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December is here! As the holiday season gears up and 2024 inches closer, we thought we’d take a look back at some of our favourite blog posts from the year. From customer support to new software, we wrote about a range of topics to ensure that everyone stayed informed. Besides the recap, this article will also take a look at why a free REALTOR® website is a bad investment. And, why you should consider carving out room in your budget in 2024 for a paid site. Follow along below as we highlight this year’s best content and provide some insights into free website solutions!
Spotlighting Some of This Year’s Best Content!
Looking for some information about how to manage your sold listings in EstateVue? In this post, we went over a step-by-step guide to help you change your active listings to sold listings. In just seven easy steps, you can republish your listings in a sold state. Check it out if you haven’t already!
In today's fast-paced digital world, the real estate industry is no exception when it comes to the importance of establishing a strong online presence. For real estate professionals, having an effective website is not just a luxury; it's a necessity. In this article, we explored what makes a good website for realtors, emphasizing the key elements that can elevate their online presence and help them succeed in a competitive market. Get ahead of the 2024 real estate competition and read over this blog post.
Looking to integrate a real estate listing “search by map tool” on your WordPress website in 2024? If you are, we encourage you to read this blog article. This tool emphasizes local, making your WordPress website a one-stop hub for property seekers who are looking for community-specific information. At EstateVue, we bring to the table a mapping software that ensures your listings are not only comprehensive but also up-to-date and accurate. The dynamic combination of a map-based search tool, and the plugin, offers users an intuitive and efficient way to explore properties. Learn more about our MLS® Listing plugin by checking out this post!
Make 2024 Your Best Year Yet by Ditching the Free REALTOR® Website Software
Free website solutions suck. No, trust us, they’re awful. Whether it's Wix, Weebly or Squarespace, none of them can compare to the robustness of a paid, custom website. Sure, they might be sufficient for a student or a hobby blogger, but as a REALTOR® you need something more sophisticated. Many people do not realize what they are losing by building a free website. This is no fault of the user. After all, free website software companies do a commendable job at disguising the downsides to their platforms in a big, free bow. To help you better understand the real cost of an unpaid website solution, we are going to reveal some of the less obvious drawbacks.
- Bad Domain Name
Your domain name is a key component of the success of your website. By using key terms that pertain to your company you can drastically improve the traffic to your website, your brand recognition, and how easily your website can be found by others. By going with a free website solution you forfeit the ability to choose a unique domain name. Instead, you’ll be left with something like yourbusinessname.wixsite.com. Not only is this unprofessional, but it's also bad for your ranking in search engines. Many of these platforms offer custom domain names, however, they come at a price. So, now your “free website” isn’t so free anymore.
More Reasons to Run Away From Free Websites!
- Data Migration Challenges
Let’s say you build a free website with the intent of using it as a temporary solution. Perhaps, just until you get your feet off the ground. A few years later, you decide you want to add some features that the free software simply can’t provide. Effectively, you’ve outgrown your free site and it’s time to upgrade to something better. Should be easy right? All you have to do is migrate your data to the new, paid website—except there’s a catch! Migrating your data from a free platform is extremely difficult. Free software providers will often lock down your data at the slightest sniff of you leaving. Thus, resulting in you needing to pay more money to hire IT experts to migrate your data manually. We’re no mathematicians but this is starting to sound like an expensive free website.
- It’s Not Yours to Keep
Okay, so let’s say that you overlook the above two points, what else could possibly go wrong? Well, after countless hours of perfecting and building your website, it is plausible that you could wake up one day with your website gone. Free website services often hide in their terms in conditions that they can cancel your account for any reason. If this happens, your website is generally removed from the Internet. Thus, deleting all of your hard work. Additionally, you also run the risk that your provider goes out of business. Which can also result in your website being permanently deleted.
These items are just a few on our laundry list of reasons not to invest in a free website. Reach out to one of our team members today to learn more about paid Vs. free website solutions.
Contact us About a REALTOR® Website for the New Year!
Thanks to all of our clients for another great year! Be sure to contact us with any questions about developing your own REALTOR® website in 2024. Visit our blog again next month for more content like this. We look forward to working with you shortly. Happy holidays everyone!