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Old 03-02-2008, 07:01 PM
 
Location: Chaos Central
1,122 posts, read 4,099,030 times
Reputation: 902

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comments from a someone who's spent some time designing/creating websites as well as spending countless happy hours cruising RE websites looking for a home to buy

IMHO, the best websites in this thread have an attractive opening page with minimum of clutter. What do you tell your sellers? Declutter!!!!
I realize some of you are using company web templates with multiple fonts in multiple colors in multiple sizes with crawlers and flashing boxes, etc. --- ugh. That's the equivalent of trying to market a house built and furnished by an amateur committee of 100. In this case I'd advise ditching the company template and getting your own website through your internet provider.

Look at other websites to get an idea of the most legible and attractive fonts (sans serif usually) and the appropriate size, and to get an idea of which colors work best together. Keep it to a minimum.
(Choose "View" and then "Source" from your IE menu bar to see font names, background colors, etc. -- there are many inexpensive books on web design that can help you if you aren't sure - and of course the info is online too! )

Also the best websites IMHO prominently feature the links most people are looking for, either horizontally across the homepage or in left frame. Not only "featured properties", but "my listings" or "office listings", plus links to the various towns/communities you cover, and your personal bio.
You need a single prominent link featuring the services you personally provide to sellers, and another featuring the services you personally provide to buyers. Keep the buttons to a minimum on each page --- major categories on the homepage, more refined on the next level down if needed.

Another thing IMHO to avoid is the website that has a beautiful photo, font, and single "enter" button on the homepage, which brings you to another beautiful page with very little on it, and when the reader clicks something like "For buyers" they get yet another nearly empty page with a beautiful sentiment, and so on. This is also a template I've seen before. It's lovely but wastes a lot of time and is absolutely maddening to anyone who just wants to find out what houses you are selling, or what services you offer. It strikes me as an "All hat no cattle" web design. Put some solid links on the opening page that lead directly to substantial information. (The little phrases in pretty fonts remind me of MLS photos of flowers when all you want to see is the house itself). Remember it's not a brochure, it's a web page.

Also avoid putting too many things on any one page. Sort, organize, and present your information as if you had a limited amount of time to present it and get someone's attention. That's exactly what you're up against when trying to get readers to stop and explore your site. The easier and more attractive you make it, the longer people will stay and explore.
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Old 03-02-2008, 07:09 PM
 
16,174 posts, read 32,382,619 times
Reputation: 20577
Boomerang, what a wonderful, helpful and informative post! I have to add to your reputation points for this! Thank you for taking the time to type all of that out. Blessings on you.

SMG
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Old 03-03-2008, 06:18 AM
Status: "Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!" (set 12 days ago)
 
Location: Cary, NC
43,142 posts, read 76,705,928 times
Reputation: 45473
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomerang View Post
comments from a someone who's spent some time designing/creating websites as well as spending countless happy hours cruising RE websites looking for a home to buy

IMHO, the best websites in this thread have an attractive opening page with minimum of clutter. What do you tell your sellers? Declutter!!!!
I realize some of you are using company web templates with multiple fonts in multiple colors in multiple sizes with crawlers and flashing boxes, etc. --- ugh. That's the equivalent of trying to market a house built and furnished by an amateur committee of 100. In this case I'd advise ditching the company template and getting your own website through your internet provider.

Look at other websites to get an idea of the most legible and attractive fonts (sans serif usually) and the appropriate size, and to get an idea of which colors work best together. Keep it to a minimum.
(Choose "View" and then "Source" from your IE menu bar to see font names, background colors, etc. -- there are many inexpensive books on web design that can help you if you aren't sure - and of course the info is online too! )

Also the best websites IMHO prominently feature the links most people are looking for, either horizontally across the homepage or in left frame. Not only "featured properties", but "my listings" or "office listings", plus links to the various towns/communities you cover, and your personal bio.
You need a single prominent link featuring the services you personally provide to sellers, and another featuring the services you personally provide to buyers. Keep the buttons to a minimum on each page --- major categories on the homepage, more refined on the next level down if needed.

Another thing IMHO to avoid is the website that has a beautiful photo, font, and single "enter" button on the homepage, which brings you to another beautiful page with very little on it, and when the reader clicks something like "For buyers" they get yet another nearly empty page with a beautiful sentiment, and so on. This is also a template I've seen before. It's lovely but wastes a lot of time and is absolutely maddening to anyone who just wants to find out what houses you are selling, or what services you offer. It strikes me as an "All hat no cattle" web design. Put some solid links on the opening page that lead directly to substantial information. (The little phrases in pretty fonts remind me of MLS photos of flowers when all you want to see is the house itself). Remember it's not a brochure, it's a web page.

