Website Hosting & Integration with MLS

By Steve Herb, Sell and Save Homes
(July 2006)

On Tuesday, May 23, 2006 the subcommittee on "Website Hosting and MLS Integration" made its presentation to the Tech Users Committee at large. The presentation covered the whole spectrum; from the business concerns of when and why to establish a web presence, to the specifics of how to get started.

Why a Web Site?
The business world has changed drastically from only a few years ago, as some of the major industries which used to dominate their markets, but now are scrambling to cling to a shrinking market share.

Two examples are the newspaper industry, with its skidding readership and declining advertising "lineage," and the travel industry. For example, when was the last time you booked your travel plans through a local agent?

The NAR study "Home Buyer & Seller Survey Shows Rising Use of Internet," released in January of this year found "use of the Internet to search for a home has risen dramatically over time, increasing from only 2 percent of buyers in 1995 to 77 percent in 2005; it was 74 percent in 2004." Further, 80% for 2006 would certainly not be a wild stretch.

With the need to move forward with an online presence established, each agent should evaluate their target client. While the Baby Boomers are embracing the Internet, they are not as likely to be as absorbed in it as say, the "Gen. Y'ers" or the "Boomerang Generation."

Agents should understand that, while the Internet is standing many industries on their heads, employing proper marketing strategies is still paramount to success. The Internet does not replace marketing logic, it simply offers new and largely more efficient methods to reach our potential clients.

A few of the major benefits of a website
The World Wide Web:

• Allows decreasing print advertising, which saves money 
• Allows effectively targeting a very specific market, known in the advertising industry as the "Thin Market" 
• Allows your message to be available when and where the prospect wants to receive their information.

Fundamental Understanding of the Web vs. the Internet
The World Wide Web is to the Internet as Fax technology is to the telephone system. The Web rides on the back of the Internet, just as faxes are sent over the phone lines. We often use them interchangeably, but there is a technical difference. This may seem trivial, but this simple analogy will help you understand how the two systems actually interact.

Registering your domain name What we commonly call a "web address" is actually made up of several parts. These "parts" are similar to the way an envelope is addressed; in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) address: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/, the "http" is known as the protocol (the rules which the computers will follow in order to communicate for the requested page). You might think of this as first class postage versus bulk or standard class mail.

The "www.whitehouse.gov" is the true domain name, similar to the actual street address of a home or business.

The "/news/" is the "path", and specifies a folder containing one or more documents located on that site, similar to the "suite" or "apartment" number of the addressed building.

Lastly, the "briefings/" part refers to a specific document or page located in that folder, similar to a specific person in that office or apartment.

Once you have your domain name registered (owned by you), you will control all of the paths, or folders and pages for that domain. The only part needing to be registered is the actual domain name, such as www.whitehouse.gov.

Two recommendations when selecting your domain name:

• Do not use your Internet provider (your cable, dial-up or DSL company) for your email address or your domain as someday you may want to change ISPs, and will then lose your email address and/or your website address (domain).
• Register your own name, such as steveherb.com, because it is much easier for clients to remember than a long, cryptic name such as www.let-me-find uahome-now.com. And, why would you want someone else to "own" your name out there in cyber space? Own it, even if you choose to use another domain name.

In order to "own" your domain name, you will need to work with a "Domain Name Registrar". Just like the Bureau of Motor Vehicles registers auto license plates and ownership, a domain name registrar acts on your behalf to make sure that no one else already owns that domain name, and registers it on your behalf.

The two leading domain registrars are www.Godaddy.com and www.Networksolutions.com. There are many others, but these two are very well known, and are reputable.

Next, you will need to select a Hosting Provider
The most common types of hosting services offered include:

• Pre-built ("Ready to Go") providers simply drop in your name and personal information, but do not offer much in the way of customization. 
• Templated sites are providers which, much like Microsoft's Word with its "templates", allow the user to select the look for their site, and to use the provider's online tools to build and maintain their site. 
• Totally blank sites are just that -- a blank page that needs everything added and maintained. This is for the advanced user, but offers total control. 
• Free Vs. paid hosting sites are available also, but "Free" has a price. Your site will contain ads, and will not be very customizable. A free ite can be a quick way to get up and running, but will generally not be a good long-term solution.

What computer hardware and software will be needed?
Most agents will already have the hardware needed to build a site -- a late-model computer and access to the internet via an ISP (cable, dial-up or DSL).

For software (programs to build the pages) readily-available programs such as Word, Excel, Power Point, and Publisher offer the ability to build and edit web pages. For more robust control of your pages, check into Front Page or Dream Weaver. While these two offer the most control, there is a steeper learning curve involved with using them.

Cutting through the clutter of the World Wide Web, or "Tuning for search engines"
A major component to any successful web site is exposure to "eyeballs." There are various means to achieve this, being sure to include your domain name on all of your business stationary and business cards, and in your print ads of course is a must. But how do you get your site "found" among the billions of websites out there? We all are using search sites (search engines) for finding what we need on the web, but they need help finding YOUR site in order that they might "serve it up" to people searching for your services.

This is an area which is actually becoming a profession of its own, but the more time you can spend learning and employing techniques to be found and ranked highly by the search engines, the more success you will have.

