An agent emailed me the other day and shared her site with me, frustrated that it didn’t get her any business because – in her mind – it lacked enough information.

Her site, in a nutshell:

If I were a consumer, a potential client, I’d be gone in a heartbeat too.  I’m sure she’s a lovely lady.  I just don’t care about her.  I’m looking for homes, not pretty smiling faces.

Eyetracking studies tell us where people look for information.  And this site fails on all levels.  Big pictures and clear faces draw attention.  Tiny fonts in low contrast colors do not.  Links placed in low attention areas – get low attention. 

All of the fast decision makers are out of there in 2 seconds flat.  There’s no clear, quick opportunity to do anything else.

The slow decision makers will hang around a bit longer.  The slow emotionals will watch the slide show for a bit, but they don’t want to "search the MLS."  They want to find a home, to see neighborhoods, to feel take care of.  The slow logicals will read every word on the page – but by the time they’ve moused over everything on the first 2/3rds and discovered not a single link, they’re frustrated and ready to move on.

A full 2/3rds of my browser window was pictures of desert scenes with her face superimposed on the corner.  And not a single link until you look at the bottom 3rd of the page.  If you took the time to *find* the links and clicked around a bit, she had plenty of information – lots of nice neighborhood pages, school links, house searches.

But of course no one ever finds that information.  Nothing is presented in a manner that addresses a consumer’s needs.

And in the end, it’s all about the consumer.  It’s not about you.  It’s about them, their needs, their concerns, their expectations, hopes, fears, dreams, and wants.  Give them what they want, and they’ll reward you for it.