Website White Paper
11 Big Mistakes To Avoid In Buying & Running
A Winning Real Estate Website
By Denese Konowe
Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved
021-338-557
Denese@e-Agent.co.nz
A few words of introduction appear to be warranted. My name is Denese Konowe and I hold a Real Estate License here in Christchurch, New Zealand, but am also a Licensee in NSW Australia and The United States. I have held every position possible, from new Salesperson, Agent, Office Manager, Licensee & Founder of a major U.S. based real estate franchise.
My whole career in real estate owes its success to my early adoption of technology generally and to the Internet very specifically. Over the years I have developed hundreds of real estate websites and the associated technologies needed to drive visitors and business.
As the CEO & Co-founder of e-AGENT NZ and its parent company in the U.S.; e-Agent, Llc, I am ready to help you develop your technology side and gain the needed punch that well designed & well implemented web technology can provide.
While I would most definitely rather you use the technology services my firm offers, the suggestions and cautions contained in this White Paper, are yours to use as you see fit. They are not presented in any significant sequence...
NUMBER 1- Using A Website Provided By Your Real Estate Firm
The whole point of online marketing is to distinguish you from every other salesperson. Using a site provided by your firm, actually does just the opposite. It sends the message that you are no different than any of the firm’s other agents. It does another thing and that is tie you to the firm. Given that salespeople switch firms, fairly often and for many reasons, why have to leave your web presence behind, should you elect to switch companies?
Then there is the question of why you would ever want to pay your firm, for advertising they should be providing to begin with?
NUMBER 2- Not owning your own website
Regardless of whether you have your site designed by us or some other firm; make damn sure it is your property! You will be paying for the development of the site; therefore it and any associated Intellectual Property, belong to you.
Never, I repeat never make the mistake of paying for a website that you do not own, completely and unconditionally. Your real estate commissions are hard earned and any product or service that can be purchased and owned outright shoudl be a professional asset of yours.
NUMBER 3 - Using Your Own Name As The Domain Name
Over the last 20 years of real estate website development, I have come to think of this as one of the most important Oops made by often otherwise successful, salespeople.
Your clients do not want to be told every few minutes that without you, they will cease to exist! They won’t believe it, and shouldn’t.
Differentiating yourself, using your site, should be based on such things as, unique levels of service; extraordinary capabilities; extended availability and much more, but never design a site, and your design starts with the selection of a domain name, by doing the “denese@denese-konowe.co.nz” variety. Remember, the client wants to be the centre of the action, not you the salesperson.
Instead, I recommend a domain name that relates to the place you specialise in (denese@merivale-homes.co.nz). This name does a couple of things; firstly, it protects you from Oops #1, because it can stay yours even when you change firms; and secondly it points to your community of choice. If you serve more than one area, don’t worry, you can own multiple domain names and have them point to a common website.
Finally, the last reason to stay away from using your name, is that the major search engines will punish your site for violating this Oops and while you might have a very pretty site, few people will be able to find it.
NUMBER 4 - Paying More Than You Should
Perhaps this sounds too obvious to take seriously, but let me let you in on a “dirty” little secret… While it does take technical skill to produce a professional website, over 80% of the contracts I have seen, here in New Zealand, are from 25% -75% Over Priced!
This may seem silly, coming as it does, from a person who develops and profits from selling websites, but is a fact and this White Paper is about facts!
Spending anything like $5,000 or more, for a straight forward Salesperson website is plain nuts! As you will see in “Oops #5, your web dollars need to go to produce traffic, not cute designs and most certainly, not “flash” sites; Oops #6 covers that.
A good real estate website should cost between $1,500 and $2,500; a site with significant features might require upwards of $4,000, but it had better be something very special, for such costs!
NUMBER 5 - Having No Web Marketing Money
In budgeting for your website marketing, I recommend the following formula; have 50% of what you spend on your site, available for your first year’s online marketing budget.
Most Salespeople do not seem to know that getting a website online is only the very first step. Without budgeting for Search Engine expenses, no one will likely ever see the site, you spent so much money developing.
