Jim Flanagan of Flanagan Realty has a nice-looking Coldwell Banker site. But he sends along this question, which I’m passing on to the brilliant minds who read, write and comment here:
What does today’s real estate consumer want in (on) a real estate brokerage’s website? You may have answered this before but I have not been able to find the “list” on GOOGLE.
It’s an interesting question. Even if you have the secret sauce, how do you enhance that initial moment of engagement? Rephrased as a more metrical question, how do you cut the dreaded bounce rate?
Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing
Eric Bramlett says:
Why not put up a poll and ask the consumers what they want? You could put up different aspects of RE sites and ask them to choose the 3 most important things to them.
February 5, 2009 — 9:37 am
Eric Blackwell says:
I’ll take a stab at the metrical question…
Cutting the bounce rate occurs in two ways, either by making your content more interesting…or by limiting your visitors to those who are interested in watchya got on the page. 😉
I like the idea of asking readers as Bramlett suggests. I also like the idea of watching analytics and testing. Who is leaving your site and which exits are they leaving from…are they leaving through the door you want them to, after having been served? or are they leaving unsatisfied…I think analytics can be helpful in determining that in large measure.
Thoughts?
Eric
February 5, 2009 — 9:49 am
Jerry Robertson says:
Personally I have a comprehensive referral directory that my past clients and database use regularly. People call me to confirm a referral or recommendation so I still get to interact with them.
The vendors are glad I do this and they even send me referrals.
February 5, 2009 — 10:50 am
Budi Waluyo says:
It’s a simple question I never realize before. What people want from our site. My common achievement is giving various and wide information to the audience. That’s all
February 5, 2009 — 12:27 pm
Dylan Darling says:
Consumers want to search listings firt and browse content later. I’ve found that since I’ve made the Search The MLS and Request Foreclosure Listings buttons at the top of my content on my home page, my bounce rate has gone way down. Users request listings and/or search the mls first, then some of them will go deeper into the website.
February 5, 2009 — 2:49 pm
Eric Blackwell says:
@Dylan-
“since I’ve made the Search The MLS and Request Foreclosure Listings buttons at the top of my content on my home page, my bounce rate has gone way down.”
Ding. Ding. That’s a great start IMO. You’ve made it easy for them to get to what they want.
February 5, 2009 — 3:11 pm
Ryan Ward says:
Hmm,
I don’t want to start a fight between web 1.0 and 2.0 because both have merits – so for me, both are essential. Let me define 1.0 as listings, or, ecommerce (homes for sale) and 2.0 as blogging and various means of a more interactive and engaged medium.
Your mileage may vary, but, my experience is that listings are the internet equivilent of location, location, location. Like I said – your mileage may vary here, but, I have more than anectodal data that backs this up.
In my experience, there is not a close second. From here, you can check analytics data to make tweaks to the system – like what Dylan has done.
Maybe put this a different way. Consumers looking for real estate are most frequently going to be concerned with houses. We are secondary. Know that and you can find the ways to meet the immediate needs and use that information to demonstrate your value (you) when they look for the second most important thing (you).
February 5, 2009 — 5:53 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
Ask yourself what ~you~ are looking for when ~you~ are the consumer.
Forget real estate for a minute. If I am shopping for, say, a new car, what do I want to see?
Pricing, options, available colors, MPG … I’m not shopping for a dealership or salesperson at that point, but if I come across one that can accurately and intelligently answer any of my questions about the ~product~ … that dealership probably has made a sale….
February 5, 2009 — 6:47 pm
Karen Highland says:
It also depends on which customer you are trying to serve. I have a lot of community information on my website and I tend to get a lot of relocation buyers.
February 5, 2009 — 7:57 pm
James Boyer says:
What Cheryl had to say was spot on. At the point they are on a real estate website, they are not shopping for a Realtor, and most likely they are not thinking, sell a home, they are thinking buy a home. There are ways to get them to be sellers as well, but that is another can of worms.
February 5, 2009 — 8:04 pm
Jim Flanagan says:
Thank you all for your comments, suggestions and insights. I look forward to more and will keep you posted on the direction I take.
February 5, 2009 — 8:30 pm
Jessica Horton says:
Information. My visitors want to see listings and sales information – then they get around to reading about me and other stuff.
I have to disagree that sellers aren’t coming online. Recently, I quit (paused) posting stats and recently sold homes because I’ve been really busy. I got several “nasty” e-mails from sellers wanting to know what the deal was.
Sellers want information too. Are you giving it to them? We need to be the source of real estate information.
February 6, 2009 — 4:49 am
Jennifer K Giraldi says:
I agree with Karen. It depends on your niche. Some sites seem to target local residents where others target relocation. Your conent and site format will steer the types of leads your receive.
February 6, 2009 — 7:51 am
Judy Peterson says:
I think visitors to real estate websites want what we all want when we’re consumers. They want to define their own needs; to be listened to, respected and responded to. They need accurate information, property, neighborhoods, schools, pricing. They want to understand the process. Unfortunately, I don’t think that there are any Analytics that really measure “service” for real estate websites. Real estate service is an ongoing process of caring and meeting needs, not,”do you want the red widget or the blue widget?” IMHO
February 8, 2009 — 4:44 am
Barry Brickel says:
What do people want on a real estate web site? That is not the real question. What the real question should be is: What do people want on a real estate website that will yield the most leads. I have 4 websites the one with the lowest bounce rate yields the lowest # of leads. Are you really interested having visitors on your website reading your wonderful content and not filling out the registration page?
February 10, 2009 — 11:13 am
Ryan Ward says:
Oh no. Are we gonna debate registration vs. no registration?
February 10, 2009 — 11:37 am