Building a new website - Suggestions?

Question

Here's the plan - moving to Pittsburgh to start a job now that I'm done with school. Will be there 2 years then will be moving out to  another city (hoping LA or San Diego). I'd like to build a website for these purposes:

- Establish credibility to potential sellers from directed marketing

- Blog, track, and show progress and successes from current and past projects completed

- Online lead generation

As i'm just starting out, only establishing credibility is important to me. Also, are there opinions regarding conducting business under a business entity or should I start off going off as an individual.

I think it's also necessary that I stay city-neutral, avoiding websites/terms like "SellYourPittsburghHome.com". But definitely curious what you guys think about operating behind your name, like @Tim Gordon does at gordonbuyshomes.com (really solid website Tim) or behind a company. A note, my company might raise a fit if they see that I'm doing this outside of work, so I'm thinking using a company would help me to avoid that annoyance.

Keanan Koppenhaver · Answer

Full disclosure: I'm a WordPress developer.

I've done a few real estate sites and WordPress always works great for our clients.

I've also done just single property sites that lived on their own, but WordPress, especially if you're looking to build more of a holistic presence, lets you edit your content and keep it all up to date without have to touch code.

For our clients, we do all custom theme work, but there are some great real estate themes out there as well.  There are plenty of great themes out there. If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed, I wrote up a quick piece on how to choose a good WP theme.

http://keanankoppenhaver.com/how-to-choose-the-rig...

To be fair, I've seen clients have success with SquareSpace as well, and there are agencies and services who will build and maintain the entire site for you, but WordPress for me strikes the right balance of 'it just works' and 'I still want to be able to make some modifications'

Happy to answer and follow up questions you have.

Good luck!

Keanan

Sara Pete · Answer

Whatever you decide regarding the website, as far as developing an actual audience for your content, I would recommend sharing your posts primarily via LinkedIn (as a "thought leader") and on Twitter with industry-pertinent hashtags.  Otherwise, of course, regardless of how polished and interesting your website might be - no one will really be reading it!  Just my two cents, since I have seen many people try to launch online material and establish web presence without considering how they are going to even draw people in.  Try this website for optimizing your Twitter posts related to the content you develop, and leveraging hashtags that may gain decent visibility - https://ritetag.com/best-hashtags-for/commercialrealestate.

Keanan Koppenhaver · Answer

@Austin Mudd

I've seen Divi used successfully as well.  It's mentioned as one of the resources in this pretty solid list.

https://colorlib.com/wp/real-estate-wordpress-themes/

Justin Howe · Answer

@Austin Mudd My favorite theme is called Divi. They make it incredibly easy to customize and build your site however you want.

You can read more about it here http://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/

Austin Mudd · Answer

Thanks for the advice guys, have registered a domain and found a hosting provider. With Wordpress, do you guys recommend any particular investor themed templates/plugins to get started? I see OnCarrot offers a service to investors, but I'd rather keep my costs lower as of now, since I don't know what direction I'm heading towards 100%.

@Trevor Ewen @Justin Howe @Keanan Koppenhaver

Trevor Ewen · Answer

@Austin Mudd

Couple things I would have you question. I am also a software developer, and although @Keanan Koppenhaver has the right idea if you go with Wordpress, Wordpress may become the project instead of helping the project.

1) Building credibility, have you considered out of the box solutions that may be simpler an extend your reach. Something like: https://placester.com/

2) Blogging. I am a huge fan of  Medium these days. Lets you get started with nothing and a good community on your side. If you can't get readers there, then you have answered the question w/out the rest of the work.

3) Lead gen. Your money is best spent on the marketing and Google Ads side, I would skip expensive development costs. Just ask anyone who has done a lot of development. Important part is getting people there, once they get there, it could be a single picture and your phone numbers... as long as you are targeting correctly.

I am a technologist and I definitely benefit when people over-spend on tech, but I don't recommend it for people just starting out. Good luck, and reach out if you need more clarification.

Justin Howe · Answer

@Austin Mudd I think @Keanan Koppenhaver is right about using Wordpress. It's pretty much plug and play when it comes to building a website. There are free themes to choose from but I'd recommend using a paid theme, you'll get a much better outcome and will be easier to customize to your liking.

As for branding using your name or a company name, I don't think it makes a huge difference. There are people who have successful brands with both. I think it comes down to providing consistent, quality content that people want that will make you successful. Focus on that and you should do fine.

Building a new website - Suggestions?

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