The website is certainly pleasing to the eye with a mix of warm graphics and Arizona luxury home photographs. The real power of the site is in its showcasing of the different North Scottsdale communities. Property and community information are easily accessible via a map on the website or by clicking the neighborhood of your choice through the community selector.

The home page also features a Quick Search for easy MLS browsing, along with an additional choice of viewing specific lifestyle homes. Participating realtors can be found in the North Scottsdale’s Finest Agents section in case the visitor was looking for quality representation.

Having observed and worked with Google now for at least a decade, this is a big deal. Not so much because Google has been reticent in making changes to their search page, but because it highlights a small victory for left-side navigation.

In the area of website design, we encounter lots of opinions and preferences for different layouts and site navigation styles. We try to develop what is best for users working off of some core principles for website design like Eyetrack studies and other research.

Alternative navigation strategies abound on the Internet. You have different varieties of top nav, right-side nav, and embedded navigation styles to go along with left-side navigation.

The fact that Google has elected to go with a left-side navigation format on their new search page is a profound development. The main reason being that Google doesn’t make a major move like this without extensive testing and research. If tried and true Google, who has managed to dominate the search landscape with one of the most simple search page designs in history, made the judgment call to go with left-side navigation, then I am willing to accept that all of the prior testing and research they did points to this being the best option.

The lead capture present in the site is very strong. The Quick Search box on the home page, along with an option for homeseekers, instantly puts the information home searchers want in their hands. Searching for Hawaii homes for sale is easy using the advanced search provided. And if the visitor prefers a more visual style of browsing listings, they can engage an interactive map search to locate Hawaii properties that meet their preferences.

Consider changing to a service provider that can place you higher in the rankings of search engine results. Granted, it doesn’t come for free or necessarily cheap, but it is absolutely crucial to drawing in visitors and potential leads. People should be able to find you on the first page or two of results, otherwise they’re unlikely to ever know anything about you!

Once you have a healthy stream of traffic coming to your site you still might not be getting the results you want then you have to first look at how you are getting information from visitors. Do you require them to give their information before they are allowed to use the features featured on your site? Do you let them decide whether or not they will give you their contact information?

There are two ways of going about retrieving visitor information. One way of looking at it is that if they are unwilling to provide you with information before they use the online services you provide, then there is little to no reason why they would after gaining access to it. The other way of thinking about it is that people will only give up that information voluntarily and will feel uneasy about giving it if they are forced to. In most cases, the second way is the correct school of thought.

The first thing you have to do is to set yourself apart from the rest of the Realtor websites. There are many real estate agent templates available to use, and odds are that you are using one yourself. Nothing is wrong with using what is already made and ready to use, after all it is probably best to use what’s tried and proven to work. But there is definite room for customization, and that’s what you must take advantage of to set yourself apart.

To appeal to those unfamiliar with the region, give a well-rounded description of the neighborhoods you work in. Those who are new or out of the area will appreciate them. Take advantage of these descriptions and work with local businesses to give coupons and discount in exchange for you advertising them in your neighborhood overviews.

Of course, you still need to give all the information your visitors will expect, such as listing information and prices, along with a great deal of photos and even online virtual tours with video. Combine this with the above mentioned tactics and you will have a winning web site. Your site’s visitors will be satisfied with the detailed neighborhood descriptions and they will be more willing to give you their contact information.

This real estate professional has even gone one extra step and attempted to promote the website online. They run banner ads in prominent places for real estate seekers and are even conducting Google Adwords pay-per-click campaigns to generate web site traffic.

They have done all of the above, and yet, have received no leads. It just doesn’t seem fair.

When a client relays a story similar to that described above, I immediately take a look at their website and review three things:

1. Are they maximizing lead capture methods?
2. Are they properly leveraging a property search on their website?
3. Do they use a variety of lead capture forms throughout the site?

Generating Leads

We know from previous lessons, that the role of a real estate website has changed. The current primary function of a real estate website is to serve as a prospecting tool. Therefore, the primary goal of any realtor web site is to generate leads.

In generating leads, there are a couple things to keep in mind. First, generating leads is more of a process of information gathering than it is of direct selling. This is in contrast to straight selling like you see on e-commerce websites. When pushing traffic to your website, the focus should be on funneling that traffic through lead capture methods to convert the visitors into prospects.

