Your Home Page

Your homepage is your welcome page to website visitors. It includes:

• Your masthead• Your contact information• Your “buckets”• A featured item (optional)• Welcome text

Writing Your Welcome Text

Try to sum up your main focus in a few words, or one sentence then add a main goal. Most of the time this main focus will be your title, header, logo or top graphics. The thing that says what your site is about. A word document with a general description of your community/property along with complimentary photos is a great start. Your site visitors should have no question of what your site is about with just one look at your home page.

This is my masthead graphic which is on the homepage of my site.• Do I have a specific image I would like to use for my masthead?• Would I like to use a nice stock image which conveys a certain scene

or image? If so, what kind of scene or image do I want to convey?• Does my builder or does my property/community have signature colors

or a signature font? Check business cards for your client or their personal website for hints.

This is my complete contact information. Office information as well as office phone, fax, cell and email should be included.

This is my homepage text and should be a general introduction to the property/community. Some things to include in this text would be a general introduction to the property/community, a general description of offerings, and perhaps a personal quote.

• Is there something in particular I would like to emphasize about this property/community? • Is there a featured home style? Is there one key unique selling point?• This is an optional area.

These are my “buckets,” or, how I would like to organize my website content?• What key categories would I like potential buyers to know about?• Choose your “buckets” and prepare to write a separate word document for each one.• Use the above suggestions or create your own “buckets.”• Remember, you have complete control over the content on this website.

These are my subcategories, or additional breakdowns of content within my buckets.• If my bucket is a general topic, what sub topics should be discussed?• Do I find myself going on and on about 1 specific bucket topic? If so, I may want to

organize them into subcategories in my word document• Is there a logical breakdown of subcategories within my budget?

• Home Styles/Models is the perfect example where I would want to divide my word document up into subcategories.

• In addition, I’ll need to provide photos that will compliment each subcategory.

Bucket Suggestions

Home Styles

• Does my community offer a number of models?• What are their names?• Do I have images of their exteriors or floorplans? Can I procure this information from my client?• What are the features of each of these models?• How much does this model cost? What upgrades are available? How do upgrades effect pricing?

Is upgrade pricing negotiable?

What I Need To Provide

• Provide a word document for each “model” with a general description• Within the word document list model features using bullet points

• Organize these features: Exterior, Flooring, Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Bathrooms• Exterior image or rendering• Floorplans: first floor, second floor, third floor layouts, etc.• Price / Upgrade pricing

Note that using subcategories are conducive to this bucket.

Bucket Suggestions

Location & Lifestyle

• Living at the Jersey Shore• Proximity to shopping, commuter hubs, entertainment/arts, metro areas, beaches, places of

interest, other amenities.• Do I have enough information on each that I should organize these into subcategories?

• Information about schools, neighborhood organizations• Is this community famous for one thing?

What I Need To Provide

• A general blurb in a word document which describes the community and the above suggested points of interest.

• An image which expresses the messaging. If I don’t have a specific image, an idea for one, i.e. beach, park, family, etc.

• Include in your word document links to relevant community organizations, i.e. schools, chambers of commerce, other area clubs/organizations.

Bucket Suggestions

About Us

• This is a “bucket” that should not be ignored• General information about Diane Turton, Realtors• General information about your client• General information about Diane Turton Signature Services

What I Need To Provide

• A word document which includes a blurb about my client and links to my client website if available.• My clients logo if appropriate.• General information about Diane Turton, Realtors and Diane Turton Signature Services will be

provided by marketing.

Note that using subcategories are conducive to this bucket.

Bucket Suggestions

Testimonials

• Do I have past clients who would like to offer a statement about what it was like working with me?• Do I have past clients who would like to offer a statement about what it was like working Diane

Turton, Realtors?

What I Need To Provide

• A word document which includes quotes from clients regarding the above, along with their name and town. Make sure you get permission to use their quote, first name and last initial.

• TIP: Since this website will be designed to sell it’s best to include quotes from previous buyers.

Bucket Suggestions

The Buying Process

Nothing helps solidify your position as an experienced real estate professional more than providing accurate, comprehensive information on the real estate process to your prospects, clients, and customers.

