Archive for October, 2008
Free Real Estate Website or Blog Widgets
· CommentsWe’re always looking for content for real estate websites, and if it’s free, that’s even better! There is some interesting free content at ClassifiedFlyerAds.com.
ClassifiedFlyerAds.com
As you may know, the main service provided by this site is – oddly enough – classified flyers that can be put together to advertise your real estate listings. I don’t know anyone who is using that service, but if it works well, it’s a great idea if you want to advertise and syndicate your own listings.
And, the fees are reasonable, also. You can visit their plan comparison page for more information. The fee for maintaining 25 active ads at one time is $11.99 per month. The monthly fee provides access to a number of capabilities:
- 30 photos
- Syndication to top directories and feeds
- A profile page with information about you, contact information, etc.
- Email – you can upload contacts and email a flyer to them
- Tracking reports to monitor traffic stats
- Many different templates and custom template creation
- And, the list goes on.
Capabilities such as creating a video tour and assigning a domain name to the flyer carry an additional fee.
Free Widgets
Now, to the free part. Once you have established an account, you can create a variety of useful website or blog widgets. The widgets include:
- Click to Call Widgets
- Map Widgets to identify your listings on a Google Map
- Local Area Widgets like the one to the right that give your visitors the ability to locate local information in your area. I’m sure the widgets look much better in the flesh.
- Listing Widgets that show all of your listings.
- Email Signature Widgets that can be used in emails.
- Loan Calculator Widgets
If anyone has any feedback about using ClassifiedFlyerAds.com, please leave a comment. Otherwise, you might just want to check them out yourself!
Can You Sell Your Real Estate Website?
· CommentsI’m not an expert on buying and selling websites, but the question came up the other day. I do know about one website sale from personal experience.
Success Story: Selling a Real Estate Website
I have a client who was moving from Michigan to Virginia a while back. He contacted me to discuss options for his Michigan website. He had invested a fair amount in the Michigan site, and had some first page placement on Google and other search engines for prime keywords in his area.
We discussed the option of redoing his Michigan site for his new Virginia market, acquiring a new domain name and starting all over again. But, I really encouraged him to think about selling his Michigan site.
It seemed like such a waste to dismantle a website that had the design, local content, domain name and ranking in the Michigan market. And, since the domain name contained his Michigan keywords, there would be no benefit to his Virginia site for the age of his Michigan domain. Whether he kept the same site or not, he’d be starting over in the search engines for his new Virginia site.
I don’t know how he established a value for his website, but he did find a local agent who was delighted to purchase a turn-key website. I don’t think he got rich doing it, but I’ll wager it probably made a good contribution to tricking out his new real estate website!
Website Buying/Selling Resources
I did some research online for anyone who might be considering selling a website. I found a good article at Sitepoint – a Website Valuation Guide. I found the guide a bit over my head, but maybe some will have more time to go through the math.
While the author points out good reasons why most of the free online valuation tools are wildly inaccurate, he provided a link to his online evaluation tool which is worth checking out.
There’s also a site called WebsiteBroker.com that provides some information about the issue. If you do a search for real estate in the buy category, there are some real estate and related sites listed. They also have articles with tips for buying and selling websites.
I would think it would be much easier to reach the target buyers for a real estate website locally, rather than on a site that brokers websites. You pretty much know who your target market is – other agents in your market area. But, the general information on the Internet is good resource information.
Anyone ever bought or sold a real estate website? If so, let us know how you did it!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but I sure have. Prices have been increasing at a fantastic rate – much faster than I can ever remember.
In fact, it started even before gas prices went crazy. One minute I was buying Irish Swiss Cheese from the deli for about $6/pound. The next time I went to buy some, the price was around $8.00/pound.
And then there’s bread. My favorite kind was maybe a couple bucks the last time I remember looking at the price. The loaf in my kitchen now bears a price tag of $3.59. Do you have any idea how much that is per slice? And, how guilty I feel if I don’t finish the entire thing before it starts growing mold? Cheez. This is driving me nuts.
And, there still isn’t a whole lot of gas in the Atlanta area – overpriced or not. I’m trying to hold off buying some so that those who have long commutes can get to work. I wish everyone was doing that. Not only is gas ridiculously priced, we just can’t find any.
I’d think this feeling of being out of control on the price of things was just a matter of getting older. I do remember that when I first got to thinking about cars, a cool car cost about $4000. I have adjusted to the fact that now car prices have risen. But, it happened over many, many years.
Now, prices are going up as we speak! Or, at least while I’m typing.
The one price increase that really has me fuming has to do with the solution I use for my contacts. Yes, I’m too chicken to get Lasik, so I still use the old contact approach for improving my eyesight.
The company that makes the contact solution has made a big deal about the new packaging they were coming out with. It was going to be round instead of oblong. It was going to be great. The new container was much more thrifty with space – easier to store – just overall a great leap forward in contact solution packaging!
After seeing those inserts in the solution I bought for a while, the new packaging finally arrived. I bought a couple bottles over the weekend. And, it was true!
The price for this wonderful new bottle hadn’t changed. The bottle was much more compact – definitely easier to store. They did forget to mention one thing, though.
The bottle is smaller than the one that they manufactured previously. So, while the price didn’t go up, they achieved the increase by supplying less product.
I’ve seen that happen before – but never with such fanfare.
I think they thought we wouldn’t notice.
Ha!
