Your website is an online extension of your agency’s brand and a powerful marketing tool. It works 24/7 to advertise not just your listings, but your people and your business as well.

But with the rapid pace of change in the world of technology, and the web-design space being flooded with providers claiming to provide the best services & pricing ... it’s becoming almost impossible to keep up.

Here are 5 questions to keep in mind when considering a new website & web design company.

1. Does your new web designer have runs on the board? What is their track record for building websites in the real estate space?

For a web designer who is not familiar with the real estate industry, it is easy to overlook many of the nuances required when building a real estate website.

Many third party web designers can build a great looking website... but get stuck when it comes to ensuring the site they’ve built can handle the volume of often very-slight changes for each individual property to be advertised on the site, almost daily.

This can be difficult to truly understand when shopping for a new website. After-all, your job is winning and selling real estate, not building websites. So when a web design company tells you they can build the site of your dreams and they provide you with a concept design that nails the look; it’s difficult to understand or accept when the site fails to work as expected.

The truth is, you’ll end up being passed from one person to the next when dealing with a design company without a proven track record of building real estate specific websites. Avoid these dramas and find a company that already knows the industry specific issues (and has already found solutions for them).

2. Does the jargon being used to explain features and benefits make sense?

Complicated does not equal Intelligent when it comes to website functionality.

For example, you have no doubt seen phrases like “Good SEO” or “Strong Analytics” when it comes to product pitches from website design companies. Google’s stronghold in the online space means that it’s easy to be scared off by “bad SEO” or “poor analytics” and many web design companies use this to their advantage by promoting buzz words that don’t mean a whole lot when it comes to the practical application of SEO within the real estate space.

For example, one tenant of “Good SEO” is fewer images and more unique text on a website. Buyers however, prefer the visual appeal of images compared to long word descriptions when engaging with a real estate website.

SEO is a moving target that needs constant management to remain relevant. While a designer can build the site to current standards, more often than not - you will need to invest either money or time continuously to stay at the top of the list. Consider if you want the ability to monitor and manage SEO yourself or if you would prefer to outsource and ask your website designer if they are available to continually manage this for you.

Google Analytics is a tool available to all website owners, and something that web designers will often take credit for. This data is only useful if you choose to make use of it.

A lack of knowledge in this department means you’ll be reliant on your designer to explain and maintain. A few hours of blog reading can get you up to date, but be aware that this is a continuous project that will always need management. As such, a great real estate website gives you full control of your SEO.

3. Is the cost of a bespoke boutique website worth the risk?

High price does not equal high quality. 

Custom built and bespoke website designs can look spectacular. But it takes time to achieve that look and time (particularly website design time) is something you pay for. Consider working with a designer who provides base template designs as an option as well.

Template base designs are website frameworks that have already been built, tested and confirmed to produce results. With that being said, you want to make certain that the website company you choose to design your site, allows for customisation throughout the design phase to ensure the site feels unique for your agency’s individual brand.

With this provision, template design websites can be a great option if you need your online presence established ASAP, you want an economical choice, or you are focused on tried and trusted reliability.

4. How many people or teams will you need to deal with and how many phone numbers will you need to remember?

Building/owning a website involves many aspects not limited to the actual design of the website itself. This includes;

- Purchasing your domain name
- Renewing your domain name (ongoing)
- DNS updates for your domain name (ongoing)
- Website management (ongoing)

First you need to decide on a domain name. Will your website URL end with ‘com or ‘.com.au’? Will you use your whole business name as your domain name? What if your business name is quite long, will you decide to use something that’s quicker for your customers to type in, like an acronym for your website URL?

Then, once you decide on your domain name, will your new web designers purchase the domain name for you? Or will you need to go off and do this independently?

What about when it’s time to renew the domain name? Will you remember who to call in 2 - 5 years when it comes time for renewal?

And then there’s DNS updates  which may be required for your website or your email service. Can your web designers do this for you? What is their process like if you decide to build a new website in the future with another company, but they retain management of your domain name?

These are all scenarios that we have seen get VERY complicated and messy when our clients have used third party companies for their website design.

If you need to remember multiple phone numbers, company names and IT people’s names when it comes to your website, domain name and DNS management, this might seem like a small concession to make at first, but after the months and years pass and these names & numbers are no longer front of mind, this scenario can be a real struggle, especially when you need things done urgently.

Be sure to look for a design team that can manage all of the above for you, and who can provide you with options and solutions when circumstances change.

5. What are the hidden / ongoing costs to maintain and update the website?

Websites are like lovable doggies - which means they age a lot faster than you want them to!

A well designed website can slow the ageing process from a few different angles.

Backend Maintenance - ask your web designer if they will continue to update the website to industry standards for the life of the site. This way, changes that Google or Facebook make won’t destroy your site’s viability.

Front End Upgrades - As phone sizes and screen functions change, so too must your website. You’ll need your site to be adaptable to ongoing changes or needs. These changes may incur a cost to update, but it should be significantly less than a new website designed from scratch.

Although it’s easiest (and most fun) to consider the aesthetic options in a website design, it’s worth considering the less exciting details when choosing your website design team. ReNet is proud to provide an easy-to-use product that marries function and design to create long-lasting websites. If you’d like to consider your options with ReNet click the button below to get in touch with us today.