Cheap Real Estate Brokerage Website Providers
The other day, I noticed some organic SEO traffic searching for “cheap real estate brokerage website providers”.
**Sigh**
You’re setting yourself up for failure by searching for something “cheap”. By seeking & choosing a vendor catering to the “cheap” crowd, you’re likely to get nothing more than a hunk of junk.
Great real estate brokerage websites are not cheap.
Don’t buy a cheap, sh*tty website, that you’re going to replace in 6-12 months. Hold out until you have the money needed to invest in something great from the getgo, or at least start your SEO foundation off right with a WordPress site that can be turned into something great later.
For those who don’t have the money for a great website now but still want something decent up and running quickly, my recommendation for you would be to go pay Zillow $10 a month for a basic WordPress site. If you get serious about the business and online marketing, then upgrade to a custom designed WordPress site down the line.
Remember, at the end of the day…another crappy website, is just another crappy website no one uses cluttering up the interwebs.
Jeff Manson
Posted at 10:17h, 20 DecemberI like you Drew, but that is horrible advise. Why should they waste time and money on a “Cheap Shitty Website” as you put it? That is what those $10 Zillow websites are. Any SEO work and money they put into is going to benefit Zillow as they link right back to Zillow.
Smart business model by Zillow. Charge $10 for a crappy website that will never out rank Zillow and they get agents to pay them while the agent is doing SEO to the website that is helping boost Zillow in the rankings. They have a smart SEO team over there at Zillow.
Agents are better off spending their energy, money and time on working their SOI, expireds, FSBO’s or even buying leads than on some site that is not going to produce them results. Agents only have so much time and they are better engaging with people than working on some site that is not going to produce fruit!
Have a great Christmas and safe new year!
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:22h, 20 December“Any SEO work and money they put into is going to benefit Zillow as they link right back to Zillow.”
You know as well as I do that you can remove the links.
My advice is if you don’t have the money for a great website (real geeks, real estate webmasters, etc), then get a really cheap decent looking site to tide you over. The middle ground of brokerage websites is murky and generally crap. A Zillow website is certainly better than no website, and $10 is a very minimal cost. If you don’t have $10 a month, you don’t have a business. As I say in the article, you can always upgrade to a full custom site later if you decide to get serious about online marketing. All your time in the meantime should be spend on your sphere….we agree.
Jeff Manson
Posted at 10:30h, 20 DecemberDrew – most agents don’t know that and don’t even know that links help SEO.
That was not my point. It is not only the $10 a month. It is the time, energy and additional money they will spend on the site that will NOT produce results.
Us agents only have so much time in the day and it is better off spent on higher producing activities as I mentioned in my response.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 10:31h, 20 DecemberSo you’d recommend no website at all until they have money for a great one?
Jeff Manson
Posted at 10:36h, 20 DecemberI would recommend no website at all until they have money for a website that will convert pus a plan and money to drive traffic to it.
Too many agents are sold a bill a goods that getting a website is going to generate business not knowing they also need to have a plan and money to drive traffic to it.
They are told just blog and they will come. Not true and most the stuff they blog about will not generate traffic that will result in a sign up (lead). Blogging a lone with no site authority is useless.
Just keeping it real! I am tired of fellow agents getting put on the bus!!!
Drew Meyers
Posted at 17:47h, 20 DecemberFact of the matter is that all this seo shit means absolutely nothing to the individual agent or brokerage making a website decision for the next 1-2 years. Them putting a link to zillow on their website…or using a zillow website…is not going to matter in the grand scheme of things. The only ones it matters to is to brokers such as yourself who have the knowledge & have invested the time/effort/$$ into their web presence to compete with the big players for seo traffic. Every additional link Z/T get from agents makes it that much harder for those seriously competing on seo in their given markets to remain competitive & on top.
So, YES, agents using zillow websites and widgets helps Zillow in the SEO game. But none of that matters to the regular broker/agent b/c there is zero chance they can/will compete for that traffic anyway.
Keeping it real 🙂
Jeff Manson
Posted at 18:23h, 20 DecemberDrew, You are correct!!! Every link Z/T gets from agents adding widgets and links to them definitely makes it harder for the average agent or broker to compete in the rankings.
Getting a $10 Cheap Crappy site is a waste of time for the agent and they shouldn’t waste their precious time and money on something that is not going to produce results.
They should only get a website if they have a plan to get traffic to a site. Most agents will have to do PPC (Google Adwords) to drive traffic. So it will take money to do that. If they are going to spend time and money driving traffic they better make sure they have a website that is optimize to get high conversion rates. If they don’t it is a waste of time and money.
So I would never advice anyone to get a website just to have a website. I would also never suggest an agent get one unless they have the resources to drive traffic and are going to follow up with people who sign up.
Have a great evening!!!
Jesse Friedman
Posted at 13:35h, 21 DecemberNot everyone is looking for a lead building website. Some might have a strong Sphere and some might just be starting out where they do not necessarily need something higher end. A lot of agents do not know what they need or want as well. When using a cheapo site, they will see what they are missing and then be more informed when looking to move up.
James Meyer
Posted at 11:43h, 28 December“Them putting a link to Zillow on their website…or using a Zillow website…is not going to matter in the grand scheme of things.”
I disagree. Why would I pay $10 a month for a website that won’t rank and give Zillow, an advertising competitor, a backlink for a higher google ranking? I have been operating without a website for over 6 months now and doing more business than ever. As a premier Zillow agent (for the sake of showing up on my own listings), I get a free website with Zillow but I choose not to strengthen a company that sells us leads from our own data.
Given the Founded by Zillow logo and the previous work history at Zillow I can see the reason for all the pro-Zillow cheerleading.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 12:05h, 28 December“Why would I pay $10 a month for a website that won’t rank and give Zillow, an advertising competitor, a backlink for a higher google ranking?”
You can remove the backlink.
And why would you?
Because $10 is the best price for a decent website you can get in this industry.
Not everyone needs a website to operate. I’m not disagreeing. I wrote this post because I got organic traffic to the site for people specifically to find a cheap brokerage website solution. I’d rather they found a decent solution than end up with a vendor that doesn’t deliver a good core building block.