A successful website visit is one in which a visitor provides you with prospect information. In the least, you are shooting for a customer name and email address. You may also get a phone number, or even better, the prospect may call you directly. Point being that you want to use your website as a prospecting tool to begin building a subscriber base of prospects that you can then work into your client pipeline.

Leverage A Property Search

Lesson two discussed in detail the importance of an IDX property search to your real estate website. MLS listings are exclusive and privileged professional information. Access to this information is what truly distinguishes you as a real estate professional. In addition, when prospects surf the web, their primary reason for visiting a real estate website is to search for property.

Knowing these things, it is essential that you leverage the property search on your website to gain as much information as possible from potential prospects. It’s not enough just to offer the listing information. IDX information should be embedded with methods of lead capture that encourage visitors to become leads.

For an example of some lead capture ideas that should be integrated in your IDX, conduct a property search in Scottsdale on the Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty website. Upon the initial page load of listing results, you can see options to “Create a FREE Account” and “Save This Listing.” Both of these are integrated methods of lead capture encouraging visitors to give their information.

The image above is a good example of nesting lead capture within listing information. Visitors to the website want to see listing information above everything else. So by surrounding this information with lead capture methods, opportunities for lead conversion are created. All of the lead capture methods are indicated by yellow checkmarks. This one listing detail features seven methods of lead capture.

Lead Capture Forms

Your property search will carry the load of generating most of your website leads. However, you can use additional content like lead capture forms to prompt visitors to give their lead information. The advantage of lead capture forms is two-fold: a) they are an additional opportunity to meet a prospect need and b) they add more content to your website.

Lead capture forms provide a great way to meet different prospect needs. Most visitors will be visiting the website to use the property search. But there are still a small handful of other visitors that may be looking to list a property or get local information. Lead capture forms are perfect for addressing the needs of these varying prospect opportunities.

I recommend to clients that they add a lead capture form to every page on their website. Regardless of what the page content is about, from a marketing perspective, every type of content is an opportunity to ask for lead information. Lead capture forms are a great way to integrate these methods into the content itself. Even a page of testimonials provides a great opportunity to pitch your services and ask for prospect information.

Here are some ideas for lead capture forms to use on your website:

• Free Home Evaluation
• Property Request
• List Your Home
• Local Market Snapshot
• Hot Foreclosure Deals
• Real Estate Newsletter
• Real Estate Reports
• Buyer Request
• Seller Request
• FSBO Tips

Just thinking about your services and what you can offer to clients can yield additional ideas for lead capture forms on your website.

To sum up, lead capture is pivotal to the success of your real estate website as a prospecting tool. There is no better way to generate website leads and fill your prospect pipeline than through the maximization of lead capture methods, whether integrated throughout your IDX or leveraged through lead capture forms on your website.

The next lesson discusses how to make your website king of the Internet forest so be sure to check it out.

A Featured Properties flash slideshow does a great job of showcasing current broker listings. A Realty Times Newsletter block takes a visitor to streaming video content.

Their Arizona Real Estate Buyer and Seller Learning Center provides some really good unique and sticky content for visitors.

Overall, a very well composed and Web 2.0 strong real estate website that efficiently serves prospects the information they need to know.

The idea that “the user should come first” when making decisions about site layout and content is so often stated that it can sound like an empty platitude. However, the message needs to ring true and really hit home. If you want your website to last, if you really want your website business to grow, then design your real estate website for people and do your best to make their user experience a happy one.

Of course, we have heard this mantra countless times and I can already see readers nodding more out of fatigue than approval. However, the sentiment really does need to be taken seriously. Why? The answer is because the future of the web is constantly evolving around the user experience. Attend to that experience and you will establish an edge that will keep your website on the forefront of your market.

What prompted me to write this article were some interviews I read on the Business Week website. Business Week did a short series of interviews with 5 of the major players at Google; Amit Singhal, Eric Schmidt, Udi Manber, Scott Huffman and Matt Cutts. Each of these individuals play pivotal roles in development and innovation with the company.

While each individual has a different role in the company, the primary purpose was the same for all. All were working to better understand the psychology of the web user and to create the best possible experience for them.

