Real Estate Web Design, Websites & Online Marketing

Showing Off Some Green Site's on St. Patricks Day!

2015-03-17T12:13:00.003-07:00

Green occupies more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye than most colors, and is second only to blue as a favorite color. Green is the pervasive color in the natural world, making it an ideal backdrop in interior design because we are so used to seeing it everywhere.The natural greens, from forest to lime, are seen as tranquil and refreshing, with a natural balance of cool and warm (blue and yellow) undertones. Green is considered the color of peace and ecology. However, there is an “institutional” side to green, associated with illness and government-issued green cards, that conjures up negative emotions, as do the “slimy” or “bilious” greens.

Read more at: http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-green-4309#.VQht0Y55L1I

Did you know that the color green occupies more space on the color spectrum than any other color? It is second to blue in being a favorite color. Green soothes, relaxes mentally and even helps with anxiety. So in honor of St. Patrick's Day we thought it would be fun to highlight a few green-themed sites from our clients and pass on some "green" love!

In web design, color theory is essential to branding your website and creating the most effective atmosphere for your brands messaging. The color green displays positivity and it can give users the feeling of calm and optimism. Businesses use green to exude success and stability.

1. Phillip & Ryan Real Estate Services

Phillip & Ryan Real Estate Services website is set up on LinkURealty's vertical design. The bold use of green and complimenting images give their company site a very professional and inviting environment.

Beyond the color green is the site's easy to use design with all the essential elements for a successful real estate website. Some include:

Home search bar utilizing IDX, front and center for prospective buyers
Access to the company's blog
Instant Home Value Field for prospective sellers
Social Media icons
A contact form that is inviting and easy to spot.

2. Johnson & Mussman Properties

Johnson & Mussman Properties uses LinkURealty's versatile Spectra design. This site uses imagery to captivate it's audience. The primary color choice of black with an subtle accent of green displays a very modern and sleek design. This home page nicely displays 6 easy to use and understand buttons to help viewers find the information they are looking for. These include:

Search Homes button for buyers
Home Value Request button for Sellers
Featured Properties button
Pre-qualify button for potential buyers
About button to highlight the companies bio
A contact button so interested buyers or sellers have an easy way to reach out to the business

These are just two green examples of great real estate websites created here at LinkURealty. Hey maybe you're considering using green on your site! Or maybe not, but hopefully this was a fun way to look at real estate web designs and it left you feeling excited about your own new design and color scheme!

Need a real estate website? Be sure to visit us at linkurealty.com. We'd love to help!

Green occupies more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye than most colors, and is second only to blue as a favorite color. Green is the pervasive color in the natural world, making it an ideal backdrop in interior design because we are so used to seeing it everywhere.The natural greens, from forest to lime, are seen as tranquil and refreshing, with a natural balance of cool and warm (blue and yellow) undertones. Green is considered the color of peace and ecology. However, there is an “institutional” side to green, associated with illness and government-issued green cards, that conjures up negative emotions, as do the “slimy” or “bilious” greens. How The Color Green Affects Us Physically Soothes Relaxes mentally, as well as physically Helps alleviate depression, nervousness, and anxiety Offers a sense of renewal, self-control, and harmony

Read more at: http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-green-4309#.VQht0Y55L1I

5 Must-Haves for the Best Real Estate Website

2015-01-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

So you walk the walk and talk the talk, you’re a real estate agent in all aspects of the definition, but you’re needing something more. Something that will give you a leg up on your competitors and will give you the professionalism and efficiencies you need to market yourself and gain more leads. Working on a dynamic website and rock solid online presence is what’s next on your crazy, busy agenda. When you finally find the time in between phone calls, appointments and reports to either reevaluate your site or sketch out the blue prints, consider these top 5 must-haves on your real estate website.

1. Add Updated and Useful Content – Key word here is “useful”

You want to show potential clients how you specifically work in the local area and are familiar with the different neighborhoods and current rates of properties. Show them you are the “expert” in so-in-so city. Post videos, images, and a have a section for frequently asked questions so visitors can become familiar with who you are and the city that you represent. As an added bonus to your online marketing, great content lead to great search engine optimization.

