I am  fairly new to point2 as well, but I've seen several very successful agent that use point2.  got to http://www.wellington-luxury-homes.com/ and also visit their blog here on Active Rain http://activerain.com/wellingtonhomes.  They are very informative.

I used to have a point 2 Site.  Yes, it is definitely nice to be able to  post a listing once and have it send everywhere.  I still use Point 2 to post my listings but do not use it for my website.  We have a website through Advanced Access and since we have done so much work with that one, we decided that it was almost impossible at the time to keep up two sites. 

In terms of brining your site up the search engines, I wouldthink that it would work the same as with any other website.  Pay per click would work good.  I don't know what the search engine spiders think of Point 2 sites, for the organic searches.  I guess if it is customized enough for the search engines, then the spiders should pick it up.

Pam, thanks for the info. Us newbies with point 2 need all the help we can get.

Jennifer, We have seen AA around. Our primary site is very focused on the main city in the county and we are looking to diversify. So hence the second site. I am really wondering about how the spiders work with point 2. Thanks for the info.

Jason & Deanna~ I'm a Point 2 certified Virtual assistant, and have worked with plenty of Point sites and really recommned the pro version and think its great for a main website:)

#1- The pro version allows for alot more customization. Even if you don't go all the way and spend a heftier price for customization the site, there is plenty that can be done for SEO and for creating a look you like, that looks much better than the standard site. Making sure your content pages are full of targeted information about your market, and that your pages are titled correctly will give you a good boost.

#2 The spiders crawl the pages of your Point 2 site just like any other site...you even have the option of taking pages you don't want crawled more private. So as long as your content is localized and targeted you will see it taking shape rather quickly. You can boost its performance even more by using a blog to further promote your site.

#3 You can't beat being able to add listings, make virtual tours, announce Open Houses, post on the Point 2 blog, add listings, featured listings, photos etc. Its a great all around site.

Good luck!

I have Point 2 site and don't get a lot of visitors but then I really don't do anything with it.

Laura, great info thank you! What blogs are you using besides active rain?

Denise, Thanks for the comment.

Hey, I have been on point2 for 4.5 years now. Yiikes! How time flies. It has been pretty good for me. My organic SEO is pretty good with no pro. help. I have started to feel some discontect with it lately. Mostly due to limiations in the blogging platform. Pt2 blogs do not integrate video very well at all.

Also to get a good IDX solution you would need to subscribe to another paid service.

The customization features for the main site are very good though. Especially if you get one of the experts like Suz Stephens do it for you.

My 2c. Good luck!

How did you get the mountain photo in the background? Check out our website: www.reinnh.com Please browse and do comment!

Matt, Sounds like it is working for you well, We are planning on using a pro for our point 2 site, and I found out that our current IDX solution will work for our new site as well. Thanks for the comment!

Tim & Pam, Good looking site! on the back ground photo I just looked at the template size and in photo-shop I resized the picture. Then I saved it as a web pallet to reduce loading times. not as sharp as the original but looks good and loads pretty fast. Thanks for the comment and sharing your site.

I've been pretty happy with Point2 agent sites... I am in the early stages of moving my business there now.It's too early to tell how it will all turn out. I do think it is a really great value for the money and the features are fantastic. It's really up to us to do the work to make the content desirable.

Best,

Scott

Scott, let me know how it goes. I would love to hear about your experiences. Thanks for the comment.

I am new to point2 and havent figured out how much time I want to devote to it---Bart

I'm happy with my Point 2 website....over a year now with the Pro version....sold several properties as a result of the virtual tours....many good contacts.....get lots of compliments on my virtual tours....I'm happy with the features and the price....and the flexibility....Know I could improve SEO, for sure....IDX was easy.....Looked around at other vendors, i-house, Advanced Access and more....know I'll stick with Point2.

Bart, thanks for the comment!

Lisa, I was hoping someone would say what you said. Thanks for the comment!

