Hello,
What is more effective:

Paying web design & hosting company who specialize in Real Estate --$600 setup fee and $40 per month hosting fee

OR

Get local web designer customize the website. Design cost about $300 and hosting $20-$30 a month.


Thank You
Ritu

I've tried many, many times to get an independent designer to make a website for me. I ended up spending a couple thousand dollars and never got a working site. Each company would take forever or the code was sloppy. My problem is that I didn't want to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on a website, but in the end, I paid much more and ended up without a site at all.

Advanced Access is my current provider and I'm testing Myers Internet right now. The reason I liked the templates is because they provide updated news, newsletters, advice, free reports, etc. and I never have to update the site myself. I can also easily post my featured homes on the template site. I customized the site by adding links, pages, and local information. I really liked Advanced Access, but it was about $700 to get set up and is $40 a month. I don't like the fact that they use frames a lot, but I think most companies do.

If I had the choice, I'd pay a professional web designer, but to get a good one would cost 5k-10k. I tried paying under 1k and each product that was produced didn't have even half the features of the template sites.

If you'd like to take a look at my sites to see how a customized template looks, you can email me.

Ritu,

Before you go hiring a designer to do a custom site, make sure you take the time to spell out exactly what you want and include some existing real estate sites as examples of the type of work product you are expecting. Write an outline of the site with all the pages you want such as:

Home Page
Featured Listings
IDX Search Page
Community Info
About Ritu
Contact Ritu
etc....

and let the designer know how much fancy graphic work you expect. Many designers offer a "custom website" which is actually put together with a template they already have from past projects. Providing this level of detail up front should greatly increase the chance of you getting a true price and possibly avoid getting into a situation where the designer keeps trying to add onto the original price after you start designing. Also, get an agreed upon hourly rate or dollar amount per additional web page in case you decide to add something to the site in the middle of the project.

And lastly, money motivates...the less you pay upfront and the more you hold back until completion, the more you can keep the designer honest about providing a quality product at the initial agreed upon price.

RRealtor,
I agree with Dee. It's very hard to get exactly what you want from a custom designer. There are far too many requirements for an RE site and too many possibilities for the cost to run wild.

Template sites have their pros and cons. Pro: Faster to market and lower cost Con: You look like everyone else. (just a sample) I evaluated most of the major players in the market today...

Dee: Custom Template? Just want to make sure we are speaking ofthe same thing. How are you defining a custom template?

A "customized" template is what I'll be using to get to market faster. It affords me the ability to get to market with a unique look and feel, get quality over the standard templates but not put too much money into it as the first version is almost always a throw away.

Eagle: I agree as well. Knowing exactly what you want is only part ofthe battle. Knowing what is available, the development efforts and costs just complicate the matter. With the thousands of templates out there, most looking like their deformed twin down the way, it's hard to know what can be done.

And salesmen for these companies are very good at what they do. There are entire processes written about getting you to admit what will excite you and using that information to generate a sale!!! And in web tech, it's a lot easier that in RE!

RRealtor: The setup fees are a variable in the equation and are intended to generate upfront income. The actual service provided for those fees is minimal and not worth the money spent. A good salesman will wave those fees to get you to sign up. They all tried to wave mine. Yes, AA, Myers, Z57, A La Mode, etc... You'd be surprised.

RRealtor, I would spend some time one the phone watching the demos given by the different vendors. Write down what you see. This is the "capabilities list". Then prioritize that list to "must have", "nice to have", a waste of money"... Then call them back for more demos...

It a slow process, but the time you put into it will pay you back when you don't have to move your site and pay to have it rewritten.

Okay Lurkers, let's not get into a flaming session on that statement. I've written these sites, have seen the money that goes into them and know the evolution of a web site from initial concept through versions to final look and feel...


