| Have you surfed real estate sites lately? Many still | | | | six or seven, plus some bold, and a SMATTERING OF |
| make some fundamental mistakes that tend to drive | | | | ALL CAPS. (A little subtlety, please!) |
| visitors away, rather than offering a rich experience | | | | 10. Hmm, the middle of the page is moving, but the |
| that people will return to. | | | | sides are just hanging there. This does not seem quite |
| A visitor who has come back to your site several | | | | right... (Children, don't ask why, but a long time ago, |
| times is well on his way toward picking up the phone | | | | people used a thing called frames.) |
| or sending an email, and beginning a business friendship | | | | 11. So, what's the main course on this site? Well, tonight |
| with you. | | | | we're having some canned content: Seven Deadly |
| The primary goal of a website should be to establish | | | | Mistakes Sellers Make. (Who cooks up this stuff, |
| your message quickly and simply. Visitors scan sites | | | | anyway?) |
| rapidly, and want to move immediately to information | | | | 12. Excuse me, folks, this text is for Google! (Repeat |
| that benefits them. Here are some ways to stop them | | | | after me...home for sale, for sale home, sale home, |
| from doing just that! | | | | home sale, for home, home for...) |
| 1. Force visitors to sit through your flash introduction. (It's | | | | 13. Pop ups! (Back button, please! I'm out of here.) |
| a bird, it's a plane...no, it's the title to this website. If you | | | | 14. Have we got a ton of photos for you! Just sit back |
| need a Skip Intro button, you're off on the wrong foot.) | | | | and relax. They may take a while to load. (Oh, here |
| 2. Impress your visitors with some cool text on top of | | | | they are on their trip to Vegas.) |
| background graphics, or, even better, some cool text | | | | 15. And speaking of myself, there is sooo much more |
| on top of background text. (Honey, where are my 3-D | | | | to say! (And, in 1982 I received several awards for...) |
| glasses?) | | | | 16. And now you can read my new syndicated real |
| 3. Shake things up with a blast of your favorite music. | | | | estate blog! (The other day I was chatting with an |
| (It's midnight, and I think I'll do a little house hunting | | | | agent who sits in the cubicle next to me at the office |
| before bed.) | | | | about the use of open house signs...) |
| 4. What is this? Blue text over black background. (I | | | | 17. I'm game! Let's see how long can we make this |
| thought this was a website, not a cave. Honey, | | | | page? (It's three feet long! Oh wait, there's more.) |
| where's my flashlight?) | | | | 18. Cram your hundreds of reciprocal links on the main |
| 5. Come up with a spiffy new layout for each page. | | | | page. (What is all this stuff at the bottom? Aah, helpful |
| (Let's see, which site was this anyway?) | | | | links. Car repair in Bulgaria?) |
| 6. OK, folks, let's see how well you can find your way | | | | 19. OK, people, let's cut to the chase: You either fill out |
| around! Notice we have dozens of links scattered | | | | this questionnaire, or nothing doing! (Oh, well, I didn't |
| around the page. (Honey, get out the ball of string and | | | | really need to be doing this right now.) |
| bread crumbs.) | | | | 20. Wait, don't leave! Here's some interesting real |
| 7. Here are some fun link puzzles! You'll find that some | | | | estate trivia! (Why is the Terra Amata site famous?) |
| links duplicate other links, but with different names. Try | | | | 21. Not so fast, folks! Welcome to Hotel California. Your |
| to guess which! (Oh-oh, I opened this one already.) | | | | fancy back button has been disabled! (Relax, said the |
| 8. Oh boy, it's one of those ads that flash at lightning | | | | night man, we are programmed to receive. You can |
| speed. (May cause nausea, headaches, blurred vision...) | | | | check out anytime you like... but you can never leave. |
| 9. If one font does not make your site interesting, try | | | | |