Posted by Rick Wheat on February 26, 2001 at 07:36:42:
Slow, maybe, but certainly not stupid. You have developed the site VERY WELL and are doing a good job driving traffic to it.
By the way, the Bootcamp I taught last week about this very topic went incredibly well. I dazzled them with my brilliance, or maybe baffled them with…whatever. Regardless, the attendees thoroughly enjoyed it.
Talk to you soon.
GOOD LUCK!!!
Rick Wheat
rick@rwcproperties.com
Building a Website - Posted by Ron (MD)
Posted by Ron (MD) on February 25, 2001 at 07:48:26:
I do $60k-$80k rehabs and have decided to build a website to promote/display my homes. I want to describe what we do and have links to other pages that descibe and show pictures of individual houses for sale.
I need some help with the mechanics:
– What is good, basic software for designing a website? I’m not looking for something that a pro would use, but something that an amateur can comfortably handle.
– I’ve looked at register.com to see what url’s are available. Is there a better place to register a site?
– I want to create the website (using the software asked for above), but do I have to “house” it with my ISP? I do not want one of those free, or near-free sites with the advertising banners. I recently started Home.com as my cable internet provider, but I don’t think they will “house” my website. I have not discontinued my dial-up ISP and I do know that they will “house” a website. Do I have to continue with them?
– Anything I forgot to ask about?
Thanks.
Ron Guy
Spend $ and time wisely - Posted by Ryan (IN)
Posted by Ryan (IN) on February 26, 2001 at 18:01:41:
As a full-time web developer, and budding CREI specialist, I recommend that you take the necessary
steps to have a professional looking site. Whether you learn to build it on your own, or hire someone to do it for you, it is very important that your site looks and performs at a level that is current with today’s standards.
Some things to keep in mind: FrontPage is a good tool, but some of its features, if used, will require that your web host of choice support these features…not all of them do.
As for domain names, I too recommend DirectNIC.com $15 a year is a great price that you probably won’t beat.
Along with that, I subscribe to the commonly heald belief that in order to be taken seriously by web saavy users, you MUST have your own domain name.
ie- www.yourcompanyname.com NOT www.YourCompanyNname.SomeOtherCompanysName.com
get it? Believe me, it makes a difference, and for only $15 bucks, why wouldn’t you!
And, to answer your question about hosting…No, you don’t have to host with your current ISP. There are hundreds of web hosts out there you can use. And, for your needs, the cost should be minimal. For example, I develop for a large contract furniture manufacturur and our huge web site only costs $30/month to host. Check it out at “www.universityloft.com”
Try www.webhostdir.com or www.hostindex.com to find a host based on your needs.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you need any pointers or any help.
Ron, I’ve been working night and day… - Posted by Rick Wheat
Posted by Rick Wheat on February 26, 2001 at 07:43:57:
on this specific subject lately. As a matter of fact, I just helped teach a Bootcamp for Ron LeGrand last week in Ft. Lauderdale about this. I’ve come up with lots of good ideas about marketing the site, as well as some of the features you need to MAKE SURE you have on yours.
Get with me and I’ll give you a few ideas, or you can go to my site to take a look. I’ve come up with a few new ideas since the Bootcamp that I haven’t had time to implement yet, but hope to soon. Right now I’m keeping pretty busy designing other sites for some well known (but unnamed GURUS). I’ll let you know when they are finished, also.
GOOD LUCK!!!
Rick Wheat
rick@rwcproperties.com
Re: Building a Website - Posted by Glenn Crocker AL
Posted by Glenn Crocker AL on February 25, 2001 at 23:17:16:
I just recently tried the Homestead.com Looks great so far. I downloaded their software, makes it faster to make changes. I tried the Front Page also, but I need some practice with it.
I also ran across BuyDomains.com they sell the URL’s for $16 per year. You can use their power tools and come up with all kinds of names. They have minimum 2 years sign up. You can forward to Homestead and have free hosting, so basically you can have a website for $16 a year. For those on a budget, how can you go wrong?
I just started working on mine this weekend and it still needs some work. For now it looks like a Ron Legrand business card! Except for the bright orange!
Take a look…ezHomeway.com
I also bought ezrent2own.com and Homeway4U.com which do you think sounds best?
Re: Building a Website - Posted by Wayne (MD)
Posted by Wayne (MD) on February 25, 2001 at 18:24:31:
FrontPage 2000 has been highly recommended to me by a number of persons in the computer field. I found a teaching disk for $10 at Circuit City that seems very good. The title is: Learn! FrontPage2000; Creating Your Own Web Site. Producer is WinStruct.com.
I also have the book FrontPage 2000 For Dummies, but I am so ignorant of web page development that I needed the teaching disk as well.
I agree with one of the other posts that says let a pro do it, however, the pros often are not available or too busy to act quickly, hence I would recommend you at least learn how to maintain your site. You might have the professional get you started, but stipulate he or she use one of the common applications such at FrontPage.
