Better, Faster, Cheaper Real Estate Tours

Last week I had the good fortune to attend Real Estate BarCamp Chicago where I got to sit in on a session led by Eric Stegemann of Tribus Real Estate. I’d encourage you to attend a BarCamp if at all possible, and if you’d like to learn about getting your website to the top of Google, make some time to meet Eric as well.

The main thing I took away from Eric’s talk was a remark he made about learning how people view your website. Eric suggested buying a little stack of $5 gift cards from a coffee shop, then politely asking a few customers there if they’d be willing to surf your website for a few minutes in exchange for a gift card. The point is to see how an actual person uses your site, what they find useful about it and what they completely overlook.

Reading your website stats can tell you a lot about how people find you and what they look at while they’re on your site, but sitting beside an actual person while they view your site for the first time can give you priceless information. Questions you may want to ask:

• Did you find the information you expected to see?
• Was the site easy to navigate?
• Did you like the site design?
• Would you know how to contact me if you had a question?

After a few borrowed minutes, give a quick thank you for their time, pass them a business card and let them get back to their coffee. Then take a look at your website with fresh eyes and think about how to make use of what you’ve learned.

Thank you for sharing this, Eric!

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