2. Invite Visitors to Submit Their Info

If the main purpose of your website is to increase your business, make sure you allow visitors to submit their information on your home page. Make it easy by creating a simple form that they can fill out. We did say “simple” by the way, don’t load the form with anything you can’t later collect over the phone or in person. Maybe give them an option of signing up for local market data or invite them to receive an e-mail newsletter with information on the industry and updates on your listings. Show value to your knowledge and expertise.

3. IDX Search Bar in the Spotlight

One of the easiest ways to capture the attention of your visitors is to provide a quick search option for them to search local listings right on your home page. Take this concept a step further and add a quick search to all pages of your website so that no matter where they go they have quick and easy access to get to listing information. Give clients what they want to see and make it simple for them to see it. They want an easy search option with lots of added features and the ability to see all the listings in their area. They want the ability to customize their search, save listings, search by map, and receive e-mail notifications on the homes they are most interested in. With a premium IDX option you will gain leads from the users that create an account using your IDX. Having a fully integrated IDX on your site can turn your site into a lead generating machine…don’t miss out on this feature on your website.

4. Offer an Organized Layout

Avoid having a cluttered and overwhelming layout, which will make it difficult for potential clients to navigate the website and get the information that they're looking for. Make it concise, to the point, and easy to read. Just remember, when building a real estate website and working to promote your business, it's important to offer a clear format that is easy to navigate for visitors. Engrain in your brain “simple is better”.

5. Include Links

To have a website that is dimensional and offers a variety of useful content and resources, you'll need to include links to other pages of the site. Make sure your navigation menu is clear and well planned out with links to only relevant information. Put yourself in the viewer’s seat and imagine the flow of navigation. You can add links to keywords and important items that lead them to the information they need from within the content of your site.

Although it's important to have a website that is professional and easy to use for visitors, it's even more important to build a platform that can also work as a lead generating machine. When the machine is built right, your next step is to dive into the world of all things online marketing. There is a lot to it and it will take time, but the benefits reaped will be well worth it. And when your website is working for you, you will be able to focus on what you loved most about being a realtor in the first place. If you lack the luxury of time, there are many applications and full-service marketing companies that can help you navigate through the trenches of website development and online marketing…hey, there’s LinkU!

Client Spotlight: MyPerfectTexasHome.com

2015-01-09T14:06:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the LinkU Client spotlight portion of our blog where we will be featuring a LinkU client who we feel has taken their website to the next level. The idea of this series is to provide inspiration, ideas, and insight for those who are looking to get more out of their current efforts.

Our first client spotlight is Rebecca Wooten of Spencer Properties and LinkU Client of 10 Years!! Her beautiful signature series website helps set Rebecca apart from the rest. The full width style of her website not only showcases all the important features right up front but it also makes it extremely user friendly.

We asked Rebecca a few questions, here’s what she had to say:

1. How long have you been using LinkURealty?

Since 2004!!!

2. Did you have a website prior to LinkURealty? If so, with who?

I have used godaddy when building "other" sites but prefer LinkU!!!

3. Why did you choose LinkURealty for your real estate website?

My very first job in Austin was working as a secretary for a broker downtown. Little did I know I was in training on how to be a Realtor! I spent many hours talking on the phone with Jason and attending several LinkU online training sessions. After working for several different agents and brokers I ended up starting my own real estate company, Pure Designs and became a re-seller for LinkURealty. Long story short God's plan for me all along was to be right where I am at now...I give all of the credit to Him...

4. What other LinkURealty services do you use?

I have all of the bells and whistles (hosting, premium IDX, SEO & marketing), but the service that I appreciate the most is the marketing service with JOHN!! When I have an idea or question he’s always quick to respond with a knowledgeable answer. Thanks to John my website looks AWESOME and most importantly functions!

5. What features do you feel are the most important to provide on your website?

The quick search feature and the ability for my clients to save their searches and sign up for email alerts. I also really like the registration feature that requires a client to register after viewing so many properties which allows me to collect email addresses and ultimately more leads.

Employee Spotlight: Danny Valdez

2014-09-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

Danny Valdez

Our greatest strength here at LinkU is the people that serve on our team. In August, we had our company quarterly meeting and handed out awards to some of our *star* employees for the quarter. The special thing about these awards, is that they are nominated by their peers. There is no better way to know who the shining stars of the team are then asking the team itself. By pointing a spotlight on each of the winners, we hope you get to know them and our company culture a little bit more.

