How
to Select a Web Site Developer and/or Web Site Host
©
2000 Barbara Cox, Ph.D.
Finding
a real estate Web site designer/developer and/or host, is not too
difficult. If you are part of an active real estate firm, chances are that
more than one Web site developer has already found you. By using a search
engine, exploring real estate Internet directories, and asking your
colleagues or looking at their Web sites, you will find many site
developers fairly quickly who will be more than happy to accept your
credit card. But will you get a site that works for you?
Avoid disappointment.
Don’t find yourself unhappy about a site that is ugly, slow, a clone of
all your colleagues’ (and competitors’) sites, lost in Cyberspace, or
otherwise ineffective. How? Select the Web developer and host that is right for you.
Sounds easy enough, but in today’s universe of proliferating Web sites,
when every other person you meet seems to be in the Web site business,
you’ll need a little more than your intuition. You will need some
understanding of how custom Web site designers and Internet hosts work and
what to expect from them.
“Oh, we don’t do
that
…”
…
is not what you want to hear after your Web site has been constructed,
launched, and failed to meet your expectations! You wanted custom
graphics? regular submissions to search engines? an interactive database
of your listings? access and control over property descriptions and
property photos? an “opt-in” mail list on your main page? You wanted
to be able to create “Just Listed” or “Staying in Touch” cards
using your property photos and then send them to a list of e-mail
addresses from your Web site’s host computer? You want your site to
include automatically updated information straight from your MLS that
shows sales activity in your farm?
Many
elements and functions that sound ever so simple are not at all simple to
create. Sometimes, the developer and host must have specific software,
hardware, or agreements with particular service providers to accommodate
these functions. Knowing ahead of time and communicating it to the
developer is one of the keys. It’s a little like asking a builder to
create a house without a plan. (See related article on what to provide
your site designer.)
What To Expect of Your Web
Site Designer/Developer
Here’s a list of ten
services and capabilities that you should expect from any Web site
designer/developer that you would consider for building your site. Add to
this list any capabilities that might involve special functions, such as
direct updates from your MLS …
-
Familiarity with existing real
estate Web sites, including agent sites, company sites,
directories, libraries, and real estate resources (mortgage, title,
escrow, finance, communities, etc.) on the Web. Your designer should
know the functions and features that your competitors are using so
that your site does not fall short—or maybe goes a step further.
-
A free initial consultation to
discuss your marketing position, Internet marketing goals, and target
audience(s). At that time or shortly thereafter, you should expect
a proposal for the site design that describes the site, its pages and
their content, site organization/navigation, and all the functions and
features that will be included. The proposal should specify the cost
and time required. Additional costs for hosting and/or future
maintenance should be stated separately.
-
Ability to develop pages that will
look good in various browsers and/or screen resolutions and sizes.
Ask the designers to show you several sites they have created, and
look at them through both Netscape and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer
browsers. Also look the samples on a small monitor and on a larger
monitor.
-
Ability to create interactive forms,
set up a listings database that you can edit yourself, bulletin
boards, virtual home tours, and other features that your audience
now expects of real estate Web sites. You may not want all these
whistles right now, but rest assured that before long you will see
their value and be wishing you had them.
-
Ability to create distinctive custom
graphics, including logos, buttons, navigation bars, and other
visual design elements. Again, look at samples of the designers’
work. You aren’t yet looking for the graphics you want to use—you
are judging the designers’ artistic abilities.
-
Professional writing services
(and proofreading, too!). (Some Web site designers have ready-to-use
content pages with information for home buyers and sellers. These can
save you time and money—but be sure to review them carefully for
accuracy and quality of the information provided.)
-
Ability to construct site elements
that positively affect search engine rankings, including metatags,
titles, text, links, and nonframes pages.
-
Ability to maintain your site;
that is, make changes to the design and content according to your
requests, for a reasonable fee.
-
A reasonable guarantee that you
will be satisfied with their work, as specified in their proposal.
-
Marketing support to make sure
your site is regularly listed
with all the major search engines.
In
addition, the developer should be able to host your site or recommend a
host that has all the processing capabilities needed for your site,
including but not limited to interactive forms and database interactivity
What To Expect of Your Web
Site Host
With increasing
frequency, design and hosting services for real estate Web sites are
provided by the same company. This is not always the case, however. What
you should expect from hosting services, whether or not the company has
also designed your site, include the following:
-
Registration
and hosting of your domain name.
-
Hosting
of your site on a state-of-the-art server, one with ultra-high-speed
connections and CPU. The server must be reliable; that is, never (or
extremely rarely) “down.” Web users must have continual, fast
access to your site.
-
Site
activity statistics, preferably online and cumulative. A good site
statistics report tells you a great deal more than the number of
“hits” in a given day or week. You should have access to
information about time of day, amount of time visitors spend, the path
they take through your site, what link brought them to your site, what
part of the world the hits came from, and other information that is
interesting and can also be helpful.
Where To Start
The first place to
start is a real estate site (or a colleague or competitor) that you happen
to like. The developer’s name and link are usually located on the site.
Get recommendations
from other agents or from professionals who work with many agents, such as
your title representatives, the operator of your local MLS system, or
perhaps your office manager.
In addition, here are
links to a few Web developers to get you started. Visit their sites,
especially the pages that show samples of sites they have built, and
evaluate their work, style, and pricing. (Thes ones we have listed here
range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand ... )
Once you have narrowed
your selection to two or three developers, send an e-mail to a few of
their Web clients and ask about the company’s service.
In addition,
investigate the services offered by major MLS search sites such as
Realtor.com and Homeseekers.com (through its GenstarMedia sites).
Dustie Meads at Real
Estate Clip Art (http://www.realestateclipart.com)
is not building Web sites, but she is an excellent resource for real
estate graphics. Her site contains many that are free for you or your Web
developer to use.
Summary
Avoid disappointment
and unnecessary expense. Do your homework!
© 2000 Barbara Cox,
Ph.D. |
