Real Estate IDX Websites2019-03-08T18:13:21-06:00

 Real Estate IDX Websites

What Makes My Real Estate IDX Sites Different?

Click to expand each point below to find out more about how I work and how it benefits you!

Some company’s real estate IDX websites cost over $5k up front just to build; and that doesn’t include the monthly maintenance fees!  That’s because you’re paying true experts in the field; people who are top-level developers, HTML coders, and web design engineers, and their time doesn’t come cheap!  The truth is, most real estate websites don’t need to be over-engineered, so you’re truly overpaying for level 10 experts to build a level 5 website.  I know HTML and CSS, and I use my coding knowledge frequently for tweaks and customization, so there’s really no need to pay more.

It’s tough to be a new Realtor, or even a small brokerage, and pay a company $5k up front plus $2k a month for a website.  It’s especially expensive if those monthly charges don’t even include any advertising!  Those management fees are there to cover the web design company’s overhead: staff, office space, marketing, etc.  The benefit of working with someone like me is that I have little-to-no overhead expenses.  My company is just me and my assistant, and I work from my home office.  If I need third-party support because of something special that my clients want, I use one of the experienced freelancers that I know and trust to get the job done without overcharging.

All of my fees and expenses are 100% transparent, and I never up-charge for materials such as graphics, themes, hosting, or software tools.  I can provide receipts on everything that is purchased for your project, and my design fees are very reasonable.

My real estate IDX websites start from a blank, open-ended “theme”, but I never use frames or templates.  Once the theme is fully customized to your specifications, it’s truly a custom site.  My design goal for every site I make is for it to be eye-catching, clean, and intuitive.  Consumers who land there will want to stick around because they don’t have to be a tech genius to operate it, and it’s not cluttered with overwhelming options.  The most successful real estate IDX websites follow simple layouts, which I’ll be happy to advise you on, but your website can be the complete opposite if that’s what you want.

Most importantly, the lead generation functions can be tweaked to YOUR specifications.  I’ve worked with companies in the past who forced the website to do a lead capture pop-up every 5th click, no matter what.  In my opinion, it was only chasing visitors away, because I could see that a high percentage of visitors left the site after viewing that lead capture form.  I use lead capture as much or as little as you prefer; I have my own opinions and recommendations if you’d like to hear them, but at the end of the day, the choices are yours.

These days, the kid who mows your lawn could probably design a website, but to make real estate IDX websites, you have to know a lot about what works and what doesn’t with real estate marketing, lead capture, search engine optimization and research, content marketing, site design, and more.  For example, did you know that not all website coding is friendly for search engine optimization?  Using a site design that’s not SEO compatible would be detrimental!  Additionally, the importance of having your site be responsive can’t be overlooked, especially since Google now takes that into consideration for SEO.

Before I get started on your website, you and I will have a few tactical chats.  What are your goals?  What are the most important things to you?  What type of clients are you trying to attract?  Then I’ll do the research on how to best attack the project.  My initial research includes things like keyword research and an analysis of your top competitors, and my research will help you to make better decisions about what you want from the completed website.

Once the site is up and running, I perform ongoing research for 90 days.  This plays an important part to perfecting the lead generation process.  I have tools that will show me what your site visitors are doing when they get to your site, which will tell us what is working and what isn’t.  This gives us opportunities in the beginning of your website’s launch to discuss possibilities and make changes to any items that are impeding site visitors from becoming leads.