Amit Singhal’s efforts are directed at improving the user interface and constantly running experiments to test innovations. Eric Schmidt favors data openness “because we think that works best for the users.” Udi Manber has a special litmus test for his team when he says the “main measure is whether we help people and give them what they need.”

“We try to measure every possible which way we can think of how good is Google, how good are our search results, how well are they serving our users.” That is from the mouth of Scott Huffman.

And then there is Matt Cutts who defended Google’s methodology in his interview “because I feel like we wake up every day and work really, really hard to return the best-quality search results, and we’re fighting every day to do the best thing for our users.”

Now many webmasters are constantly spinning their wheels to rank for this and rank for that. They are watching the metrics, tracking the numbers, counting the leads they receive one by one. This is all well and good. Honestly, it is. But this pursuit should never lose sight of what is really important, the end user experience.

Yes, the statement “build websites for people, not search engines” does sound like an empty platitude these days. But in my opinion, it is a proverb that should not be taken lightly. If the seriousness with which Google takes the user experience is any indication, the future of the Internet is not simply in the next big app, marketing buzz trip, or other short-lived fad. Rather, the future is in the user and how they interact with the information and tools available to them.

Do you know your users as well as you should? Does your website give them what they need? Those two questions are a good starting point for delving into the psychology of your website visitors. Keep producing that website content for people, not search engines. And always keep in mind that the user comes first.

It makes perfect sense really. As a realtor you have special access to privileged information about the housing market. Specifically, that information is the inventory of available property listings. To make your website a true real estate business success you must leverage that privileged listing information and maximize its potential.

Think of your website as an online store. Your online store can only meet the needs of your visitors if it is stocked with merchandise that they want. As a realtor, that merchandise is property listings, news about the current market, and buying and selling information. For the most part, homeseekers only seek out a realtor website for one main reason and that is to search for property. This is true 92% of the time. Failure to provide a property search to your visitors is tantamount to opening an online store with no products on the shelves.

What is IDX?

Property searches can take many different forms. What form they take is largely dependent on your Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and web hosting company. The MLS plays the major role in what kind of property search you can make available to your clients. Since a property search is compiled from the data they provide, an MLS sets the rules and regulations on how that data can be disseminated and displayed. Some MLSs are more restrictive than others, and it is these restrictions that will determine what kind of IDX property search you ultimately receive.

The acronym IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange. Internet data exchange refers to a reciprocal data sharing agreement between an MLS and real estate brokers and vendors. The agreement consists of protocols for how the MLS data will be shared and transmitted. The Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS) is currently the most popular form of IDX data transmission. The agreement covers the limit to which this information can be broadcast and who can market the data in public spaces. The IDX agreement also comprises how search data will be formatted and displayed. IDX data can be distributed by the MLS itself, its members, or by vendors such as web hosting companies.

Ordinarily, IDX searches are provided in two main styles. One style is framed and the other style is unframed. As a default, most MLSs offer some form of a framed search to their realtor members and the general public. This type of MLS search is better than nothing, and in the arena of real estate marketing, beggars can’t be choosers. However, there are severe limitations to most framed property searches.

The most profound limitation and drawback is that most framed searches do not feature any form of lead capture or broker/realtor specific lead generation. Considering that you are leveraging the search data to generate leads, the absence of any lead capture is a total disaster. There are workarounds that realtors can implement on their websites to overcome this major deficiency of most framed searches. Look for me to discuss these workaround options in a later article.

Another major drawback to framed searches is that you have no control over what property data is displayed to the user and how that data is presented. The MLS or vendor decides what information to include and how this information will look. This can lead to endless frustration for realtors with a branded website because the colors of the framed search may or may not match their color scheme and theme. Additionally, not being able to manipulate what listing data is available can be a serious problem. Some realtors prefer for their clients to be able to see the physical addresses of properties they find. Other realtors do not. Regardless of what may be preferred, the decision in a framed search is made for them.

The best case scenario for IDX is an unframed IDX search where an MLS is reasonably flexible and has very few formatting restrictions. Fewer formatting restrictions means that a vendor, such as a web hosting company, has relative freedom to make the IDX the best it can be by using their programming and editorial resources.