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All comments made above are from the perspective of a professional web developer and technical project manager. Please take any He Said - She Said off line as I do not wish to mince words and waste good people's time.
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Developing your own web site is very easy. You dont need to really know much HTML programing to make your own web site. If you know how to use MS Publisher - you can make web pages - learning MS frontpage is easy enough. As far as linking IDX into your web page - your MLS will give you the address link to place in the code. You do need File Transer Protocal software (FTP) to upload your web site to the host server. MS frontpage has that built in and there are freeware ftp programs available to download.

Registering a domain name costs under $10.00 and web hosting for most real estate web sites for individuals and small companies cost about $5.00 - $7.00 per month. A BIG MISTAKE most people make is purchasing way too much service for their web site. This link (copy and paste it in your address bar)---(http://www.findmyhosting.com/webhosting-guide.htm)---
Is a great tool for anyone planning or running there own web site. it explains the basics and lots more about web sites - in simple terms. It also helps find hosting packages.
Bottom Line - Educate yourself to avoid getting ripped off by someone who makes it sound so difficult because it really is pretty easy.

Jmayala,

Great advice. I highly reccomend that everyone wishing to have a billboard in the desert into which they can pour countless hours & dollars that should be spent listing and selling homes... follow it to the letter

Seriously though, I still chuckle when I see posts saying how easy having a real website component for a real estate business is. The sad part is that most people DO follow this type of website plan and are puzzled as to why they produce nothing. Them dang websites are a waste of money they say
With all do respect jmayala, would you feel the same way if you were reading a post by a web developer or experienced search engine optimization company telling everyone not to waste their money getting ripped off by a realtor...I think not;)
To each his own but I'm a firm believer in the old you get what you pay for credo. When my car breaks down I don't go looking for the duct tape, I take it to a mechanic. I seriously can't think of a single purchase that I made in my life where I based my decision on price alone that I did not regret. Is website development or search engine optimization rocket science, no, but for the average company or agent to create their own website that consistently produces leads ands places well in the search engines for highly competitve terms that people actually use is 1 in a million....literraly Those who have figured that out and view their website(s) as more than a digital brochure are selling more property by accident than most do on purpose but your not likely to hear them telling everyone else to do the same for obvious reasons. Sorry for the rant but it kills me to see people throw money and effort down the drain again and again and again.

Jackc21 - Try making available free information that would be sent with an auto-response when their information sheet is filled out - it will email a password for them to retrieve the wanted information - there is always false information but serious inquires will also be submitted.


Rich@VTWS - I do agree with you and I am not trying to start any kind of argument. There are lots of agents that work for large firms that want to have have agent pages. Many agents may want to "dot com" their name and have it go to their web page offered by the corporation where they work. Many smaller companies may want to have a simple web site. And Yes - you do get what you pay for but an educated buyer is less likely to be taken to the cleaners.

I highly recommend Doug Towes:
www.rncinternet.com/real_estate.html

Not cheap at $100/month plus a setup fee ($600?) but it does work and deliver leads on a regular basis. Pretty solid buyer leads at that, more often than not with a 3 month window and the person will usually give their phone number.

Only 1 client per market so if your market is alreday taken you're SOL.

Thank you so much for all the responses!
I sincerly appreciate everyone's time.


Ritu

The web grew because of a core grass root ideal, anyone can get onto it, surf it and create a presence for themselves.

But... Just as everyone can create a presence for themselves, it all depends in what you want to get out of that presence. If you have no skills at site development and do your own, it will show and effect efficacy.

You may need to speak to someone who can take a look at your needs and help you select the best path. Someone with absolutely no benefit from the path chosen. This is why businesses have Business Analysts. Interpret users needs so the systems people can meet them and deliver.

Making your first call to a web developer, a template company or SEO firm will, by experience, lead you down paths that are most likely not appropriate for you. They have the best intentions, but the end result is business and that is what they are, a business, and thats what they are focused on. Business and making the bottom line a positive number at year end.

There is one issue being overlooked here. Its all great and dandy to have a template website, however you should have a site that also brands your personality. You can not get this with a company agent page or template. Todays real estate industry and the agents who truly do make a very good living off the internet, do not use template websites. Custom designs are better looking and have better seo abilities.

