Real Estate Websites | Real Estate Marketing

There are a lot of companies out there that will build a Real Estate Website. Some are good and some are not so good. The purpose of this training article is to give the Realtor the breakdown of what a real estate website should cost, what it should be used for, the types of questions you should ask when getting one. The information contained here should give every Realtor a better understanding of Real Estate Websites in general for the purpose of being a better informed as a consumer.

A Real Estate Website is a long-term investment for every Realtor, it’s simply a cost of doing business today. I hope the information here will help you make a better decision for what YOU need in a website.

Real Estate Websites | Real Estate Marketing

STEP 1.  First, you have to answer two questions before getting a Real Estate Website.

a.  What is the purpose, or desired purpose, for your website?  (for example, why do you want the website, what do you want it to do?)

b.  Who is the website for?  Who is your Target Audience/Target Market?  (for example, is it buyers, sellers, short sale clients, etc….)

STEP 2.  The following questions are what I like to simply call the “7-Website Questions”.  Regardless of who you are going to use to build your new website you should be asking the following 7 questions about it.

1.  WEBSITE COSTS?  What are your: yearly, monthly, update, & maintenance cost going to be? 2. ABILITY TO CHANGE/UPDATE THE WEBSITE?  Is it easy to make edits/changes to the website? 3. KEEPING YOUR WEBSITE UP WITH TECH ADVANCES?  How will the website keep up to date with security/technology advances? 4. ABILITY TO GET A NEW LOOK TO YOUR WEBSITE EVERY 2-3 YEARS?  How easy/difficult will it be to “make-over” the website in 2-3 years? 5. AVAILABILITY OF TECH PROFESSIONALS TO WORK ON YOUR WEBSITE?  Who else can work on the website if the person who builds it is no longer in business, or, you wish to no longer work with them? 6. FUNCTIONALITY? Is it SEO friendly? Navigation, is it easy to navigate on?  Does it work effectively?  Is it fast/slow?  Can video and social media be easily attached to it? 7. LONG LIFE SPAN / LONGEVITY:  This goes back Item No. 4.  When you do a make-over on the website what will happen to all of the “organic SEO” that you have built over time.  What will happen to your blog posts(if you had one)?

STEP 3.   Now it’s time break-down the sections, or pages, the website will have.  There is no correct answer here, it simply relates to who your target audiance is.  Here is a list of the Pages and Functions that most real estate websites will have.

• IDX – PROPERTY SEARCH (buyers tool)

• BUYERS INFO (mortgage calculator, school info, how-to guides)

• SELLERS INFO (marketing plans for selling a homeowner’s property)

• CLIENT RECOMMENDATIONS (your Zillow – Trulia – Yelp reviews)

• INFO ON  YOU & YOUR TEAM (your story, pictures, your video, etc…)

• COMMUNITY INFO (restaurants, schools, parks, activities, etc…)

• BLOG (your way to communicate information in an SEO friendly way)

  STEP 4:  Real Estate Website Costs.  Analyze and breakdown what the costs are going to be initially and over time for the website.  Remember, your going to have a website for the remainder of your real estate career so look at your numbers carefully. Your costs analysis should include the following… a.  Development, Production costs to build the actual site.  Plus, any monthly costs the site may have. (This will vary depending on who you use, and what type of website you build) b.  Yearly web hosting costs (avg. $55 – $75/year) c.  IDX, try and your IDX directly from a IDX Provider and eliminate the any middlemen.  (This is to help lower monthly costs) d.  Updating/maintenance costs. (will vary depending on the updates and who you use, and what type of website you build) This pretty much wraps up the basics of what you should be looking out for when getting a new website for your real estate business.  Again, if you need help or want Agent Redefined Technology to build out your next site then contact George Cuevas now. If you have any questions about this article or real estate websites in general just ask.

Real Estate Websites | Real Estate Marketing