Website Recommendation for Realtors?

Question

Looking to set up a website for my Realtor business.  I'm (sadly) not tech savy, but I would like to be able to manipulate the site rather than paying someone else.  Needs to have the ability to have an email capability.  I appreciate all thoughts from both Realtors whose use a certain product or even sales folks from the site itself.

Elizabeth Moore · Answer

Hi - check out my real estate website - moorelasvegashomes.com - I set mine up with websitebox.com - you pick out your themes and put in your information.  The website guys will send you a form that you get your broker to fill out and fax back so that they can contact your MLS and get permission to IDX your site with your MLS.  It's really easy and only $99.  Let me know what you think!

Dawn Brenengen · Answer

@Beau Miller I also have a Wordpress site, hosted by Bluehost.  My domain was bought through Go Daddy.  I paid someone to build the site, but I can go in and change things without having to pay him.  I pay him anyway because it's easier, and I don't have any time to devote to it, but I can if I want to.  I have IDX on my site through Diverse Solutions.  The theme on my Wordpress site is Real homes.

Adrian Smude · Answer

@Beau MillerI'm messaging you a guy I used to set mine up.  He was very fairly priced and is just finishing up my father's website.  We are very happy with him although he takes a little longer than I would have liked.

Dennis Thompson · Answer

@Beau MillerI'm no expert but I have built them and bought them and learned a little in the process. Just a few questions to ask yourself before you commit.

What do you want the website to do for your business?What do you want the website to do for your clients?Do you want to have IDX interface?What is your budget?How involved do you want to be in the development and maintenance?

There are sooo many options out there. Obviously a big business for someone. Personally I am a control freak and wanted to build and manage everything myself. Plus I didn't want to pay $10K for someone to build it for me. But if you are less than tech savy your options may be limited. I found Wordpress easy enough and with all the templates you can achieve a pretty professional looking site. But there were several functions I felt were critical that I just couldn't use or didn't like on Wordpress. IDX being one of the main issues. Decide how much you want to be involved and how much time you want to commit to it. Then your budget. Then go looking for the options that meet your needs and functions. Be careful of long commitments because there is a learning curve. So, unless you get extremely lucky, you should also have an exit strategy because you will probably make a change.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me. I don't work for any developers so my opinion may not be correct but they will be unbiased. Best of luck.

Dennis Thompson

Ned Carey · Answer

Actually you need one more thing. A company to host your website. Go-daddy can do it, as can blue host, HostGator and many others. Buying a domain name is not the same thing as  buying hosting although most domain name companies offer hosting.

WordPress is the background software that runs the website. iit is very flexible and you get templates to run on to of WordPress. The template is the basic graphic look and feel of the site. Most are free ut you can pay for templates also. Some templates are basic and  not easy to change unless you know HTML, some are designed to be quite flexible.

You can change templates and the look of your website without affecting the content.

Keanan Koppenhaver · Answer

Hey there Beau,

I'm a web developer at my day job so I get questions like this from friends and colleagues all the time.  Just at a very high level, here's what I'd do.

1. Get an account with Bluehost (http://www.bluehost.com). They're great for people starting out and include a domain name with most of their plans.

2. Other people here have recommended Wordpress and I agree that WP is great for someone who's starting out, especially with the large amount of themes out there.  Bluehost has a one-click install of Wordpress, so you can just click and enter your information and your site will be up on your new bluehost server.  Do this next.

3. Now that you've got a site up and linked to your new domain (beaumiller.com looks to be taken sadly :/ ), you need to pick a theme.  There are many to choose from and a search for 'real estate agent wordpress themes' will get you started. If you need some guidelines choosing a theme, I've got a blog post on the subject.  http://keanankoppenhaver.com/how-to-choose-the-rig...

4. Now that you've got a theme and your site is set up, you can start entering all of your data and you'll see it live on the Internet!

All told, I estimate this process will take you a couple hours, but the web has come a long way from the days when it took up to a week to get a new site up and running!

Best of luck and if you get stuck or just want more detailed advice on any of these steps, don't hesitate to reach out.

Keanan

Sean Dolan · Answer

I recommend AgentPress by StudioPress (a Wordpress theme). We have an AgentPress theme loading in under .6 seconds. They are built for agents (NOT designers/coders) to be able to build their sites from A-Z.

Here's the demo of AgentPress: http://my.studiopress.com/themes/agentpress/#demo-full

Disclosure: I've done work for the parent company in the past (Digital Rainmaker/Copyblogger), but we were fans of their products prior to the relationship.

Maggie L. · Answer

Wordpress is really user friendly for non-tech savvy people.   Haven't done it myself, but I believe they have an easy way to purchase a domain name through wordpress.  Hosting is also important

http://www.wpbeginner.com/wordpress-hosting/

I've got a bit of a background (CS classes, former tech support for a library) but more of my knowledge in this area is from friends who actually know what they're talking about.  Feel free to PM and I can at least send their recommendations/useful articles.

Beau Miller · Answer

Much appreciate all the feedback on this.  I already have the domain BeauMiller.Realtor, so it looks like just pair that up with Wordpress and I should be in business!  Still amazes me how helpful and giving of their time people are on this site.  If I can help with any local real estate info in the Lakeland, FL area, please feel free to PM me!

Website Recommendation for Realtors?

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