. This page is simply a page that has links to other businesses that complement your own.

These companies could be:
Home inspectors
Home Appraisers
Title Companies
Mortgage Brokers
Landscaping Companies
Cleaning Services
Attorneys
Tax Accountants

These companies would love to have a link on your site and they would also be willing to put your site in their link page as well. All you have to do is ask! I’ve seen realtors generate dozens of hot-leads a week just by putting building and promoting their Resource Link page. Learn more about this at www.RealtorInternetTips.com

Makeover Tip #5:
Use PopUp Windows to Build Your Contact Database Wait! Before you run me out of town, let me tell you why your site should have at least one PopUp. First, to cut directly to the point – pop-up windows work! When used responsibly they can double the amount of leads you get from your website every day. I know that some people find them annoying, but I’ve often been submitted my name to receive information – as I was leaving the site. I didn’t feel annoyed, I felt good that I could quickly and easily get information that I felt was valuable. Guess what? Many of your site’s visitors will fill the same way. Imagine that they’ve spend 15-20 minutes at your site reading and collecting information.

As they leave, a popup window appears letting them know that they can receive a mini-course on how to successfully sell their home. Do you think they will be annoyed? Absolutely not!. Remember, people get annoyed with popup windows that have nothing to do with the reason they are at the site. For example, if I am at a parenting site learning about child development, and a popup window selling discount oil changes appears – I will be annoyed. If a popup window providing a free child development chart appears – I am grateful. So I suggest that you find or create a piece of information that you can give away (if you need some ideas check out www.RealtorInternetTips.com/articles.htm ).

In return, ask the visitor to submit their first name and email address. Use this information to send them their free information – and stay in contact with them. Realtors who use this popup window technique quickly fill their contact database with email addresses of warm to hot leads. They then use this information to stay in-touch with the lead until they are ready to buy; A great way to convert site visitors into clients. By the way, don’t worry if you don’t know how to create popup windows. We’ve provided a list of resources that you can use on www.RealtorInternetTips.com/articles/popup.htm

About the Author:
Stan Smith is the Author of Master Realtor Internet Secrets Revealed! a comprehensive guide that teaches real estate professionals how to build and market lead -generating Real Estate web sites. Click here for more information on this ground-breaking online success guide – written exclusively for real estate professionals. Check it out at www.RealtorInternetTips.com