How cheap could I have a website that is for sellers facing foreclosure. I am not familar with this and don’t have any idea of the cost and would I need someone to set it up for me? Thanks for any help. I don;t want to pay double if i don;t have to
It could be as little as 6.99 a year with 1and1…
For a simple 3 to 5 page informational only website of quality you will spend between $300 & $500. Anything less and I personally consider the quality less than desirable. Unless you’re getting a ‘hook up’ from someone you know…or a friend of a friend type situation.
Personally I paid www.Pixelus.com $500 for my site design plus a banner ad system.
GooD LucK! :beer
I use www.homestead.com. Its easy to set up with lots of templates and less than $5 month for a 5 page site. $2 more month if you want a domain name too.
I agree homestead is great… As for the site looking cheezy… There are times that you do not want to come across as slick. mis spelling a word in a letter (easy for me) or having a non professional site is actually a method of attracting a certain demographic.
One of my sites is very simple… www.uglyonestoo.com
good luck
Michael
I’m not sure how much it would cost (since it varies), but you could always try outsourcing it to a freelancer on sites like www.rentacoder.com. Just remember to look at their feedback ratings to make sure they produce quality stuff… after all, the cheapest is not always going to be the best solution.
Obviously, there are many variables…It could be as cheap as buying a domain name and paying for hosting. You could buy a template and have it tweaked to your specifications. You could by a site that’s already doing what you want it to do. It will be easier for you to figure out price once you know what you want your site to have/do/provide/sell.
Jackson64 is dead on…Here’s the least expensive method:
Go to namecheap.com and pick up a domain name (about 9 bucks)
Go to hostgator.com and get hosting for 10 bucks a month (Coupon code is wordpress & first month is one penny)
Go to rentacoder.com and have someone make & upload your website for under 30 dollars.
Next…start directing traffic to your website using Google Adwords within your local area.
You can use hostgator for hosting just for $0.01 . Use the coupon “404 page”
Another vote for www.homestead.com… Intuit (maker of Quickbooks, etc.) now owns it, so it is not going anywhere, and they have great support.
It is very intuitive and easy to use… The hosting is like $5/month and INCLUDES domain registration… they have social website uses (i.e. - facebook, myspace, etc.) and a youtube element for posting videos, as well as other very useful tools like Paypal and other e-commerce options (good if you are selling info also), forms, html code, surveys, etc. Best of all, it’s drag and drop… Forms would be especially useful for a real estate website… they fill out a form, and when they click send… sends you an email with the details…
You can also add a Mapquest element for properties so people can type in their address on your site and get directions to the property you are selling… Content that focuses on activity such as this , as opposed to just viewing a site, are more successful overall… It has Metatags for search engines so you can list keywords and a site description to help search engines index and list your site…
As an example, I handle the websites for all four of my kids Boy and Girl Scout troops, and it is very easy to use… photo’s, calendars, forms, etc…
Whatever you decide to use, on a website, KEEP IT SIMPLE… do not vomit information, but instead break each page down to a 10-15 second conversation… TARGET your information to your user group… say what you would say if you were talking directly to the person and ALWAYS have an ACTION item on the page (i.e. - send me more info, collect email and contact information, etc.) - something that gets them to ACT at your site…
Take this site for example… simple, easy to find what you need, nothing too flashy… good design…
Good luck…
I have had not had any experience with Homestead.com. It sounds like there are a number of great features available. However, I am going to recommend wordpress as that is what I am currently working with. What I like about it is that there are plenty of free wordpress themes that you can download and use for your website and there are a lot of free plug-ins that an be used to optimize your website for search engines and add other cool features. The downside is that you do have to learn how to install and wordpress and the plug-ins and not all plug-ins will work the way you expect. However, I like the versatility.
How do I get involved with google ad words and how does it work?
Nate-WI
You have to sign up for a google adwords account, or google account in general. Google has a lot of great resources, so why not just get a google account. I use google documents to collaborate with students for school and share documents. They are going to be creating something called Google Wave which looks pretty cool.
- Anyway, once you have a Google adwords account. You can fund the before or after you create an ad campaign.
- You create one or more campaigns…key words that you want to use and ads you want associated with those key words.
- You dictate how much you are willing to spend per day on the PPC campaign. The cost of one click is the same as 1000 impressions. So, if you are willing to spend $5/day and each click costs $1, then you can get 5000 impressions if noone clicks on the ad. So, having a number prominently displayed in your ad may help you stretch your adwords budget if people decide to call the number rather than click on the link.
- You will have to fund the account regularly.
-You can monitor your ads performance, and choose which ones to keep which ones to ditch, and what works best for future ads.
I recommend that you use a geographical search, versus nationwide. This uses peoples IP address to identify their approximate location and displays search results that are more relevant to that specific area. Its not perfect.
Recommendations based on the use of the keyword tool:
-In my opinion…don’t bother bidding on the “we buy houses [location]” or “I buy houses [location]” as there appeared to be very few people searching for the key words “we buy houses” and “I buy houses” coupled with their location. Most of them appear to be searching for just “we buy houses” and “i buy houses”, and those will probably be cost prohibitive as there is a lot of competition for those words three words and you will get a lot of tire kickers. So, if you use “we buy houses” you will get a lot of exposure but waste money paying for clicks that won’t turn into local, worth while leads; or you can use “we buy houses [location]” and get very little exposure and very few targeted results and worthwhile leads.
-Use “homes” not “houses” when promoting houses for sale.
-Ignore prepositions like “in”
-More searches are conducted with the keywords that do not include the state, so unless you have a lot of people competing for those keywords, do not use the state.
-If you use the county, eliminate the “county”. So, instead of “Homes for sale in Volusia County” use “Homes for sale Volusia”
-Same for City. Just use “homes for sale [location]”
This advice was based on the number of searches conducted monthly for counties/cities in my area, and you should verify that the advice is applicable in your area and modify it accordingly. If you don’t want to register for Google adwords just yet, use this https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
I’m using JustHost and it was $70.00 for one year unlimited inclusive of one domain. They also utilize Cpanel which is simple too use. They also support Wordpress, which is the way to go these days. I haven’t had one problem with this host. So for <$6/ month for your site. Great Deal! I am not affiliated with JustHost in any way shape or form. http://www.justhost.com/
Chris
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Websites are an awesome way to get your name out there and listings straight into your clients homes. They can range from free to expensive as previous comments have stated. It really all depends on your personal experience and understanding with computers. Some sites are completely run for you and set up for you. Meanwhile others may require your attention and work. Hope this helps your decision! Good luck!
Cindy Wilson
Just remember that you get what you pay for (generally) in the web development world.
Some are free, some have costs…
If you are looking for cheap, just make sure it gives you the results that you want.
Your goal is to buy and sell houses with it, not get it for the lowest possible price.