Comments on my previous post about building a new website show that there are probably a whole lot of real estate professionals out there thinking of changing their site provider or just starting a new site. And, let's short-circuit the comments from web designers by saying right now that one of your options is to hire someone from scratch to design and construct your website. However, this post is for those who want to take a different route, a system set up with the basics templated for you, a subset of content that you can easily modify, and a great deal of flexibility in colors, style and page layouts. I'll be taking you through some of the very first setup steps of a RealtySoft site in this tutorial with the goal of illustrating just how easy it is.
First, there are a whole lot of words in that image above like "structure, framework, static, components, standards, html, code, etc." All of those are handled for you in your RealtySoft system. You can concentrate on your content, as well as the look, style and colors of your site. Content is what will generate leads and commissions, so that's going to be a major focus. However, let's do some basic stuff first. Once you've opened your account, you can set up your first website.
You'll always have ready access to help when you're working in your RealtySoft Control Panel and website design center.
Between the User Guide and the Training Videos, you'll be walked through everything you need to do to get your website up and generating leads. If you bump into a hurdle, the support ticket system will get your question answered quickly.
There is also an active group of users in the Commuity Forums, and they're sharing tips and tricks to get the most out of your site.
Choosing & Customizing a Template
There are a great many ways to give your website YOUR unique look. We start by choosing a template.
Not only are there a whole lot of striking designs from which to choose, there are also designs pre-customized with major franchise logos and colors. It's easy to preview the templates, as there is a [View] link with each, but you can also apply them to your site to see how they look as well. Here's one I chose to get started on for this demo.
I like to minimize image sizes in my headers, as it leaves more room on the page for content, so I chose the above template. Now I want to customize the header by placing a different image, entering my contact information for the left side, and uploading my image. "Image" is a good word, as I had this image of how I wanted to present myself, you know, the "beauty shot." In trying to decide between the two photos you see in the image below, I went with reality ... sigh.
As you can see, it's easy to place the precise information I want in the header for contacting me. I can also choose to display different renditions of the Realtor® logo and MLS logos. Since I knew meeting clients would burst the bubble, I used my real photo and here's a partial screen shot of the new header.
You'll see a couple of differences right away. I changed the background color in the header, and I uploaded a custom image. I had choices of a great many images without uploading my own, but I liked this photo of our nearby mountains. It's easy to change photos, and you can even select several and they'll rotate in the display.
Keeping in mind that RealtySoft took area and MLS information from me when I first set up the account and made modifications to text in various areas of the site to customize it for my area. They're also doing my IDX, so this site is really usable as-is before I dig into more customization. However, I don't have to publish it to my chosen domain until I'm ready. We'll do some more work on the site in the next post.
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