Squelch the urge to have a generic real estate website.
These articles are meant to be consumed by Realtors, but honestly, this is just good internet marketing advice. Or even just good marketing advice.
We’ve all heard the adage: “You can’t be everything to everybody all of the time.” It’s stellar business advice. Yet tough to follow.
I’ve learned the hard way, taking on a client or a project that wasn’t a good fit. I’d then spend, the next however many months dragging my feet when it came time to working on the project or communicating with the client.
It’s a tough lesson we sometimes have to experience for ourselves.
It’s one we have to learn about our websites, as well. The really good Realtor websites aren’t trying to be everything to everybody.
On the surface, it makes sense that so many real estate agent websites are somewhat neutral in nature. It’s tough for a real estate agent to admit out loud that they have a narrow market of people they’re wanting to work for.
They’d rather meet prospects and have the opportunity to refer the client elsewhere if necessary. Take on the work if they want to, but keep the door open to everyone.
However, that shouldn’t actually apply to the realm of internet marketing.
In general, as the volume of content on the internet grows (as it does, daily!), your potential clients are asking more specific and detailed questions than ever before, and they’re seeking increasingly specific answers. This means there’s greater interest in websites and pages that speak directly to these narrower, more focused, questions and details.
Don’t get stuck thinking that your website has to appeal to everyone. Consider, instead, a series of websites that each appealed to segments of the market that you would be thrilled to serve.
It can be very lucrative to have a website that answers to a specific need in the market.
When you narrow a website’s focus, you have a greater chance to turn your visitors into clients.
The specific niche website could be…
- a single website dedicated to a single condo building (we’ve seen it done!)
- a single website dedicated to a half-dozen buildings in a development (great idea!)
- a single website dedicated to a smaller area of a larger city (yup, seen that too!)
- a single website dedicated to a type of property (penthouses? waterfront?) in a larger area (yes, yes!)
… just to name a few situations where agents have seen phenomenal returns on their internet marketing efforts simply by choosing to be specific.