How do I create a Webpage?

Question

I need a web page for my REI business.

I want to meet the following criteria:

- advertise wholesale and retail properties
 - advertise that I buy houses cash
 - lead and contact form
 - referral program information
 - my contact information

What do I need to maintain a web page, including est. costs?
Should I outsource this job or take it on myself?

Any additional ideas for criteria and advice for creating and maintaining a web page is greatly appreciated!

No Name · Answer

This is a great point! Except I disagree with SEO being completely useless. Just as you would use PPC for highly specialized keywords, you can also use SEO to build your site up for the most useful keywords you come across. That way, as you're purchasing the relevant search traffic, you'll be able to build up what's called "Natural Search" traffic with the same keywords.

Ultimately the point would be to gain search traffic for free or little cost as your website gets bigger and more useful for your consumers.

P.S. Consider providing useful content your customers will enjoy...it can help your traffic more than know!

Dave Malone · Answer

@Brandon Turner @Mindy Jensen

I’ve been torn between building web site or building Facebook page and I thought it’d be great (even if we had to pay for it) to be able to share our BP profile to non members such as bankers and vendors to showcase the deals we’ve done and what we’re about. I know you’re wanting us to provide our information to showcase how much you’ve help us succeed,,, let’s have one place to put our information that we can share with others. just an idea 💡

Jeffrey Hanlon · Answer

Godaddy.com

Andy Ketter · Answer

If your focus is longer term then you should focus on both SEO and PPC.  If you are just trying to advertise something for the shorter term, I'd focus on PPC alone.  SEO can take time to be effective, and it may be too long for you to wait.

Also if this is something you plan on using for a while you should consider using something a bit more professional than the free tools out there.  There is a lot of competition out there, and you don't want an amateur web site to get in your way of a deal.  Professional logo design and web site design is a must to be competitive.  You can get that for less than you think.

Good luck!

Donte Mazyck · Answer

http://sites.google.com/site/webuyhousesincharlotte/ and go to google sites at http://sites.google.com

Donte Mazyck · Answer

if you are looking for cheap and easy, then you can't get cheaper than the free websites by google.  they don't advertise on your site and you can make it look pretty neat. here is one that i am working on http://sites.google.com/site/webuyhousesincharlotte/.  also go to http://sites.google.com to get started.  If you know html you can make your site look even better and for the cost of free you can't beat the price.  it will get you started until you can find someone to build what you are looking for.

Alex Price · Answer

If you want to do it yourself you can use a software called: "Dreamweaver". It's from Adobe and I think it costs like a couple hundred bucks, but you can use it to build as many websites as you want forever! However, I think if you're a college student you can get it for much cheaper, and I also think they have a 30 day free trial that you can download. There's other programs to like NVU, Microsoft front page, etc. Or if you want, you should be able to go on craigslist or something like that and get a good web designer for a pretty decent price if you don't want to go through the headache of building one if you don't know how.

Best,
Alex

Daniel Gutowski · Answer

I hired a professional web designer and programmers to build a web site for a new home community that I was marketing.  We ended up paying big bucks and spent countless hours over 6 months to get a premo web site.  I have also purchased a ready made packaged web site and have recieved great results as well.

I would rather keep things simple and focus on finding good deals.  This is what ready made web sites offer.  Good luck!
Best regards,
Dan

MATT WARDEN · Answer

For what? You need to know this first.

Your website will not advertise for you. You will just end up advertising your website. The only thing your website does for you is provide a place for individuals you've already advertised to to get more information.

A basic web site should not cost you more than $10/month. This includes hosting costs and domain name registration costs (annual). I am not including development costs in here, as I'm assuming after initial development you won't need more.

If you do it yourself, it will look like you did it yourself. If you use Word to do it, it will look like you use Word to do it. I develop web-based software for a living, and there is no comparing a Word or FrontPage (or any other WYSIWYG editor) developed website and a professionally created website.

I may be biased given that I work in this field, but if your site looks like you did it yourself in Word, I wouldn't take you seriously. How successful can you be if you aren't willing to shell out a few hundred dollars for one of your primary marketing tools?

Do the blog thing. The single best way to drive traffic to your site is to have good content. And the single easiest way to quickly and easily develop content is to develop a habit of blogging.

Frank Gallinelli · Answer

If your target audience is primarily "local" (ie.. Texas, rather than the entire U.S.) then chasing after a high search engine placement may not be the best use of your time or money, at least not initially.  Search engine optimization (SEO as it's called) is a specialized field, and few people, even among those who do it for a living, do it well.

Probably your best bet is to use Google Adwords and/or Yahoo Search Marketing.  If you do, the secret to getting some benefit without spending a fortune is to pay for very, very targeted search phrases -- in other words, phrases that verify specifically identify what you have to offer and where you offer it.

Also, get into the habit of putting your website address on just about everything but your underwear -- it should be in all your ads, on any literature you print, on any email you send, on anything at all that you use to connect to the outside world.

Finally, be sure to update your site's content as often as you can, and look for useful third-party content or resources that you can link to so that you offer visitors as much value as possible when they come to your site.