RealTown's RealTalk

Hi, I am new guy here, just started my e-pro online course. Can you give me some recommandations of anyone who is able to help me to build a professional web domain?  Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

Hi, I am new guy here, just started my e-pro online course. Can you give me some recommendations of anyone who is able to help me to build a professional web domain? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

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Ever heard of Elance.com? Elance is a great place to find and hire specialists in every area from Web Design to Finance to Sales and much more. Many years ago I learned of Elance and used a vendor I found there to build my website.

My wife and I were both in the software industry in the early 80's. The key to developing any good automated system is to be thorough in your upfront planning. Do your homework first. Visit lots of website, real estate and non real estate related. Mark down what you like, save the links, etc. Then write up an outline of what you want for your content and appearance and reference the examples on other sites. With a sound written plan, a good web designer can deliver what you want.

I love Elance because its vendors are rated by the users. Once you put a proposal on Elance you will receive 10+ bids to do your work within the first day or two. Interview the vendors, look at their work and then choose one. I've make enhancements to my site for under $100 for work that would cost $1000 or more with US based developers.

Best of luck!

ps. With the above said, your website will only be effective if you develop a strategy to drive traffic to it and capture leads from it. You can have the best looking site out there but be careful not to become like a FSBO listing which has no marketing and no one knows it exists.

Do it yourself first Randy then hire "professionals".

Point2 has a facile template to learn and use. Content is king and that MUST be your domain. "Professionals" can assist with search engine placement and it's elements. "Professionals" can add gloss, glamour.

Pay close attention to structure and function. "Professionals" can advise but recognize the limits of their perspective - think of your clientele out there and speak to them, give them your best. Understand that your website will ever evolve, plan on it. Remain in active charge.

Tristan Celayeta

Good advice from Tristan.

Start with a template site to learn but, bottom line, almost any template site will not get you much unless you do something to it. Depending on who you ask, most agents will tell you that the site they use is the best!  Many do not even know what to do or how to do anything to their site. If you don't want to do anything to a site, then just get one for free. Template sites are a great place to start and learn. Once you learn some basics of what to do, have some basic html knowledge and terminology, then you will be far better with whatever you decide to do and what you need to have done.

As a starting point if you want to have a site that generates income, the questions you should be asking site owners are:
1-How many leads do you get from your site, (organic and/or PPC)
2-How much money (if any) are you spending to advertise it and are you doing PPC,
3-What keywords is it getting found for, in what spots and on what search engines,
4-How many leads convert into actual commission dollars,
5-What is the ROI,  
6-Is the site flexible for adding content, changing meta tags, etc.

IMO, the reason to have a site is to generate leads that convert to income, not to necessarily to have the pretty looking one.  Research search terms on Google to see what sites have top spots in various cities, communities, real estate terms, homes for sale, etc. Take note of what template sites have good positions and how much they have changed content, added pages, etc. Do your own research and decide what you expect out of your site. Talk to a bunch of agents who have top sites and ask them why they chose the site they use, how they got it there, etc.  Your site should be about what you expect it to do for your business, (i.e.; generate leads, be a cyber-business card, an "I love me" site, or whatever) so choosing the right one could make a huge difference.  Most sites are only as good as what you do to it or pay someone to do something to it.. just the same with almost any template site or custom site.

Many may say they are experts.. most are not. Do your due diligence as many spend the money with "experts" on a promise and get little in return.

Good luck with your website.

"Can you give me some recommandations of anyone who is able to help me to build a professional web domain?"

First offf, you could check out the different choices right here in RealTown's Store under Web Design. Then you need to think through your budget for Internet marketing. Like opening any "brick and mortar" business, there will be start up costs of getting the site (your store) built and operational. And then there will be the on-going cost of keeping the "doors" open after your "grand opening" to bring in new customers month after month.

I have to disagree with Tristan who wrote, "Do it yourself first Randy then hire 'professionals'." Isn't that just the opposite of what we tell the For Sale By Owner. Do we really say, "Bob, sell your house yourself and if it doesn't work out, then hire a professional REALTOR." No! We know that most FSBOs don't have the skills to successfully market their property themselves. So why do many real estate agents, who don't have the skills in web design or search engine optimization, think they should do it themselves? Why do real estate agents fail to heed the same advice we gladly pass out to others? Ah... the lure of the inexpensive template web site. Hey, those For Sale By Owner signs are pretty inexpensive at the hardware store too. ;-)

Building web sites is not in the job description of a real estate professional. "Hmm, how to work with buyers, how to market the listings I get, prospecting techniques for new clients, how to write contracts, the art of negotiating, understanding various forms of financing, building up my sphere of influence, and I almost forgot - web site design and search engine optimization." Ha!

Actually it can cost you more "money" in the long run to do it yourself than if you hired a professional designer who specializes in real estate web sites to begin with. If you are worth $50 a hour or more for your time, you could spend anywhere from 50 to 100+ hours building and tweaking your site design and content while also learning how to optimize it for good search engine placement to make it a success. That's another $2,500 to $5,000+ on top of the cost of getting the template - the "hidden cost" of a template site that most agents fail to consider. For that kind of money, you can have a terrific, well optimized web site designed by a professional at the start that will actually get found and bring in new business while you do what you do best - list and sell real estate instead of playing at being a webmaster!

I agree with Drew who wrote, "Talk to a bunch of agents who have top sites and ask them why they chose the site they use, how they got it there, etc." Be sure to ask them what has worked for them and what hasn't. Most are willing to share.

Good luck in starting your web site.

Win

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Win Singleton, CRB, e-PRO
Summit Web Design
(703) 536-7631
wins@summitweb.com
http://Summitweb.InternetCrusade.com
an Internet Crusade Approved Vendor
"Custom web site design that gets results!"
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Ah Drew, now your site is pretty.  How can you say that? :)

I say pretty and seo friendly!

Cherie