Danny Valdez a.k.a. "The Little Designer of LinkU" is a Senior Designer at LinkU. Danny received an award for "Above and Beyond" at LinkU. The "Above and Beyond" award is awarded to the employee who truly goes above and beyond their job description to provide our clients the best product and service. Danny has been with LinkU since its humble beginnings and has had a pivotal role in making LinkU what it is today. Please meet Danny....

Give me a little info on you. Where you grew up? What did you enjoy as a kid?

I grew up in San Jacinto, California, a rural/suburban town about 2 hours east of Los Angeles. As a kid I would often dress up as Batman or a Ghostbuster. My teenage years were lived in front of a Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64. And much of high school was spent awkwardly quoting Austin Powers. One constant though, was an interest in art; specifically drawing. I went to UC Riverside where I graduated in 2005 with a BA in Fine Art. It was there that I was first introduced to digital art, Photoshop, and web design.

What inspires you?

Art/Design/Creativity/Experimentation/etc. I'm inspired by artists and craftsmen who are passionate about the work they create: who strive not to just learn new skills, but to create new techniques, to perfect their knowledge of a specific medium, and to become masters at what they do, through precision and dedication, all with a socially conscious awareness as to how their work may affect the world around them.

What do you love most about your current role?

Having been with LinkU for nearly 8 years now, I have definitely been able to watch this company grow. But it has only been recently that I felt I had any say in "how" we grew. I am now more closely involved with the implementation of larger company projects, including the evolution and maintenance of our back-end systems, and I love being able to have a say in what the face of LinkU will look like in the years to come.

What have you learned while working at LinkU?

Nearly everything I know about web design. I left college with little more than a vague introduction to HTML authorship (and Flash; this was 2005), and thought of entering the web design field as merely a backup plan to other artistic pursuits. But my time with LinkU has been extraordinary in their ability to let me learn and grow both technically and creatively. I went from fumbling my way through projects, not always fully understanding why or how things were working, to a lead designer who feels like they have complete artistic control over the technology in front of him.

What are your current hobbies/interests outside of work?

Since college I've been into comics. But not comics like the Batman/Superman type. More like small, independent, stories, without men in tights and scantily clad women battling to save the world. I've been creating small comics since that same time. I'm currently trying my hand at a long-form web-based comic project, updated weekly. It's available here: http://tenyears.dmvcomics.com. I also like to run. And when I travel I take way too many photos.

What’s your favorite music, movies, foods, etc.?

I've been listening to Tool on repeat every day of my life since 2000. (Well, maybe not the much. But I've listed to them a lot.) I think The Wire is a (nearly) perfect show. I'm not sure I label movies as "favorites" anymore, since I almost never watch anything twice—but I think the last movie I saw in theaters was Boyhood, and it was amazing. I love pesto. Anything with pesto. Also, living in LA, I feel personally connected to the Metro system here and use it every chance I get. I think that is literally everything there is to know about me! The end!

The Ultimate Online Marketing Training System

2014-03-11T22:29:00.001-07:00

We're excited about a new product that is releasing this year, designed to help real estate agents and brokers build their business online. This system will teach how to build a great website, build a e-mail list, build a bullet-proof reputation online, increase your search engine rankings, succeed with Pay-Per-Click and so much more.

Expanding your real estate business online is becoming one of the most important steps you can take to ensure success now and in the future.

To receive updates about this product, join our mailing list.

LinkURealty launches new website and marketing packages.

2014-01-04T23:27:00.002-08:00

LinkURealty has categorized itself as a premium real estate website provider, by providing high end designs and full service setup for our clients.

We see there is a need for agents and brokers that don't want to setup their own sites and need assistance in getting their site up. There are already tons of choices for cheap do-it-youself websites and LinkURealty hasn't been in that category for a long time. So we really didn't want to be compared to those services anymore. Prospects would ask us, why should I choose you over this $10/mo. Zillow website?

Well, there really is no comparison between what we provide and what they provide. While they are both websites, the rest is very different, from setup, to features and service. It is all very different.

As a result we felt it was important to separate ourselves from these services and focus even more on a being more than a website provider, but to offer services that allow us to be part of your team, rather then a web host. As a result we have created new services offered through our marketing packages, going further than SEO, but to offer a full team of experts in SEO, E-mail Marketing, Social Media and more.

To reflect these changes we have launched our new "guided website", at www.linkurealty.com and also moved our self-serve and economy products and services to a new brand, now known as Agent Premier, which can be found at www.agentpremier.com.

