Home : Blogs : George Tallabas - Idaho Real Estate : Idaho Real Estate >> ID Real Estate Specialist

I need to build it so they will come

I have had the same template site for years and although it has made a decent return for me over the years I feel I can do better. I am going to have a custom site built down the road and have already spoken to a webmaster about it but for now I am interested in a Point2Agent professional site which I have already purchased.

My dilemma is that the learning curve and the talent it takes to build a quality site is quite extensive contrary to popular belief. I spoke to a Point2Agent user today that has a wonderful productive site. I asked him how many hours he has spent working on his site and he responded by saying "Hundreds"...Ouch! I need to sell real estate, not work on a website! Besides, I don't know what I am doing.

In looking for some help with my Point2Agent site a while back I was quoted over $3,000 which would buy me a decent custom site. Web masters are telling me I am crazy to pay that kind of money to have a template site like Point2Agent designed especially where I would not own the photos or text created.

I spent hours going into the message board of Point2Agent today and found some answers here and there but a lot of my answers were in computer lingo that I just plain do not understand such as Iframes, etc. when trying to find out how to add IDX technology to my site.

I am feeling like I am in a little boat at sea with no compass and no understanding as to which direction I should row.

Any words of wisdom out there?

Posted by George Tallabas - Idaho Real Estate on 08/19/2007 12:48 AM

Comments (57)

misc ramblings from the idaho real estate specialist

Originally posted at: Idaho Real Estate >> ID Real Estate Specialist: I need to build it so they will come

Post is included in group: Point 2 Agent Sites

57 Comments on I need to build it so they will come

AUG

2007

I'm in the same dilemma George. I think I will probably end up spending thousands of dollars on Real Pro for something I really like and has the functionality I need.

I'll park here and see if anyone has decent suggestions.

Chris - Thank God there is someone out there that understands! I will hold your hand if you will hold mine! I have looked into real pro and they are the cost of a custom site plus a monthly of around $350 if I recall correctly.

George, it sure seems like we could get something a little more budget minded! The main problem I have with my current site is that several area agents now have it, it's an inexpensive template site. Yes, it works...but it's not optimal at all! I'll look at yours if you look at mine :) ChrisTesch.com with the www in front.

George, which site is yours? Too many links, too little time....

George - I too want to make some changes but not sure what to do. I will park and see what solutions others will offer.

HI George,

Talk to Points2 DIVA Suzanne Stephens, she seems to have a good handle on recreating ponits2 web site.

You'll like your professioanl site, it easy to load listings and pictures.Your clients will Love the Multipicture and Vitual tour done to Music, Plus people can download a listing brochure from anywhere in the world from your listing.

Be sure to pick a domain name to match your main search term such as Boise real estate.

Good Luck,

Have an awesome day!

www.1-victoria-real-estate.com

George,

I have a point2 site (professional) I know they are ugly and hard to customize, I don't care for the main site that I have at all - BUT- I mainly use mine for the extras like the "neigborhood expert pages" and I put all my listings in - I have done nothing with my main site - cause I don't know how. I have gotten prospects from this website and I haven't done a thing with it! YOU CAN NOT beat their google rankings at the price you pay for Point2. Good luck.

George, if you have 3000 to spend, get a custome site that you can have forever. I have point 2 professional and it is not that hard to customize but it is still a template so if you ever want to leave you loose it all. I am never going template again.

Talk to Brad Caroll, he does custom sites and understands SEO. Remember there are web site designers and seo optimizers. If you can find both you have a marriage made in heaven.

Talk to Lenn Harley, she told me her site is ugly, but she doesn't care, it is high on Google.

Sorry, George, the hours quoted to you by that agent would also be my answer. I timed it, however, for a slower time in my real estate market - basically mid-November to mid-January. No way I could have worked on it in Spring. I would agree with Missy's suggestion about finding someone who "gets" both web site design and SEO.

I have the same template site as you George. I tweeked it myself and it's been good to me. I'll be keeping it and adding a separate blogsite shortly.

Hi George - I have one of those sites, too, but have done basically nothing with it. I have several friends that have P2A sites, and they do well with theirs. One has done some basic changing and the other has done a bit more. One friend has moved up to the Professional level with his P2A site, and he gets tons of business from his. Of those who've used their P2A sites, it sounds like they do really well with them.

Have you given thought to moving up to the next level, assuming you're talking about the free site?

