Realistically an ideal F/T or P/T person to handle things is a winderful idea but I would look beyond websites. Depending on your area of the country the more technologically you can push out there the better. Home buyers are techno savvy and want the new bells and whistles.

So if you are considering having someone management webspace I would seriously look at someone who can also do XML feeds unless your broker does them. Keyword placement, search engine optimization, databases for contacts, MLS listings, exposure on a variety of IT fronts. I'm seeing a need in the future for real estate marketing professionals with enough internet savvy to be able to maintain and adress a website but also people who can think outside the box and pick and choose which newest technology out there is providing qualified leads, contacts and customer communication support.

I think we're beyond the point with real estate where having a website addy and some information posted is going to increase sales and prospects. It's now a required element. However your mileage may vary.

Thu Dec 13 2007, 09:24

We have a full time person....

Wed Dec 12 2007, 10:23

I do both.

I have a company that I pay monthly through and let them do all the stuff and I just keep all the leads. I also have my own personal site that I manage (more for fun) and tweak when I have time.

The time I use to answer Trulia Questions, make posts on a blog and tweak the website are all usually between 6am and 9AM so that I don't miss any business.

Sun Sep 9 2007, 03:51

Many good answers and inputs from my wonderful Trulia family. Let me clarify my original question & re-direct the conversation, if I may. The term "manage" was intended to go much deeper than simply website design and content. I have several websites and domains and have been using them for quite a while. I even dabble in HTML code writing. More specifically, I'd like to know what agents are doing from behind the control panel to improve and increase the effectiveness of their websites to drive leads (and preferrably new clients) to them? I am eluding to the art or "Holy Grail" more commonly known as organic search engine optimization (SEO). Pay-per-click and other paid placement methods are areas also requiring constant "tweaking." So... what are the highly successful ones doing themselves and who do they turn to when time is limited or expertise is non-existent thereby requiring the help of an outside source?

Kudos to Ruth on her response - I totally agree & painfully understand that time is money. I also know first-hand from experience that you must monitor the effectiveness of what you pay for in the way of a hired expert or web service.

Mon Aug 13 2007, 20:45

How many real estate professionals . . .

darn I thought this was going to be a light bulb joke.

Actually, that is a very good question. I maintain several websites for my (non-real estate) business. I am self taught and show up on the top of many searches. Many professional web creators can create beautiful web pages that are not searchable. I also do not pay for any on-line advertising but I put a lot of time into it myself. My advice is time is money. If someone can do a better job than you for less money than your time is worth, hire someone. But if you spend just as much time telling them how you want it and checking up on their work, you are better off just doing it yourself.
Ruth

Mon Aug 13 2007, 17:30

There's an expertise issue with web sites - effective ones anyway. Either sell real estate or manage a website, but if you want to do either well, outsource the one you're not as good at. I suspect your better at real estate... if you want a great site, hire a pro for your website. What to pay them and how good they are is a totally different conversation.

A website is a critical component of your marketing mix and it serves multiple purposes, it should leverage your marketing and it should serve as a place where others can get information about your company 24/7 but most importantly, it should generate leads for you.

I am curious however about what a website needs to do that would require a full time person to manage it? What kind of content do you feel would pay off in that way? I suppose if you're just ramping up and need someone to add initial content you would need someone as dedicated as you can afford to load it up. We did that in the beginning and still continue to add. But at some point it's saturated and it's just as you say needing to be "tweaked" but what needs 20 to 40 hours a week of "tweaking"?

Initially I had an "Advanced Access" site. They are a good company as the canned sites go and it was very affordable. I was never unhappy with them - I just couldn't get the look and feel I wanted and I didn't want to learn to use the system myself to maintain content in their style of updating. I found it time consuming and awkward to use - I'm better at selling real estate!

