My brother and I are looking to start our own realty web site. There doesn't seem to be a many agent sites in my area that are using SEO. I have done a bit of research but would appreciate a push in the right direction from my fellow realtors. Here are my questions:

1. I have seen on godaddy that the domain I would like is available. Is this the way to go or do I need to find a realtor specific web host.

2. I consider myself somewhat computer savvy but am afraid I would need to hire or find a friend that can help. I would like to have all the bells and whistles a great site would have. Including mls listings. What are the costs involved?

4. We are going to market ourselves as a team with three members. Each member is fairly new to real estate so I think this is a good way to go as we can all help eachother (total 8 years experience). What are your thoughts on this approach.

5. Also how diddicult is it to send html emails? Will I be able to do this from our site?

Thanks in advance for any help.

You don't need to pay oodles of money on a so-called "real estate specific" web host, and you can buy your domain name from ANYWHERE. Make sure your domain name is SEO - keyword rich.

The main thing consumers want is information and listings in an easy to use format. Period. Make your site keyword rich.

Who will handle the leads that come in? How will they be distributed?

You can download the free Komposer HTML Web editor and create all the html emails you want - just copy and paste them into your email, making sure any images you use are acutally online and not linked from your hard drive.

I would go the more simple route when it comes to a website - what they want is listings and info, and maybe a mortgage calculator. You can probably get IDX listings links from your MLS provider - ask there first before paying third parties lots of money for fancier set ups that cost more money to do basically the same thing....

And start a blog, link it to your site. Use the blog to write keyword rich articles. Don't talk about how new you are - talk about the market and what you know.

You can't go wrong with Busy Agent Pro. Their websites are SEO friendly right out of the box with minimal customization needed to get you going. I think they are $67 a month right now, but that includes a lot more then just websites.

I've been working on my site lately adding a few more bells and whistles. I like the forum they have to help with SEO and marketing. Their SEO expert Rich is awesome. Sometimes people get distracted with bells and whistles and end up with a fancy site that is useless to the end user and wonder why they aren't getting any leads.

They offer IDX through iHomefinder. My IDX option cost me $50 a month. I've had it about 6 weeks now and it is directly responsible for 2 pending sales. It's been a very nice return on investment. It's paid for itself and my BAP membership for the next few years already.

CKRoyal,

You are just starting out. $67 per month is far too much of a commitment without revenue. I get more traffic from my blog than my website. I would start there first for free (WordPress.com, Blogger.com, etc.) and put your IDX search info there. In fact, you might consider checking GoDaddy for the availability of some highly relevant URLs to redirect to your IDX. I use MetroAtlantaHomesOnline.net and TheGeorgiaHomeSearch.com to redirect readers to a bunch of letters that take the user to my MLS website.

Also check with your current MLS service(s) to see if it offers agent sites along with your membership. Remember, the blog should be optimized, but initially a link to your agent site should be fine.

You always have to be mindful of your P&L.

Just my thoughts.

Hey Ben: does your IDX provider and/or BAP allow you to set up customizable searches so that your website visitors can click on a single button you have set up to see for example, high rise water front condos, or historic homes? I want to be able to set up localized search parameters by neighborhood name, or subdivision name, etc. and set up the one-click buttons, but don't want to have to pay a vendor lots of bucks every time I want a new search added to a page. I guess I am looking for a website provider that has the functionality built in that I can customize the searches. Sorry, I am not trying to hijack this thread.

Greene,

I see where you're coming from with the $67 a month commitment if you don't have a steady source of income. When I first started out money was tight and it was a big deal for me too. I do not miss those days!

If your financial situation does not permit it, then by all means stick with the free blogs, websites and framed IDX solutions until some money comes in. We all have to make sure our bills are paid first.

If you can swing the $67 a month, you've got to give BAP a try. I started off from scratch with my IDX and new LC pages 6 weeks ago. They are already making me money with no advertising. Good old Google found them and with good initial SEO they are already on the second page at #14. Once I start my back linking I'm sure I'll make first page in a few weeks.

Cave Man,

You're right on with the customized searches. I'm allowed unlimited localized searches. Infact I'm in the process of setting up over 200 of them. One for every community in my town and then foreclosures, short sales, etc. It's still only $50 a month for regular levels traffic. Do you realize how powerful it is to have your leads narrowed down to a specific neighborhood or property type?

After I get all 200+ searches set up and advertise them I might have to upgrade my plan to the premium package to handle the high traffic. I have 20 some pages done already and haven't come close to using my traffic quota yet.

To the OP, no matter what method or system you go with, be consistant. That's the most important advice I can give.

I pay $120 a year to my MLS provider (in addition to my dues of course) for custom IDX links. I can make any searches I want and put links to them anywhere I want...on my blog, on my website, on craigslist.

My FREE blog and my website (about $20 a month for hosting) have helped me generate more money this year than I have ever made in my life...I have leads coming in all the time. I just put another house under contract today from a lead that contacted me last week from my website!

