Website on a small budget!

[Matt Mcnulty]

I would like to have a marketing website for lead generation. However, I am on a small budget currently. Can anyone give me some advice or tips. There are already numerous Carrot sites in my market and I would like to stand out from the crowd. Is it possible to build my own website that will perform without breaking the bank. I currently have craigslists ads and so far I am getting a few leads from that but would like to increase my online presence with a website as well. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you! Matt

[Jasmine Ellis]

Your website is your 24/7 employee. It is going to be the place people go to from any social media platform, postcard, flyer, advertisement and it is your foundation and must be the greatest communicator in your business. Here is my take...

Websites are one of those things where if you don't invest in it now and you will spend more later with the redesign when you need it most. It is sort of like buying a little car that is pretty cheap $2-4k for your 16 year old and using all your AAA towing mileage to pick the car up throughout the year and then eventually buying a nice used or new car VS buying a used or new Honda, Toyota, Ford (Insert reliable used car) and it lasting your kid through college till they are adults. This may or may not have happened to me….Enough with the cars…..

Here are 5 KEY FACTORS FOR AN AWESOME WEBSITE FOR REAL ESTATE :

1. About page/section
   • Introduce your business with how you can help them, what markets you serve, and how to get started with you.
2. Contact page/section
   • Only posts contact info that you can respond to in 24-48 hours.
3. Call to action
   • Include at least 3 of these
   • EX: FREE ESTIMATES, CALL TODAY, START NOW, GET STARTED
4. Zapier
   • Integrate your website with other software you already use like your calendar, your customer contact log, etc.
   • EX: When someone books an appointment with me it goes directly to my email and my calendar.
5. Key photo or video at the top of the page
   • You must be able to communicate the gist of your site within a few seconds of someone looking at the screen of your site without any scrolling. This helps with the bounce rate of your website. People are impatient and want to know immediately what you are about.

If you choose to go with a professional, make sure you bring them the goals you want for your site. People like this see your success as our success.

Hope this helps!