Give Visitors a (Good) Reason to Sign Up

One of the primary goals of your website should be to generate new leads.  This is usually done by giving a visitor something of value in return for their name, email address, and possibly their phone number.  Since the majority of your website visitors are looking for current homes for sale, the most valuable commodity on your website is listings.  Some may disagree and suggest that their assortment of real estate tips and articles are their most valuable offers.  However, statistics prove that most buyers have one agenda, to find a home.  Don't get me wrong, valuable content does play an important role in your website.  However, helpful articles are the least visited pages on most real estate agent websites.  Why?  Because buyers and sellers are not looking for something else to read.  They're more interested in finding their next home and learning about the area.  Let's face it, viewing photos and virtual tours is much more exciting than reading an article on the benefits of home ownership.

So, should you require your visitors to sign up before they can search for listings?  The answer is yes, and no.  Giving visitors the opportunity to supply you with their name and contact information is essential for capturing leads.  Without it, your website will not produce results.  However, requiring a visitor to give you their personal information is a barrier that many will not cross.  So what do you do?  Create interest.

If visitors understand the benefits of signing up, they're much more likely to do so.  However, many websites require visitors to fork over their name and phone number before they've had a chance to see the value in the website.  Amazon.com understands this concept.  By allowing customers to view sample pages of books online, they're much more likely to place an order.  Another great example is Apple's iTunes music store, where customers can listen to a portion of a song before they purchase it.  By giving visitors a "taste" of what you have to offer, the chances of them signing up increases substantially.

So, if you're going to ask visitors to sign up, we recommend the following:

1. Allow visitors to search without signing up, but limit the number of listings they can view.
2. Let them see the total number of properties that meet their criteria.
3. Explain (clearly) that they have to sign up to see ALL of the listings that match their criteria.
4. You may want to require them to sign up to see additional photos as well.

We understand that different methods work well in different areas.  We suggest trying one method (requiring sign up) for at least one month.  View your website statistics and monitor the number of new leads you receive each month.  This will allow you to gauge which method is right for you.

With a website from AgentBlaze, this functionality is built-in.  You decide how many listings visitors can view before they're required to sign up.  You can just as easily turn this feature off, allowing visitors full access to all MLS listings without signing in.  AgentBlaze combines many other powerful tools that will enhance and compliment the tips in this article.  Learn more, or contact us today to sign up or receive additional information.