Ann

George,

I use point 2 with my own web domain. I have gotten a few leads from it..it is a basic site and has a lot for free..you can upgrade but you have to purchase the upgrade. It suits my needs right now.

Hi George, My main site that I've had for 9 years is a template with homes.com. http://www.poincianaproperties.com/ Last week i did this one http://bryanttutas1.point2agent.com/ I still have quite a bit to do with it including picking and pointing a domain but this only took me 4 hours and I have already had several consumer contacts from it.

Chris Tesch - I don't have a permanent domain name for my Point2 site because it is still in development. I will email you the URL

Jennifer - Good luck to you my friend

Fred- Been there done that

Debbie - I wish I could have the excitement you have

Missy - I have other projects I am working on this is why I have looked at a Point2 site. As I mentioned in my post I will eventually do a custom site. I already have an excellent webmaster when I go that route. Thanks my friend.

Margaret - I will eventually go the route of a custom site. For now I need help

Chris Elizabeth - I know you do well with your site because it has been on the first page of Google for some time. My site crawled up to the 2nd page of Google and has now worked it's way back to the 9th page and falling fast. To compare your skills to the rest of us mortals would be like saying the weather in Florida is just like the weather in Siberia!

Ann - I have the professional site but like I have said, a person has to have a lot of time or some SEO knowledge.

Neal - Have the upgrade professional one and it is not as easy as it seems

Bryant - You are obviously one of the blessed ones my friend.

George & Everyone else in the same boat:

Web design is a time consuming process... but whether it's your time its consuming or someone else's time its consuming depends on the type of website you get! Template sites are just that - templates, you punch in photos, text, and with sites like point2 & others, you can change alot of other features! however, as you mentioned above the text and photos you wouldn't own. I can give you two options for a solution, but first let me tell you about us: We are a technology & marketing company that SPECIFICALLY WORKS in real estate.

Ok, now you know WHO we are! What we can offer as far as your site goes 1) we can take a look at your current Point2 site, see whats going to be involved (we've never customized or worked on a point2 site) but we can still at least look at it--tell you if its gonna work for the long term or not, now if we actually owrk on it--it could get pricey--but I couldn't tell you for sure yet!

OR you can go the custom route (here is why you go UH OH--and the headache starts) well let me tell you, you don't need to get a headache or say Uh Oh....because whether you have a "brand" or "theme" or not, you can get a custom site without alot of PAIN on your end of the project! basically you can tell us WHAT you need in your site--if you don't really KNOW, then we will interview you, see what type of business and such that you do and such, then we will give you a list of suggestions. Now you may think the costs add up, but the only feature that costs extra on the website is the IDX (MLS feature) which we will handle to implement to your site. Most everything else is included right into our web design fee. The custom sites cost $800 FLAT FEE, and we DO NOT have a monthly charge (unless you want us to handle adding/editing your content--which it sounds as if you would want that) The site would be designed to your every need, and include content and placement for SEO. The websites have an outstanding Backend system that we have been developing that allows you to easily add/edit/delete listings, add/delete photos, and to add/edit webpage content with ease (It's like creating a document in MS Word).

I would love to speak with you on more details and what would be involved for working on your point2 site, and also about custom sites--if you say you want to go that route.

I think in the long run, however, it will be cheaper to go custom--and it will be extremely easy for you to add content and change the website as time goes on--whether you want to make the changes, or our small company makes the changes or you have your assistant make the changes (which is great to do - since our backend system hardly takes any training)

-you will also own the design of the site, and the content!

*Note--I try not to do self promotions like this in blogs, but it sounds like you guys are in a bind, and need all the help you can get!

David - Thank you and we all know about custom sites. As I mentioned in my post I have already spoken to a webmaster about a custom site when I decide to go that route. For now many of us have purchased Point2 sites on the premise they were easy to use. If one has SEO talent and a great understanding of computer terms then it is a breeze. For the rest of us mortals it is a different story. Thank you for sharing.