Welcome to the new LinkURealty!

LinkURealty exhibits at the California Association of Realtors trade show

2013-10-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

This past week we exhibited at the C.A.R expo. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say Hi. It is nice to see clients in person when we attend these types of events.

Revolutionary ideas for real estate agents and brokers...

2013-09-18T15:39:00.002-07:00

We have been at work coming up with new and innovative ways for us to serve our clients. We have been working on new training as well as services to assist our clients to fully take advantage of the internet and all the different online marketing opportunities there are, such as e-mail, social media, search engines, etc. It's still in the works, but we are making some progress which we believe is going to get our clients excited!

Here's another one we're working on... so what if there was a way to update all your listings on all your online marketing channels from one place? Sounds impossible, right. Well it almost is.. but we may have a solution. Stay tuned!

LinkURealty celebrates 10 years of doing business!

2013-09-04T17:43:00.003-07:00

This past Friday, LinkURealty celebrated its 10 year anniversary. Officially launched in July of 2003, LinkU has always done whatever was possible to offer the best product and services to their clients. This is what has allowed LinkU to grow and continue to do business over the past 10 years. We are excited for our future and for all that we have in store to offer our clients over the next several months.

Here are some photos from our event!

We have arrived... in style!

Enjoying the VIP life at LinkU

A little food and fun at Dave and Busters

How about some friendly competition?


Let's get ready to party! Late night after party...

Learning what our clients think

2013-08-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Probably the most productive thing a CEO can do is learn more about their clients and what they currently think about the services being offered. This is what I set out to do on our recent round table conference call. Getting a perspective from a group of clients will help LinkU to shape our ideas and design services and features most beneficial to you.

In the most recent roundtable, the underlying request was some type of review, where an expert from our team could contact each client and review their site letting them know if there is something they can be doing to make it better, or perhaps a feature of ours they should be using to ensure increased success.

We dabbled with this in the last year, but most the clients were unaware we offered this service, eventually the service was discontinued because of the show-rate for the appointments and the increased cost for us to call thousands of clients. Obviously its tough to justify spending that money if the people you're calling don't show up. But perhaps its not their fault, maybe our offering wasn't strong enough, maybe they didn't understand how important it really was. Well through this recent round table discussion, I've learned it HUGE and very important, so now back to the drawing board to figure out a way we can provide this service to those clients who want it.

If you have ideas, or feedback, please let us know.

Getting ready for first video meeting with clients

2013-08-19T16:30:00.000-07:00

This week, selected clients will be joining me for an online video meeting in regards to some of the new ideas we are working on for our real estate clients.

Over the past few years we have been working on several ways to assist our clients in getting more traffic to their site and to additional ways for our clients to generate more business and more leads online.

We are always looking for new and innovative ways to provide extraordinary websites and services to our clients. Right now we offer a few online marketing services and training webinars, however I would like to take those services to another level and deliver as much value as possible to our clients to help them get the most from their website and the internet.

We going to be having a special online discussion, taking place August 20th, 2013 at 10:00 AM PT. I'll be sending out details soon to those interested.

The thing about Blogs...

2013-08-13T17:07:00.002-07:00

You know the thing about Blogs, is they are really easy to be forgotten about with everything else going on and all the other pages to update, like Facebook, Twitter, the company website and so much more. Perhaps we'll just link them all together, but then what is the point of having the same information on 5 different locations? No, really, what is the point? Well I think I have some ideas, but I want to find out what you think.

I'm going to send out an e-mail to a group of our clients and setup a Google Hangout to discuss some of the new things taking place here at LinkU, including some ideas I have on how we can better utilize our Blog. Until next time, not months or until 2015, I promise, stay tuned!

LinkURealty exhibiting at CAR Expo in San Jose, CA

2011-09-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Our EXPO vacation is officially over! We had a year vacation off tradeshows in 2010 and we are kicking off our Expo appearances for 2011/2012 at California Association of Realtors Expo in San Jose, CA. We have been so busy here at LinkU, the time just flies by, but we can't keep our service a little known secret much longer, we need to get it out there for every agent and broker so they can see how LinkU is changing the real estate web site industry with professional designs and flexible customization options. So we will be hitting the road and going on tour to exhibit our newest Hybrid Studio website.