A lot of real estate IDX websites are created, hosted, owned by, and overseen by the company that created it.  Sure, they allow you to “log in” to the back end of the site to manage your content and leads, but you don’t have full access to your settings, plugins, etc.  That’s not the case when you work with me.  I build, host, and design every aspect of the site to be YOURS.  The domain, content, hosting, logins, graphics, licenses, everything belongs to you.  Once the initial build is complete, I turn the keys over to you completely, and you’re free to do what you like with it.  Of course, you can always get me involved as needed.
Just because the site is YOURS doesn’t mean that I expect you to make it operational!  For starters, I design the site in such a way that it functions independently, without any maintenance from you at all.  The site itself, SEO, MLS IDX feed, hosting, lead generation, social media posting and blog subscriptions are completely maintenance-free and automatic, making the entire system truly turn-key.  It runs seamlessly as you and I designed it to, and integrates itself with systems you may already have in place, such as MailChimp, FollowUp Boss, or Constant Contact.
Of course, the only problem with turn-key real estate IDX websites is that if a new trend comes along, or if you decide that a certain tool isn’t converting leads as well as you’d like, you’re stuck with the system you have, right?  Wrong!  I make step-by-step instructional videos for all of my clients.  These videos teach you (or your support staff) how to do things like change settings, post blogs, work with the lead generation functions, tweak auto-responses, and more.  These easy-to-follow videos are comprehensive, and catered to your individual website’s functions.  This means that you aren’t stuck paying someone to make small edits to your site; you will know how to easily and quickly do it yourself.

Real Estate IDX Website Benefits

  • Custom websites have the best SEO, and real estate SEO is highly important if you’re hoping for others to find your site via search engines like Google and Yahoo.
  • Having IDX on your website ensures that potential homebuyers can search your website for homes for sale. This benefits you in many ways, including lead generation, and SEO, but also it looks great on a listing presentation.
  • A custom real estate IDX website can be the cornerstone of your marketing system. The site itself can integrate with your CRM, your social media pages, and of course, your MLS – and all of these things can work together to generate and convert leads.
  • A custom website makes a great first impression. Many people search for a Realtor online before making a decision about whether or not to work with them; you don’t want your site to look just like everyone else’s or WORSE – not have a website at all.
  • A custom IDX website gives your potential buyers somewhere to go besides Zillow and Trulia. We all know that the national sites often show listings that are no longer on the market; offer your buyers an ACCURATE home search.

Advice for Choosing a Custom Real Estate IDX Website Provider

There is no lack of real estate website companies out there.  There are hundreds, maybe thousands of companies that design real estate IDX websites; some are awesome, some are not.  Now that I’ve explained to you why I believe MY real estate websites are better than all the others, I have a few words of advice for you regarding choosing a real estate website company.

This advice is true, whether you decide to work with me or not!  Click the “plus signs” below to find out more!

It’s a huge conflict of interest for me to work with two Realtors or brokerages in the same market. Why? Because when I build your website, I am doing everything that I can to make your website stand out from your competition and get more traffic than your competition. How can I promise that I’m doing my best for you if your competition is also one of my clients? I know a lot of very large real estate IDX websites providers who have 20 or more clients in a single city, and I just prefer not to operate that way.
There’s website companies, then there’s IDX website companies, then there’s real estate lead generation and IDX website companies. You want to hire the people who specialize in precisely what you need, it will save you time and money in the long run, because these professionals are bringing their previous experience to the table! To know and understand the real estate industry is particularly useful, because keyword research, content verbiage, and IDX tools are very specific to our field.
If you’re paying someone less than $1000 for a real estate IDX website, I think you’re making a mistake. You may regret choosing them later, when your site stops functioning, or you find broken links, or your SEO just isn’t working and you can’t figure out why. There’s too much at stake to hire the lowest bidder!
Years ago, I was where you are right now, trying to decide which company to pick. The sales reps were telling me anything that I wanted to hear to ensure that I chose them as our real estate IDX website provider, and at some point, I got so tired of trying to decide that I thought about simply picking the most expensive one. They have to be better, right? Otherwise they’d be out of business! In fact, I have worked with two of the most expensive real estate website providers, and I was unhappy with both of them for one reason or another. To be unhappy with a service provider isn’t the end of the world; but it’s a tough pill to swallow when you’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars to get the site up and running.

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No sales pitch, no pressure.

Get in touch with us and help us understand your goals.  We’ll lay out your options, and help you decide your best routes.  And if our services really AREN’T the best match for your goals, we’ll point you in the right direction.

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