^#314

Show Empathy With Site Visitors
By Using “You” Often in Your Text

On a web site you can’t know each visitor’s name. So the next best thing to do is to substitute, “you,” or derivatives of it, such as your, yours, etc. Why? Because the sound people love to see and hear the most is their own name. Next, though, is the word, “you.”

It fits perfectly with your REALTOR®’s goal of piquing people’s interest enough to hold them there in your site as long as you possibly can. If that is true, then it follows that it makes sense to use as many "you" forms on your web page as possible.

Everyone knows that most people respond immediately to their own name or someone saying “you” to them. Right away, that gets their attention.

When you do that you show that THEY are important to YOU, not vice versa.

Now, look at your home page---count the number of "you" forms that you see there. Most agents have merely a token “you” or “yours” in the beginning of their home page text. Then they fail to repeat such words. Instead, they go right into first person, (I, We, Us) talking about themselves, their brokerage, the MLS, awards, community service, and so on.

They do that even though doing so, without explaining the value of their topic to the “you,” the visitor, is highly counterproductive. People care about themselves. They care about you only in terms of what you can do for them. They care only marginally how great you say you are. You know what? If you thought it through and showed them some empathy by using more “yous,” they might even choose you to handle their transaction.

Hey, don’t despair. Yes, you could have done it better and now you’ve learned something new. So, don’t delete all that “me too” stuff that most agents include. Just rewrite it and precede it with “you-oriented” forms. Look at these samples:

Typical approach:
We Work Like Bull Dogs To Find Clients Exactly The Right Luxury Home

You-oriented approach:
You'll Appreciate My Tenacity as Your "Luxury Home Specialist”

Typical approach:
Let Us Search For That “Just Perfect Home” Because We Know How To Do It Fast and Efficiently.

You-oriented approach:
You’ll Save Time Finding the Right Home by Working Now With Me Online, And In Person When You Come Here.

Typical approach:
We Love to Serve First Time Home Buyers Our site offers many resources and provides extensive personal guidance. Find EVERYTHING Needed to Know and Do, CLICK HERE.

You-oriented approach:
Are you a first time homebuyer? You'll welcome my site's help and enjoy my personal guidance. To Find EVERYTHING You Need to Know and Do, CLICK HERE.

See the difference? Now, go take a look at all the blocks of text in your site and see how you can rewrite your text so that it better reflects much more of an interest in the visitor.

To see other examples of text written using “you” forms, see how this approach is followed in my own web site at www.DebbieFerrari.com See anything familiar there?

Debbie Ferrari, e-PRO, CIPS, EMS/CE, RECS, Broker Associate, Prudential California Realty, who serves South Orange County, California, is one of the earliest Realtors® to embrace Internet marketing. Her site, Orange County Real Estate - Search MLS  at www.DebbieFerrari.com is among the most-awarded known REALTOR® sites in the country. She can be reached at Debbie@DebbieFerrari.com.

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