Also using an example for some of you here. Why do most agents go out and buy say a BMW to run their clients around town in? Is it they like the BMW or is it they want to show those clients they are successful by driving a luxury car. The same goes for websites, when a consumer sees a poor looking website they will assume that its cheap and maybe associate that tag with the real estate agent.

Using the internet as a marketing tool to produce business for you as a real estate agent is NOT cheap, if you approach it as such, you most likely will not have very much success or have it for long. As new more tech savvy agents get into the real estate profession, you will see more high tech websites hit the internet while you are still running your cheap low cost template website.

People need to start to realize that there is no quick fix for anything worth while.

I don't think there are quick fixes, but not every agent has a ten grand to dole out to a web developer. With Advanced Access, you can edit the site with their HTML and really make it look your own. Some people even pay designers to make customize the site and add even more content. Since the designer doesn't have to create a completely custom template or provide content, you'd pay less.

You have to weigh the $$ you want to spend versus time.

1. If you have the time and no money, do it yourself. Be warned that it can turn out looking really, really bad.

2. If you have a little more time and little more money, maybe buy a template and change it to your liking.

3. If you have a lot of money, pay someone else to do it. The more you pay, the more likely you'll get a professional result. Just also be forewarned that you could pay a couple thousand and still have a bad result.

The companies I tried using looked like they were good, had good references, but then got "busy" and didn't stick to our deal. Others simply didn't have the skills they claimed to have. It was a complete waste of time and money. I wish I would have just used advanced access until I had 5-10k+ to spend on a website.

Advanced Access is down right now...again...I've been on the trial period now for a couple weeks and my site has been down several times already...not a good impression...Is this common with AA Dee? Thanks.

I didn't think it was common, but did have trouble earlier this morning. For all of the things you get, I like them. I've been looking at Blitzdevelopment.com, but I don't know anyone who has experience with them.

The AA techsupport people are always very nice and helpful. Very rare now-a-days.

I've seen several Blitz Development Sites and have spoken to the guys at Blitz on the phone...
They aren't too far away from where I am.

They aren't a 100% custom site package but not your "AA / Z57 / Meyers / AgentX / iH2000 "website in a can" package either.

Plus I hear they have a pretty good implementor somewhere on the east coast.

The short answer is your site will only be as good as the time and money you put into it. And consider your time as the time you spend working on the site(design, content, anything) with the amount of knowledge of web development that you have.
Less knowledge = more expensive as you will not get exactly what you want or what benefits you the most.
Plop down with an HTML book and MS Publisher and you will get an expensive site built by someone who is "learning". Expensive in that you could have been out selling houses.

Here is a suggestion.

First write your goals of what you want the web site to do for you and discuss them in detail with at least two different companies. You should be able to tell the difference between someone who is selling you a one-size-fits all solution and someone who can and will work with you to accomplish your goals. Here are some things you can ask:

What you to ask

Example of a goal: I want my site to rank in the top 20 sites in 9 months.

I have recently gone throught this process with a broker and have started on the site with the goals posted for anyone to see and comment on:

The Broadway Group Goals

Needless to say this is not an inexpensive undertaking but the stakes are high and the broker understands what is he has to do to be in the game.

websites are a component of your overall marketing program. They are not stand alone salesmen shaking up prospects. Your site needs to provide value for it's viewers so that they feel they've made a good choice in being in your (sites)presence.

"Example of a goal: I want my site to rank in the top 20 sites in 9 months."

That's not a goal, that's a pipe dream for internet techies looking for work by applying crappy templates.

LOL

You reasoning leaves much to be desired. This is not the developer's goal, it is a suggested goal that the broker sets in consultation with the developer. I also posted a page of actual goals we are woring towards. It is easy to critize but what would you suggest as alternative goals?

You reasoning leaves much to be desired. This is not the developer's goal, it is a suggested goal that the broker sets in consultation with the developer. They must then work out the details on how to reach the goal. I also posted a page of actual goals we are woring towards. It is easy to critize but what would you suggest as alternative goals?

