Table Of Contents

	The ups and downs of owning your own business ... (Editorial)
	Frequently Asked Questions (Part 1): website critique ...
	Frequently Asked Questions (Part 2): website critique ... (continued)

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Before I answer your questions, let me first just give you my own critique of the site. I'm blunt, so never be offended with my critiques. I just tell it like I see it and I'm merely critiquing the site and NOT you. Keep that in mind please.

At first glance, I like the look of the site. Looks professional and clean. But I'm assuming your goal is to make money. So, the first thing I see at the very top is your name "Andy and Sharon Mazon, ABR".

Who cares!?.... I (being a potential customer) don't care who you are yet. Tell me what you can do for ME. Tell me how this site will benefit ME. Your headline and slogan has to have some benefits and explain what you do.

Something like "How To Find Quality Real Estate Property In Phoenix". I just came up with that in 2 seconds, but you get the point.

Next, I see this big image of "Professional Services" ... of what? Again, it doesn't say anything to me. Hence, a waste of space. The site isn't about you, it's about your clients and customers and what YOU can do for THEM.

Next is the contact info ... you have your cell phone listed. Fine ... then you have your HOME number listed. Why? Better to have an "office" number. And where is the email address for contact? (I know it's all at the very bottom of the page, but that's the wrong place for it).

Then we move further down the page where it lists your name and links about "featured homes" and "buyer/seller tips". I like that area because that's useful information for someone looking to buy a home. Good, keep it.

Next we have a few paragraphs about who you are and what you do. Fine ... too bad it's so far down the page. I would actually have one quick paragraph at the top "this is what we do, here's how we can help you, and click here to read more about us" and then you have a link to another page about some background info about you with benefits and so forth.

Now here's where all the junk begins ... near the bottom you have all of these banners. YUCK! Why ... what's the point. I hate banners. They draw attention AWAY from your site and make it look ugly. Get rid of them!

And now, at the very bottom we finally see your contact info. Too much searching for important information like that. Better to simply have a link at the top that says "contact us" and it leads to another page with your phone, fax, cell, email address, ICQ, IM or however else you want them to contact you.

I'd put up pictures of both of you as well. In real estate, this is important and people can better identify.

So those are my thoughts on your home page. This isn't a super detailed critique. But with just these small alterations you will have a much improved website in both function and attracting clients.

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[FAQ continued ...]

And now to answer your specific questions:

1. Is the site attractive enough?
Yeah, it's fine. But once you start to click on the links and the frames start, things really fall apart as far design and function.

2. Is there enough information?
Yes, plenty ... too much if you ask me. You have WAY too many links that lead to other sites. I don't like that. You work so hard to get them to your site only to lead them out again.

3. Do you have problems getting into our site?
Actually, a few of your links didn't work and that's probably because you have so many going OUT of your site and one of the other sites was down. But, that reflects off of you and makes you and your site look bad.

4. How to get repeat visits?
Well, that's another large topic in itself. Your product/service isn't the kind that lends itself to repeat visitors from the same person. Once someone buys a house, that's it. So you will need to invest most of your time and money into advertising and bringing and constant flow of new traffic to your site daily.

At the time, pop-unders are very effective and cheap and best of all, very little hassle. You might want to give them a try and see how they work out for you.

And make sure you are on the search engines as well because this specific market lends itself to search engines. Get listed in a specific directory for your city and state.

But, one major problem with search engines is how long it takes to get listed and at times, can be expensive. Give Search Engine Blaster a try. It's not the "best" method of search engine promotions (the best is doing everything manually by hand which will take a LOOOONG time) ... but it's cheap and fast and it'll definitely save your lots of time and headaches in the long run.

5. Is it easy to navigate through for the average person?
I don't like frames personally. And again, you have too many links and options which can confuse a person and overload them. The problem is once you lead someone AWAY from your site ... even if you have a frame that contains your links ... a person usually starts to think "hmm, where am I ... why does this frame look totally different then this one" and so forth.

But I don't think navigation should be that much of a priority for you.

6. How to get more traffic to the sites?
That's the million dollar question we all have. It's going to vary depending on what type of product and service you offer ... your target market ... what advertising methods are currently "hot" and so forth.

I know that's a vague answer, but it's HONEST. Take my advice in #4 above and you might want to give TrafficSwarm a try. Granted, I don't know how targeted that can be for your specific market. But it IS free and it works very well for most people.

Again, the secret is to simply test and test again and see what works and what doesn't.