Just a quick followup - something I have been saying for years is that the most important thing about a Realtor's website is its search engine positioning. As long as it has good positioning and a Home Search form you will make money. You don't even need listings on the site. All the content and the design is meaningless if the site can't be found.

I agree one hundred percent with you Doug. I rememeber when I first came to you, young and dumb about real estate and the internet..lol you tired to tell me haha

Well I have personally seen it to many times now. SOME UGLY websites ranked number 1 making a ton of money. Goes to show you # 1 doesnt always mean the best.

Your thirst for knowledge has served you well

froggiam - you show a thirst for knowledge also so I am sure you will do well in your future internet endeavors too. Just remember that you can't cross the bridges until you come to them - don't research forever. Sometimes you just have to do it and learn from your mistakes!

That is so true about mistakes. I have made a few and will admit it, but as long as you can learn from your mistakes and you will make some, you will do very well. The internet is just like anything else you get out of it what you put into it. Best Of Luck

Don't use frames! Frame-based websites are disliked by search engines and users alike. We recommend http://www.gridsix.com

And on the note of Flash: many search engines now index Flash content. If done right, Flash can be a pleasant addition to any web site.

Hi raustin...
Please forgive this visit by the posting police
Your reccomendation for gridsix doesn't have anything to do with your relationship with them would it

In the furure...

If anyone wants to ask people to take a look at their product and why it's great, their iss a new forum for that but replying to posts without full disclosure is not allowed.

Terribly sorry... So if I post in the appropriate section and then link to that post, we're cool?

Raustin,
Just posts any topics about your service that you would like to in one of the product forums so everything is above board and everyone knows what it is. We just like to keep things clear and keep the regular forums free of solicitations

Learn HTML and CSS, but learn mostly CSS. PHP and SQL are great too.

you are puting right step for your real estate business. I prefer to have website whose each and every keyword have its own targeted keyword so that it help visitor to easily find what he is searching also easy for you to target on search engine

It is a lot of work to be competitive in such a demanding market like real estate. Working daily on promoting, linking and adding content is the only way to go.

Have you thought about just buying a template and building a site on wordpress. I wouldn't become a subdirectory of a main site like Active Rain.

I say this as both an broker and a web developer. A pro site is well worth the money and will pay well over what you paid for it, if you get the correct firm. I have been doing this on my own much like the intro video to this forum states since around 1993. Long gone are the days of throwing up a few keywords and you are found. The competitiveness of the web today is extreme. Maybe create a well "informational" blog, but you should have a real web site worthy of the price tag of the items you sell. A good agent does not have the time to learn this quickly and it changes all the time. So do your self a HUGE favor invest in a professional company. I learned my lesson after many years so I finally created my own web company since many of my businesses are web based and hired people who know what they are doing. Free advice is what you pay for, and you get what you pay for in the end. With that said, I do learn from free advice but its not my mainstay. I am not trying to sell anything here as we are very busy and we are small, but the admin at the top is 100% correct--if you do not get found then you might as well not have a site. You can do some of your own SEO and we encourage our clients to do that. Yet today unless your a vet and keep up , you may never get off the ground and need a LOT of guidance.

You could learn to become a web designer, but it would be best if you would focus on your profession. I find that the people that most likely succeed become excellent in their own field.