I am looking to get an website up and running and wanted to ask if anyone has any good advice as to which companies are the best. There are so many choices out there and I'd like to get it right the first time.

Thank you in advance for any advice you may have.

Zach

Realz, depending on what your goal is, I will suggest a couple of options. A self-hosted wordpress site (more like a blog in the dynamic sense, but as usable as a static site), REW (their IDX is phenomenal), or AgentImage (their SEO is lacking, but visually great sites... just need to put in the work on your end to make them pop).

We use a company based in Colorado: Cold Platter

http://www.coldplatter.com/

I know a few people at Agent Image & have nothing against them, but I cringe when I hear people recommend a website based purely on design. SEO is hugely important, and I'd recommend agents not spend time having a designer design them a pretty website that's pleasing to the eye if it doesn't produce results. At the end of the day, your website should be good at converting traffic to leads -- anything outside of that goal should be a secondary consideration when choosing a website vendor.

Try www.realtorbizbuilder.com. Realtor Biz Builder makes it really easy to manage your website.

Has anyone used Diverse Solutions?

I have had plenty of problems with Agent Image, but I would still recommend them based on their designs. Their sites are not the most SEO-friendly, but with work/effort can have very good results on the SERPs (and better than average conversion rates). Google 'beverly hills real estate' (which is a high competition market with many of those being professionally SEO'ed) and see the first spot taken by an AI site.

Question directed to Maui real estate:
Hi, do you know if any of their entry end webpages (I think it's called pro) rank on the top after a google search in a specific market? Or do you have to buy one of the custom sites from Agent Image?

Kiki, no, I don't know that for a fact. The design part has little (if any) to do with how well you rank on the SERP's, so I would put more emphasis on how easy it is to optimize on-site rather than how 'pretty' it may look. I know I have issues with AI's lack of control over url's, putting a ridiculous random numbers at the end (completely unnecessary, but I was told by their tech support that they can't do anything about that).

I am an Approved Vendor for a company called www.Ubertor.com. They have thousands of Realtors using their templated websites.

They are magnets for search engines, easy to update and affordable. Best of all the first 4 months are only $ 1.00 and subsequent months are $ 37.00 or $ 57.00 inclusive depending on the number of listings. There is no contract so your options are open.

Just my two cents.

Hi Zach!

There are a lot of website design companies out there, so I can see how it can be difficult to pick the right one. Here are some suggestions and things to think about when making your decision.

First, don't choose a designer because of design alone. Some of the flashiest websites get no traffic and rank horribly, but they look great. It is very important that your site is SEO friendly otherwise it will be like putting up a nice billboard advertisement in the middle of the desert. Some more food for thought...over five billion people have cell phones and many of them are going online directly from their mobile device. Most cell phones do not support flash content, so if you have a flash site built you may lose some customers for the simple fact that they won't be able to view your content.

Another thing to consider, what will be your long term traffic generation strategy? Since you don' t yet have a website built, this is the best time to actually hire an SEO consultant and have them build your website. That way, from the very beginning your website is optimized for the search engines and you are also set up for traffic and lead generation. This is something that has to be maintained on a consistent basis for the best results and depending on the services you choose you may get the website at a discounted price or for free.

I am a web marketing consultant. I have several very happy clients. If you are interested in learning more about a complete solution to your web design needs you can PM me or email me at info@chanelljoyner.com.

I hope that helps :-)
Chanell-

That's key, especially when you're at the beginning stages. Now is the time to map out a promotion plan. Are you going to be promoting mostly online or offline (or hybrid), where, who, how often, etc.

So there is no consensus on web design companies?

I need to redo mine & was hoping to find a good company with reasonable pricing.