Upfront Work For Building An Effective Real Estate Investing Website

In a world where people are characterized by A.D.D. type behaviors (figuratively speaking) many individuals come up with new ideas and rush to get started, only to fail (with exceptions) or give up because they did not have any plan in place.  There is no replacement for solid planning and thinking.  

Continuously coming up with new ideas and taking action on them are amazing things, but some basic, upfront thought before acting should be done for maximum effectiveness.  After all, you can run a marathon without taking the time to put on sneakers, but most people will agree that the few minutes spent to put on sneakers are well worth it.   

Building an effective website is critical to accomplishing a business's goals, whether you are trying to build brand awareness or find real estate leads, buyers or partners.  But before jumping into building a website stop and take some time to determine what you really want it to accomplish and who you want to attract to it. 

This article will not give you a cliff notes version of how to build an effective website (I will help you do that over time through multiple posts).  Instead, this article is meant to help you think about some critical upfront questions you need to ask before you start to build anything.  

When you determine you have a need for a website there is a reason.  You don't just build a website to build a website (well you could but...).  Your reason may be that you want a website to find partners, get off market leads for your wholesaling business, or promote your real estate agency.  

Your reason for needing a website, or in other words, why your website even needs to exist, is the critical, defining thing that determines how your website should be laid out, what content it includes and what results it produces.

In turn, the critical starting point is to define your main goal(s) of your site.  This can be thought of as defining the purpose of your site or why it exists and why anyone should care. 

Upfront questions to answer:

• -What is your critical goal for your website (what are you trying to accomplish with your site, why does it exist, what is the main purpose you want it to serve)?
• -What are the specific conversion actions (conversions) that you want your visitors to make upon visiting your site? Do you want them to become qualified investors, are you trying to obtain off market deals, are you trying to build a qualified buyers list, do you want people to signup for your seminar series or attend you real estate meetup?
• -How do you want your business's brand to be perceived? Is your goal to be viewed as an expert in your area, innovative and cutting edge, a top performer, extremely trustworthy, etc.?  This will determine many aspects of how your website is designed and what content the site includes.

Now that you understand why your website exists and have a clear understanding of what you want it to accomplish you should clearly define who your ideal users are and what you want them to do once they have reached your website.

A few upfront questions to answer to help define your audience:

• -Who specifically is your audience? Do you have more than one target audience? Clearly determine and define your target audience(s).  This will help to determine the user experience and layout of your site.
• -What is your target audience looking for?  Answer the question why would they take the time to come to your site? In other words, what content (ie. articles, information) is truly valuable to them? Whether your website provides valuable content is what determines whether a visitor comes to your website at all and whether they leave quickly or stick around. Offering people value is the best way to get them on your site, keep them coming back and help you win them as customers.  

In summary, before you dive into building a website that doesn't serve it's purpose stop and take some time to plan it out.  By understanding what your goals for the site are, who will be visiting the site, and what those visitors care about, you will build a much more effective website.