Convertion rate, what can you say about visitors to qualified prospects.

An aquintance developed a mailing list. The mailing list was constructed via a webbased offering. Free toilet paper. Can you imagine the value of that list?

If you are saying that there are unscrupulous marketers on the world wide web, I am in full agreement with you. However, this thread is not about that. You have complained in two posts with nothing more than a general statement.

The purpose of a forum like this one is to share knowledge. If you wish to share your are my friend. If not please be courteous enough not to pollute the forum with negative dribble.

Sorry. Duplicate post, the edit does not seem to be working correctly

Actually, I've queried your ideas on conversion, without response. Don't take it personal, everyone has a right to eek out a living, you and I included.

What would be the point in dropping a template site into the 15th search spot on a search phrase that has a relatively small usage? What's the price comparison between raising my convertion ratio as opposed to increasing traffic flow? The things you've listed on your site are all things that the 14 sites above my position will provide. How would a prospect make it as far as the 15 position?

In my other posts I've made a couple of comments that reveal my perception of value (within the topic at hand). When I'm in the field I listen closely to what the market is asking. To be up front, I'm not looking for a website, but I speak of needs from a consumers standpoint. Take it or leave it.

I don't know what you said or am trying to prove in your above post as it makes no sense. I do take comments about my work personal when an anonymous dupe makes them and he/she can not or will not back up. Post your sites and let us see if your dribble holds up. My sites stand on their own. Your critisims are undefined and you offer no alternatives. As said it is easy to criticize but more difficult to back up your statements. I do not not hide the fact that SEO is new to me. That has nothing to do with the fact that I am an expert with css/xhtml standards. Don't believe me do a search on my name at open-realty.org

You do not post your sites or examples of your work, you are an anonymous as a pinhead, and as such everything you post is suspect. There is no way to check your veracity, competence or credibility.

You talk of 'convertion' as you know what it is. Hint, learn how to spell it first.

Further communication with you would be a distructive waste of time so post your negative dribble to your heart's content and let them stand as a monument to your credibility.

I'm not a web designer. In this case I would be considered a consumer. SEO is not my idea of a goal, but then again I'm not a web designer.

In order to have a successful web site, you first need to understand the internet consumer. They are much different than the folks that walk into your office looking for a home.

Look at the data provided by the NAR on the number of people that search for homes on the internet, and the number of those that choose to work with an agent (it's a much higher percentage than the non-internet home shopper). More importantly, the internet home shopper is more likely to choose to work with the first agent that they interview.

What does that tell you? First off, your prominence on the web (SERP's) is very important. Second, knowing that most people have very low opinions of agents, the information that you present and the way that you brand yourself on the web is important to capture potential buyers. IMHO, you will not achieve this with a cookie-cutter template web site.

By having unique, quality content on your site you will help to forge the bond of trust and get surfers to take action - namely make contact with you after viewing your site. Regurgitating the same old Z57/AA etc. information just doesn't cut it. Besides, most homebuyers are more sophisticated than that canned information presents.

There are millions of real estate sites on the internet - but only a fraction of those generate any revenues. The ones that know how to identify target customers and are able to properly market to these buyers are the ones that win. There's a heck of a lot more to getting conversions than slapping together a web site - even if it does have good rankings and drive traffic.

Yes - I am biased towards custom sites because one of my companies specializes in real estate web marketing . But I am also a licensed agent and a partner in a new brokerage that is opening in a few months. Web marketing is a large portion of our advertising.

With more and more people looking for homes on the internet, it should also be a large part of your marketing efforts.

You are ablsolutly correct. Conversions will be in direct proportion to the quality of the site and the care you take in building it. Another statistic from NAR is that 93% of transactions are made by 7% of the agents.

Then certainly high quality would be a higher priority 'goal', yet I'm not convinced that quality is the close. I can offer 'quality' and be successful, only if my prospect seeks quality.
As well, I can take great care in the technical side of site building, only to discover I've used the wrong message.