William GA has a real nice site and he posts frequently. Can’t remember the site address right off but I am confident he will have some useful info.
Wayne Carpenter
Re: Building a Website - Posted by Gib
Posted by Gib on February 25, 2001 at 14:36:51:
You can download CoffeeCup and try it for free. It is shareware and it’s extremely easy to use. You can get it at download.com
Here is mine - Posted by John J
Posted by John J on February 25, 2001 at 09:06:04:
I use www.homestead.com and my site is www.thishome.homestead.com. No banner or pop-up advertising. They just put a small notation on the bottom of each page. The hosting is free and for a small fee they too offer redirecting service: when people type in your registered domain name, such as www.ronbuyshouses.com, they will automatically be redirected to your Homestead page, but your domain name will stay in the url box. Homestead has an on-line Express Page Builder that literally lets you set up a simple site in a few minutes, by filling in the blanks. You can also download their free Site Builder software. Their support has been excellent. I use the web site address in all my advertising, flyers, and signage. I run smaller ads and get a lot of traffic on my site. Nearly everyone in my target market has internet access. You might assess if that is true for potential buyers of your $60-$80K homes.
Re: Building a Website - Posted by TRandle
Posted by TRandle on February 25, 2001 at 08:51:53:
Ron,
I also recommend Front Page 2000. I’m sure I haven’t even begun to tap into the capabilities the software offers, but for a novice, I’m pleased with the results. If you would like to view it, the url is www.QuickOffers.com.
I received a recommendation off this site for a cheap host which I use and like. It’s called Hostsave and runs about $7 per month. Hope that helps…
Re: Building a Website - Posted by Frank Chin
Posted by Frank Chin on February 25, 2001 at 08:47:44:
I enjoyed your posts on rehabs and LeGrands bootcamps. Looks like you spent a few bucks on it. So, I’m not sure if I would build a WEBsite without getting a little education on it first.
But then you probably don’t have to spend a bunch of time or money on it. A friend who started a business selling a mail order product hired a WEB designer in upstate New York who for $400.00 designed the site and I beleive hosts it for $100.00 a month. Obviously, she’s making the money on the hosting. But she keeps a eye on the site and do some maintenance.
I myself was in the systems field till I quit last year. I have taken a number of WEB courses. Because of the demise of the dot.coms and the number of people anxious to get into the business, even my friend thought that it would be more efficeint to hire one of these guys/gals than to have me monkey around with trying to help do one of the WEBsites ourselves. Why not concentrate on Real Estate?
My freind’s $400.00 WEBsite is:
“http://www.glaresolutions.com”
I took courses through an Internet Training school who has a WEBsite:
Unless you’re really WEB savvy, you should at least know the design of HTML pages, WEB tools, client side programming, server side programming etc.
If it looks like the information you provide is static, that is your home page contains the story of what you do, and pictures of rehabbed houses you have for sale, then you don’t even need server side software.
You’ll only need server side software if users are going to your WEB site searching for data.
Thoght I put in my 2 cents.
Re: Building a Website - Posted by Terry (Houston)
Posted by Terry (Houston) on February 25, 2001 at 08:41:00:
Hello Ron,
Front Page 2000 was very easy for me to use.
I agree with the banner idea thats not good. I use a hosting company that is pretty cheap at EV1.net.
Like David I send several names to my site by redirecting them. The names I received from Directnic.com. $15 a year so I am happy.
I also have the name of a great web mistress who can help with the finer things I couldn’t figure out. She is not too expensive and real great to work with.
Good luck
Terry
Re: Building a Website - Posted by David S
Posted by David S on February 25, 2001 at 08:26:36:
Hi Ron,
I have several websites. One of which is a 5 page thingy from http://www.networksoultions.com
I have numerous domain names that forward to each of my websites; one website, as many domain names as you desire.
ex: the iBuyHousesCash.com website has 8 domain names that “forward” to that site. If you use a specific advertising USP (slogan), you may want to include a differant form of web address.
You can obtain your URL, or see if it’s available, get the 5 page site with templates for easy set-up, for about 130 per year, including “hosting”. This can be done in minutes. You can list up to 6 pics per page, you can simply use text, or a combination of each.
Now, I’m rather computer “stupid” so if I can do this, anyone can. The point being, I think everyone should have a website and learn to use that website to promote their needs, business and/or personal.
David S
Nice looking website - Posted by Bob-MD
Posted by Bob-MD on February 26, 2001 at 07:42:25:
I just looked at your site and it is very nice looking…clean and sharp. I am in the process of building a site and I like what i see at homestead.com. I’m going to switch to them to build my site. I am an investor and a realtor in the Baltimore area. I got tired of trying to get realtors to look for properties and do comps when I needed them so I got my license. I need a web site and this site builder looks like it has what I have been looking for. Thanks for sharing the information.
Bob-MD