Does Your Web Site Still Work?

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, I remember the days of cold calling companies to offer Web site design. The question was “do you have a Web site?” Many small businesses did not. Even if they did, many had no clue how to get to their site. If they could actually give me their Web address, I would often find their “site” was a directory listing page they shared with all their local competitors. True story. The call often ended with them telling me they didn’t need a Web site. And maybe they didn’t. Then, anyway.

These days, everybody knows they need a Web site and most companies have one. But they don’t always know how to get the most out of it. In other words they may have a Web site, but it may not work very well.

In resort real estate, Web strategy has evolved more in the past 1-2 years than ever before. In the mid-2000’s it was much simpler. Just get prospects to your site and give them just enough information, using moving objects and perfect pictures to inspire them to fill out a contact form. Then mail them a $30 brochure, give them a call and invite them to your sales event. And it worked. Buyers were lining up everywhere. But not anymore.

Not only have many of the investors gone away, the prospects that remain are doing much more homework. Since so many resort communities are failing, buyers want to see a stable community with signs of activity. They want to know all they can about the developer, the community and the folks that live there. To narrow their options, they are primarily doing their research on the internet and often skipping phone conversations with sales agents until they have their choices narrowed down to three or four communities. So, in many cases, they are qualifying or disqualifying your community by what they see and hear online.

With this shift of control, web strategy for resort real estate has obviously changed. And as we talk to our customers about their Web sites in 2009, our questions have changed too.

1. If your site is over a year or two old, does is still work? Is it alive? Will people see new content when they come back?

2. Does it have a CMS (Content Management System) allowing you to login and make updates at any time? Do you know how to use it? Do you use it?

3. Are you tied to a proprietary CMS that you are essentially leasing from a programmer or hosting company until you leave or until they go out of business? If so, will your site function on another hosting company’s server if a change is required?

4. Is your site powered by an open-source application like Wordpress, Joomla or Drupal, so you can you change providers and take it with you if you want to leave?

4. Do you have an appropriate hosting service to handle your needs? Are you getting the best price or are you paying too much for hosting? Are you in control of your account?

5. Are you doing anything to optimize your site for search engines? Are you confident you are doing the right things? Are you looking for the right clues and stats to know?

6. Are you leveraging social media sites to generate traffic which helps your SEO (Search Engine optimization) efforts?

7. Are you using free internet tools for tracking, like Google Analytics? Do you know where your visitors are clicking and how long they are spending on your site? Do you know your “bounce rate” which is how many are coming to your site then leaving immediately? How do you get them to stay?

8. Are you blogging? Do you know why you should be? Do you know what to blog about?

9. Are you using interactive maps like Google maps or do you have a static map on your site? If you don’t have interactive maps, do you realize people are leaving to go to Google and will continue to research the area there, instead of on your site?

10. Do you have dynamic photo galleries that are updated regularly? Photos from events? Slideshows? Video? Virtual Tours?

12. Are your content and search terms relevant? Is your design engaging or dated and stale?

13. Are you making it easy for visitors to comment and ask questions?

14. On and on…

I know. It can be a little overwhelming and technology is difficult to keep up with. The good news? Real estate activity is picking up. We’ve seen more activity in the past two months than we have in the past year. We are seeing new deals, postponed deals coming back around and more activity at the communities that never slowed down as much. More people are filling out web forms and those inquiries are starting to convert to sales again.

We still don’t recommend giving prospects everything on a Web site. There is a fine line on how much specific information you should offer. You still ultimately want them to contact you and visit your property. But the information you do offer should be relevant and alive. With a Web site (that works) and a solid marketing strategy to handle the leads, you’ll be in a good position as things continue to turn back around.

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