One thing that we need to be cautious is that we don't put our sites between us and the prospects.

One of most successful tools today is the Google search engine. By and large, users are 'referred' to sites via there queries. In my business, I refer 2-3 names for any query. My customer would be unhappy if I gave them 15 referrals. If a internet surfer gets down to the 15 referral, I'd advise exercising caution working with them. My site quality would have low impact on a low quality prospect.

The trade off then is, for the cost, should one not pay for referrals out of a high ranking (1-2nd) directory, regional site, or industry specific site. Should I not segment my market in such a way that I can achieve the highest ranking. If I can't, then are my market dollars, goals being misdirected.

In the business of referral, quantity is second place to quality. Topping the list is who makes the referral. A stand alone website sitting in 15th place won't be percieved as a quality referral. Who has any numbers that show us what percentage of closes are in relation to your ranking? Wouldn't that be nice. Could visitation numbers be logarithmic in relation to your ranking, likely.

It was mentioned that 93%of transactions are handled by 7% of the agents. I personally know of a number of agents who are in that 7% and their sites are not even ranked, and on the other side, I know of #1 ranking sites who are owned by part time Realtors. What's with the disparity?

Google is used by millions, but if your not the first or second on someone's referral list, your market is incorrectly segmented.

Your web site is another advertising medium - pure and simple. Most agents do not have a clue as to the elements that make up a good marketing piece.

They stick with the tried and true real estate marketing - here's my glamour shot, here's the tag line that says how good I am, and here are pictures of my listings.

You see this on their web sites and in the Sunday paper (except in the paper they now add the www.myrealestatesite.com in tiny print at the bottom of the add).

Most agents with a long track record of success do not need a web site at the top of the SERP's. They thrive on their reputation and referrals. But if you're a new agent or looking to move up to the big leagues, you need a web site done the right way. Frankly, cookie cutter sites just won't accomplish that task.

... and in every other print media distributed. NO SEO involved. And undoubtedly will generate more site traffic than a lower than 5th referral by Google. As well, the offering is taylored to a tighter segment. I personally don't have a problem with the template approach if the prospect coming in makes my site their first stop.

Here's a condsideration, if I Google Atlanta homes, and then I Google Atlanta real estate, a completely different return occurs. Am I so nieve to base my marketing on the randomness of a viewers ability to enter search terms that may produce my listing as a somewhat qualified referral? I'm havning difficulty recognizing the value of paying a technician to SEO and produce good syntax when the marketing principles say nay to the investment.

Here's a thought, maybe it's out to lunch but anyway, if one developed a high ranking general informational_regional site that provided copious value to viewers, then referred your personal site, or just you in person, as the top referred resource. Now you can SEO the hell out of that site, with broader search terms, using it to prequalify. This site services the community (or smaller segmentation) and linkage is for the advantage of the linked site as opposed to objectives based on ranking. This concept provides seperation from your Realestate site which provides for means of message testing, user defined dynamics, co-operative marketing efforts, etc.

Now you have a site that enjoys quantity, and it is within this site that conversion takes place. This action transforms quantity into quality (your definition of conversion) which is then ported to you (site or personal) as a referral.

There are many factors that go into making a successful business

I think that some people may be mixing goals and objectives. It was stated earlier that a total marketing package is needed. That is correct. The web site is nly one part, albeit a large part, of a total marketing plan. Let's look at just the web site for a minute.

Begin with a quality web architecture that is user friendly, meaning that it is accessible and easy to use for everyone regardless of browser, web device or operating system. A css/xhtml user-friendly site will also be search engine friendly. See, SEO Basics.

Write original quality content and take care in displaying it on your web site. For example on TheBroadwayGroup web site our content writer is writing 40 original articles relating to Miami Beach real estate and life style which will be used to build the web pages and interlinking so that visitors can easily find what they are looking for. But we won't stop there it is just the beginning and content will be continuously added to the site. Other examples, HHI is an excellent web developer who takes the necessary steps to build a quality site. Reviewing his sites can give an idea of the quality and care needed.