If you target the big three; Google, MSN and Yahoo, you will certainly capture the lion's share of the market. There are hundreds of search sites out there, but these three dominate the bulk of all searches done. While these search engines have similarities, they operate somewhat differently, and most do not make full public disclosure of how they find, catalog and rank their search "hits." They keep much of their algorithms private because the search business has become a very competitive industry.

There are sites online which offer to submit your site to the leading search engines -- for a fee of course.

There are sites which will automatically review the source code (HTML) of your site and make recommendations to enhance your site, thereby making it more "search engine" friendly. You then take their recommended code and paste it in to your site's pages.

You can also buy or subscribe to "wizard" types of systems which will walk you through the steps needed to maximize your chances of being ranked "above the fold" (an old newspaper term referring to being on the more desirable part of the page and therefore most visible to readers) on search results served up to readers. An example of this type of package is godaddy. com's "Traffic Blazer." For $29.99 per year, it offers 4 features:

• Search Engine Optimization 
• Web Site Analysis 
• Web site submissions to leading search engines 
• Results reporting

These tuning methods can be used with most any of the types of sites, whether you choose to use a templated hosting service, blank-build-it-all-yourself, or pre-built. The goal is to get your site discovered and cataloged by the big search engines.

An excellent article to help you with the basics of search engines can be found on CNet's site. Click here to read "Searching beyond Google and Yahoo: nine online search engines compared".

No, nothing beats good-old-fashioned word of mouth for advertising, but spending as much time and money in tuning for search engines will deliver the best results for your efforts.

Blogging, or "How to Market Yourself as an Expert"
Another form of marketing coming on strong is "Blogging" which stems from "Web Log". Originally used by individuals for simply keeping rambling online diaries, blogging is now being employed by savvy marketers to help establish professional credibility. Although a lower priority, this is another tool for agents to consider using.

A standard website is one-way, meaning the page is served up for the viewer to read. However, Blogs offer a two-way means of communicating. The blogging technology allows for the "Blogger" (site owner) to publish his or her pages and articles, and then for the reader to "reply" and have their questions or comments posted to the site for all other readers to view.

Some real estate agents are employing blog sites to carry on a two-way, but public, question and answer format. By allowing readers to publish their questions on the blog site, and the agent to publish a response, other readers may accept that agent as an authority in the market, and quiet possibly contact them when it is time to buy or sell their home.

To look in to this technology, go to www.blogger.com. You can search for sites of any number of diverse topics, set up a free blog site, experiment, and maybe even make a few new friends online.

Final things to keep in mind
Set up a budget for establishing and maintaining your web site. It might be a few dollars, to a few hundred per month, depending on the level of support you are seeking. Keep in mind that, even if you are maintaining your own site, there are still costs involved.

Security measures for your web site and your computer are a necessity. You don't want your own equipment infected, and you certainly would not want to infect a client's or reader's computer. Firewalls, virus scanners and spyware systems are imperative.

When building a web site, keep these points in mind . . .

• Strive to minimize file and page sizeson each web page. 
• Work to build pages for quick loading. 
• Beware of "Too much technology." For example, Flash is a very popular, and glitzy program, but not without problems. Search engines don't like it because they can't read it, so they will often "bounce" off of a site using Flash on their home page. Also, many users do not have a Flash viewer installed, so it will be wasted on them, and thirdly, it enlarges the file sizes of the website. 
• Bad page layout causing the visitor difficulty navigating your site means they probably won't come back. 
• Have you ever printed out a page from a website, only to find it ran off the side of the paper? Build pages for printing (paper sizes). 
• Don't trust screen color to be accurate with what is printed. If matching color is important, you must "color match" your computer screen to your color printer. 
• Keep Your Site Fresh! You are not done just because you created a web site. Among other parameters, search engines rank sites based on how often the information is updated _ and so do readers! 
• Pay careful attention to copyright laws. The web can be deceiving. You may think you can copy and paste something onto your site and the owner will never find it among all of the billions of sites and pages, but don't take that chance. It could be a very costly mistake.

MLS Integration with your site
With an increasing desire by the public to have instant and open access to homes for sale, offering MLS searching on our sites is becoming less a value-added feature which we might toss in as a hook, and more a necessity. However, as most of you are aware, our CBR MLS committee has selected Wolfnet as the preferred IDX solution provider, and has announced new plans and mandates for member websites. These plans detail how we can incorporate MLS searches within our sites. This is an area which is still evolving, with a deadline of December 31st of this year as the last day before member sites are expected to comply with the newly-announced standards. For clarification or help with the new MLS IDX ("Information Data Exchange") standards and methods, contact Bryan Dean, Manager of Technical Services at (614) 475-4000 ext:222 or by email at: bdean@columbusrealtors.com.

If you would like additional information on any of these topics, feel free to contact me at steve@steveherb.com.

Steve Herb has a BSBA degree from OSU in Real Estate and Urban Analysis. He worked for a number of years as the New Technologies Analyst for The Columbus Dispatch, having been involved in establishing the original dispatch.com website, which is now the most highly visited website in Ohio. He has also been the owner and publisher of two magazines, developed the online advertising standards and sold digital advertising for the Ohio State Bar Association while serving as their advertising manager, and is a real estate investor and a REALTOR® living and orking in Granville, Ohio.