Real Estate Website: What NOT to do

In looking for one real estate website this morning, I stumbled across another of a company with a similar name. But I found a lot more.

I suppose I stayed on the site so long simply because I wanted to see if it was the former website of the company I was searching for. And let me tell you, that wasn't easy. The site was built primarily in Flash, with items S-L-O-W-L-Y unveiling themselves on the home page. It took eight seconds before the company's name appeared. It took another three seconds before the main website picture showed up. And I have a fast Internet connection.

Once the name did appear, I found the company was located in New Jersey. Yet, the first photo I saw was a faint backdrop of running horses, followed by Flash graphics of grass, and then a large picture of a rolling pasture, complete with a laptop and picture of a sunflower on it.

For those of you who have been to New Jersey, can you please explain to me where to find the free, running horses, fields of grass, large, sprawling pastures and vibrant summer sunflowers? Needless to say, all of this caught my attention, but not for any good reasons (read: no company branding, and a complete disconnect with the area the company services).

I proceeded to search for homes...only the website's property search was difficult to locate as the fourth tab from the left in a line of six tabs. The first three, which were obviously FAR more important than the property search: "Our Company," "Our Agents" and "Featured Properties."

Usability tests have shown time and again that consumers visit real estate websites to search for listings, NOT to read about your company. You are in business to provide a service, not to tell people about your rich history. If you went through a drive-thru at McDonald's and found you were being overwhelmed with billboards of the store's history prior to being able to order a cheeseburger, you'd likely keep on driving straight to a competing restaurant. Only, the Internet provides instant gratification MUCH more quickly than a car, meaning your consumers will leave even faster.

Upon finally locating the property search tab, I found the property search was framed from the MLS. Not only is this (and the excessive Flash) awful for SEO, but it's also less than user-friendly.

I don't have many compliments for the website, but one of those was for the listing results page. It had an interactive map at the top showing the listings listed below. But upon clicking a listing, I found the primary call-to-action button, "Schedule a Showing," was located above the listing photo, which was located above the listing details. The visitor's eye typically goes first to the listing photo/s, then below it/them to listing details. By the time the visitor might decide she wants to request a showing, she's too far down the page to see the showing request tab, and has to conduct another search through the page she just looked at to locate it. This may only take seconds, but seconds are a lifetime when trying to capture a customer on a website as quick as possible.

In short, the website was visually compelling. The Flash looked nice, it caught your eye, and it was vibrant. But the features on the site add up to poor usability for consumers, poor placement for search engines, and poor company branding. Those are three of the most vital elements of any real estate website. Missing on all three accounts is inexcusable. I'd love to see the company's Web statistics, because I am confident they're less than desirable.

All this leads to one question: What is a real estate website if it can't capture the kind of business you're aiming to achieve online? Websites are built to function. They're created to give consumers the ability to search for homes. Real estate brokerages and agents would not pay for real estate magazine and newspaper ads convoluted with information about their company and no listings. Why create a website that gives the visitor the same feel?

In your search for a real estate website developer, make sure you're investing in a website that is usable, easy to search, has effective calls to action, and focuses on what visitors come to the website to see--listings. If you're not putting these elements first, you're spending money on a site that won't take full advantage of your online profitability potential.

HomesinColorado.com features new 'Browse Colorado Real Estate' feature

You might have searched for homes for sale. But have you seen this property search?

Delta Media Group recently built an easy property search drill-down option as part of our real estate SEO platform. This feature is currently testing on RE/MAX Alliance's HomesinColorado.com, a leading real estate website serving Denver homes for sale and Boulder homes for sale.

The link to the Colorado property search drill-down can be found in the left navigation of HomesinColorado.com, titled "Browse Real Estate." It directs Colorado home shoppers to a landing page featuring all Colorado counties RE/MAX Alliance has listings in, complete with direct links to property search results in each respective real estate market in those counties.

The first column of links goes to landing pages of Colorado real estate markets. The second links directly to Colorado homes for sale in the respective markets, and the third links to Colorado lots and land for sale in that market.

The real estate drill-down link is part of an SEO platform Delta Media Group began building last year to help real estate brokerages improve their online performance and search engine standings. It is aimed at Web usability, helping consumers best find the homes they are searching for and the markets they are interested in.

For more information, contact Delta Media Group.

RE/MAX Alliance is a paying real estate website and SEO customer of Delta Media Group.