Realizing that the most important content you can have on a real estate web site is listings we will have ALL the listings from the Miami-Dade MLS integrated into the web site. When complete there will be 10,000 + listings with each listing on its own page. This should boost the site to a PR5 in a short period of time because each listing is relevant content.

The last part of the web campaign is to gather relevant links through a 'natural process' some will be reciprocal some will be one way, some will be local. The links will integrate with content creating an interplay between them.

Note: obtaining a top position on Google and other SEs evolves over time by creating an interplay between quality content and quality links.

Staff will be coached to respond quickly and appropriately to referrals from the web site.

Now let's combine the web campaign with the total marketing package so that the parts complement one other. HOW? Goal setting 101. For each part of the marketing plan set goals and measurable objectives to meet the goals. Review the progress at appropriate intervals and tweak the goals and objectives when needed.

Here are some suggestions that you don’t want your competitors to see:

1. Invest in a good design. Graphic artists charge $200-500 for a custom design.
2. Convert the design to a css/xhtml user/search engine friendly architecture. $200 - 300 dollars.
3. Write 20 - 30 pages of content for the web site. If the realtor cannot do it him/herself I refer them to a writing agency that charges $50 - 75 for original articles 450-600 words. Content is king.
4. Put an IDX on your site. Integrated is best but at least IDX frames if you don't want to invest in the integration. I cannot emphasize enough that content is king and listings is the content that visitors want. $50- 2000.
5. Hire a SEO agent. $50 - 100 month.

Needless to say it is a process that evolves over time and is not inexpensive.

A reputable SEO will be able to show you the top search phrases for your market over time - not just a one month snapshot that can have skewed figures - and then SEO your site for those terms.

We usually start out with the top 7-10 terms and work from their. After that, we SEO dozens of terms and pages that bring in incremental but highly targeted business (i.e. individual developments and communities).

For example, for one of our Hilton Head clients we optimized for city name + real estate, homes, realtor, real estate agent, mls, island real estate, sc real estate, and more. All rank in the top 10 (most #1) on the Big 3 SE's and drive plenty of leads each week. Better yet, not one other agent on the market has appears on the first page for the most used phrases on all 3 SE's. This agent rules the web in this market.

That's where a top notch SEO plays a key role. If they are worth their salt, they can cut through all of the crud and find the phrases that bring results. More importantly, if they know copy writing or you hire an independant cop writer, you can turn these visitors into conversions. Your web site is an advertisement for you, your services, and your market. Don't underestimate the importance of great text that sells.

But this misses your taget audience - people looking to buy a home. Plus, it's a lot harder and a lot more of an investment in time and/or money to SEO a site for a city rather than just city + real estate KW.

But what I can tell you is that we have had success in creating content rich real estate web sites that do rank well for just "city name". Mostly, it just piques curiosity and does not lead to conversions.

[QUOTE]Now you have a site that enjoys quantity, and it is within this site that conversion takes place. This action transforms quantity into quality (your definition of conversion)/QUOTE]

Not my definition of conversion. Conversion is when the potential homebuyer makes contact with the agent. After that, it's out of my hands. It's up to the personality and selling skills of the agent to get money to change hands.

Web marketing is not for everyone. As I stated earlier, successful, established agents can do very well with tried and true print media and referrals. But new agents or agents that are struggling need to do more to get noticed. It's a high-tech, wired world out there. The web is a great way to get noticed.

I will also re-iterate that it takes a lot more to drive revenues from the web than just getting noticed. Cultivating web leads is much different than cultivating traditional leads. Most agents have not had the guidance or training to know how to turn web surfers into buyers. And frankly, most SEO's don't have a clue about marketing or real estate.

If an agent wants to make an impact on the web, they may have to look at two or three sources (SEO, marketer, web developer) to accomplish their task. Then again, they could just hire me

Thank you, kind sir.

