Should you have just real estate information on your real estate website? I go back and forth on this one. Advanced Access sometimes promotes that you should put on Holiday info or other non real estate info on your site to draw unique hits, to have more content, and to get people to stay longer on your site. I have three different areas on my site.
I have a Michigan things to do section. It has every link possible to do anything and everything under the sun on Antiquing, car shows, arts & crafts festivals, bird watching, camping. (In Michigan).
I also have Michigan Holiday pages that I change up every month. It has holiday trivia, history, recipes, and jokes for that months holiday.
Then I have a Michigan trivia and Michigan fun facts page.
Do you think that is off the wall. Those pages are just a small fraction of information on my Michigan homes for sale website. Michigan Things to do, Michigan Holiday pages, and Michigan Trivia and fun facts pages only make up about 2% of all my information.
Let me know what you think.
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My Month of December quote:
~ Mark Twain”
Russ Ravary
"helping make your move easier"
your local Metro Detroit Realtor helping clients like you sell and buy homes through out the entire Metro Detroit suburbs. I love showing and selling Oakland County and Livingston County Lake front homes too.
Russ,
I like the additional stuff. Fun Facts and trivia is FUN.
But, the first link I clicked was broken, and I think that is one risk of offering outside links. They need to be checked regularly for function.
I also think you should track the page loads and see what people are looking at to judge whether the stuff that is tangential to real estate is being used. If it is accessed regularly, great. If no one is looking, it may not represent the value you hope for.
Russ,
I know a lot of people who have many different interesting information on their web sites, I have tried but "for me", I'm just not comfortable with it. I don't think it's a personality "thingy"..cause..I am sometimes way "out of the box" (see my blogs to confirm this..lol) My thoughts are this..If you look up other professions...like lawyer..doctor...accountants..you really don't see..anything other then what their expertise is.
However, the other agents that I referred to are top agents as well..and it works for them!
Hope I didn't confuse you too much. :o)
Cathy Cataletto
Russ:
I am a keep it simple kind of person. To often when I check out other agents site's it becomes over-whelming with the dancing cartons, the flashing symbols, and the ringing bells. I prefer to error on the less is more philosophy.