Have it Your Way

People who work in a very big industry, such as real estate sales, have the option of choosing either a custom or a template Website.  Template Website designers would not waste their time creating templates for Top CEOs in the country because those people would never choose a template Website.  If top CEOs have or need a Website at all, they would want something exclusive, a custom Website.  But, you are in the real estate industry so there are lots of templates and some custom real estate Web design options available as well.  So, what kind of Website should you develop?  For more information on Real Estate Web Design visit http://www.sellrealestate.net

LET YOUR PURPOSE BE YOUR GUIDE

The main reasons for having a Website these days are to generate leads, to showcase your expertise and to save time.  What is your main purpose?

TO GENERATE LEADS

Lead generation requires promotion or advertising of some sort so that your prospects will find your Website. The most cost effective Web promotion involves good search engine placement.  Your best chance for good search engine placement is to choose either a Custom Real Estate Website or a Semi-Custom option.  For a Free Custom Web Plan visit http://sellrealestate.net/FreeWebPlan.asp  For information about the Semi-Custom Real Estate Website visit http://sample1.rewebs.net/.

TO SHOWCASE YOUR EXPERTISE

It is possible to showcase your expertise with either a template or a Custom Website.  If you want to demonstrate your exclusiveness or the fact that you deal in luxury homes, it probably makes more sense to choose a custom real estate Web design. 

TO SAVE TIME

There is so much that technology can do to help you save time.  Imagine a buyers and a sellers checklist on your Website where each client can enter with a password to find out the status of their real estate transaction.  This and other time saving technology requires a custom design.

Yes, everybody loves the graphics on Real Estate Websites.  We want to see clear pictures of the homes that are for sale.  We like to see multiple shots, the inside and outside of the property, including the view.  It is the graphics that really put us in the picture, so to speak. And that pun really was intended.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

The only problem with graphics is that More isn’t necessarily Better unless the design is tightly controlled.  For example, animated graphics that show a series of photos that fade away and are replaced by new photos are intriguing but you must understand why this technology has to be controlled.  When using an animated slide show, you may only see one photo at a time but all photos in the animation are actually on the page simultaneously in order for the photos to change. Since it is photos that can make Websites download slowly, this technology has to be used sparingly.  Using 4 or 5 photos max should provide a pleasing slide show for visitors without making them wait too long to see it happen.  Remember, we have all become even more impatient than we were before the Internet.  To make people wait is to lose them.

TRY A DIFFERENT APPROACH

I’m not saying do not use lots of photos.  I am saying to incorporate photos and graphics into the design in such as way that people can enjoy them and your site can still download quickly.  So, in addition to using some animation, include a judicious number of photos per page and include more pages. 

GRAPHICS THAT CAUSE PROBLEMS

Don’t get caught up using technology before its time.  PDF files can be annoyingly slow to download so the motivation to get the information must be very high.  Also, flash graphics, the kind that search engine technology has trouble with has no place on a real estate Web design.  Using flash graphics is like opening an office in town with a door that is stuck closed so nobody can get in.  You wouldn’t do that, would you?