Free Website Templates?

**Copywriter** · 07-02-2006, 06:30 PM

Hello. I realize I haven't posted here in awhile, but I've been busy. (Well, haven't we all? Hopefully!)

I'm curious if anyone has any experience with free real estate website templates.

I'm developing recommendations for my website (SterlingDescriptions.com) and I wanted to be able to recommend a decent free website template or two to those that are just starting out and are on a super-limited budget.

Obviously an agent would want to upgrade to something better as soon as possible, but the important thing is having your listings posted somewhere so you can offer something in your off-line advertising, right?

There's nothing worse than advertising on craigslist or putting together a property flyer and not being able to use a web address. I think people would rather find out more on the Internet before calling. . .most of the time, anyway.

And also, obviously the agent would need the ability to use their own domain name with a free website template, or else it just looks silly. (Try putting this on your marketing: "See more details & photos at FreeWebsiteTemplates.com/43721349IIELAE83")(Haha - that's not a real website, but could you imagine?)

If anyone has any suggestions or experience in this matter, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Have a great 4th of July weekend, everybody!

**frobn** · 07-03-2006, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Copywriter

Hello. I realize I haven't posted here in awhile, but I've been busy. (Well, haven't we all? Hopefully!)

I'm curious if anyone has any experience with free real estate website templates.

I'm developing recommendations for my website (SterlingDescriptions.com) and I wanted to be able to recommend a decent free website template or two to those that are just starting out and are on a super-limited budget.

Obviously an agent would want to upgrade to something better as soon as possible, but the important thing is having your listings posted somewhere so you can offer something in your off-line advertising, right?

Free need not be inferior. I contributed the template concept and several free templates for open-realty that I belive are far superior to anything commercial vendors like Monster Templates have to offer. Most commercial templates may have eye candy appeal but are often SE unfriendly and difficult to work with.

Proper design structure, where there is a separation between content and layout, makes it an easy task to either add/edit/delete content or to add/change the layout without disturbing the outer. Its future proofing the web site for the agent.

I am working on several free RE templates which I should have available in August at RealtyVisions.com

**Copywriter** · 07-03-2006, 09:25 AM

Aha! I'd seen this before and this was exactly what I was looking for.

I got the design for my own website from "open source," which worked for me because I know enough about html to figure out where to customize my content.

How computer-savy does someone need to be to use your templates? I just had a quick chance to take a look and will give it a more complete examination when I get a chance. I also understand that template-based websites like Advanced Access and Myers Internet require a certain amount of computer know-how to make them look half-way decent, so I'm not expecting the free templates to be any different. I was just curious...

And thank you, by the way, for your response. I meant no disrespect, of course... It's just that the stuff I saw yesterday when I searched Google for "free real estate website templates" was pretty awful.

**frobn** · 07-03-2006, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Copywriter

Aha! I'd seen this before and this was exactly what I was looking for.
I got the design for my own website from "open source," which worked for me because I know enough about html to figure out where to customize my content.

How computer-savy does someone need to be to use your templates? I just had a quick chance to take a look and will give it a more complete examination when I get a chance. I also understand that template-based websites like Advanced Access and Myers Internet require a certain amount of computer know-how to make them look half-way decent, so I'm not expecting the free templates to be any different. I was just curious...

And thank you, by the way, for your response. I meant no disrespect, of course... It's just that the stuff I saw yesterday when I searched Google for "free real estate website templates" was pretty awful.

No offense taken. Just want to clarify that not all templates are created equal.

Actually my template concept is fairly easy to use. The template can be combined with a template system or cms or used directly with the web pages. There is a content area where you can include your content. The structure is pure xhtml and the layout is in the css file. Your formatted content goes in the maincol and menu in the appropriate div, that is all there is to it.

The 9 line structure between the body tags, with its negligible html to content ratio, is capable of accommodating over 95% of the designs out there.

Code:

<body>
<div id="page">
    <div id="header"></div>
    <div id="top_menu"></div>
    <div id="leftcol"></div>
        <div id="maincol">
        <!-- content goes here -->
        </div>
    <div id="rightcol"></div>
    <div id="footer"></div>
</div>
</body>

I had hoped to build the system out and open source it but I was not able to get any feedback or help and the idea of supporting the project alone did not appeal to me. I am now working with a designer and programmer to build out the ultimate realty web site.

Suggestions welecome.

**Copywriter** · 07-06-2006, 11:39 PM

It sounds interesting, and I'll certainly give it a closer look as I have time...

I work with a lot of template websites, which have page editors similar to the message editor used to post on this forum. I think that idea works, but only up to a point. I think those websites are set up with a certain purpose (or range of design ability) in mind, and when you try to stretch the limits you run into obstacles and glitches of all sorts. A lot of things can be worked around, but there's certainly plenty of swearing involved.

It's refreshing to explore other options. There's nothing I hate more than "junk code," especially when I don't know how to get rid of it.

I wish you the best of luck with your project, and I'll certainly incorporate your work into the suggestions on my website. (Not to be so presumptious as to say that this will revolutionize anything...ha,ha)

Thank you for the info...

**horatiub** · 08-09-2006, 03:43 PM

the open-source communities might have something that you are looking for.

**E8MC** · 08-20-2006, 07:13 PM

Copywriter -- why copy a web template that already has "junk code" and errors, when you can create your own?

If you have a "real" HTML Editor, it would be a breeze to do your own website ... maybe you should consider hiring a Professional Webmaster to create what you want.

As for "Craigslist" -- I've placed 100's of ads there, using a jpg image for my website; the only problem with Craigslist is, you have to re-word every ad, or it will never get posted.

**johnc** · 11-06-2006, 11:32 PM

If you use a template, try to customise your pages as much as you can. If not, your pages will be similar to other sites using the same template and will not be ranked well in search engines.