Hi George! I use p2 for a secondary site, the free kind. I use yahoo hosting for my primary site and they have a free tool called "sitebuilder". It did take me a ton of time to figure out the program :being honest: as it isn't as easy as sitebuilder. I used one of their templates, tweaked it for me and now I copy and paste the template I created when I build a subdomain. I work on it one hour a day and have used your SEO recommendations to improve. It does take lots of hours but maybe you can hire and teach someone on how to do it?!?!?!? I currently have two sites built within the one and will be working on a third shortly. The beautiful thing about having your own control is that you can create a subdomain whenever you have an idea. I create subdomains for individual listings, subdivisions, etc for example. Every time I have an idea, I write it down on my idea sheet because sometimes the creativity just FLOWS and that is saved for the days when it isn't happening! You definitely have to learn to manage your time when you have your own site because you can get lost doing it, and as you said, you still have to sell real estate!

I know, paragraphs are my friend!

Renee - Thank you my friend. We shall see where this all takes us. I want more verstality than I have with my current site, that is why I am not optimizing any longer. I appreciate your comment and I hope all is well.

George... my words of wisdom: shop carefully! I didn't want to go with the template sites, and didn't have hundreds of hours either. I have had 2 different custom built sites... both at reasonable prices. However, the functionality is not what I expected it to be, and the "support" for updates completely disappears after a short period of time. If I had it to do over? I'd probably pay the big bucks to get exactly what I wanted, without having to do it myself! Good luck to you...

Sandi - Thank you. I already have plans for a custom site and have a webmaster to do it. This is something I need to do soon for various reasons are too lengthy to explain. Thanks for your comments.

I have a Alamode site which is a template site. I have never had very good rankings and as of today still am not ranked although I am crawled regularly. I have a free p2a site but have not had it long enough to do anything with it. I to have been thinking of making the change. Here is the criteria that I like and want :

I want to be able to Customize all my pages including the Landing page ( home page )
I want to be able to add photo's and listings easily.
I want a preview pain on the front page that would either allow me to add multiple listings with multiple phtoto's or video's or real estate shows.
I want to have a blog incorporated into the site.
I want my site easy to link to and easy to provide RSS
I want to be able to create subdomains to my site like a web page for a listing
I would like to have an easy to use ask the agent or request a showing etc. that would allow people to type in a question that is then linked to text message on my cell phone.
I am sure there are other features as well

George,

By far I am not a computer wiz ! I agree it seems as though that is alot of money for a point2agent site. I use point 2 agent as well and would not dream of paying anything like that. Have you looked into possibly yahoo sites etc, that give you the tools to build your own website. I have used these before and are very helpful if you are not PC savvy.

Anyway, you can do it ! We can do anything we put our minds too ! I commit myself to only about an hour a day to my website or making changes the rest is to selling Real Estate, if I have more time in the evening than I go for the website. But as a general rule 8-5 is real estate !

Herb - Thank you my friend. I am going to make some decisions this coming week. I hope all is well.

Melissa - Yes I have heard of Yahoo. I am in pretty deep into this Point2 professional and am going to make some decisions this coming week. Thank you for stopping by and I wish you well.

George,

There are Point2 Certified Virtual Assistants who are trained and skilled in the application.

I am one, and there are others listed. I don't believe if you hired one of us, it would cost you anywhere near $3,000 to customize and optimize your site.

Barbara Erskine, Real Estate Virtual Assistant
www.virtualbusinessolutions.com

Barbara - Thank you. I have been quoted that and more

George I think that for $3000 you could probably get a nice custom site built, it seems a little excessive to spend that much money for a template site

Michael - I already haved a person in mind for a custom site. For a few reasons that I won't bore everyone with I wanted to get this site designed and running right away. Thank you.

You will get what you pay for. Think of the things you want - mapping , user tracking, etc - and see who has a product like this. Even better - find a local student who will work for $15 an hour custom programming your site.

Adam - Thanks for the advice. I hope you have a great week ahead.

Hi George.

Here is a question you might want to say to anyone helping you with redeveloping your web site...can you Make My Phone Ring?

Bottom line...And you are a direct How to Guy. Your Site is a prospecting tool, and a listing tool so your site should be designed to get HOT prospects wanting to Buy or Sell and to call you for their business. Pretty sites are nice, ( the $3,000 Plus sites, I was quoted $5,000) but if they do not have prospects calling or emailing you, they are just that...a Pretty sites for getting awards with a national conventions.

You may want to try developing a Another persoanl Blog, they are very popular, ask Ralph Roberts. He now has several including a community blog that allows everyone to post, much like AR.

