Thread: Looking for feedback on my website

I posted a thread on here about a week ago asking for feedback on my idea. After getting some positive responses, I started working on building the website for my business. It still needs a few things but I would love feedback to make it the best it can be. My day job is an insurance agent and I got this idea after dealing with a lot of first time homebuyers and seeing how tough it can be if you don't work with the right professionals. I'm currently working on the logo and have started marketing the site both online and offline.

www.newhomeownerpros.com

Thanks!

Great Idea. As someone who is going to buy a home in the near-ish future, this kind of site would be useful for me.

Here are some thoughts. I don't know where you are at with the site (or what you are thinking) so I'm just going lay out all of my thoughts. Also, the following is half me speaking as a marketer and half me speaking as a potential customer...

Obviously a stronger logo would help (I see you mentioned you're working on that). Forget the blue background (it looks cheap), go with white. I'm spending thousands (hundreds of thousands of dollars) so the website that's helping me shouldn't look cheap. It would feel good to see some "people" (professionals) near the logo. As if they are they are going to help. I feel, in this case, it doesn't feel cheesy to use some stock photos of business people.

The tagline kind of confused me at first. I think you should pull something right from your mission statement. "making the home buying process as smooth as possible" or "we've handpicked the best professionals in their respective industries to serve your every need". That smacks me right in the face, tells me I'm in the right place, and keeps me on the site.

By the way, are you local to a state or a national service. I don't know the answer and then I see a map of Connecticut. I'm not sure. If you're national, you could have a map of the U.S. in the header - maybe in the header blended in behind everything at 20% opacity or something. So, it just triggers in my brain that you're a national service.

And who are you, why are you qualified to give me any advice. Are you just feeding me to the lions, the highest bidder? How do you qualify these professionals you've picked as "the best"? On what criteria?

I don't want to follow you on Facebook or Twitter. It just doesn't make sense for me. Especially after I buy a house, I don't want to see any more tweets / facebook updates about buying a house. I'm done. However, I'd be happy to fork over my e-mail if you could give me a like a mile high overview of what goes into buying a house. Something really simple, to start with. Because I have no clue. I'm a little scared, confused and overwhelmed (and I don't know who to trust). I wouldn't even mind if you had an automatic response e-mail that followed up with me a few days later. "My system shows you've download a copy of our....do have any questions? Need any assistance? Feel free to..."

I'd love to see a picture of who I'm handing my e-mail over to. For example on the Find a Realtor Contact page. A picture with text saying, "Anthony, once you submit your information I'm going to do xyz and I'll be back in touch with you in xyz time frame. (little note) - Of course, any information you provide is secure and will not be shared with anyone outside of my (our) personal network of trusted...

Oh, I see you're using Local Pro Theme. As I mentioned before, I think having a professional clean business look is really important for this site. You should look at some of the business themes from Studio Press. They work great for Real Estate.

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OK, just some thoughts. Great site, love it. I'm looking forward to it. I'll need it when I buy a house in the future!

Originally Posted by tchandy

The site looks good. I'm sure you'll revise the site as time goes on. What are your plans on the site? I know you're just starting out but comments or even logos of realtors and businesses you've partnered with gives your site more credibility.

Also how do you plan to make $$$?

Tom

He's going to make money on referrals

Good idea about the logos. I can imagine them greyed out (not links), in the footer area or just under the nav bar. It gives an added sense of professionalism.

Thank you guys for the responses. This is my first time creating a site so all of the feedback (positive and negative) is greatly appreciated.

Last week I dedicated my time to creating the site and playing around with the different options, setting up the social media pages etc. As far as plans for the site, I have been going back and forth with a lot of different ideas. The site sounds vague and doesn't describe how I have handpicked the top professionals and that is what I am working on. So, this week my brother and I are researching professionals and getting their information and getting them to show interest in the site. If they do show interest, then I have been coming up with a few questions to qualify them to the site, i.e. "How many first time homebuyers have you worked with?" Also, from doing some research and seeing some colleagues of mine buy insurance leads, there is a common theme that these leads are given to 50 different insurance guys. I'm not going to do that with this site. If you sign up as a professional, you are given a zipcode and if that zipcode is submitted, then the lead is sent to you so they are exclusive. This way, if someone requests all four professionals, I can sell the lead four times but to different professionals.

