Real Estate Web Design Process

The design of the website is not only about graphic design. It is primarily about understanding what internet based customers are looking for. As such, it is important to understand what users want before the process of creating a search engine friendly real estate web design can be created. Then and only then should you begin the design, coding, content and optimization process. The process we use is summarized below.

• Initial Consultation - Once an agreement has been signed with Site Tutor, You will be sent an initial consultation worksheet with questions to get you started thinking about the important decisions which need to made to make sure the website is developed correctly from the beginning. You will then meet with a member tutor to create the blueprint of the website. Just as you would not build a house without a set of blueprints, a properly structured custom website needs a finalized set of blueprints to allow the process of designing and developing a custom real estate website happen smoothly and efficiently.


• Design of Website - Once a blueprint of the website is created, it is given to the designers to create a graphical interpretation of a written summary of the initial consultation meeting. This process takes 7-10 business days to complete. Depending on the website, 2 or 3 designs are created. One design is a direct interpretation of the written summary while the second design follows the summary but integrates various concepts proposed by the deisgner. Upon receiving the deisgns, the client chooses 1 of the base designs and then is allowed up to 2 changes to the base design. ONLY after the design is finalized is the website built.


• Content, Content, Content - From the beginning, it is important to stress that if a client is going to spend the money to create a custom website, they need to make sure they understand the importance of unique content. The importance of this point can not be stressed enough. Think of it like this......USERS are impressed by graphical design.....SEARCH ENGINES are impressed by unique content. After the design and layout are finished we then integrate your unique content. We ask all of our clients to help us by writing articles about their market or business. We also can provide access to ghost writers whom can write content for an extra fee on a per page basis. This information has to be manually created in order to be unique. In the past we have been sent articles that were promised to be unique but found out later that the sites content was copied from the chamber of commerce. Major search engines are looking for the best results for the consumer. When you provide something unique, you set yourself apart from the rest and that is why we put such high value on custom design and unique information.


• Tools - The next step in the process of building a custom real estate website is the integration of the Tools. More specifically, The integration of an IDX(Internet Data Exchange). This allows users to search homes provided by the MLS on your website.


• On-Page Optimization - As the objective of this website is to create a website that has the ability to obtain page one rankings under a variety of terms, each page needs to be optimized for the specific results. What this means is that each page must be optimized independently of the other pages, however since they sit on the same domain, the power of each page will benefit the website overall.


• Site Launch - Once all this has been completed, the website is ready to be launched. This process on average takes 2-4 months. The reason for this is because the website is unique. Unique Design, Hand Coded and Unique Content. Once live, your website is search engine friendly and you are ready to begin the process of marketing your website online.