Hello!

I was thinking of creating a website for myself. I was wondering if you have one and what it does for you. Does it bring in business? Do you get a lot of traffic and do you use Adwords or something similar to get that traffic? I'm also not sure who to use if I do get a site, I have heard good things about GoDaddy.com. Any input is appreciated. Thank you! :)

This is a HUGE question with many different answers. I myself use a company called busyagentpro.com. Instead of creating one yourself I would find a company that specializes in real estate websites. However if you have the know how you can create great websites with wordpress. I created a simple website myself about 6 years ago. It wasn't too pretty as I'm not a website designer. But amazingly got a few clients. But things have changed since then in real estate marketing. Having an IDX feed from your MLS is very important also as people are looking for listings. There are hundreds of real estate related website providers My website brings me clients. Most all buyers. Many website providers include your domain name with the subscription. I use GoDaddy to buy my domains though. But not for the website itself.

When I first built mine 6 months ago I knew almost nothing. Bought an agent press theme for a Wordpress blog and away I went. Integrated it with an IDX. Invested less than $500 total and have brought in about 150 leads over the last 6 months with 2 closings. Well worth the investment and time to generate some income.

This is in a small niche market as well. Could be much larger in busier areas. Working on upgrading for another site now as well.

I was with busyagentpro for six months last year. I could not get anyone to return phone calls whenever I had a problem. I never was refunded my money either. It was very frustrating. I switched to Point2Agent. The service is great.

I'd recommend setting up a (free) blog such as Wordpress or Blogger. Then buy a highly relevant URL such as SacramentoDreamHomeUpdates.com (a little long, but you get the point) from GoDaddy and set it up there so that your blog comes up when your URL is used. Then add IDX, images, and most importantly, highly relevant content and a "contact me" link to your blog so that readers can contact you right from there. From that point on, you can update it a couple times a month using highly relevant keywords.

Be sure to include your URL in your signatures, both on and offline. Answer questions on consumer RE forums and include your URL in the signature line. If your content is important to consumers, your rankings will rise and your phone should ring.

I suggest leaving out the "dream." Nobody searches using the term "dream home."

I think it's cliche.

A lot of agents have websites but few agents have websites that actually generate business. Your website will help you if you can get it onto the first page of google search results. But if you think of the number of agents you have in your MLS board most of them will not be on page #1.

If you are willing to put the time and effort into developing your website (as many on this forum do) to rank your site high then it's is well worth the effort. On the other hand you may wish to spend your time & money on other marketing efforts that could pay off for you as well.

As myself, I use busy agent pro and would highly recommend them. I have never experienced the issues mentioned above.

I have 25 websites/ LC pages and 2 WP blogs all hosted through BAP. Never had an issue with them and like Kjmendy mentions they are ranking high and bringing me business. I have no complaints.

Focus,

If you feel BAP owes you money feel free to call Brian Rodgers directly. His personal number is 620-662-6449. He can look at your account and if you are owed money he'll give you a refund. It's as easy as that.

I would say that rather than just getting a free wordpress theme I would get a Thesis or Genesis theme and host it on Hostgator or Bluehost for 6-7 dollars per month. The themes are not expensive, they run around $50-$60 one time fee. They are pretty sophisticated in terms of customizing and they have great results in the Search Engines. Plus both companies have forums and ways to get help if you have issues. If you have the $$ get a dedicated IP for your site and an IDX provider.

Get your domain through whichever company hosts your site. There is no point in registering with Godaddy. Most hosts will give you a free registration of 1 domain name if you sign up for hosting.

I do believe a website is important. But as with any other facet of your marketing plan, you need to prove that you're different in order for it to be effective. If you want people to be impressed by your website, it needs to be something that doesn't look like you signed up for a cheap template website, and then just changed the header/logo and uploaded your agent mugshot. People will look at it, yawn, and move on.

I actually don't get much a huge amount of business from my website (I get plenty from my existing SOI), but I haven't really worked on SEO much since I just haven't felt the need or had the time. I absolutely do get enough inquiries from it to make it worthwhile, though.

I use Go Daddy for my hosting; I would categorize their service as "adequate" -- not outstanding, but I haven't had any problems that would make me go looking for another service provider.

Thank you all for your input and advice, it's greatly appreciated! I'm going to research a few of these further and then go for it.

I had a website that did not generate any real business for 2 years. In January 2011 I had a company build me a website and I'm picking up 1 or 2 good clients a month. The real hard work has been getting the website on to page 1 of google. Since getting on page 1 my website got a huge jump in visits every day. The thing that I am struggling with is getting people to sign up on the site as a guest.

If you are getting good clients why do you need them to sign up as a "guest?"

Here is my website what do yall think and it was free. www.homefad.com

Good luck with it. I don't think many buyers will take it seriously with "Create your own free website" links at the bottom. But hey, I could be wrong.

Well, if you want an honest opinion...It looks like a free website. The content is generic, and many of the links on your buyers/sellers pages require a log-in. Your "About us" page didn't actually tell me anything about you, but it was rife with grammatical and typographical errors. By the way...You're in Baltimore, yet your header image is of Lower Manhattan. Huh?

It seems, in sum, to be precisely the sort of website that a buyer or seller would immediately skip past.

Ben
I left Brian several messages. He finally contacted me after I left a couple of posts on here and said it had been a tough time due to a death. However, I never was refunded my money for the six months I was with him and could not get their technical support to return a call.

[quote=Perky_REALTOR]If you are getting good clients why do you need them to sign up as a "guest?" [/quote]

When I didn't require anybody to sign up I was getting lots of hits on the site but turning these people into leads was difficult. The decision to get people to sign up is a bit like the old question what came first the chicken or egg?? My web design company have been monitoring exit pages and making changes to the site which is generating more leads. What I do find is the people who sign up are good leads. Having had both options sign up or free access I prefer the sign up option as I waste less time chasing leads. I am obviously aware that I'm also losing clients. A friend of mine who does not require sign up gets less good leads from his site than I do. What are other people views on this ?? [s] [/s]

I guess it is just terminology. What incentive are you offering for people to give you their name and email address? I don't think of them as signing up as a "guest"? (that seems dumb to me...why would they want to just hand over their contact info?)

I don't require sign up either to view listings. But I offer them email alerts for properties they are interested in, or access to my mls portal where they can save searches of their own.

Yes I do, and I have been steadily working up from 10 new users daily to several hundred right now. I realized my websites potential and recently had it redeveloped with the ability for agents to upload their own profiles and listings. I routinely recieve calls from buyers, agents and brokers.

My recommendation is to avoid making your own page unless you know what you are doing because you will be wasting a lot of time otherwise. Not to mention you will probably not do a very good job in regards to SEO, customization etc.

Hire someone that knows real estate websites well and let them do the dirty work.

I personally have made over 20 websites (about 3 were real estate).

Between SEO, small tweaks such as permalink structure, custom design etc. You are better off hiring a professional.

Web developers can be pricey, but if you are just starting out, I invite you to register for free on my site and upload your own listings for free exposure. Your name, photo, and bio are displayed to every user that clicks your listing. I just made a post about it. For more information visit www.wealthrealty.org or read my thread here

http://www.agentsonline.net/forums/ubbth...html#Post370926

Use coupon code agentsonline
www.WealthRealty.org

Cheers!

I use GoDaddy for a host and do all of my own design work. I also use a third party for a RETS feed. If I could not do my own design, I would probably go with a RETS vendor that I could also set up a templated site with.

I do not have any site, but i use realestateblog.com for awareness about dubai real estate. Even I used to visit this site more than google. But i have tried some polls on polldaddy.