I'm still new to the P2A site as well. Would love to see the feedback you recieve

Roland, as you can see the feedback has been positive but it also looks like many people are new to point 2 like us. Thanks for the comment.

Hi Jason, good to "see" you again! Most of my clients use only Point2 sites. A few have other sites such as those provided by their franchises.

I've found that my clients who invest in SEO work AND who have good original local content can get an amazing number of great leads. I have two cilents whose sites get over 125 visitors per day; both generate phenomenal leads. I get copies of their custom "perfect home finder" form submissions and sometimes see 2 or 3 come in per day for each of these two agents. Joe Janus and Barbara Reeves. Plus they get lots of phone calls and emails from people who tell them how much they love their web sites as well as their content.

These clients have had SEO work done by me, by DomainDrivers.com and/or ComputerCamp.net. Joe also blogs regularly on his  Point2 site -- there is little SEO value lent to the Point2 site except by blogging directly on the built-in Point2 blog.

In general, I find that once a site has traffic levels averaging at least 50-100 leads per day, then addition of a custom design results in an immediate sharp uptick in the number and quality of leads the site receives. The most successful sites are those that have  healthy traffic, great design, a good commercial IDX service, great content about their areas, and lots of different ways to solicit leads: custom forms with special offers, IDX VIP client log-in and saved searches, etc.

It makes me sad to see so many comments from people who have Point2 sites reporting that they've done little with them. I was on the phone with Joe Janus just last week. Joe was lamenting that he wished he could somehow impress upon other agents how much a good web site can do for them; his has completely and radically turned his business around, generating multiple millions in leads since it went live in November, 2007. Before then, his old AA site had only generated a few leads during its two year existence.

Suzanne- Not to hijack the thread but do you have any recommendations on a good IDX provider? I really value what you have to say about SEO and design of sites. I love the work you do on Point2 sites.

Best,

Scott

Thank you Scott. Check out 1ParkPlace, MLSFinder, IDXPro. A newcomer to the scene is DiverseSolutions. They are working on a problem with Mac Safari compatibility which I hope they'll fix soon. I'm sure there are other good solutions; Google "MLS IDX" to find more. Also, ask your MLS board which companies use their data. My main concern would be finding a service that allows you to control the level of access users have to data before they are required to log in.

Suzanne, Thanks for the info it was great! The SEO and IDX info was very helpful also.

Scott, thanks for hi-jacking my thread. Just kidding. Great question to ask!

Jason & Deanna-  Sorry!!! but I am glad you found the information informative too!

Suzanne- Thanks for the tips I will follow up and take a look at the vendors you suggested.

Best,

Scott

Here's another vote for P2 sites.  I've had one for about 2 yrs and cancelled my iHouse site that I had forever about 6 months in.  Our site shows up on the 1st page of Google for the keywords I'm aiming for and did so very quickly.  I'm still in the middle of a major overhaul to the site, but I'm very pleased with the results.

- James

Jason and Deanna

I asked a similiar Question in a recent blog. I think Suzanne Stephens answered my questions (above)and more. I guess it doesn't matter what type of website you have. What counts is content!

ps  - feel free to check out my half built   Point2 site.     --  homesearchnovascotia.com

I change it everyday and constantly try to make it better. Point2 Professional is great! Although it won't be long till i give Suzanne Stephens a call for some professional SEO help.

You should take a chance to look at my blog "The Future Of Real Estate" Have a great weekend.

