Real estate agents and real estate brokerages are obsessed with their websites. We spend hours on thinking about them, discussing them, and attend seminars about how to make them better. We artfully craft the “About Us” section, check the graphics, and work on clever SEO tricks.
But even though I’ve been prey to this thought process,  I’ve come to the conclusion that Consumers just aren’t that into our websites. They just don’t care. All the consumer wants from a static website is to get property information. They don’t care about the story of “Us” (the agent or company). Sure they want to know about the person they’re dealing with, but on the web, looking at properties, I’m certainly not convinced that they really care that much about who you are, or what your family looks like, or where your office is.
If you’re a listing agent, your job is to expose the property to the largest audience possible, and I know that all of us talk to sellers about how many places their property will be listed on the Internet. And as print media is falling by the wayside, the amount of Internet exposure grows and grows. In fact, it occurred to me recently that in most major metro markets, you almost don’t need to have much of a web site except to attract buyers – and that’s a different story, and one that has social media in its storyline.
So with the property listing information on all of the sites it appears on, what effect is putting your listing on your Facebook page going to have? If I dodged the information you put on the dozen or more web sites you syndicate to, I have to still dodge the IDX feeds from all of the other members of your multiple listing service. And if I’m working that hard to avoid getting property info, the listing on your Facebook page won’t convince me to look or to buy. So what’s the business purpose of being on Facebook or any other social media site? Its to be a trusted influence or advisor to potential customers and clients. And you don’t do that by talking about your listings. You do it by listening to the members of your community and helping provide them with what they need. Be a good member of the community. provide information that people ask for, not the information that makes you look better or sound smarter or more successful.
The short version of the story is that the most important part of your job is to get hired – because until you have been hired by a buyer or a seller or a landlord or a tenant, you are not working. So instead of worrying about your property information, how about worrying about what would make a buyer or seller want to hire you instead of hiring someone else – because there are a few other real estate people out there looking for a job, and they all have web sites too.
