Setting Up a Web Presence
| You can hang your shingle on the Web in several ways. Each requires different amounts of effort, cost, and expertiseand each provides different levels of customer experience and serviceso think through what makes sense for your business. If your customers aren't frequent Internet users, there's no need to invest in an elaborate Web presence. But if they tend to be routine computer users, chances are they'll expect you to be Web-savvy as well. One great thing about the Web is that it's easy to change things, so if you're not sure how much of a Web presence to have, you can start small and then expand if the demand is there. And if you overdo your initial Web site, you can always scale it back.
Getting Your Own SiteYour Web presence can be simple or rich. For example, many brokers give their agents a single page on their sites, often with standard categories agents use to highlight their strengths, list any properties for sale, and provide other information. Some agents create their own sites that have multiple pages, such as pages for community resources, mortgage information, MLS searches, current listings, and tips. Some agents have their own Web address (such as www.grumanhomes.com), while others use an address belonging to a Web portal such as Yahoo or AT&T WorldNet (such as www.geocities.com/galengruman for Yahoo and www.home.att.net/~galengruman for AT&T), or to their brokerage (such as www.prurealty.com/gruman). What's the difference? A big one. Most real estate agents are self-employed contractors affiliated with a brokerage. As such, you're running your own business. You should use a Web address that will stay with you, even if you change brokerages. Also, using Web sites hosted by a service such as Yahoo's Geocities or AT&T WorldNet raises two problems: First, the complex Web addresses that these services provide are hard for your clients to type in to their Web browsersthat discourages use of your Web site. Second, they show a lack of professionalismreal businesses have their own domains and don't use pages on consumer sites usually used for family photos and other personal pages. Remember, you're a real business and should present yourself as such. So get your own domain name. In fact, you might want to get several. For example, I use www.grumanhomes.com, but I also have www.galengruman.com, which I have set to automatically forward to www.grumanhomes.com. With two domain names, if potential clients remember my personal name but not my business name, they'll still find me. Using Your Brokerage's SiteIf your brokerage gives you space on its Web site, take it. More presence is a good thing. In some cases, you can set up your agent page on the brokerage site to automatically move any users to your actual site. Even if your brokerage doesn't give you an option to do so on the setup page it provides for you on its Web site, you can often force a redirect from that page to your Web site by adding a snippet of code anywhere on that personal Web page: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.yourdomain.com"> Just be sure to replace the www.yourdomain.com URL in that code with your site's actual URL! And note that the 0 character in content="0 is a zero, not the letter O. In some cases, the brokerage's Web site will prevent this code from working, or worse, will simply have the code display as if it were text. In that case, delete the code and consider adding a line in your page's text that tells users what your URL is and to go there for more details. This way, visitors will at least have the opportunity to type it in themselves.
How to Set Up Your SiteSetting up a Web site involves several steps, including getting the domain name for your site, choosing a company to host your Web site, uploading the site's pages, and configuring your e-mail access. Remember that you will still need a local Internet service provider such as your cable or phone company or a national provider such as EarthLink for the high-speed or dial-up Internet access at your home. (A Web host makes your Web site available to the world, but it doesn't connect your computer to the Internet.) Getting the Domain and Web HostDomains are cheap: You can lease one through a domain registrar for about $10 per year if you reserve it for several years at a time. At most, it should cost you about $20 per year if you reserve the domain for just one year at a time. There are lots of places to register domain names: Web hosting companies and portal providers (like Yahoo) often offer a link to one on their sites. All of these companies provide pretty much the same service, so what distinguishes one from the other usually comes down to price. Another factor to consider is the user-friendliness of their tools to search for available names and the tools to set up the account after you find a domain name you want. I like NTT Verio and GoDaddy, but there are many good services out there. Web hosting is pretty cheap, too. Although there are many companies that promise hosting service for $10 or less per month, my experience is that their reliability and customer service gets iffy over time. But for not much more moneyjust $15 to $20 per monthyou can get a good local, regional, or national provider. Ask around to see which company your friends and colleagues like. One I recommend is Pair Networks, but there are many good providers doing business, so if you get a recommendation from someone you know, start there. And consider a local provider when possible, because they often provide more personal service. If you happen to get a company that provides poor servicemeaning the Web site and e-mail service go down several times a month, access is really slow, or you have difficulty contacting the companyyou can transfer your domain to another Web host. All it takes is to start your service with a new Web host company, giving it your site's IP address, plus updating the domain registrar with your new Web host's nameserver information (which ties your IP address to the server that hosts your site). You need to provide the new nameserver information so that when users type in your URL, the request gets directed to the new location. Do note that transferring a Web site takes about a week, because there are thousands of directory servers on the Internet that direct Web traffic, and it takes a while for them all to get your new address.
Setting Up E-Mail and PagesNote that almost all Web hosts include e-mail service, letting you access your e-mail through mail clients such as Microsoft's Out-look as well as by going to a Web page where you can log in to check your mail (handy when you are accessing the Internet with someone else's computer). You'll need to set up your e-mail client software so it knows how to check your mail; your Web host will provide the instructions for popular e-mail clients such as Outlook. For other programs, you might need to hunt around to find the equivalent fields. After your domain is active and your Web host has activated your server space and account, you need to load your Web pages onto the server. The Web host will provide the connection information to do so. Typically, there are two ways to transfer files to the Web host from your computer: One is to use file transfer protocol (FTP) software, the other is to use the interface provided on the Web host's Web site (this interface is usually called the control panel). FTP software is typically faster at transferring your information, so if you foresee updating your site frequently, get a good FTP program such as Ipswitch's WS_FTP Pro for Windows or Fetch Softwork's Fetch for Mac OS X. (If you use Microsoft's FrontPage Web-creation software, the FTP function is built in. Just be sure to have your Web host enable FrontPage extensions for your account so FrontPage can do its thing.) If you create your own Web site, you'll need an HTML authoring or editing program. While there are dozens of such programs available, three command the lion's share of users: Microsoft's Windows-only FrontPage, which is designed for nontechnical users, and Adobe's Macromedia Dreamweaver and GoLive programs, both available for Windows and Mac OS X. Both Adobe programs are designed for more professional users but also use a visual interface that let you do much of the work without ever working directly with code. FrontPage is easier for many novices, but its Web pages tend to look a bit canned because they rely so heavily on templates.
Checklist Pages To Provide A typical agent Web site includes the following pages:
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