Visit us at CAR Expo in San Jose at booth #909, Sept. 20th-22nd, 2011. We are offering deep discounts on upgrades for new and existing customers to get them on the cutting edge of Web 2.0 and introduce our Hybrid Studio real estate websites.

LinkURealty is now on Twitter!

2009-07-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

We found a great use for Twitter and clients will also find is useful. You can follow us on Twitter, at www.twitter.com/linkurealty . We are also setting up a profile on Facebook. We have had so many clients asking us to do so, and finally got around to it.

Anyway, we have released quite a few features over the past year, such as our E-mail Campaign manager, Online Store, etc. We expect to do more over the next few months, such as rolling our our new linkurealty.com website, new ZSERIES templates and more.

LinkUSystems, Inc. will also be celebrating 6 years this month. Even with the downturn in the economy, we have continued to do well and look forward to another year. With some recent restructuring taking place and in progress, we expect that we will be able to continue to grow and provide even more for our clients.

For more updates, keep up to date with the latest by following us on Twitter.

High Quality Websites...Low Prices.

2008-11-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

We have always strived to provide the best quality designs and services at affordable prices. Some 'competitors' claim, "you get what you pay for" indicating that maybe that the designs by other companies can't compete with what they offer, which is why you have to pay more than $500 for their designs. Well, what if I told you that you can get a high quality site, with the same design quality and even more features for less money. Wouldn't you be crazy to pay more? Recently we were notified that a competitor of ours have placed a web design of ours on their site under their design portfolio. Can you find the site?

They all look great, except one of them was a Signature Series website created by LinkURealty and costs much less. This screenshot was taken straight from our client's site. We have notified Agent Image of this copyright infringement on behalf our LinkU and our client, but as of today have had no response.

Anyway, the point of this story...obviously our designs meet the superior quality that Agent Image claims, or they wouldn't have posted our design to their portfolio to claim it was theirs. So don't be fooled into thinking any other way. It is plain and simple... our sites look great, offer more and cost less.

It's been a long time....

2007-06-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well it is has been a long time since I have written, but things have been crazy busy. Things are starting to get straightend out here after expanding our staff. So now I hope we can get back on track in the development of our new features for our real estate web sites and reaching our goals this year in regards to our new website features.

So whats going on? Well some things to look out for, is that we are making a lot of apperances this year at several real estate conventions all over the country. We have attended several so far, such as San Diego, South Bay, CAR Showcase, Las Vegas, Arcadia, this week we have Fort Lauderdale in Florida and several more throughout the year, including NAR in vegas.

Since our last post, our Signature Series product has been a HUGE success. You can see some of our new websites on the website, www.thesignatureseries.net. Our designers have been doing a great job and really pushing the envelope on every website and web design they do.

I would say however our biggest set back has been in regards to our drip e-mail and campaign management system. This is our #1 priority and we want to get it up ASAP, but have ran into some speed bumps in several other areas of our business growth, other requested features and other services. But I am hoping now that things seem to be calming down and with the recent expansion of our team, that should allow us to get back to programming and doing what we do best, adding new features for our clients.

Well that is all for now, feel free to contact me with any questions.

New Pricing, New Packages, Better Designs and more.

2006-10-21T00:28:00.000-07:00

LinkURealty provides a variety of services to real estate professionals, such as IDX solutions, lead generation, e-mail, online marketing and much more.

Our new Signature Series real estate websites however, specialize in custom real estate web designs, created by our experienced and professional web designers. Our signature series websites are our top of the line design products and be sure to impress your visitors, clients and co-workers.

Our designs are unique to your personality, market and company image. We customize each site to represent you and your business.

Learn more about our new product here:
http://www.thesignatureseries.net/

We are really excited about this product and know it will be a huge success, especially for those who want to really create a website that is the ultimate in design and customization. Real estate websites today are just too "cookie-cutter". The goal of LinkURealty is to address that issue by creating more flexible websites to allow agents and brokers to get custom features, without paying crazy prices. Our technology is designed in a way to allow us to provide these websites at a lower cost than the competition.

Also this month we have increased our semi-custom and custom website design prices, as we provide a higher quality product, each website takes a bit more time to complete. Our XE Standard will remain at $399 and we still have our ZSERIES available at $0 setup. All our monthly pricing will remain the same at $29.99/mo. For all packages.

We have many ideas, features and more in store for you in 2006 and 2007. We are excited about the new year coming up and know that we are on our way to proving the best real estate web site service and product on the market.