I can see the point of view that you wouldn't want to follow the site on facebook or twitter. I just think it's important for any business to have some sort of social media presence nowadays because if the site has a lot of fans or followers I do believe it gives it more credibility.

The map does show just the area that I live in but I do not want this to be a local business so thanks for the feedback and I will change that. I am starting off with contacting people in the northeast and I do want to expand out from there once it gains traction.

I have toyed around with the idea of this being a listing site where these professionals sign up and get listed on here and I haven't decided if that's the route I want to take to start off with but I'm not opposed to it if the market tells me otherwise. Time will tell there.

Thanks again and I will be posting updates on my progress with the business!

Also, from doing some research and seeing some colleagues of mine buy insurance leads, there is a common theme that these leads are given to 50 different insurance guys. I'm not going to do that with this site. If you sign up as a professional, you are given a zipcode and if that zipcode is submitted, then the lead is sent to you so they are exclusive. This way, if someone requests all four professionals, I can sell the lead four times but to different professionals.



Thanks again and I will be posting updates on my progress with the business!

Site looks good so far keep up the good work!

If you don't mind me asking how are you charging the professionals? Is it on a per contact/lead basis or on a successful job completion one eg a percentage of their fee?

Originally Posted by 458

Great start. Here are some changes that i would personally make.

1. Work on your header, specifically your font and placement.
2. Work on your footer, you need your internal links and a bit more 2.0 to match your body.
3. Keep learning and keep working hard, good luck.

Thank you. Just got home from the slowlane job, time to continue to work and learn.

Originally Posted by 458

1. Work on your header, specifically your font and placement.
2. Work on your footer, you need your internal links and a bit more 2.0 to match your body.

458 - can you explain this to me a bit more in detail? I am currently working on getting a logo designed for the header of the page. I put my internal links on the footer and what exactly do you mean by a bit more 2.0 to match the body? Sorry I'm brand new at this. Thanks.

Front page looks good. Are you using a content management system(Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.) for your site or did you put it together coding it by yourself? I'm actually getting a display issue for your site where the text is running off the right side of your white container area into a grey background. My resolution is 1024x768 and I'm using Google Chrome for the reference. The issue continues on every page, I'm not sure where exactly the problem will lie but I think it will be in your CSS files? Someone with more coding experience please correct me on this as need be.

Aside from that issue, I'm not really in love with the "how it works" page. I personally would prefer it to be a little more organized, more similar in look to your "home buying advice" page where you list articles. In this sense I mean I'd like to see a hierarchical structure when you describe how it works. A "1. 2. 3." type format or bullet points, something that will lead me through exactly how it works.

That's all I've got for now, keep up the good work. As long as we all keep taking steps forward in a useful direction, we'll hopefully get where we're going.

Originally Posted by funkj25

Front page looks good. Are you using a content management system(Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.) for your site or did you put it together coding it by yourself? I'm actually getting a display issue for your site where the text is running off the right side of your white container area into a grey background. My resolution is 1024x768 and I'm using Google Chrome for the reference. The issue continues on every page, I'm not sure where exactly the problem will lie but I think it will be in your CSS files? Someone with more coding experience please correct me on this as need be.

I am using a wordpress theme and as far as the display issue problem, I have no idea how to fix that.

Originally Posted by funkj25

Aside from that issue, I'm not really in love with the "how it works" page. I personally would prefer it to be a little more organized, more similar in look to your "home buying advice" page where you list articles. In this sense I mean I'd like to see a hierarchical structure when you describe how it works. A "1. 2. 3." type format or bullet points, something that will lead me through exactly how it works.

I completely agree and I am going to change that. Thanks! I am actually thinking about putting a video in the "How It Works" section showing a person (cartoon, stick figure) that is starting to look for a home and goes on the site and uses it to find good professionals. I think the visual will be better but for now I will change it to a step by step process.

Appreciate your feedback.

Originally Posted by JASpinnato

I am using a wordpress theme and as far as the display issue problem, I have no idea how to fix that.

