Homebuilders.com

What kind of an impression would you make if people searching for a new home show up at your model home and you have no furniture, a small desk in a dimly lit corner and weeds in the flower beds? When they ask for a brochure, a salesperson hands them a crinkly piece of paper with the prices scribbled on it. Needless to say, I’m sure you wouldn’t expect a return visit from them any time soon.

Sadly, this may be what’s happening on your website. How many browsers abandon their online search after visiting your homepage because of the lack of information, complicated navigation, “under construction” pages and poor or outdated design? If 90+% of new home buyers are starting their search online, then it is highly likely that your website will be their first impression of you as a builder.

As I talk with builders and look at the online sales program and the pieces of the puzzle the first thing I always take look at is the website. For many builders my recommendation is that they need to build a new website, or they need a redesign, or they need to add user friendly features and functionality.  All of this is  going to cost money. It’s at this point that most builders pucker up. They get that tight look on their face and say, “But Mike we just redesigned a year or two ago and we spent ten or twenty grand.”

The reality of it is, that a builder puts thousands of dollars into the design and maintenance of each model home per month because the old model was people would walk through the doors and this was the primary sales office. But with the shift to shopping online only about a quarter to 10% of those numbers are still walking through the model doors without prior research.   Yet online traffic has increased exponentially.  Builders are spending as much per month on 4-6 model homes as they would on 3 years of website budget. There’s a big disconnect.

Ask yourself: What kind of impression is my site making? Does it accurately reflect the image I have in the community? Maybe you don’t know…maybe you think you know. You must look at your site with a fresh eye and make sure that you have all of the pieces of the puzzle in their proper positions – and that they’re easy to access.  Internet years are like dog years, if your website is more than 2 years old it’s time to look at refreshing it.

I’m not saying shut down your models, but what I am saying is that you need to put your website into the same marketing budget cycle as you do with your model homes. They need to be on equal par.

Don’t pucker up too much when it comes to attracting qualified prospects.