LinkURealty Attends California Association of Realtors EXPO

2006-10-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

We recently attended the C.A.R EXPO in Long Beach, October 17th-19th. We showcased our new Signature Series product and were able to meet some of our clients face to face finally and show them some of our new features and designs.

We all had a great time and really enjoyed showing agents and brokers our product and how it can help them with their business, from our web designs, features and new FirstIDX product.

It also gave us a chanced to get a closer look at our major competitors and see what new features they had to showcase as well. I feel confident that LinkURealty is in the right direction in regards to creating the best real estate web site product, in addition to the services we offer, such as Search Engine Optimization, Business Card Design, Logo Design and many other services. As we continue to add more and more features every month, we get closer and closer to reaching that goal.

We look forward to N.A.R coming up in November and hope to see you there. Stop by and say Hi and learn more about our new products and features we will be releasing before the end of the year.

What's Coming at LinkURealty?

2006-06-12T23:42:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since my last post, however we have been pretty busy here are LinkURealty, creating new features and services for the LinkURealty website system.

In the past few months we have been working on developing our drip e-mail feature, along with many other features, such as our form creator, new templates, listing mapping, search engine optimization services and more.

Recently we have also made some changes in our design department to provide higher quality web designs. We are looking to improve our existing template designs and custom designs to provide better web design choices to our clients and new clients. Along with the new designs, features, services and prices, LinkURealty is your number one choice for your real estate web design and website services.

Some of our other services for the real estate industry include our new logo design services, marketing packages, for your business cards, stationary and additional design services. Our goal is to be your one-stop-shop for all your marketing needs, including the branding of your online and offline presence, not just real estate web design, but some of those services that are closely related to your web site and its success.

I feel 2006 is going to be a big year for us in regards to our websites features, lead generation, services and much more. I am very excited to see all the new features and services coming in the near future and know that LinkURealty is on it's way to becoming the number one real estate marketing solutions provider.

New XE Website Design Packages

2005-12-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce our new XE Semi-Custom real estate Website Design packages which will be released January 2006. Basically we will be expanding our XE web site product line to offer more design choices, additional customizations while maintaining a low price. Our current $399 package however will go up in price and will be replaced with a new $399 package with slightly less features.

While I cannot tell you too much now, the new XE real estate website design packages will offer some additional customization features, such a full custom splash page, additional flash items and some additional features. We plan to release about 4 XE packages to replace the 1 existing package. This way we can provide more options to our real estate client by offering even higher end website designs then ever and making sure we are able to provide the quality service our clients deserve.

LinkURealty offers "True" Semi-Custom
As I have mentioned before, LinkURealty is one of a few of the only companies to offer a true semi-custom website. Our system is unique in its design because it allows us to take virtually any real estate web design and wrap it around our functionality. This is what makes us so different from everyone else. From there we offer different components, such as our Showcase listings feature and can plug these components into virtually any place on the website.

The semi-custom features of our real estate sites can allow us to specifically design your website to meet your needs as an agent, broker, team, in addition to your colors, branding and market area. In addition our websites provide a true custom look, not a framed or templates look, unlike other companies real estate website templates.

With this type of technology it allows us to provide you a lower price because integration is so easy and we do not have to reinvent the wheel, we can simply use our existing content and functionality within a design.

Anyways, look for the new XE Semi-Custom real estate web design packages to be released this January. If you are not a LinkURealty client yet and would like to take your real estate web site to a new level, then give us a call.

"You get what you pay for..." - Not always the case.

2005-11-08T23:35:00.000-08:00

While we have all heard the phrase, "You get what you pay for." I have found that there are many cases where this is just not the case. Sometimes I feel that LinkURealty could fall into this misjudgment, however looking at similar companies and other internet based companies, this statements falls short of realistic.

Perhaps when buying a physical object the statement seems to ring more truthful, when buying services online, it is just not true. For example, a BMW over a KIA? Yes maybe, but when it comes to LinkURealty services and websites compared to the competition, well it becomes obvious the phrase "You get what you pay for." is quite the mis-statement.

