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I am a licensed Realtor® in San Antonio, Texas and I have an IDX website because the internet is where buyers and sellers search and it is an important part of my marketing program. Buyers want to see the homes available for sale and sellers want to see how you will market their home. The vanity “about me” is the least important part of my website – my site is about “my clients" and their needs and expectations from my site and from me.

A vanity site is an address on the internet highway with information about you. A vanity site is relatively easy to set up, requires almost no maintenance and simply allows you to claim your place on the web. The question that follows is if you get someone to look at your vanity site what reason do they have to come back?

A marketing site is your claim to the enormous real estate market, a means to establish credibility, a voice to your community and a way to gain local market share. Your marketing site is your enhanced place on the internet. Its intent is to provide service (ie MLS lookup), information (ie how to’s) and resources that home owners or future home owners find useful. A sticky site gets people back to you. A successful marketing site takes time – it does not happen overnight. SEO should be strategic and planned.

If you would like to know more about SEO, please download your free 300+ page eBook - no cost or obligation of any kind.

Once you have decided which site is right for your business then the daunting task is how to get it done. The majority of Realtors® are not techies – they are experts in their own profession - real estate. The majority of techies are not licensed Realtors. I am both - a Realtor® since 2005 and we won’t talk about how many years of tech background.

My services as site manager are customizable to your needs. As with any other investment, before you hand over your money, you should know who you are dealing with. My qualifications can be found on LinkedIn - connect with me there.

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Now it is about you. Your site can take the form of a brand name or your name - or both. My brand name is mySATexas.com and my name is AlCannistra.com . Click on both – you end up in the same place. My market emphasis is on the brand name. Someday, I may sell the brand name which stands on its own merit. Selling my name would be a bit more difficult. Also, there is a theory that consumers are inclined to click thru to a brand rather than a person’s site. Here is another site that I created using a personal name: ConnieRamirez.com

Once you have decided on a domain (s) then there is a process of checking availability and registering them. Those functions are simple and I am not going to address them here. If you already own a domain, we can skip that part completely.

Your next decision is where to host your domain. This is a critical decision and can mean success or failure. There are those who would suggest that you need a full custom site and those who suggest you simply sign up for a turnkey corporate site. Neither is necessarily the best solution.

A custom site requires a sizeable investment, typically locks you to the developer and incurs routine update fees. Changing the "look" in the future typically means a rebuild. If this option is within your budget, be sure to choose a reliable longterm provider.

A turnkey site that has no customization is simply a “me too” site in the eyes of a search engine and gets little recognition. You may compensate somewhat with pay-per-click to gain a position in the paid search results provided you are willing to maintain the ongoing expense. If you are affiliated with a Broker that offers a turnkey site as a part of your monthly package, certainly don't turn it down. You can enhance results by using it as a supplement and linking it to your personal site for more exposure.

The most cost effective solution is a customizable site with a great design and the proper functionality. The benefits are enormous. Designs and colors can make your site distinctive and the functionality will help you achieve the internet presence that you are looking for. Packaged, they are the best investment for your money.

I am not selling the templates or the hosting. I am offering the management and the content initiative. I am offering the middle piece between what the hosting company offers and what the site needs to be distinctive and unique.

If your goal is a Marketing website that works for you, then make no mistake in assuming that buying a templated site auto-magically gets you noticed and gets you business. It does not. Unless you customize content with new pages and do some of the other things to differentiate your site, you bring little value to the table. You are in the "me too" category and that affects your search engine placement. Not many have had success on page results in double digits.

Your site is an investment. Suppose you decide to change the look of your site in a few years. If you did that with a custom site, you are in for a huge expenditure. In a template environment, the change can probably be done within an hour. In a template environment, the development cost of new sites and site enhancements is spread across hundreds or thousands of sites and is typically offered to clients as a free upgrade.

If you change a custom site, you risk losing the credibility of your site in the eyes of the search engines. In a template environment, most of the content remains static and what ground you have gained is not lost.

The same flexibility is of enormous benefit if you change Brokers. In that event, the site can typically be updated in a couple of hours and your clients remain with you.

A very important benefit of the template site is that they are designed in such a way that if someone new has to take over managing the site, it is relatively seamless and your site remains supported by the hosting company. You also have the option to learn to maintain it yourself!

I have personal experience in managing sites on more than a half dozen different hosts. Some are better than others – measured by design, performance and responsiveness – and some just don’t make the grade. If you need a site manager or someone to tutor you on managing your own site, i can help you with any host - whether or not I have worked with their system previously. If you have a total custom built site, I cannot help you unless you are ready to convert to a template system. I have selected my present host because I believe them to be the best in architecture, capability and performance and they feature a world class customer support staff. They are not paying me or giving me anything for the endorsement – and I plan to keep it that way to stay legal here.

Things to watch for when choosing your host:

·Great looking template designs

·Full IDX with Lead Capture (be very careful here)

·Fully customizable unlimited pages

·SEO at the page level

·SEO enhancement that does not damage your reputation

·Performance – response time and up time

·Reasonable monthly fees

·Responsive customer service

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Where do I fit in? This service is for site management. I work to maximize your investment and that can take the form of completely managing your site (for those that want it just to work!) or teaching you (online shared screen) how to DIY and everything in between. Services include and are not limited to coordinating with your host to get you set up, moving what needs to be moved, create and add pages to your site, recommending the kind of pages and content to be added, add links and walk you through a correct link share program, help you setup and make use of subdomains, guide you in social networking and link the socials to your site, guide you in multi-site development (I have about 125 sites – about half are real estate related at the time I am writing this) and I help guide you through all the things you read about in this lengthy presentation.

About my site host:

They are waiving the $999.95 setup fee (subject to change at any time)

They charge only $29.95 a month for hosting (subject to change at any time)

My fee is $1000 up front for 25 hours ($40 an hour) which is very much below my normal fee and applies only to Realtors® engaging me for their site management. After the initial hourly package, you have an option for 25 hour blocks or fewer hours at a still discounted rate of $50 per hour. There are no requirement minimums for anything beyond the initial block of hours.  (subject to change at any time)

Call me on my real estate line if I can helpyou 210-757-0211.Al Cannistra

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My real estate practice local focus areas: San Antonio, Bulverde, Cibolo Canyons, Spring Branch, Hollywood Park and Timberwood Park.