While there are several ways to drive visitors to your website, search engines most certainly play the most significant role.
Let me show you something, right about here:
The Yahoo search above shows that my “Reston Homes” real estate website is in the Number 1 position, today as it has been for over a decade. I do not pay one penny to keep it there, but I must work constantly on making sure it stays there. If you look carefully at the upper right corner, you will see there are 2,590,000 other websites, competing against me for what is called the “Organic Search”. Indeed, the number 2 listing “Zillow”, is a multi billion dollar/year company and you can bet it drives them mad, to be unable to unseat little old Reston Homes.
The ability to perform this minor miracle, is called Search Engine Optimisation. So, before signing on the dotted line, with any web design / online marketing company, ask them how they plan to do this for you and get it in writing!
NUMBER 6 - Buying A “Flash” Website
Flash websites are the ones you see that most usually begin with a “Loading…” message, before the site opens. These sites are very, very attractive and usually quite expensive. While they have lots of what I call “Eye Candy”, that is visual appeal, they are nearly impossible to market to the search engines and cannot be viewed on older computers.
While my firm can produce a flash site, I only recommend doing so, if you have a “traditional” static website to work with, as well.
NUMBER 7 - The “Maintenance Fees” Ripoff Game
Recently, I have been noticing that lots of website companies are charging upwards of $200 - $300 per month, to “maintain” their clients websites.
Unless you want to constantly alter the content of your website, such fees are plain ridiculous! Yes, you should be prepared to pay a small, reasonable hourly fee (certainly no more than $80/hour) to alter your website content, but there is no way, this activity should cost anything like $300/month.
If you do want to be able to add/edit/delete , material on your site, simply ask the designer to add a CMS (Content Management System) function and you will be able to do this for yourself and at any moment you want. If they argue against such an option, it probably means they don’t know how, or worse yet, just want you on “the hook”, every month for a fee.
NUMBER 8 - The Hosting Nightmare
“Hosting”, plain & simple is just the cost of giving your website a home on the web. There are thousands of hosting companies and so, there is no absolute reason for you to host with the firm that builds your website.
Having said that, it is a simple task to host with your site developer. But make sure they can meet all of the following requirements:
1.- The web server, on which your website will reside, should most definitely NOT be solely located in New Zealand. The reason is quite simple; New Zealand gets “cut off”, by line failure, way too often and no one outside will be able to see your site, when this occurs.
Secondly, you need to remember that many of your clients are overseas, thus having a world class connection is quite valuable.
2.- There must be no setup charges involved as there are no such charges to the firm providing your hosting.
3.- You should be able to change hosting firms, at any time that pleases you, again with no penalty charges.
4.- The cost of any email accounts, associated with your hosting, should be included at no charge.
5.- You should “Own” your domain name (see Oops #2).
6.- Your monthly cost for hosting a site as we have been discussing, should cost no more than $250/year.
NUMBER 9 - Never Give Content Control To Anyone
The real estate law is quite clear on the issue of responsibility for what appears on your website; You are responsible, period!
Accordingly, always make sure that any “Blog”, “Message Board” or similar Social networking website function, permits and you to “moderate” (read as delete) anything some member of the public adds to your site.
NUMBER 10 - Read The Contract, Carefully
Any contract with a web development firm should be in plain English and you should take the time to read every word it contains.
Salespeople, are taught from day one to show extraordinary care with regard to real estate contracts and a website development contract is not to be treated any differently.
Remember, you are the client and even if dealing with technology leaves you a bit unsettled, the benefits of taking the time, to know what you are agreeing to be bound by, is no less important!
NUMBER 11 - Never Pay For A Website That Has Display Ads For The Website Development Comapny
If you are paying to have a site designed and developed for you, it is completely inappropriate to find that the development company is placing their own display ads on your pages. These ads, often disguised as "awards" simply drive visitors to your site, right back to the website development firm. It is quite appropriate to display a "best site" award that points to an award site, but not to the same people, you just paid for your website, unless of course they want to pay you for the advertising.