What I Need To Provide

• Choose from the following documents what you’d like to include in this area. Please keep your selection to a maximum of 10 documents:

• 8 Steps to Getting Your Finances in Order • Budget Basics Work Sheet• 8 Ways to Improve Your Credit• 5 Factors That Decide Your Credit Score• Your Property Wish List• Tips for Finding the Perfect Neighborhood• Tips on Buying in a Tight Market• The Pros and Cons of Condos• 5 Reasons You Need a REALTOR®• Questions to Ask When Choosing a REALTOR®• 10 Steps to Prepare for Homeownership• How Big a Mortgage Can I Afford• 7 Reasons to Own Your Own Home• 5 Common First-Time Homebuyer Mistakes• 10 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers• 10 Things to Take the Trauma Out of Homebuying• How High Tech Is Your Home

• Hidden Home Defects to Watch For• 10 Questions to Ask a Home Inspector• What Your Home Inspection Should Cover• How Comprehensive Is Your Home Warranty• 5 Property Tax Questions You Need to Ask• 10 Questions to Ask Your Condo Board• 10 Questions to Ask Your Lender• 10 Things a Lender Needs From You• 6 Creative Ways to Afford a Home • Choices That Will Affect Your Loan• 5 Things to Understand About Homeowners Insurance• 10 Ways to Lower Your Homeowners Insurance Costs• 5 Things to Understand About Title Insurance• What Not to Overlook on a Final Walk-through• Common Closing Costs for Buyers• What to Keep From Your Closing• Tips for Packing Like a Pro

Bucket Suggestions

In The News

• Has a Press Release been written about my community/property?• If not, have I asked my manager if it is important for one to be written? Can my manager discuss

this with marketing?• Has my community/property received other press coverage that can be found online. Remember,

most print publications have an online website which hosts the same articles.

What I Need To Provide

• A word document with links to already established articles on your community/property.• Ask you manager to contact marketing if you would like to have a press release written.• What kind of image would I like to use to compliment news about my community/property?

Bucket Suggestions

Contact Us

• This is a “bucket” that should not be ignored• What is my professional bio?• Do I have a professional photo?• What contact information do I need to use?

What I Need To Provide

• A word document with your full professional bio exactly as you want it to read.• A high-resolution professional photo• Complete contact information including:

• Office• Office address• Office phone and fax• Cell phone• Email

Tips for Getting Started

Take a deep breath, focus, you can get through this. Organization is the key to an effective web site.

• To get organized you first need to know what the main goal of your site is. Try to sum up your main focus in a few words, or one sentence then add a main goal. Most of the time this main focus will be your title, header, logo or top graphics. The thing that says what your site is about. "Bob's Pets", the Nike swish or a photo collage of signs your company has made. The viewer should have no question of what your site is about with just one look at your home page.

• Build the rest of the web site around your buckets. Don't put more than one main idea on a page if you can help it. Give the viewer as many choices as you feel you need to present your ideas but don't put a book’s worth of information on any one page. This will bore and confuse. Decide what's important to your web site and make those ideas your buckets.

• You have an idea about your content but you don’t know what to say. Say something. A small blurb about what your visitor can expect from your web site is always helpful. Images could be helpful to go with that text. A mission statement, service or product explanation or just a short welcome will do.

• Conduct some research. Spend some time searching similar sites that relate to what your site will be about. This might help with the layout and organization of the information you want to present on your site.

• That wasn't so hard was it? Good organization should help the reader to focus and understand what you're telling them. When you keep your organization simple, you'll increase your reader's ability to digest the information, not be overwhelmed and enjoy their stay at your web site.

Additional Considerations

Below is a list of questions that should help get you going in the right direction when organizing your site.

• Who is your target audience? What are they looking for from your web site?

• What time frame do you want your web site to be done in?

• Have you seen web sites by other companies in your industry? What do you like and dislike about these sites? Can I use these sites to help outline my own content?

• Do you have all your logos and images that you want to use on your site organized, labeled correctly and referenced in your word documents?

• What other ways are you promoting your business? Will these methods have the web site address as a feature?

Content Submission Guidelines

• Your homepage content should be a separate and distinct word document.

• Each “bucket” should be written exactly as you want it to appear in a separate word document. If you have subcategories within your bucket these should be clearly marked within your word document using bold or underline formatting.

• Your word documents should reference complimentary photos you’d like to use to accompany your text. References to these photos should read (See photo: “file name here”)

• If you have other downloadable items such as floorplans or site maps these should be provided. Tell me within your word document where you want them to appear.

• If you do not have a specific image you would like to use to accompany your text, say so. Tell me you don’t have a photo but also tell me what you envision, i.e. I would like a picture of a beach, a family, a map of …

• Submit all of your word documents and all of your photos at the same time.