Paul, (with apologies to Jason for another highjacking) it looks like you're making an awesome start on content for your site. Congratulations! I don't offer SEO work except as part of site design projects, but I'll offer a couple of tips that should help now: Wherever you have header text, such as the condo and search headers on your home page, be sure to include your keyphrases/keywords in the headers. For example, "Condo Search" could be "Search Halifax Condos". "Halifax Real Estate Blog Central", etc.  Also, instead of using HTML font sizes to make these headers larger, experiment with using <h1><h2> etc. <h> styled text has more weight with the search engines, as do links, so be sure to use your keyphrases as often as possible. Also use your keyphrases frequently in your text. Also, while experimenting with <h> styled text, you might want to skip <h1> in favor of h2, h3 etc, as a recent German study indicated that Google may be paying less attention to h1 tags. Also, remove your name from your title tags and focus them on your keyphrases. For example, your Bedford page title tag could be Halifax Real Estate, Halifax Nova Scotia Homes for Sale, Bedford Waterfront. Keep your most important keyphrase, such as Halifax Real Estate, at the beginning of your title tag.

Scott, it looks as if Diverse Solutions has fixed their Mac compatibility problem.

I love my P2 site.  Between it, my AR blog and a PPC campaign to drive people to the site, my business has increased dramatically in the last 7 months.  Enough that I think I will be able to hire Suz Stephens soon to do up a custom site for me.  I really like the drip e-mail campaign that helps to capture the leads and keep them interested.

BTW is it possible to get a place in Breckenridge that won't break the bank?  My husband and I were thinking about getting a place somewhere in CO that is close to the skiing and also a great place to go in the summer.  Close enough to be able to rent it out to other skiers but still be affordable.

Kathy, thanks for the encouraging words. Are you doing your own PPC campaign or have someone doing it for you? As far as Breck goes there are values to be had. This is the first time I have seen any deals at all mostly due to the credit crunch. Great time to buy, but you still have to be aware of the pricing and the areas. Some areas still are outrageous and some specific buildings and areas have a value or two to be had.

Jason, right now I am doing my own.  At first I probably paid to much but after learning how to narrow it down I feel it is absolutely worth it.  The most important thing, of course, is to have a website that has a sticky factor.  Apparently I've done a good enough job on mine to get people to come back over and over.  They tell me this all the time otherwise I wouldn't have a clue other than my P2 site analytics.  Anyway, I don't want to hijack your post so if you want to delete this you can, but I did a recent post on PPC and down in the comments section I added a link to another gals blog who is more of an expert on it all.  http://activerain.com/blogsview/565763/Pay-per-Click-PPC

I've had great success with all of it combined. 

P.S.  I'll be e-mailing you seperately about Breckenridge

This is all great information. And, James - WAY TO GO! I hope we can get there too!

James: "Here's another vote for P2 sites.  I've had one for about 2 yrs and cancelled my iHouse site that I had forever about 6 months in.  Our site shows up on the 1st page of Google for the keywords I'm aiming for and did so very quickly.  I'm still in the middle of a major overhaul to the site, but I'm very pleased with the results."

Thanks Joseph added encouragement to complete the project.

I love my Point  2 website, I also have been wanting to upgrade. The virtual tour alwsays

presents well to my sellers. I will was wondering alot of the same things you were.

I have Top Producer website as my main site but I think I will giving that one up soon.

Point 2 seems easier to use and has better features.

I forgot to check the notify me of comments button. Do you know how I can go back and

check that without posting again.

Sandy,I upgraded to point 2 Pro and love the additional customization you can do. We to use the VT and seller really like it. Thanks for the comment.

We love our P2 site. It is very flexible and easy to an IDX solution. You can even be your own VT provider for Realtor.com.

I have had a Point 2 site for about 6 months, and after a brief period upgraded to the professional level. I love it and the ease of use. It offers a great showcase for your listings and the Handshake feature is also great.  I had my site customized and recommend purchasing your own domain. Here is my Point2 site http://www.e-powerteam.com I also love the ease of the syndication and only having to enter the information once. I hear there is a new product coming out that will be an add-on for Point2 and that will have international syndication to push our listings worldwide and in multiple languages, it will also offer the ability to stitch your own 360 degree virtual tours and add property and local area videos.

But overall I have tried many different Real Estate products and sites and have found Point 2 to be the best, I highly recommend takeing the tutorials so you can get the most out of what it can do for you.