When you are just starting out you MUST watch your pennies or you will be broke before you ever get your first commission.

Sure, services that do all the work for you are nice and yeah, if you can afford it and not go broke, go for it.

I personally see no point in spending so much money on something I can do myself for next to nothing... (which is why I rarely use the car wash too...LOL. It's nice but I don't like paying almost $12 for something I can do for free at home...)

And as I see it, it's more than $67 a month, it's $117 a month - $67 for BAP and another $50 for IDX.

If you can afford it - go for it. But most new agents don't have that much money to spend on a regular basis.

I remember back in 1998 when I was asking this exact same question. I put up my first free Wordpress blog that same year in 1998 and started to seriously market my real estate business using the Internet. Back then, hardly anyone else was even doing anything online with any consistency so it was pretty easy.

I highly recommend Wordpress if you just want to keep it simple. WP can be very powerful if you use it correctly and consistently. Notice, I have already used the word consistently three times in this short post and I believe it was mentioned as being very important by another person above;)

In the year 2000, I got even more serious about marketing my business online and started developing what I thought back then was the perfect system for marketing my business online. That system which has evolved into Busy Agent Pro, helped me close over 318 transactions that same year and not less than 200 in any year since.

BAP allows you to seamlessly integrate "all" of the tools you need to run a successful business. Some of the tools in BAP such as blogs, websites, hosting,etc. you can certainly get for free online and do very well. But BAP does things no free or even other paid services can do at this point in time and it is very simple to implement.

Now, interestingly enough, my board does not have a feed with the IDX service integrated with BAP so some of the things mentioned above, our members can do but I can not, go figure:)

One other note about BAP is we only accept one agent per market, so once a market is taken we do not accept anyone else in your market to use the system. I know of no free piece of software or even paid really that can say the same.

We have very, very loyal members as you can easily see by doing any research about BAP that have been with us for years, some as long as 8 years and there is a reason. We take care of our members, we protect our members from competition, and I have never heard any of our thousands of members ever talk about the actual affordability of BAP as there is just nothing out there even remotely close to doing what BAP does for the price as well as the exclusivity that you get by being a BAP member.

And the coolest thing I think about BAP is that if the system doesn't already do something you are wanting it to do which is becoming pretty rare anymore, you as a member can suggest it and we have over a 95% implementation rate. So, you can actually be responsible for the direction of the system.
As an example, just recently a member was spending a lot of time posting to a bunch of different social networks to create backlinks for their main websites and blogs. They asked if we could automate that process and three weeks later, the BAP social networking Module was complete. Now, from within BAP you can post to over 30 of the most popular social networks with a single click without ever leaving BAP, cool.

I will put BAP up against any free or paid website,single property websites, video creation and submission service, social network submission system, content creation service, blog platform, drip e-mail system, drip direct mail system, software, coaching program, system, etc. anytime, anywhere.


With that said, several people above have mentioned WordPress blogs and free or low cost IDX integration with your local board. I still have 4-5 WordPress sites up as feeder sites as they have aged domain names. I agree with that advice and believe that is a very good solution if BAP isn't for you or if your market is already taken.

I am very interested in BAP. I live in Lee's Sunmmit, MO which is a suburb of Kansas City, MO. I have gone on your site and filled out the area check for Kansas City. How does this process work? I haven't received any confirmation as to the availability of my area. I assume it is taken. If it isn't it sounds like exactly what I am looking for. Again my brother and I would like to market ourselves together. Is this something we could do on your site?

Hi there,

You are in my old neck of the woods, I am originally from KCMO. Anyway, I also received your PM and have responded;)

Hey CK,

If you sign up make sure to stop by the forum and introduce yourself.

Ben

I haven't been able to get into the BAP desktop yet. How long does it usually take?

Send me a quick e-mail and I can check to see if you are all set up.

Brian- I also have always used Point2agent and spent a pretty good amount getting it up and looking decent.

However, I like BAP and would like to see if my market(Murfreesboro, Tennessee) is available as well.

I would be willing to switch but I got nothing in response to me request as well.

Could you or someone contact me at

nathanvburns@gmail.com
www.nathanburns.com
615-653-3811

They can mirror a site so no problem there.They have been busy lately adding to the system so just keep trying them.

Nathan. I left Point2agent for BAP a few months ago. Although I had only had Point2agent a couple months prior to that. I found out about BAP on here. BAP has been great. They are working on some wonderful stuff that point2agent doesn't even come close to. Once they get you set up you will like them. Hopefully your area is available.

Hi Nathan,

If you would like to call me direct, send me an e-mail to: brian@brseminars.com and we can set up a time:)

And I just checked for you, Murfreesboro, Tennessee is available right now.

Above all whatever solution you pick ensure that it has an easy/advanced search option and that you provide potential clients as much information as possible. People use real estate sites as a research tool and if they happen to really love your site they will keep coming back and contact you.

Of course don't forget to focus on search engine optimization or understand the basics of pay per click. It will not how good your site is if no one uses it