Should I go with a custom website or a template website? That's a 
question I hear a lot & see a lot here on Active Rain....Actually its a question that we should see & hear more often because the majority of people truly do not know! Below I will lay out what template websites, and custom websites offer (and some of what they do not offer) I will list benefits of both, I will also give cost comparisons to some products and services. Now I know that not all the features of template and custom sites won't be listed...there is just too many variances from company to company---what I will list is the features and such of the most popular companies and the disadvantages to such.
A post I read on Margaret Woda's blog Agents not worth the air they breathe? Critics are wrong! said that there is a time and place (and worth) to every type of brokerage out there - Full Service & Discount Brokerages...each has their advantages & value. The same applies to Real Estate websites - template & custom each has their worth and advantages. Some say that templates are a good place for people to start out--that is true in some instances, but definitely not in all, a lot of times template sites can be a waste of money (and yes custom sites can be a waste for some agents too) it all really depends on what you want, and what you are going to do with the website, which I am going to go into details about below!
Before I get started, no matter which route you go, remember that if you are not web savvy or don't have the time to devote to building a website, please leave it to the professionals! Just as you recommend using a Realtor, I recommend using a web master for building your website-if you want results, do it right the first time! I reviewed a website today for example that wasn't a template site but I wouldn't go as far as saying it was custom...but home made! It had close to 60 errors in the XHTML Markup code according to W3C, and the CSS Markup came back with an error that I had no clue what it meant ( I sent it to my top programmer to decipher it for me. The agent had a link to the local MLS to search for properties-however it opened in the same window as the agents web page, but went directly to the MLS's main search page, it was not branded for the agent therefore, when you did a search and clicked on the listing of interest-it gave you the listing agents contact info! So not only did you get the contact info for the listing agent, but in order to get back to the agents web site, you either had to click the back button a million times or type in the web address (anyone remember what it is?? I don't think so-I know I didn't and I typed it in by hand. There were so many items wrong with the site, and just provided more reasons on why you should leave development to professionals...no offense to the agent-because they are not alone-there are thousands of sites like this out there that do no good for the agent, and just cost money! A website should not cost money long term (just upfront) it should MAKE you money!
Now that I have your interest, let me know what you think, or if you have any examples of what I said above, Leave a comment, Then CLICK HERE to go to part 2!
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