Whose real estate website is it anyway?

Whose real estate website is it anyway?

By Bob Schwartz, CRS, GRI ©2005 Promotions Unlimited All rights reserved.

Everyone knows the Internet is like the Wild West. There are schemes, scams and suckers out there is cyberspace. How does one take advantage of the real opportunities while avoiding the pitfalls?
The simple answer is to be careful; be very careful! Most important, investigate & verify. Below are some common Internet scams perpetrated on real estate agents:

Big agency or sole practioner, you should have a website. Your website should be promoted in your ads, on your letterhead, and on business cards. The critical components of a proper real estate website are your own top level domain name, a properly designed site and dependable hosting for your site.

A. Purchase your own top level domain name. For example, a top level domain is www.brokerforyou.com . Domains such as www.brokerforyou.com.com/bob-schwartz.htm , and www.brokerforyou.com /ca/bob-schwartz.htm are an examples of sub-domains. Sub-domains are part of top-level domains and are sometimes offered free as an enticement to purchase other services. The problem with sub-domains is that you are not the owner of the domain and any advertising or promotion you do for the subdomain, mostly benefits the top-level domain. The same can also be true for “free” domain package deals. The proper way to secure a top level is to first check availability, and then register the name (URL) for at least three to five years!
In the big picture, the registration fee for your domain is very inexpensive. Typically, a five year domain registration will run approximately $5.95 to $9.95 per year depending on the suffix you choose. Many still believe that a .com is the only way to go, but a few of the other choices are: .info, .us, .net, .org, .biz, .ws, .name & .tv.
So, if that must have .com domain has all ready been registered, you should check it’s availability with some of the other available suffixes. The down side here is that some people may remember your catchy domain name, and automatically assume it is .com when it is really .info. This could cause the .com domain to receive some of your traffic, and possibly new clients because of this common assumption.
To search available domain names, secure a domain or even set up reliable and inexpensive hosting, visit www.websitetrafficbuilders.com
The bottom line is that most “free” domain deals are worth what you pay for them!

B. Domain Hosting – Now that you have your own domain name you need a place to host it. First check for an uptime guarantee. I suggest you do NOT even consider a hosting plan that does not guarantee at least 99.9% uptime! The cost here depends on a number of factors the most important of which are the amount of space you need for your site and some extra for future growth, monthly data transfer, statistics package for analyzing your site’s traffic, the number of email accounts available, and if you want a dedicated IP.
I would recommend for most single practices and small firms a basic package that provides approximate 2 GB of disk space, 200 GB data transfer, five email accounts and a good statistics package. The cost for such a plan should typically run about $5.50 per month when paid on a yearly basis.

C. Website Design – Again, the cost greatly depends on the site’s size requirements and design features. For the vast majority of single practitioners and small firms, the cost here should run approximately $400 to $600.
Site Maintenance – This should be very minimal for most. Contact your local Junior college for affordable assistance or if you are a hands-on person, look into Microsoft’s FrontPage. This is a very popular program with probably any feature you’ll need. Knowledge of HTML, the basic programming language of Internet websites, is not necessary.

Copyright 2005 Promotions Unlimited. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bob Schwartz, is the founder of Promotions Unlimited (search engine optimization) a Internet legal directory (CA, TX & Las Vegas) publisher and search engine placement technology analyst. You can contact Bob via e-mail at bob@websitetrafficbuilders.com or visit his San Diego legal directory at: www.sandiegolawyerforyou.com