I understand what your saying, but if I Google your top keywords and the site doesn't come up, what's it all worth?
I don't need an SEO expert to tell me my market segment. It's the public's search phrases that matter, and all an SEO expert will tell me is that it will cost too much to surpase ranking on the established sites that utilize those phrases.

Good point, and there's a couple of them made here. Firstly, the more obscure the phrase, the higher the potential ranking, unfortunately the farther from real world search phrases. There must be a term/formula in the stats/internet language that defines the balance between obscurity of the keywords compared to the likelyhood it be searched. A second point is that the prime criterm, ie city, is a common search utilization. The secondary search criterims then begin to expand (or contain) the uniqueness of the phrase. 'Real estate' is a somewhat competitive keyword. A regional/community site offers a broader choice of keywords. Do I miss my target market, not if your join the crowd and keep city:real estate up front, but then you pay more for top ranking, if it even is possible. But remember, I'm reserving the right to be wrong about that.
My definition is 'when a qualified homebuyer makes contact with the agent'. I go back to my earlier comment of the bud who did the toilet paper contest. He got a ton of people providing their contact info, but where's the value in that?

Google isn't the only game in town - you can still drive good traffic with top rankings on MSN and Yahoo.

Sure, most people can guess the top 4 or 5 phrases that drive traffic, but most do-it-yourselfer types won't look beyond that. The truth is, in most markets there are many other phrases that are not tied to your city name that can drive traffic. Alone, they won't bring much. But when you find a dozen or more of them, they bring nice volume to the site.

Better yet, because these terms are so specific they are more likely to bring buyers rather than the "window shoppers" that the generic terms bring to your site.

Let me ask you this - how much money do you spend on print media advertising each year? $30k? $40k?

Print media is a staple - but it's a perishable item. The paper goes in the trash the next day.

Now let's say you spend $10k-$20k on a web site including design, optimization, copy writing, and marketing. With the right SEO team behind you and a site that pinpoint targets your demographic and has ad copy that sells, your site can stay on top almost indefinitely.

I don't want to reveal too much, but we also show agents how to reduce print marketing costs by effectively integrating their print media and web advertising.

I understand that many agents are gun shy about investing in web marketing (not just a web site, but web marketing). And they have every right to be that way. Many web designers hint that once the site is loaded on the web that the agents will need to hire more assistants to handle all of the inquiries. More often than not, that's a load of bunk.

But properly executed, the web can pay big dividends for agents. There are many agents out there that have all but stopped print media advertising because of their web success.

The best advice that I can offer is that if any agent decides to actively market the web that they shop around and make sure that they find a company (or companies) that understand the elements of design, SEO, marketing, and ad copy that sells. If you leave out just one of those elements, you may miss the boat entirely.

Let me restate that, I understand what your saying, but if I Google/Yahoo your top keywords and the site doesn't come up, what's it all worth?

As mentioned, it comes down to obscurity. Generic terms won't bring any traffic in unless your investment skyrockets to counter the competition of that phrase. On the other hand, obscurity in itself prevents hits. How many users will type in 'I am ready to buy your listing'.

The overall intent would be to bring large traffic to a site. The value in the site is in it's conversion.

I think that you were skimming my posts rather than paying attention to the content of the messages.

If you like, you can visit my site and read about real estate web marketing, passive marketing strategies, active marketing strategies, et al.

I gave up trying to explain. There are only a few people who post on the forums and who make headway. What they have in common is a good head for logic, ability to learn and perseverance. We have web sites that are providing leads and six months from now they will still be a continual source of leads while most of these guys be arguing over semantics.

BTW I love what you posted about secondary key words. Many of my secondary key words are already on the first pages at MSN and Yahoo and working their way up on Google. I hadn't thought about people searching on them as being more sophisticated and better leads, but it makes a sense.

Hey All...