Ask Mary McKnight at RSS Pieces, she is conviced Web Site are on their way out and Blogs will be the Tool that brings us Customers

Good Luck, have an awesome day!

www.1-victoria-real-estate.com

George, hire a teenager to design you a MAC site on godaddy.com. Ask the high school who is good. Check my subdivision site out www.WhelchelValley.net. The person who designed this has had great traffic and only a high school MAC class.

Teresa Johnson

AUG

2007

Fred - Thank you. I have read Mary's blogs before and they are wonderful but overwhelming! She has to spend 24/7 on the computer and it is hard to digest everything she writes. What is this RSS Pieces? Another member mentioned this. I logged onto the site and still cannot figure out what it is about. Again, Mary writes a lot of information but she never gets down to a simple A,B,C LOL

Theresa - Thanks for the tip and have a great day.

I was just reading through my wish list for a web site and noticed that I had omitted one of the biggies for me.

I want a contact database with drip email and or snail mail campaigns that I can import other address books from and or expired listings into.

I am in Contact regularly with Ken George. Have a great week my friend.

Hi George,

RSS PIECES is Mary's Blog site, where she and others post information about blogging. She and I beive her husband are full time building blog sites for Realtors.

Cheers, let me know what you decide, I've been using points2 professional for over a year, I get good position on Goggle usually around 7 under Victoria BC Real Estate, ranking 6 today !! which means first page under this search term. I would like to get better prospects , and always lokking for ways to improve there,

Have an awesome day!

www.1-victoria-real-estate.com

Herb - Thank Herb, I hope you have a wonderful day

Fred - Thanks for your followup. Have a great one.

AUG

2007

Hi George, I recently set up a point2 standard (free) site as a third site and place to post listings for more exposure. I spent a few hours tweaking the point2 site myself but to be honest, I don't know how to optimize it for more traffic, so this post has offered some great information. Thanks. Nothing seems to rank me higher than AR, though!

Kelly - Thank you...I am actually making some progress my friend and I hope you will do the same. Read some of Karen Georg's posts on SEO. She has some great tips and it will help you. Good luck to you.

AUG

2007

Hi George,

Just wondering what you decided to do with your points2 site or new site?

Cheers, have an awesome day!

www.1-victoria-real-estate.com

Fred- I am carving away at it myself and am making some good progress. Thanks for asking and have a great day.

George, I have raised my fees since we spoke some time ago. But, more important than the cost of a custom Web site, one should look at the cost of NOT having a great Web site.

As an example, let's use my client who when she first contacted me was averaging no more than 1 weak lead per month from her old site. I worked with her to define a new target audience, then created a site aimed directly at that audience. When we last spoke, she, an independent broker, was working with 5 buyers that she had gotten from her site in the last couple of months, plus she had given 4 buyers to agents in another county. Suppose that she sells a $300k house to each of the five buyers she kept: her brokerage would bring in some $45,000 in split commissions, income that she would not have had without her newly redesigned Web site. If she were working all nine buyers herself, she potentially could earn $81,000. And even if she were an agent rather than a broker, her commission from just one sale would have paid for her site.

So, if she had not paid me my modest fee for site design, hypothetically she could have lost somewhere between $45,000 to $81,000 in just two months. I assure you that she has no regrets about the modest fee that she paid me for marketing consultation and site design. She would also tell you that she has no business working on her own site because she has absolutely no idea what she is doing and because time spent on her site is time not spent on her real estate business. She prefers to entrust her online marketing to someone like me who has invested a lifetime in learning graphic design and marketing in addition to having solely dedicated 13 years to Web site design.

SEP

2007

Howdy George

If you like to read and I think you do. There are some very good books out there that can help you work on your web site.

One is ( Creating Web Pages For Dummies All-In-One Desk Reference ) The first part of it is on Web Page Basics.

My web site is not done yet. It is a lot of fun doing it yourself.

Have a good one

Dale - Thank you my friend. Have a great evening

SEP

2007

George - Curious how you are making out with your point2 site? I think we got our around the same time. I ahve been trying to get it up to speed for SEO. Check it out at Sell My Home in Metrowest MA when you get a chance and let me know what you think. Would love your opinion!

Bill - Have made some progress. I am close to having my new site up to speed and it should be completed by the end of this month. I also have some SEO tips I am going to implement when it is completed.

SEP

2007

George, I know that you have lots of local and blog content that you've already written that you'll probably be adding to your site (I see you do have some customized info on your site already).