Also avoid putting too many things on any one page. Sort, organize, and present your information as if you had a limited amount of time to present it and get someone's attention. That's exactly what you're up against when trying to get readers to stop and explore your site. The easier and more attractive you make it, the longer people will stay and explore.
All good stuff.
No... Great stuff.

I like minimalism and FAST loading pages.

My newly designed site will go live, maybe today, and replace the current Mike Jaquish that you see in my profile.
The templated website was easy to start, but difficult to customize and I don't care for the url redirection to the company site.
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Old 03-03-2008, 12:19 PM
 
Location: Chaos Central
1,122 posts, read 4,099,030 times
Reputation: 902
Aw shucks. Thanks for the kind words, folks. Just hoping to toss out some helpful thoughts here and there. Some purely selfish reasons too - bad web design annoys me like poor spelling annoys grade school teachers
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Old 03-03-2008, 04:32 PM
 
Location: Sacramento
60 posts, read 206,826 times
Reputation: 38
When I got my website from Advanced Access, it was the typical Realtor website, full of spinning houses and flashing "SOLD" signs. It had all kinds of links to things that would take you off my site, and, in some cases, to another agent's site!

The first things I did were:
1. Remove any moving objects from the site
2. Remove most links that took visitors away from my site, especially the ones that brought them to other agents or lenders
3. Remove pre-written stock material
4. Design a simple, large-font menu page as my home page.

The rest, the actual content, is still under construction. But my particular pet peeves have been eliminated and it will be easy to add new material.

Surprisingly, I'm getting terrific search engine results from Yahoo. Nothing from Google, though. But I haven't spent a dime on SEO.
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Old 03-03-2008, 07:28 PM
 
Location: Houston, Texas
469 posts, read 1,482,047 times
Reputation: 295
Hey boomerang, do you still build websites I am looking to develop a new page and need someone to help me put my ideas to work.
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Old 03-04-2008, 05:49 AM
 
Location: Chaos Central
1,122 posts, read 4,099,030 times
Reputation: 902
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamesww View Post
Hey boomerang, do you still build websites I am looking to develop a new page and need someone to help me put my ideas to work.
Gosh, I wish I could say yes! It's my favorite kind of work. But I've veered off into another computer-related field (with more tangible, if less creatively satisfying, benefits!) and don't actively work in design anymore.

It shouldn't be hard to get a good designer in your area; it's just a matter of where to look.....You can try looking at other business websites from your area/state; sometimes the designer's name is on the website, or I'm sure the business owner would be willing to tell you who designed it for them. And of course there's always Google, i.e., "web design" +<yourcity> or <yourstate>.
Check out their websites. Sometimes good designers give short courses or a series of day classes locally. You can either talk to them about designing your site, finding a designer, or learning to do it yourself - which I think is the best investment!

Almost anybody can toss together a website from a template. Try Googling "Principles of Web Design" for more ideas to think about while choosing a designer. Everyone has their own thoughts about what looks good and what doesn't, but there are certain design basics that should always be considered for legibility and ease of navigation. Also there are certain accessibility and other technical points to bear in mind; a good designer should be both creative and technically knowledgeable.

Sorry I seem to be drifting off the point a bit! Hope something in this will be useful.
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Old 03-04-2008, 12:42 PM
 
Location: North of DFW
595 posts, read 2,715,446 times
Reputation: 217
Mine is in my profile......I would like to get my own with some cute little name and build it. Since mine is linked back to my company web-site I'm very limited on what I can do. If you have some ideas ...feel free to send me a private message.
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Old 03-07-2008, 01:36 PM
 
Location: Arizona
124 posts, read 475,864 times
Reputation: 51
Hey guys, if you are web dummy's like I am get a site from Superlative. They make it SO easy for me to manipulate everything. We have more lead capture on this thing and right now we spend about $10/day pay-per-clicking people to it. We've already got clients buying homes and in Arizona...well, let just say Buyers are great things to have right now ...now if I can just get them to work with my Top Producer lead managment site all will be right with the world lol
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Old 03-07-2008, 08:25 PM
 
Location: East Tennessee
3,928 posts, read 11,568,815 times
Reputation: 5259
Hey boomer...good stuff in your post. I was a webmaster in a former life, but I just don't have the time to code today...even with all the free editors.

I purchased a canned template site and have been trying to personalize it, but it's a struggle to find the time (guess I could be doin it now, huh?). It's easy to recognize those sites where agents have done nothing....Welcome to My Website! ha. I added a few local photos in a Flash intro and took it out after a couple of months. I had a LOT of people ask me to put it back in. Seems I can never win. I try and keep it fairly short and update the pictures occasionally.

I've enjoyed seeing the different websites from this thread and even some faces here and there. My website is also included in my profile.

P.S. I could really use some Short Sale info to post on my site (not enough time to start from scratch, unless I have to). If anyone has any references or suggestions, please let me know.
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