I just wanted to sing the praises of the web designer that my partner and I are currently working with. I think when all and said and done, our contract amount is somewhere around $2,800.00, but I'll tell you what; these people are FANTASTIC!!! The company is called CTA (Comfort Tech Assist, I think!). This is a CUSTOM website, not from a template; fully customized. We expect to go online sometime around the end of this month. If you've ever tried to build a website from scratch, you know that you never feel like you've covered everything; you get the initial layout and navigation set up, and are constantly thinking of things you missed and want to add. Well, these people have been SO patient with us, and have basically gone WAY farther then our expectations. We have a link to their working copy, so we can point out changes or typos and have them addressed pretty quickly. I believe we were actually their first Real Estate site, but they have grasped everything we've given them and been very intuitive. I'll post the link to our site once it is live, and you all can decide for yourselves, but for the price, these peoples quality of work is TOP NOTCH! They will provide you with a quote based on your needs, and bill by the 1/4 hr., so you are never overcharged for work done. I would fully recommend them to anyone, in any industry, looking for a quality website!!! Here's the link to their site:

http://comfortechassist.com/

They have a nice beef jerky site I'll give them that...LOL

I wish you all the luck in the world but real estate sites are a world all their own. I'm not sure I'd want to be the first one anyone was doing... then again...I could be wrong

I called them today, but the wait was a while, so I used their online chat support. They said their site doesn't use frames, which is a good thing. I've been wanting to point a domain to individual listings, but I can't do this in AA because the frames seem to not bookmark very well. Blitz said this should work fine on their site.

Everyone has to start somewhere, then grow familiar with the medium -- or not.

The first step is to get something up that serves as a support tool -- a place where your clients or prospects can go to learn about buying or selling, the local community -- a place where you can say, "oh, that is answered on my web site."

Step two is to expand, grow, or change. You'll want IDX or VOW so that people can look up property on your site, or keep up to date on new listings.

Step three is to start enhancing your web site so that it generates leads.

Somewhere in there, you will gradually join directories, build relationships with other web folks, work on search engine optimization, and so on.

If you expect it to all happen at once, you don't understand the medium. It is a commitment to a new kind of marketing and you may decide that you just want your site as a support tool,not doing the extra work to turn it into a lead generator.

Those who are most successful on the web spend a lot of time and effort on that success, and some money -- or they have someone who helps. But the web is not a "magic bullet" that will automaticaly make you successful. It is a different kind of marketing, and your success will vary depending on what you actually want your web site to be, your commitment to the medium, and in some cases...

...luck.

Open-realty is a powerful and flexible web site management program. There are many free and low cost designs that you can use. I donated several myself. It has a listing management section that makes adding a listing a snap and an integrated visual html editor to add additional pages. When you are ready it has a complete membership section. The program may be free but I doubt if there is any commercial program that comes close to open-realty's power and flexibilty.

Check it out at: http://open-realty.org

I think going with a custom is the best option. You can make your site more search engine friendly. We have done numerous sites for Realtors and also created numerous directories realted to Real Estate. You always need to make sure you find a trustworthy designer. By far I think its a better deal to go custom.

AA is a great starter site. If you are not computer literate, or have much spare time, then its not bad. You can get good results in the serps with their site, but you will have to work at it harder. If you have the budget, than a custom site is definitely the way to go. I would suggest going with an established provider, rather than a newbie, especially since it will be a hefty investment.

Isn't that sort of contradictory? I would think that if you are not computer literate then no matter how hard you work you won't get anywhere till you first become computer literate.

If you know how to go about it you can get a custom site for less than AA. How about a full featured site, including a listing management, membership section, built-in visual editor to maintain your content, and plenty of free or paid assistance for about $600? All you need to do is add your local content and listings, as you grow the site will grow with. Did I mention, it is also user and SE friendly.

Hi frobn,

Feel free to invite visitors to view your sites by posting in one of the 2 product forums but the last post borders on blatant solicitation which is a not permitted.

The funny thing is that AA has all the things he mentioned anyway. I'm happy with my site and I've seen a lot of AA sites high in the search engines.

I didn't say I was offering, but I see that could be inferred. I actually had several other web developers in mind that provide the services. You just have to know how to reseach.