Most home buyers start their home search on the net. If youre a real estate agent or broker and you think your website should be doing more, youre not alone. Realtors are in a very competitive business and a good web site will make your business more successful.

A realtors website design needs to accomplish several things. First, your realtor site represents your business image and your value proposition, or why that buyer should choose you as their agent. If your website looks like it was done by a 12 year old, thats the first impression youre going to project! If youre not good at graphic design, this is not the place to learn. Its your business, and the success of your realtor business on the internet starts with a good, professional web design and reliable web hosting.

Several choices are available that can put you ahead of the do-it-yourself look, quickly and painlessly. For a few hundred bucks, you can get a simple, but professionally designed web site designed specifically for your realtor business. Sure, even more generic template websites are available for less, but why reinvent the wheel? A good realtor website is specifically designed for addressing things like mls listings, mortgage calculators, pictures, pdf files for floor plans and other necessary items.

Unless you want your site to look like hundreds of other realtors, you should consider a limited edition type of website. These are more a structure than a template and allow you to choose from thousands of pictures and the better companies will provide you with several hours of graphic design time.

When you really want to stand out, full custom realtor web sites are the way to go. While you can go to a graphic designer and spend a great deal to get an exquisitely beautiful site, a number of realtor website companies have custom design packages that give you a great first impression, provide the features you need, and keep the costs reasonable.

Second, your time is better spent with customers, rather than fiddling on the computer putting in listings and making time consuming basic updates. Thats where using a company that makes realtor websites and provides hosting can be a big plus. Better ones, have an administrative section that simplifies or automates many functions that can take away precious selling time. Automatic MLS listing updates, and check boxes to automatically add links to local attractions or other necessary area information are some examples. A few now have the ability to have your own blog, and link to maps at the click of the mouse. Thats also why they appear to be more expensive than other hosting solutions. If you were to have someone add that kind of functionality, youd be paying a lot more!

Third, you need to be found on the internet by google, yahoo! And the other large search engines. That means that what you say on your website pages is important. Start by looking at the sites that show up when you search for real estate agents or homes in your market area and see what they do. You also need to have your site listed with the search engines, a service that is usually provided by the realtor website companies at no additional cost. If youre creating your own website, then you need to make sure you do this as soon as your site is live. It may take several months before google or other web bots find your site, but the results are well worth it. If youre still not seeing results, you may want to enlist the services of a search engine optimization specialist, many of who are available as a service by the realtor web companies. These people know exactly what it takes to be found on the internet and are worth their weight in gold!

Follow these steps and youll see your realty business success grow on the web in no time. A well designed realtor web site that attracts searchers, projects a professional image and provides information and resources to buyers is an asset that will pay BIG dividends!