All IDX searches are not created equal. Certain real estate web hosting vendors are better than others at building an IDX search that is optimized for prospecting purposes. I have yet to see an IDX better than that offered by Superlative in their Version 6 product. The Superlative Mapping IDX solution looks phenomenal, has lead capture integrated throughout, as well as a complete back-end lead management system. To top it all off, their IDX is fully customizable! Realtor and broker clients can include or omit whatever search fields they desire and specifically choose how the search results are displayed.

Which Website Would You Prefer?
Listed below are some current realtor websites that are live on the Internet today. These sites were selected based on their differences in property search content. Click the corresponding links to each site and try to view them from the perspective of an ordinary web surfer looking to search for available real estate.
No IDX Search	Framed IDX Search	Unframed IDX

Tips For Spotting A Good IDX Search

It wasn’t that long ago (approximately four years) that a real estate web site wasn’t expected to be much more than an extension of an agent’s marketing portfolio. Not long ago, a successful realtor website was simply one that looked great and impressed visitors. Times have changed dramatically and now a realty web site is expected to serve as a primary prospecting tool. As I mentioned above, the key to online prospecting and lead generation success for real estate professionals is leveraging the property search. An unframed MLS search is preferred.

This, of course, begs the question: What is a good IDX search? The following are a few key elements to look for when making a decision on what IDX is best for your business:

1. Easy To Use Navigation: Visiting prospects should be able to intuitively navigate through the property search with ease. Don’t give your potential clients a headache because they can’t easily find the MLS search on your site and then use the search to get the information they want.
2. Lead Capture Integrated Throughout: The whole point of the website is to build your business and generate leads. Make sure the IDX you use can facilitate business growth. Lead capture methods are automated processes built into the IDX that gather information from visitors. When the visitors provide the requested information, the info is then forwarded to you as a lead. Lead capture methods warrant an entire training course of their own, but some examples for IDX include saving a custom search, saving a property listing, and requesting to receive property updates.
3. State Of The Art Display: Like products in a store, the actual property display should look as impressive as possible. Flexibility and options for changing the presentation of displayed listings is always preferred. The best IDX currently available actually allows you to customize the search criteria that is queried by prospects.
4. Additional Features And Services: Actual listing data is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a property listing. Good IDX will also feature virtual tours (if available) and automated services like scheduling a showing or emailing a listing to a friend. Another big key is that the listing information be displayed in such a way that it looks like your own. Generating leads for your broker, or worse, your competition!, is never good. Good IDX prominently displays your contact information on all listings while properly adhering to MLS rules and regulations.

That’s it for this treatment of IDX. We’re going to keep on rolling in the next lesson and delve further into the tactics of lead capture. Missing that lesson could actually cost you potential business so be sure to check it out!

Featuring services for Tucson and Southern Arizona Real Estate, Realty Executive Southern Arizona’s GoTucson.com website provides all the necessities, and a little bit more, with an Arizona flair.

Website visitors can instantly search for property using the Quick Search prominently displayed on the home page. If they would prefer to roam and explore, there is also a Tucson property map search option available.

The REI Southern Arizona folks have also befriended social media promoting video property tours accessible through YouTube as well as maintaining a blog.

In total, the website is a unique success of form and function that successfully immerses the visitor in everything Southern Arizona.

If you’re lucky, you have a whopping 8 seconds to make your first impression online stick. That’s not 8 minutes mind you, that’s seconds and only if you are lucky. Because you’re website is under the gun to perform, your site needs to already have the elements in place that will persuade a visitor to stay. The following are some tips to help make that happen while looking sharp in the process.

Feature A Professional Eye-Catching Home Page Design

Of course, the best way to make a good first impression is to look like a professional. Your web site’s home page should be top notch and feature current design techniques that are popular and en vogue. Limited use of animation is a great idea to catch a visitor’s eyeballs. I say limited for a reason. It’s very easy to overdo animation on a page. There is no exact formula to help you decide on how much animation to use. Whatever your final editorial decision, be sure that the animation only serves to accent the page or create a more interactive experience.

