There have been many discussions on Real Talk about which website template/company to use. I offer as an opinion (since I have three) the good, the bad and the ugly of each. I've also been pulled into using a virtual assistant. I will offer my own thoughts on that avenue as well.
1. Websites: My very first website (www.AzLadyInRed.com) I host with Homes.com. I originally signed on in early 2002 (or was it 2001?), and within one month, I received my first online buyer who was moving from Long Beach, California. I found him an agent there, and off we went. How exciting this new idea of a website was to me. I began to learn how to create, how to tweak, and better this website. I liked the idea I could see how many times my featured listings and listings were viewed, I liked the ability to quickly change the "look" of my home page, and though limited I could add all sorts of links, etc.
This site was good until - oh - about the middle of 2005 when Homes.com servers went down and I was offline for a couple of weeks, lost many of my photos, etc. Homes.com did credit me with a month hosting fee. Later that same year, it happened again, but by now, I had decided to get another website. I wasn't taking any more chances. Homes.com was wonderful when I first signed on, but I wasn't as thrilled with it after it sold off and started making changes in its policies, etc. I would be innundated with phone calls representing they were from Homes.com, offering all kinds of wonderful packages, etc. I was frustrated, so in late 2005
2. I purchased another domain (www.MoveToSunnyAz.com) and signed up with Advanced Access. They are excellent though I do miss the ability to view which homes they viewed, but I can do pretty much anything I want to do with this site. I jumped on the bandwagon and exchanged links (until it was decided that google didn't like that anymore), but I still kept the exchanges I had originally done. I also had someone who is experienced at this type of thing design a website to my taste. I love it. Since I am sorta kinda familiar with html, I am able to add new photos of listings, etc. It is also linked to my blog on my third site and updates everyday. I have noticed that since Advanced Access sold to the same company that purchased Homes.com that their daily visitor updates are frequently not current up to a week. Guess they'll figure out what the problem is, though it is frustrating. Their support is wonderful. They have an online support forum - similar to this one - that helps us figure out how to do stuff. If that doesn't work, we can call support and they walk us through the issues we are having.
3. I had actually attempted using a virtual assistant much to my dismay in 2005; however, she always had some reason why she wasn't getting the work done when she promised she would. There was always some major reason why the promised work had not been done, so that was a few hundred dollars down the tube. I then decided to "try" again. I wanted a web designer that would update my AA and Homes.com site. As it turned out, this particular individual convinced me that I needed to go the Joomla route. As it turned out - after many hundreds of dollars and excuse after excuse later, I had a "somewhat" finished product. I signed up with a hosting company, and hired someone else to "fix" the things the virtual assistant/web designer was hired to do in the first place. I moved www.TeriEllis from Homes.com and now have a Joomla site which I am "somewhat" happy with. I only need a few extra hours a day to work on stuff, but one suggestion I would have:
ALWAYS do your homework! Ask other agents about their experience with a template site, with a hosted site, with a virtual assistant. I learned "after" hiring the VA to prepare my website, that others had used her to their dismay. I was stuck, so I went forward until I had a working product. Then I hired someone familiar with Joomla to fix the site www.TeriEllis.com. When I have a bit more $$, I will hire someone that is dependable and someone who does not talk out of the side of their mouth, to do some wonderful things to my Joomla site. I like having the option of hosting it myself. That means that if I get irritated enough with Homes.com or ??, I can move and forward everything to this site.
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