My main site is a Homes.com site, but I signed up for free P2A back in May and just yesterday spent time adding listings and customizing a bunch of other stuff. For the home search page, I added an iframe with the IDX search page from my MLXchange site...added it above the P2A advanced home search form. I did that because I prefer users being able to search all of the local MLS instead of the limited NLS listings only. By doing that, I know that I limited the lead gathering capability on that page, BUT I hope that surfers will stay on the site searching listings and will still use the "contact me" page to get in touch if they choose. I'm somewhat torn on that decision though...I know the jury is still out on the pros and cons of requiring surfers to register to view listings. What are your thoughts about this? Well, I'm sure this topic has probably been discussed in another P2A post, so I'll search to see :) On my main site, I do require visitors to register to search listings and have gotten a number of good leads that way, but I'm sure I've lost some who simply went elsewhere to search w/o registering....I don't know....decisions, decisions...

Then in DJ Breckheimer's post, I read that he's having great success with lead gathering on his P2A site. I looked at his site and he's using the standard P2A search registration form, so that makes me feel I should maybe delete the IDX that I added to my site leave only the P2A search registration form. The other thing I noticed about DJ's P2A site is that he set the search page to be the opening homepage of his site....that might be a good idea. Again, decisions, decisions...I'm still learning and might upgrade to professional.

In the next day or two, I'll go to each page and change the keywords + add some other content pages.

Best of luck to you with customizing your site and I'll post if I think of anything nifty :)

Vicki - Thanks for the comment. I have hired someone to redisign my main page and create 10 original content page. It will be completed by the end of this month. I purchased the WOLFNET IDX search system and LOVE IT. Many are now using it even though the site is not totally complte. The person I hired is going to organize all the navigation buttons on the left and still going to add 10 new and original content pages. By the 1st of October it should be up and running and I already have a great SEO system planned. Please keep me posted on how things work out for you. Thanks again and I hope all is well.

Vickie, I recommend that you use the NLS listings/handshake listings as your Featured Homes page, then have a separate page for IDX search. As far as sign-in, that's really a personal preference and much debated. My client with the heaviest traffic site ended up turning off her registration because she found that the "natural" leads she gets are better than those she got from requiring sign-in. Also, because her site gets heavy traffic, she didn't have time to follow up on all the leads she was getting (she was trying to call them all, which I don't think is a good idea for internet leads anyway).

By the way, don't waste time editing the keyword meta tags. The major search engines no longer use them. You would be better off spending your time giving each page a unique, optimized title tag and meta description tag.

George, thanks for the "heads up" about Wolfnet...I'll take a look at it too. It's good to hear that you've hired someone...I'm sure those custom content pages will be great! You must be excited about seeing the finished product soon. All is well and I'll keep you posted.

Suzanne, thanks so much for the tips! For the "Area Listings" page, I did leave the NLS handshake listings, but added the IDX to the "home search" page. I might remove the registration form completely from the home search page though...for now, both my IDX and the P2A registration form are on the same page. Thanks again and I'll add the tags to the pages!!

Hi,

I agree pass on the inquiry sign in, I tired that and saw liitle interest, make it easy for intermnet inquiries,

George... Good Luck with your New site !:O)

Cheers, have an awesome day!

www.1-victoria-real-estate.com

Vickie - Regarding the NLS Handshake you need to consider. I went into the discussion forum and read some posts and comments that concerned me. Several users of Point2 sites said they disabled the NLS Handshake because they had angry customers that got excited about some listings they found on NLS Handshake only to find out those listings had expired, sold, or taken off the market. It comes down to this, Realtors do as good a job of handling their internet listings as they do their own MLS data....VERY POOR! This is why I am featuring only my own personal listings and the WOLFNET IDX search system.

SEP

2007

George: Anymore updates about the new website selection? I thought of starting a project on building (or have someone build it for me) that interlays traditional website features with blogging features. I investigated the 3 major blogging sites I know (RSSPieces, Tomator and Brad Carroll's Danka Marketing). I am still "thinking"......

After I installed Google Analytics, I realize how people are searching me for. It seems that my current website are answering what they want. So, right now, I am staying put. I really dont want to begin what I have to start over again because I put alot of effort into building the template site into what I have. If I switch, it still cost me alot of time.

I agree, I need a coach to help me. It is becoming overwhelming.