So I hired a company that specializes on web optimization and they designed, maintain and manage my website. I however direct them on content updates. I monitor the traffic and certainly I direct the input/output. It is a fully customized site, not a "canned" site that one of the many companies out there sell (although many of them are good, many many of them have "spidering" issues with the search engines that will always cripple them. You can see it at http://www.EisnerFeldman.com

It was recently released, It was designed so that I can add and update content as I wish. It will always be a work in progress and we have a long long way to go on content. Overall I'm happy but we could discuss hiring a website development company in a totally different conversation.

Most web sites are a silent scream. There are millions of them out there. How does anyone find you? How "good" your site is depends largely on how people go about finding you and what response they give (vs. what you want them to do) once they have found you. That's not necessarily a component of "maintaining" your site as much as it is a component of the general design in the first place. You can have a very "helpful site" that does you no good for generating leads too. So be careful - understand your objectives.

I recommend a free service called Alexa that will measure your traffic - and everyone else's for that matter - (you can compare your site to that of your competitors and you'll be amazed at how much traffic they are or aren't getting) and you should get to know Google, Yahoo and Ask.com as well as the many other search engines and how your site is found. - at least if you're going to pay someone to work on your site, you should be getting traffic and visitors.

Good luck!

Mon Aug 13 2007, 17:01

Hi Ted,

I have a site but I just signed up with a new company that creates the site for you and maintains it for a monthly fee. There is the normal start up cost (depends on what you want to do) and then it is monthly. That fee also depends on how many or what type of updates you make. They also do virtual tours with Realtor.com and others, property sites, etc.

What is nice about their business model is that you can get everything you need at the same shop and pay for what you use only. The other great feature is that they do it for you. I just send pictures and descriptions of properties and they do the rest. The cost is much lower and the turn around is excellent.

If you already have a site they can do updates, etc.

If you like I can send you the contact info.

I now spend my time with Real Estate instead of I T.

Best Rgards

George Antonopoulos
Realtor
Coldwell Banker
Madison, CT 06443
800.759.6936

Mon Aug 13 2007, 15:37

I have also not hired anyone to maintain my website. If you are looking to create your own website from scratch you can use Dreamweaver, which is the more visual website creator for those of us that do not know code like the backs of our hands. Frontpage is another good one but I have yet to use that program. I hear that Dreamweaver is more user friendly although a basic knowledge of coding to identify and solve coding problems would be beneficial.

There are also quite a few free and paid templates you can find online to work with depending on how many working parts you want in your site. There are many options out there, it just depends on what your goals are for your site, what you want it to look like, what information you want to be able to provide, and lastly, your budget. The possibilities are endless! Good luck!

Mon Aug 13 2007, 10:53

I have been able to manage my own as it is pretty simple. On a few occations I had some assistance from it's creater but it is pretty self manageable.

Mon Aug 13 2007, 08:56

My husband and I did build our main website ( http://www.RosevilleAndRocklin.com ) , but our search engine area is a fee we pay monthly ( http://www.MakeTheJumpWithUs.com ) and let the pros handle ... we can personally modify a few elements re: graphics. I did our best to personalize our main website and make it moderately visually interesting. It does take a lot of work to maintain. I started out in Dreamweaver and went from there. I don't encourage anyone to build their own website unless you really know what you are doing, but maintaining is fairly easy (like others mentioned adding new items and/or uploading new files). So many things to go wrong that Google may punish you for. Be pro-active to make certain ALL links are functioning and working. If you have ONE broken link (a linked item on your website that doesn't go anywhere on your website page — as so I have been told by Google), Google's spider will punish your website and knock it down in the ranks.

Mon Aug 13 2007, 07:20

I also don' thave anybody who manage my website. My website is very user friendly and flexible. Although it took me quite a while to set up what I want to b on. I can post anything at anytime, which means I am in control of any time sensitive material.

Mon Aug 13 2007, 07:13

I for one have not paid anyone to manage my website! My is very easy to maintain. It is also very simple at this time. If I add a lot to it I may change that!

Mon Aug 13 2007, 07:07