This is a frequent question asked by many REALTORS today. There are so many choices out there, but how many of them are really going to bring you results?
Recently, I read, "...Template sites could be created in less than a week, but all looked the same. Custom sites were expensive and took a long time to build, but looked great and functioned extremely well. Today, the gap between the two is shrinking."
This is a common web marketing misconception about a custom site vs. template and the time it takes to build one. Custom sites can also be built very quickly - the amount of time is really a function of the designer the client chooses and his/her skill level. Having built over 125 custom sites for real estate clients over the past 10 years, we have had web sites up for new clients in as little as 7 to 10 days - with all the content they needed and with a custom "look and feel" that would impress any visitor. To build a wonderful custom real estate website usually takes us about 30 to 40+ hours of work, but like real estate agents, working at web design is not necessarily a 9 to 5 job.
Now as to expense, certainly there can be a difference! As a novice web designer, you can take well over 30 to 40 hours (or a lot more) of your time "customizing" an inexpensive template to now truly display you, your services and all the benefits you offer your real estate prospects... OR you can hire a web design professional who in the same number of hours or less can build you a custom site you will be proud to show to any of your clients... while you do what you do best - list and sell homes!
All of us are proponents of using a real estate professional when buying or selling real estate, aren't we? Frankly, I don't understand why fellow REALTORS don't apply this same concept to other professionals rather than trying to do it themselves. Agents and brokers instead insist on trying to be "instant" web designers and search engine optimization specialists. "Oh, I don't need a web designer. I can do this myself! I can get a template for under $100 and get started." Gee, isn't that the exact same thing the For Sale By Owner says to us? "Oh, I don't need a real estate agent. I can sell my house myself. I got this For Sale sign at the hardware store for just a few dollars, I can place an ad in the newspaper, and I certainly know how to show my own house." Ha! And just like many FSBO's who fail at achieving the results they hoped for, countless agents who thought they could customize a template by themselves in their spare time and then get it found on the Web will have their web sites fail too.
"Before making a decision, here are a few things to consider. First of all, remember that content is king."
Again, this needs to be "qualified". Certainly you want text content that is not only appealing to the human visitor to read, but is also viewed by the search engines to use for indexing your web site so that it begins to achieve search engine rankings as well. But having a ton of content really doesn't get the job done. Internet surfers have a different sense of "time". They want their information quickly and they tend to just scan through the text. So it is better to give them the "30 second sound bite" than to give them a major "term paper" on how to buy or sell a house and why they should use you. On the Web, shorter can sometimes be better!
But more importantly, you want well-optimized content. What does "well-optimized" mean? This is content that is relevant to the geographical real estate marketplace you are working in as well as to the consumers you are trying to capture. And the content needs to be laden with keyword search phrases that the search engines will pick up on and index when ranking your web site. This not only includes the text on the pages that humans read, but also the Title tags, Meta Tag Descriptions, Alt tags of graphics, etc. in the HTML coding of each page of the site. Unfortunately, many template providers just don't give you that capability. And even with those that do allow this, your success is going to be in direct proportion to your ability to understand these concepts and incorporate them into your web site.
So think about these issues when trying to decide whether a template or custom web site is right for you. Web marketing can be one of the least expensive forms of marketing a real estate agent can ever do. Where can you market yourself to the World for so little money?? Your very next client may be contacting you from Europe or Asia... not just down the street or around the corner.
Regards,
Win Singleton, CRB, e-Pro
Summit Web Design
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