Your Website - A Professional Look

Your website should instill confidence and credibility to the end user. It doesn’t need to be all flashy and contain moving gizmos and the like…just reflect your professional business.

One way to do this is to maintain consistency in fonts, colors, and the like. Try to standardize fonts and typestyles that appear throughout your site…and in fact, should you have printed marketing materials, they should tie in as well.

Use only a select, few fonts. And remember, when on the internet, you never know what fonts are installed on the end user’s computer. As a result, most designers use the default windows fonts of Times New Roman, Verdana and Arial. Usually if there is a special font for headers or the like that a client wants to use, I will create a graphic of each header in the desired font and then embed them into the pages. That way they will always show as intended.

On a GraphicalData site, most pages that are generated with default settings use a set of defined fonts. If you are going to build your own pages, then I would recommend matching what your other pages reflect. Match the page headers with the Arial font at a 14 point size. Then change the color of the header to #333333 which is a soft black [for this use the “T” tool with the little color swatch in your tool html editor tool bar]. It sort of removes the harshness of large letters in all black. The rest of the page can be in either Arial or Verdana…your call.

Occasionally we may design headers with an underline and/or in different colors than mentioned above. If that is the case, you have it in your power to continue using the same protocol or change all to what you might like.

Some folks take a more liberal translation of what things should look like on the web, but a good point of reference should always be “what would this look like if it were in print?”. You can never go wrong with time proven techniques.

Have You Activated Your Auto Responders in Your GD Site?

It is easy to miss one of the features that can help move you ahead of your competitors...your auto responders. They are built into your general comment form and just await your command to go to bat for you.

You create the message once and it will be seen by your visitors as soon as they submit your contact form. A second message is generated to their email...thanking them for their inquiry...and if worded correctly, they will know whose site they are receiving this follow-up message from. It makes you look more professional, and most importantly, you now have an email with your website address and email in their email system as well.

I have previously posted a "how to" on this topic, so if you visit my previous post, you can walk through how to set this up in your website.

So many cool tools...so little time...but they will all pay off if implemented!

New Tools Are Cookin' at GraphicalData

In addition to the drip prospecting system which was recently rolled out, we have another new tool effective today for selected web sites...and soon available to all. The GraphicalData Home Value Estimator debuts today!

Recent MLS guideline changes make it now possible so show recent sales that have closed. Each full listing displayed will now show nearby home sales information...a real value added item for your visitors.

You also have the option to create a new page and add this feature as well. The consumer just types in an address and a couple other pieces of information and they receive closed sale information from within one mile radius for the last 6 months...and mapped as well.

Way cool...jump ahead of the competition today, as they will have it soon.

You should be receiving an email from GraphicalData today as well introducing the latest tools.

Drip Marketing System is Now Available

The GraphicalData drip marketing system is now available as a tool in your administrative center.

It is a scheduled, personalized e-mail system that you can activate for any contact who has an email address. The drip system can send out a personalized series of e-mails to a contact automatically and can be set for a predetermined time frame. It can be particularly helpful with prospects that contact you early in their information-gathering stage, but need to be cultivated until they are ready to act, sometimes month’s…even years later.

This is a cool automated marketing system where you can increase your production because all you have to do is close “pre-sold” customers that you have been “in contact with” and “developing” over a period of time.

Drip marketing is becoming one of the most essential tools for busy real estate agents nationwide, and now you have it at no additional cost. Be sure and print out the PDF instruction manual...it will really help!

GraphicalData Admin Site Update

The month of May heralds the beginning of a release process focusing on exciting updates and tools from GraphicalData.

The first being the new updated administration site interface. It features a wider page which will provide more room for tools and resources as they are developed. It has a slightly different look, and is easier to navigate through once you get familiar with it. This update is "setting a larger table" to hold all the new courses.

Not everyone will see this update at once...it is being phased in over a period of a few days so that staff is not overwhelmed should help be needed.

Stay tuned for the next release...it will be here soon.