Hey everyone...I am trying to get a website up and running...Any suggestions on who to use??

Point 2 Agent. They have great free site as well a low cost pay sites that have drip email campaigns. I have used them for 4 years.

-- Nik

Making a world-class website is probably beyond most of our abilities. Making a functional, template-based website is well within most bloke and blokettes abilities though.

What I did was choose and buy a domain name (HomesByOlsen.com) at Yahoo, then downloaded their website building tool, and had at it. The domain costs like $10 and they charge around $10/month to host your site, if I remember right. Anyway, a few days later, I had the site that my link below will take you to. Is it great? No... and now that you mention it I should really take another swing at it. But anyway, "it's all mine" :-) and if I can do it, anyone can.

-jeff

Jeffo,

I just had a look at your website, I think it looks great. The only thing that might need some attention is the "menu" style.
Hey, but I am no web designer, I had to use Point2 Agent.
It's all personal preferences in the end, I've seen some awlful (in my opinion) realtor websites, but the agents are still successful.

Have a Good Christmas.

Regards
Alan

Alan,

Thanks, and constructive criticism is ALWAYS welcome!

I'd like to pimp that website up some... that will be a January project I guess.

-jeff

Jeff, the site looks nice. I like Y! for webhosting. I think they do a fine job. I didn't use SiteBuilder because I came to Y! hosting from GeoCities (Dark Ages), and I hand-code. Y! has great tools, good customer service, and I recommend them.

But, I noticed you have no title other than "home". You need to put in a good keyword title! And maybe beef up your metatags, too. Although I hear they're not worth a whole lot anymore, I still keep my metatags pretty full.

Definitely give your page a title, though!

I would highly recommend Real Estate Webmasters. They offer search engine friendly sites and you can even have a custom IDX integrated right into your site.

Two companies that offer templated web sites that I have worked with are Ubertor (http://www.ubertor.com) and My Real Page (http://www.myrealpage.com) I will disclose that I am an approved vendor for Ubertor, but I am providing these resources simply as options for you.

placement and traffic are the most important things - I would suggest taking a basic HTML - front page class at your local tech school but if you can use microsoft word you can use a program like frontpage and build a decent website.

Useually the template sites don't place well because they are difficult for search spiders to crawl, they have very little original content, and low keyword density. Most of the information on the template sites are irrelevant.

I would suggest maybe using an ihouse site or something that will give you a month to month option, while you build your own basic site. a basic HTML site with a basic layout and good original content will be better than most of the site you will pay $100s a month for.

Godaddy has a hosting plan you can put an unlimited amount of sites on for like $6-7 a month.

I could write an entire book on realtor websites and what most of us do wrong.

FYI - putting your website in your signature on agentsonline is a great way to get it indexed quickly by google and yahoo and re-spidered regularly.

the sites in my signature are works in progress - but one is already placing for a lot of my targeted keywords and and getting about 25 - 30 hits a days - from search engines. and it is maybe 6 weeks old?

Niche sites place well - you can build quick and they will give you a great source of PR and backlinks to your main sites

I am starting with Point2. It has a lot of great features but like was stated earlier you need to change out all the boilerplate content in the template. Write your own stuff! It is as easy as typing in this message board. I still have a lot ot improve on mine. For a free site, Point2 was the best I could find.

Mike Taylor gave valid advise when he recommended Real Estate Webmasters.
All my experiences with them have been incredibly helpful and informative.

I currently have 8 domains that point to central website and I am looking at acquiring an additional 8 or 10 in the next month.

why not just start a blog? Ive saw a lot of successful blogs. they are easy to place in search engines, easy to update daily

I second Mike Taylor. Real Estate Webmasters you should definitely consider.