Growing and Managing Your GD Website is a Real Money Saver

I was reading an article the other day, and it made me reflect on challenges most of you face when needing a website. I hadn’t really even considered it before...one’s choices when wanting a good, functional website on the internet. Being a designer for the past 10 years and watching websites evolve, I have never had the challenge of the who, how, why, and when of building a site…I’ve just built whatever I have needed, whenever I have needed it, and the cost was just my own time…no lengthy learning curve required!

The author, of the article I mentioned, pointed out that there are really only 3 choices in building a website. The first is buying a template. The second is paying a designer to build a site. And the third is purchasing a software program and doing it yourself.

I reflected on the first option of template design, and perhaps for a simple site there may be merit here. But when a professional looking and unique site is needed with databases and information systems that need to flawlessly integrate, these would be severely limiting. They would ultimately reflect a low-level of professionalism and probably frustrate the end user as well. And you still have to populate the templates with your information, and that may not be as friendly or as simple as might seem. Cheap and possibly easy, but not that easy! And cheap, but what do you lose…maybe a lot of business.

The second option of hiring a designer I am very familiar with…after all, it’s me! This can be a good option and very often is the only real option one has. As it relates to real estate, it is very important to have a designer who knows and understands real estate. Sort of like having an assistant…it sure is a lot easier if the assistant has been an agent at some time, or at least understands the nuances of our industry. And the designer should have some experience in designing real estate sites specifically…and, understands the capabilities and the limitations of the home search database that he or she might be framing into your site for the best integration possible. Of course, a really good real estate site will run probably no less than $1000 to do right, and upwards of $2000 and more. Then with remodels ever so often, this can get downright expensive. Looks change, technologies change. Designers can move and then who takes care of your site. Usually, you have very little ability to directly input changes to your site. You have to provide your changes to your designer and they will then do the work (and work is time, so they need to charge for it). If you have provided for a modestly robust budget, then this certainly can be a good option.

The third option of buying software and then mastering the curve that a good program demands still calls for a good cash outlay just for the program…and then countless hours spent in learning the program from trial and error…and from hundreds of page of manual reading…and still your site will probably look amaturistic until you’ve developed the artist’s eye and touch. This can be costly as well since you are now a student and not out selling!

Well, after rambling on…let me just say this…again a well thought out GraphicalData site can take all the honors. The design program is online…no expensive programs to buy. It is easy to work. Granted, the first tour may look overwhelming, but as you “compartmentalize” your mission each time you go in, it looks simpler. And once you’ve driven the admin center a few times, it looks and seems even easier.

GraphicalData sites publish into “real html” pages so you don’t pay the penalty of the “templated” sites that often don’t rank well with search engines, etc.

Well, I have probably “reflected” enough here, but these are just some of the reasons why I feel that GraphicalData sites are some of the best sites out there today for real estate agents.