LinkUSystems' goal for LinkURealty is to be the best and #1 real estate website provider in the market, while it will take some work to get there, the path seems clear that LinkURealty is on the way. Why? Well looking at the other dominant competition, the only thing growing quickly is their consumer base, while the product and service shows little improvement. Since LinkURealty began in July of 2003, they have exceeded the features or met the features offered by most competitors, especially top competitors. Seeing that most the competition has 3-5 years over LinkURealty and deeper pockets, it is a surprise that still no service is the dominant player in the industry. I think this is because of price and features. There are so many features that other companies charge additional fees for. However a lot of these features could be added with no additional cost and simply be an added value to their system.

The LinkURealty approach is much different when it comes to real estate web design and the real estate web sites that we create. While I cannot get into the exact details of the plan, it basically offers an agent additional features and functionality while maintaining its low monthly price. When it comes to features, design and cost, the LinkURealty ZSERIES out performs most if not all it's comparable competition. In fact there are similar companies selling websites for anywhere from $199 up to $1000 and sometimes more for websites that don't have nearly the amount of features the ZSERIES offers and quite frankly are just weaker products.

One of the biggest differences in all is the LinkURealty XE real estate web site package, which features a "true" semi-custom design so agents and brokers can have the look and feel of a custom site while paying just a fraction of the cost. Many competitors claim to have customized websites or semi-custom websites, such as Advanced Access and Z57, however they couldn't be further from the truth. A Z57 website, with a price tag of about $499-$699, offers very little customizations to their web designs, unless your willing to pay the fees, even then the designs are still lacking a real professional look. Advanced Access claims the same, their price tag ranges anywhere from $499-$799, however only feature a makeshift splash page design with no actual web design through the entire website, just a long left column with links. Agent Image is probably one of the only true Semi-Custom websites offered, with very high quality designs, however their pricing is very expensive ($799-$5000+) and their features are lacking. In either case, agents and brokers want a site to look good, they don't want their site to look like it only cost them a few hundred dollars, which some of these sites look like they cost less than $100, but the XE real estate websites offered by LinkURealty provide customization options no one can duplicate and all for $399. Now you may think, "that seems to cheap, and you'd be better off with a $600+ website", however if you haven't seen it by now, you don't always get what you pay for, sometimes you pay for it, but end up with much less.

Why it is critical for real estate agents to use the internet.

2005-11-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

The internet has become a very powerful tool for marketing a business and to not be on the internet would just not make sense from any business or marketing perspective. However I still run into those who do not want to have anything to do with the internet. I can't help to wonder why... Most of those who I talk to which feel this way, say that they are doing fine without a website or internet presence and don't see a need for a real estate website.

At the same time I will see the same agents spend most their marketing dollars on advertising or marketing materials that are expensive and provide even less of a value. What can I say to convince these people to see it the way of many others to see how the internet could help them in marketing their business online? Not only by having a real estate website, but by utilizing e-mail marketing and similar tools. Well I suppose there will always be those who will never change or "get it", but once you look at the cost of owning a website and the cost of using e-mail marketing as opposed to many other types of marketing currently used by agents, you will see a significant difference in cost and results.

In most cases it is cheaper and easier to start a business online then physically having a business, overhead and advertising is generally a lower cost and allows you to reach a much broader market. Starting several businesses online myself I have too been very successful making money purely online with no print advertising. I am not saying not to use print advertising, I am only saying that it could be done and an agent could be very successful if done right. In the real estate market a combination of the two would provide the best results, by using a real estate website to compliment your ad in most cases be the primary focus of an advertisement.

As the internet continues to grow it will be a requirement to have a real estate website or you will be considered... well out. Remember when cell phones were not "standard"? Well if a real estate agent does not have a mobile phone they may be considered to be hard to reach or behind the times. I know I would not want to have to rely on my agent being in the office when I call. In addition I EXPECT my real estate agent to have a real estate web site. It could be for a reason as simple as obtaining their phone number or contact info from my work computer, or seeing my home being advertised in one additional place, whatever the reason, a website is something every agent should have, even if it just sits there online.

Obviously I would recommend doing more with a real estate website, then let it sit, but the point is the need for a real estate website. While a website could provide new leads, it will also add a value to existing clients, save time; expand marketing efforts and much more all for a very low cost. For example a full functioning website through LinkURealty costs as low as $29.99/mo. with no setup fees, besides the cost of a domain name, which is $7-$25/yr. depending where you buy it. Basically $1 a day for 24/7/365 exposure. Does every agent have a budget for a website? If not they should.

Can you think of a reason why a real estate agent would not need a real estate website?