Do You Use A Website For Marketing?
Here we are in this medium...and if you use a website, I'd like your impressions. I'm reasonably computer literate and know a smattering of html; how long would it take to make my own website (by using FrontPage)? What should I expect to pay if I farm it out to someone else? I'd like to have a basic site with links to two different fill-in forms; for gathering relevant numbers pertaining to possible Sub2 deals, and notes I may try to broker to note buyers.
Though I'll leave the phone number in my "I buy houses" ad, seems like adding a website URL would help me to cultivate a bigger harvest of motivated sellers who are willing to share their info right up front through the site, or, once qualitied, would rather do it online than by voice? What's been your experience and results? Thanks.
Me too, similar question.... I hv bn using the search engine here today trying to find back articles about a good place to go to create a modest website to market from. Nothing came up. If anyone knows a good place to go I'd appreciate the info. I am not literate in html so need an easy to use site. I do hv MS office which has some tools for building web pages. I don't need anything fancy. Just something to give me a presence, upload pictures of properties along with descriptions so when someone sees a bandit sign or a postcard, etc they can access a site with some basic info.
Thanks,
Bob
I have a website that I love. I pay $50 a month for the web hosting, etc. and paid a one time set up fee of $300 for the web design. The prices I've seen have varied wildly, as have the quality of the graphics and interface. The site targets people in different areas of distress...probate, pre-foreclosure, tired landlords, etc.
I've gotten a few real deals out of it, and a number of leads. Interestingly, I have had more investors email me asking if they can participate somehow, or invest with me, rather than pick up houses.
If you know a smattering of HTML and are a little familiar with FrontPage, it shouldn't be a problem to do it yourself. You know what you want, how you want it to look... who else is better qualified?
A top-rated web-hosting company ( just google 'web hosting') offers 500mb of space with a host of features, email, FP extensions, form mail, etc. for $5 a month. You'll also pay the domain registry which is paid on an annual basis. That itself is only $20.
I also recommend getting Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. I used it to design my company logo. It takes a little time to learn, but with just a basic grasp you can create beauty. Go for Photo 6 or Illustrator 9. You don't need to spend big bucks for the latest versions. Check ebay.
I taught myself HTML, Excel, FrontPage, Photoshop and a small web program called Coolpage. I used that to run a Football league which I operated from a website I created. It had form mail, automatic stat entry which I developed with Excel, dozens of linked pages... the works. Nothing flashy, but it was very popular among legions of John Madden players, envied as well.
If you can learn real estate, you can learn web publishing. It's not as difficult as those webmasters would like you to think it is. Test a few pages and publish them on your personal web server (my Verizon gives me 10 free MBs) to see how it looks.
If you need any help, just let me know.
Over FrontPage, I'd recommend HomeSite or Dreamweaver. FrontPage is a Micro$oft program and is full of bloated code. Sorry - I am snobby from coming from an online marketing background
I have never had a sale directly from my web site. However, the web site is a great way to distribute information. Most people find my site through other forms of advertising (signs, print) or we refer them to the site. Keeping a site at the front of the search engines is diffilcult and expensive. Bottomline, I would not go to a lot of trouble or expense for a web site.
Just about anyone reading this forum can learn to build a web page. After seeking affordable people for a long time unsuccessfully, I downloaded netscape composer (free or small charge for CD). Very easy to learn. You can even build a very simple page with your word processor program and save it in HTML. You'll then need the host place, many inet hookup also give you xMB for site page storage. FTP the page and see how it looks.
Anything is probably better than nothing and once you get started you can improve along the way. One of my favorite sites is jeffreyadam's.
Here is the URL he has on his TCI information page and it is very nice.
http://www.webuyhousesforcash.com
I emailed him about how he set it up but haven't heard back from him. All in all a very credible effort! I just bought Frontpage on Ebay for $139 I tried the full download of Dreamweaver (free for 30 days) and couldn't figure a thing out on it! Way too complicated for the novice though my brother says it is the premier program for the web page developer (He suggested Front Page).
Good Luck!
I have a web site for my online retail shop. I taught myself how to write HTML code, and spent hours and hours tweaking through trail and error. I have a decent little site going now with about 8 or so pages linked together including a "contact" page that sends the e-mails to my personal e-mail host. PM me and I can give you the name of the host I use. I searched and researched for hours before I chose them. Also, I opted to pay for a year in advance($180) much cheaper than monthly. One thing to consider that I underestimated is the cost of advertising. It's one thing to have a web site. It's a whole different story making it publically known! There are many search engines you can use for free, but your site url may not appear for 20 or more pages! Of course, for a "small" fee, yours can appear right up top, on the first page! I can give you some names of some decent "pay per hit" sites that won't cost you an arm and a leg and will generate some good traffic to your site. Of course you can market your site in the newspaper and with bandit signs, but why limit yourself?
Good Luck!!
Sickdog