Your Website Sucks! (and how to fix it)

by Steve O'Sullivan on September 22, 2009 · 0 comments

in Websites and Blogs

Part 1 of a Series

Lost on the Information SuperhighwayI recently finished teaching a series of classes for my office, Coldwell Banker Amaral and Associates, on websites, blogging and social media. I decided to share some of that information with you (Real Estate Agents in Brentwood, CA and any other Realtors® who might be interested) because a whole bunch of you are either; a) expecting results from bad websites, or b) have no web presence at all.

As a preface, there are lots of great blogs and websites out there giving lots of great advise and lessons on blogging and social media. But from where I’m sitting, most seem to be geared to the tech savvy agents, so I plan on giving some help to the beginners and the technology challenged.

That’s not to say I won’t throw in some intermediate and advanced posts. Hopefully, you’ll follow along, learn and embrace what I have to offer.

That being said, let’s get to business.

12 Reasons Why Your Website Sucks

  1. No one can find your website
  2. Your website is all about you
  3. You have no target market
  4. You have a cookie cutter website
  5. Your website isn’t unique
  6. Your headlines suck
  7. Your copy sucks
  8. Your IDX sucks
  9. You don’t get the prospect’s contact info
  10. Your website is static
  11. Your prospect can’t find what they are looking for
  12. Your website is old school

No one can find your website

There are many ways your prospects might find you on the web, but most people start looking by doing a search on Google (or some other search engine like Yahoo! or Bing or whatever). They type in a word or phrase like “Brentwood Ca Real Estate” and see what comes up. If you don’t have those words somewhere on your site, you won’t be found. It’s that simple. (It’s actually more complex than that, but let’s start slow, OK?)

So where should those words be? They could be in your domain name, in the title of your page or post, and/or in the text on the page. (I’ll interject some geek speak here, and I’ll cover these words in later posts.) Those words could also be found in your meta tags, like your title tag, page description and meta keywords.

Bottom line. Use descriptive words that help your prospects find your great information.

OK, that’s it for this time. Much more to come.

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Where Does Social Media Fit In Your Marketing Plan?

by Steve O'Sullivan on September 8, 2009 · 0 comments

in Social Media

There’s little doubt that social media has established itself as a cornerstone in the marketing mix of real estate agents and business owners alike.

Social Media Merketing ChartMost agree that it complements their other marketing efforts, and will become a standard part of their marketing tactics.

I happen to think that it will gradually replace email as the main way we communicate with clients and friends.

Why? Because as spammers continue to clog up our inboxes and make it more difficult to be sure our communications are being received, it makes sense that we move to a more reliable and protected way of touching our sphere of influence.

Keep in mind that this chart is based on information from December 2008, and I’ll bet the numbers have shifted more to the blue.

What do you think? Are you using social media for marketing and communicating with your audience?

Please share your experience with us by commenting below.

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Is Your Business A Part of the Social Media Revolution?

September 2, 2009

There are some (perhaps many) Real Estate Agents and small business owners who are still on the fence about using social media as a part of their marketing efforts. I suggest you watch this video and get a taste of reality.
Social Media (aka Web 2.0) is here to stay, and it’s a powerful opportunity to [...]

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