Home Page DO's and DON'Ts

Your Home Page
by Brandon Cornett

More than any other section of your website, your home page has the singular ability to keep or lose a visitor. It should be treated accordingly.

First off, I'm generalizing this article on the assumption that your website's purpose is to market your real estate services.

But if the goal of your site is to show off your new kitty to family and friends, then disregard everything I'm about to say. There are no rules for those kinds of sites.

Right then. Off we go...

What a Home Page Is
When a visitor lands on your home page, you have five seconds to answer their most fundamental questions. Keep these questions in mind when designing all your pages, but especially the home page.

The Fundamental Questions

1. What is this website offering?

2. Do they have something that can help me, make my life better, or satisfy some basic need?

3. If yes to the above ... what do I do now? Where do I go? What do I read?

Tell us what you're offering
Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn't it? But how many home pages have you visited that gave no idea what product or service, if any, was being offered?

Perhaps these companies think they're being mysterious, luring the reader in by withholding their identity. How wrong they are!

If you provide commercial real estate services, the words “commercial real estate” should be somewhere on your home page. If you specialize in lakefront property in the Lago Vista area, something on your home page should say — you guessed it — “specializing in lakefront homes in the Lago Vista area.”

Hiding your identity isn't mysterious. It's just ineffective.

Tell us the benefit
Solve a problem the reader has. Fulfill a desire. Answer a question. If there's no benefit offered on your home page, what reason does the reader have to look any further?

This could be as simple as placing prominent links on your home page labeled “Information for Buyers” and “Information for Sellers” (or whoever makes up your audience).

Tell us what to do
Now that I know what you're offering, how do I get to it? How do I learn more? It might seem obvious to you, but you'd be surprised how many readers will click away if there's no plain-language invitation.

“Not selling right now but have plans to in the near future? Want to keep in touch and receive valuable seller's tips in the meantime? Sign up for the newsletter!”

“Call or email me for a free consultation ... and for your free copy of my 12-page buyer's guide!”

Sometimes an invitation is all it takes, so make sure your home page invites further action. Open the door and light the way, and your reader will enter.

Tell us what's new
Do you update your website regularly? New services? New home listings? New articles in your resource library?

Your home page is a great place to mention them. And you can do it in a non-invasive way by providing a few “What's New” links that take the reader to follow-on pages with expanded information.

Take the test
Now go to your website and pretend you know nothing about your company. Based on the home page alone, can you answer the three fundamental questions listed above?

Additionally, can you tell at a glance — with an outsider's perspective — (A) what your specialty is, (B) what information is available on the site, and (C) what makes you different? If not, you've got work to do. Because if you can't tell what your home page is selling, how can your readers?

What a Home Page Isn't
It's often easier to learn what to do by studying what not to do. So let's cover some home page no-no's.

First, your website is not the place to show off your knowledge of flashy technology and graphics.

How many websites have you visited where you had to sit through a full-screen Flash animation before you even knew what the company offered? I don't know about you, but I'm not one to wait ... nor am I one to click on “skip intro” just to get to the good stuff.

The way I feel (and judging by recent surveys, the way a lot of Web users feel), is that a company has five seconds of my precious time to make me want to stick around. And the bottom line — graphics alone will not do it.

Now, if you want to use graphics or animation to support your message, that's another thing entirely. Just be tasteful about it. Make sure your graphics or animation are relevant to what you're selling. And don't ever let them dominate the page.

If you want an example of a harmonious marriage between graphics and content — one that doesn't hinder the reader's quest for informative content — then visit Adobe's home page or the WebTrends home page.

And remember this maxim: The sole purpose of a website's design is to make the reader comfortable enough to read the words ... and only the words can make the sale.

Apply “mission statement” with care
Secondly, your homepage is not the place to bludgeon readers with background information about you or your company.

Forget about your core values, history, guiding principles, and mission statement. Don't tell the reader about your “three-legged stool of quality, service and value.” It's all been said before, and it never meant much in the first place.

Instead, make an offer, show the benefits of your product or service, and explain how it will solve the readers' problems and satisfy their wants. Don't delay. Get right to it.

None of these objectives can be accomplished with guiding principles and mission statements. Don't get me wrong ... there's a place for those things, but it's not the home page. Scour your website for this background information, gather it up, and relocate it to a separate page — “About Us” or “Company Info”.

An exception to the rule: If there's a singular fact about you (or your company) that can be merged into your tagline or product/service summary, then the home page may be the place for it ... especially if it distances you from the competition.

Example: You've been practicing real estate in the same area for 15 years. This is a good piece of information for the “About Me” page, but it can also be compressed and worked into the home page in a simple but powerful manner:

“Serving Lago Vista residents for over 15 years!”

No elaborate history. No ego gratification. Just a powerful tagline that makes you unique.

Conclusion
Now you know some of the do's and don'ts of home pages. Go apply them. Look at your home page from a potential client's perspective. Put your ego in a drawer. And make it a page they'll want to come home to, time and time again.

Brandon Cornett is the founder of www.ArmingYourFarming.com

e-PRO^® Tip
Addressing E-mail

We can all become more effective e-mail users. Paying attention to how we address our e-mail and understanding certain protocols can save us from making unnecessary responses.

"To" addressee is the one to whom you are directing the communication or requesting action.

"CC" addressee is receiving the E-mail for information purposes only and usually need not reply.

"BCC" or Blind Carbon Copy (interesting that we use the paradigm of carbon paper in digital communication) is to be used when we want someone to see a communication and we don't want anyone to know that that person has received the E-mail. A good use of BCC is when we are sending E-mail to a list of people and we do not want to clog people's E-mail with hundreds of E-mail addresses in the Copy or the To box and to protect the privacy of the E-mail addresses of the recipients.

Sign up for e-PRO here.

DON'T FORGET!

It’s Time to Fall Back on Sunday, October 31

Once again, it’s that time of year - Sunday, October 30, 2005 marks the end of Daylight Saving Time, as observed in most of our states. So be sure to set your clocks BACK one hour at 2:00 a.m. next week. The exceptions to the rule are: Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Eastern Time Zone portion of the State of Indiana, and most of Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation.)

Setting our clocks back is an excellent time to think about changing the batteries in our smoke detectors. A working smoke detector greatly increases the chances of surviving a home fire. Although most of us have smoke detectors, a large percentage of those have worn-out or missing batteries. As a safety tip, why not remind yourself and your clients to change the batteries in your smoke detector at the same time you change your clocks.

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