Thread: High Price of Cheap Web Design

I am just mulling over the problems associated with getting a cheap real estate website. I need more ideas for this article I'm writing. Let me know if you can think of any.

the-marketing-shop.com/article-high-price-cheap-web-design.php

Thanks.

Jenna Ryan
themarketingshop.com

Yeah i understand why you wouldnt know about cheap designs, you build a great site. I have to compete with them every day. lol Good work.

Agreed. You've build a great website and the information on that page should be taken to heart by real estate professionals who are serious about their business.

In my opinion, image plays a big role in this profession and should not be taken lightly.

It does not have to break the bank to get a nice website.

Alamode(dot)com about $400 year and GREAT tech support. I have one and love it. Very easy to keep updated and they RSS feed to all the major RE sites. If you choose Alamode, let them know Craig Fialkowski refered you. I get $50 off my next renewal. Thanks.

point2agent(dot)com FREE and upgrades available. Worth a try. Even of you have another site. i You should have a free Point2Agent site as well. They feed to Yahoo Real Estate.

Good luck.

I do 10 page designs for $200 and I make them look great also

Little bit of self promotion. LOL. But web designers are not always expensive. I mean good web designers. I did Hardmoneylender.name

the downfalls of a cheap website are upkeep... who is going to do that? My buddy had one that was cheap but it took 2 or 3 weeks to update ANYTHING... thats why a SMT or back end site is so importaint... or you can do what I do and build your own!

i got mine from topagentdesigns.com

total came to about 400, they give u a flash design and customize it for you and they update my mls listings for me when i send them emails, seems pretty good thus far

Generally I agree. However, cheap doesn't have to 'cut and paste' or hard to update. There is plenty of software (Content management systems) used for websites that make it easy for a novice to update the website as often as they like with new content. They can be personalized, well organized, search engine friendly, etc. The hard part is seting it up and customizing the look/template.

The biggest mistake comes down to what you actually buy. If you simply just go to a company and say 'I need a real estate website', you'll get a cookie cutter site. But if go to the company and have them setup a basic cms (joomla, etc.), template to match your business (with local graphics you provide), it can be something you can then add to with your own articles and information. It takes work, but is well worth it. I've seen lots of expensive sites with the same problem as the cheap ones simply because they did just what the client asked for and didn't advise them of what they really need to a long term successfull website. (and the client didn't wan't to put any effort into the website themselves). How can any company design a good, targeted, website for any company without knowing anything about the company (you'd be surprised how many offers we've had that don't really care to know anything about the company to do the design). I've also seen lots of expensive designs loaded with flash and other plugins, not just for eye candy, but for navigation in the site (a big no-no)

Of course cheap is a relative term. If you can't setup a CMS, real estate package, template, etc. yourself it will cost something (and some of the software has a cost). But once it's setup, much of the maintenance and changes to content can be done by the user. Many have WYSIWYG editors, etc.

Cheap 'x' page designs are another thing. If it's within a CMS, that's one thing. But static html pages are hard to change for most people.

-Tim

I agree that web design doesn't have to be expensive to work. I am not going to say how much I have charged for sites I have built, but the main thing is that the site produces the results and you make more than what you have paid for the site - profit.

I think that the competition now is so intense that you simply can not get away with stupid prices and you must justify what a site is worth. There are simply too many web designers and SEO's out there now all making a good living from what they do.

I design websites and it's amazing what potential clients tell me they've paid in the past for website design.

1. If you're still using static HTML, good luck!
2. Unless you're website is over 10000 pages in size, you're not seen as a "big player" by Google.

3. Dynamic sites are cheap, and webhosting even cheaper.

Email me if you want more details.

Thanks,
Traume