I am thinking of reserving my domain name. I don't think I will have a website set up for about 6 months. Is it a good idea to just use my name or should I have something about homes in it ? I am very new to all of this tech stuff. Is go daddy ok to get my domain name from? Does it really matter who you get it from?

Yes, get your domain name now! (but don't wait 6 months to put up a website... get something online now so they search engines know about you, and start the clock ticking... more info on this if you want to know. Just know, the older the website, the more google likes it, so yesterday is the best time to get your website online)

Yes, you "should" have a domain name with good keywords in it, but how many of those are really left? There are really 2 ways to look at a domain name, and I recommend people get more then one domain name.

1) The advertising domain name:
This is the one you use in all your print material. It should be easy to say and read. www.1O4u2Chomes.com is not a good advertising domain name. Is that first character a ONE or a lower case L? Is the second character a ZERO or a capital O? Then when you speak 4u2C, you have to stop and explain... that's the number 4, the letter U, the number 2, the letter C... the people have lost interest or they are out of ear shot by now... Get your name if it's available, and not too hard to spell or say. People can (or should) be able to remember your name... (this domain name is NOT promoted in the search engines if you have the next item.)

2) The Internet domain name.
This domain name should have good keywords in it, and will be promoted in the search engines. This domain name is not needed, as many top scoring websites are only the Realtors name. But it "can" give you an advantage if all others things are equal.

Yes, godaddy is probably the best place to buy a domain name. Just don't buy all the "other" stuff they try to sell you when buying your domain name. Make sure your final price is $8.95 (or there-about) when you go to check-out. If not, you probably bought some add-on and you'll have to remove it before checking out.

Thank you so much OC I reserved my domain name today www.kimdove.com. What next. I have a friend that does web design, do I contact her next?

luvduv:

I'm not sure your friend would be your best bet in creating a real estate website. Does your friend understand SEO? Does your friend understand what you have to do to get people to leave their email addresses or for them to contact you? You can have the prettiest website out there, but if it doesn't make you money (get leads) what good is it?

Of course, if your friend will do it for free, it may be a good start to get your domain indexed by the search engines. The quickier you can do this, the better... it starts the clock ticking on your website "age".

I registered my domain through Go Daddy, and they're my web host as well. I've had a great experience with them.

The thing that differentiates most web hosts is their customer service. They all have similar pricing schemes, similar plans, etc. But when it comes to customer service, some of them are nowhere to be found. I dropped iPowerWeb and Dotster for this very reason. I've been very satisfied with Go Daddy.

Good luck!

Yes, she is a web consultant or something like that. That is her job setting up websites and all of that techie stuff that I don't know about. LOL! She is often quite busy with it and she won't be able to sit down with me until sometime in August.

Building a good website is a multi-phase process. Few people are good at every phase. Techie-types can make the code "sing" (the backend language that determines how well your site works) and help it spider on the search engines -- the "cleaner" your code, the better.

Then there is the design phase - usually best handled by the artist-types. What looks good to the visitor ("eye-candy") should be optimized to ensure that the "pretty stuff" doesn't adversely affect performance. So your web artist should know how to avoid long load times, the use of Flash splash pages, frames, etc., that can really hurt your rankings.

Then there is the content phase. Someone who adores the written word can help you here. You need to be sure the things you say on your website not only inform your visitors, but that they also are written to help boost your rankings.

Then you have the submission phase -- which is the part most people "skip" to. But all three of the other phases need to be perfected first.

Maybe your friend can handle one or more of these phases. If she's that busy, she may be that good. I hope so -- but don't sacrifice your business website to use a friend. Be sure you know her success level on each phase before determining how and if to use her skills.

My two cents,

It was very much appreciated. I am so lost when it comes to things like websites. I think I need to take a class. But everyone's info has really been an eye opener.

It sounds like you're on a roll. I'd definitely save the comments of all other posters in this thread. Even though the "clock [is] ticking on your website 'age'", you will need to still work at a pace that is comfortable to you.

Your friend is busy and your patience is good. Even though she's a friend, make sure you both still have an agreement. This is not to take your business from her, this is experience talking. I've done sites for friends and offer them a great rate. I still make sure I give them the same agreements that I give my clients. This way there's never any questions as to what each party is responsible for.

As for your domain name, I'd still recommend getting a domain name with a keyword in it. For example, www.kimdoverealty.com. You can have both domain names and 'mask' one so that they point to the same site. You can use the one with the domain name for your search engine submissions and use the other for offline advertising. Either way the keyword in the domain name is good to have. It's not expensive (an extra $8.95/year) and Godaddy.com will do the masking for you. In your account with Godaddy.com simply go under the 'Domain Forwarding' and enter the domain name that the site is being built under. If you click 'masking' than the domain will remain throughout your visitors experience.
For an example of what I'm talking about... I own http://www.elizabethvarian.com and after I became an LLC I didn't want to open another hosting account and move the pages. So I did the masking/forwarding. So if you go here: http://www.webmasterforhirellc.com it's the same site.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your web site endeavors!

Thanks everyone for your replies but I think I am going to go with www.imageprowebsite.com to start. I never knew the process was so complicated, so I have decided just to use a generic website for now.

I think one of the most important factors about chosing a domain name is recall. Everything else is a bonus. You need to get a name that people can recall easily, so that they can visit your site after seeing it on a bill board, or after a friend has told them about it.

I think people stress too much about search engine optimization. Search engines have changed the way they rank pages several times over the years, so its quite possible all this effort will be wasted in the future. I'm more than happy to pay for my placing as it really does not cost me much and the returns are far greater than the cost. Just recently, a client in San Diego found me through my search engine placement, they brought a house, their sister might be moving to the area and will be buying a house through me if she does, and they have another client on their way to me.

If your not too sure about which name to chose, take several of the names, at $8 a year per name, thats not much more expensiver than a Big Mac meal.

In terms of the "Internet Domain Name", is it better to have the hyphens ie. bobjones-real-estate-homes.com vs. bobjonesrealestatehomes.com.
I read on this forum having the hyphens helps optimize the site.

Yeah, hyphens do accentuate the sitename, and allow you to spell out your function.

In case anyone is interested, I just read that the website domain mortgageleads.ws is up for sale. I checked on availability, and found out that it is the only U.S. website available with mortgageleads.*** in the title.

The ad I saw said the asking price was $1,000.00

I don't have the contact website, but their email address is corporateceo@astound.net

Chris

get your own name and something with homes and your market place in it. If you have a website that allows you to track stats you can figure out where your traffic is coming from. Check out my domain name poll please vote. my site is http://www.edmonton-homes.ca

If you want you can start building your own website for free, just visit our blog and click "Build Your Own Real Estate Web Site for Free" at:

http://network-news.blogspot.com

The website domain CountryClubFinance.com just became available.

I don't have any info other than the asking price is about $1,000, and the contact email is corporateceo@astound.net

That is way too expensive for a domain name. Think outside the box (otb) otbfinance for outside the box financing...just kidding...but $1000. for a domain name is insane. spend $100. throw the other $900. into marketing. and it will balance out.

www.realestate-edmonton.ca

All I have to say is: Once you do decide on a domain name you like that's available, buy it ASAP. I thought I had an original name for a site that I wanted to start, so I took a month to make the site, then went to buy the name and someone had already taken it within that short span.

Buy it....well take his advice then...sounds like very sound marketing practise. btw, just because you like it doesn't mean its good and if you break the marketing bank to buy it. I'll buy the one that's not as good and drive traffic to it through marketing. Don't over think it though. Go with your instincts.