Too much animation can actually hurt your business. An all flash animated page, while good looking, is unreadable by the search engines and can radically limit the depth to which your web site is indexed for search engine searches, that’s assuming the site gets crawled at all. Too much animation can also cause slower page load times which eat into the precious 20 seconds of time available to hook that visitor. Don’t assume that anyone has the patience to wait for a long page load time just because the design looks good.

Currently, flash animation is the most popular among website designers. CSS, Javascript and Dynamic HTML are also methods of employing animation to serve your home page needs. All of the previously mentioned methods have the potential to really enhance the visitor experience of your home page when used in moderation. When these elements are working properly on a page, they not only attract a visitor’s attention, but they also encourage them to explore further.

Websites have become a marketing staple now for the real estate industry. This is good for realtors because it gives them the opportunity to benefit from the massive amounts of prospects that flock to the Internet on a daily basis. However, the website can also present a challenge for realtors because their competition can be stiff. Every edge you can gain is a feather in your cap, and a prospect’s experience starts with a strong home page.

Be sure to use a professional company or consultant for your website design and hosting. Just because your nephew knows how to surf the Internet better than you do, and does more with his computer than check email, doesn’t make him an Internet professional. This also goes for your neighbor or friend who dabbles in web design. Trust your site design to a company that has a proven track record of serving realtors just like yourself. If you fail to do this, your site will not only look unprofessional, but it will also lack many of the key strategic content elements needed to make it a rousing success for your real estate business.

To really set yourself apart, your web site’s home page should be a reflection of your unique way of doing business. If you have an established brand that you have been using in your offline marketing, then that branding should be integrated into your online marketing as well. If you don’t already have an established brand, then your web site is the perfect place to start one.

A brand is largely understood to be a distinctive product, service or concept that sets you apart from your competition. As a realtor, your product is your service so it would benefit you to really identify how your service is different and establish a branded solution on that basis. Develop a strategy for expressing this difference in service that includes choosing distinct colors and features for your business.

The ultimate goal is to create a synergy between your offline and online marketing. Ideally, a prospect’s marketing experience should be consistent and similar, whether they are viewing an open house flyer or your home page. If successful, your branding will not only raise awareness about your real estate services and make them more recognizable, but it will also make your prospects more comfortable and trust you enough to take the next step.

Give Visitors What They Want, Quickly and Easily

Navigation is a crucial element of web design. You can have the most beautiful home page in the world, but if your visitors can’t find what they want and figure out where to go, then your 8 seconds of opportunity to hook them will be for naught. Being a realtor, the most important service or feature you can provide on your website is the property search. We will go into more detail on what makes a good property search in a later lesson. Let it be enough for our purposes in this lesson to know that the property search is the primary reason visitors will be taking the time to seek you out.

Knowing that bit of information obviously makes it key for you to feature the property search prominently on your home page. There are marketing studies like Eyetrack III that clearly reveal how people read. In a previous eyetracking study by Eyetrack, it was learned that the hot zones for visitor eyeballs are clearly locked into the top left portion of a web page. The diagram to the right is a rough summary of the Eyetrack results. The diagram is based on an ordinary web page’s viewable space broken up into three zones of importance for a visitor viewing the screen. Priority 1 is interpreted to be the most important content with zones 2 and 3 following suit.

If the top left portion of the page is where your clients are looking, then you need to feature the services they want in that spot. Additionally, any other special features or services you offer should find a home in that portion of your home page as well.

So now you know where to place the key features of your home page. You also need to make the other important services and features that you offer easily accessible to your clients. That means that other services, like a free home evaluation form, need to be available on the home page navigation. Don’t bury these items deep in your site hoping a visitor will find them. These services should be plainly visible and accessible. That means they shouldn’t be more than two clicks away from a visitor if you want them to be effective.

Let’s review the major points of what we just discussed above:

• First impressions are everything and this is never more true than in the online world
• Make sure your home page design is impressive enough to get your visitors’ attention and make you look like a pro
• Brand your website to reflect your unique way of doing business
• Give visitors what they want as quickly and easily as possible
• Put what visitors want in the hot zones of your home page where they will be looking for them

You keep the five main points above in mind when crafting your website design and your visitors will thank you with added business and positive word of mouth.

Keep a sharp eye out for the next lesson. In that lesson, we will get more technical and talk about the most important element of any real estate website.