If you're using a free theme you may be out of luck, but if you purchased the theme from somewhere you can usually get in contact with the developer and they'll help you sort things out. This can be the case for free themes too, but obviously harder to get a response from most of the developers for free themes.

Originally Posted by 458

Google is your best friend, its mine too. Use it and learn more and more each day, the internet will teach you about the internet. Design is something that you pick up over time with trial and error and what i would do is not always the best thing for what you would like done. Web development is extremely vast and if your not determined to learn all of it you will be beat by your competitors.

Thank you

Originally Posted by funkj25

If you're using a free theme you may be out of luck, but if you purchased the theme from somewhere you can usually get in contact with the developer and they'll help you sort things out. This can be the case for free themes too, but obviously harder to get a response from most of the developers for free themes.

I purchased the theme so I will get in touch with the developer about this problem. Thanks!

Nice site so far. I would add a free small ebook outlining a checklist of tasks to do in order to buy a home. Something like "7 free tips to homeownership" make email and name a requirement to get the book.

I think that your site needs a lot of work:

1. You help people find real estate professionals, is that right? Then, please state so in your tagline. "Making the home buying process as smooth as possible" totally misdirected me: I thought you were legal/financial advisors or something. Your current tagline is too generic.
2. Why do you have two sidebars? One of them is just empty containing only "search". I would keep the body column and one sidebar.
3. Your about us page does not say who you are. People want to learn about people. Who are you?
4. Your mission statement is too formal. I mean, is that what you say when you first meet a potential customer face to face? I guess not.
5. Find a Pro should be, not just a tab on the navigation bar. Since this is what you are actually doing, then "find a pro" should be big and take a lot of space in your homepage.
6. On Homebuying advice you need to mess with your CSS. Your headlines need to be bigger and sharper. Why not create an archives page? Will this be like your blog?
7. Your become a partner page talks about helping homeowners...but how? I think you should say how each one of those professionals can help homeowners, and how your site can help them achieve that.

All in all, you are marketing to both professionals, and potential homeowners. Maybe you should consider having two sections on your homepage, one for professionals, and one for potential buyers. As an example, see HARO - Help a Reporter Out ™ .

I hope I helped!

Originally Posted by Maria

I think that your site needs a lot of work:

1. You help people find real estate professionals, is that right? Then, please state so in your tagline. "Making the home buying process as smooth as possible" totally misdirected me: I thought you were legal/financial advisors or something. Your current tagline is too generic.
2. Why do you have two sidebars? One of them is just empty containing only "search". I would keep the body column and one sidebar.
3. Your about us page does not say who you are. People want to learn about people. Who are you?
4. Your mission statement is too formal. I mean, is that what you say when you first meet a potential customer face to face? I guess not.
5. Find a Pro should be, not just a tab on the navigation bar. Since this is what you are actually doing, then "find a pro" should be big and take a lot of space in your homepage.
6. On Homebuying advice you need to mess with your CSS. Your headlines need to be bigger and sharper. Why not create an archives page? Will this be like your blog?
7. Your become a partner page talks about helping homeowners...but how? I think you should say how each one of those professionals can help homeowners, and how your site can help them achieve that.

All in all, you are marketing to both professionals, and potential homeowners. Maybe you should consider having two sections on your homepage, one for professionals, and one for potential buyers. As an example, see HARO - Help a Reporter Out ™ .

I hope I helped!

Yes you helped a lot. Thanks!

I see a couple things right off the bat. There is no call to action and no capture mechanism to start building a list. Meaning it doesn't appear to be tied into an email system that can send auto responder messages back to them once they sign up.That's critical to follow up interaction with them which leads to more sales down the road.

That may seem like one of the cheesy internet marketing tactics but the reality is even big businesses use them and capture leads from their web site. You just have to maintain professional responses and treat your visitors with respect. Then they will come back to your site and sign up for more.

Good Luck!!!

Originally Posted by AnthonyKrese

He's going to make money on referrals

Leads are where it's at...

Originally Posted by barbagallo

Leads are where it's at...

Yeah but I'll throw the disclaimer out there that I did not read TMF and then decide to sell leads because of MJ. I saw how many people in the industry I work in purchase leads that are terrible so I see a lot of room for improvement in this space and that is why I came up with this idea and started this business.