The backstory: A REALTOR® was reported to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Board of REALTORS® for allowing her IDX to be indexed by Google, referring to section 15.2.2 of the MIBOR (Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of REALTORS®)
MLS Rules and Regulations: “participants must protect IDX information from misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent “scraping” or other unauthorized accessing, reproduction, or use of the BLC database”. They interpreted that to mean that since Google gathers information to determine relevance for its search functions, it is the same as a “scraper” site; one that gathers information, steals images and copies an original website onto another for the purposes of generating revenue from ads or other devices. The REALTOR® appealed, going so far as to attend the Mid-Year Meeting of NAR in Washington to air her concerns. The result: NAR upheld MIBOR’s ruling and affirmed that local boards could view Google and other search engines as scraper sites and take steps to prevent them indexing the IDX listings on a REALTOR®’s website.
As a buyer or a seller, would you think that this is a good practice? Take Google. Google is the Internet’s phonebook. As a buyer, would you be suspicious of a company that is trying to hide information from you on the site of one of their registered members? Especially if you were making the biggest purchase of your life? If you were trying to sell something, but you can’t put what you’re selling in the phonebook where someone looking for it could find it (and you), wouldn’t you think that the group you belonged to was not developed with the purpose of “help[ing] its members become more profitable and successful”, as the NAR’s mission statement claims?
The owner of real estate who is hiring a REALTOR® to represent them has a right to have their property publicized as efficiently as possible and since a large number of people use Google as a means of searching for real estate, it stands to reason that sellers represented by a REALTOR® have the right to have their listings appear in Google search results. To not be allowed to do so means that a REALTOR® is effectively barred from making sure their client has the best means of exposure possible on the Internet. Sellers of real estate should take note that their listing and information will appear on Realtor.com and on Trulia and on Zillow and on other sites – just not on the site of the person who they have been given to understand is a member of good standing of the National Board of REALTORS®.
The fact that members are being told that they cannot have Google-friendly IDX listings is something that doesn’t make the NAR or its members appear in a very good light to the public. What kind of board of businesspeople hampers its members’ ability to disseminate information about their items for sale? And we are talking about sales of thousands or millions of dollars, not dollar-store purchases. Why should people trust the NAR when the NAR very obviously is not placing any faith in their members’ abilities or intentions? Why, when there are so many for-sale-by-owner sites out there should buyers and sellers trust that an organization that makes it harder instead of easier for its members wants what is best for the buyer/seller?
While this issue has been mainly discussed by real estate professionals, it may behoove non-real estate professionals to research it and throw in their own two cents. This is real estate; it’s your home and your money that is at stake here. Since the NAR has such a monopoly on real estate buying and selling, it is arguable that real estate owners, investors and others closely involved with the transaction of real property should be keenly interested in how this issue is resolved.
No matter what occupation or business you are in, if you plan to be successful, you should consider owning a website. Lot of people turn to the Internet to research a product or service before making a purchase, and if you are not on the web, you are losing out on lots of business. This is especially true in the real estate market. Giving home buyers the ability to browse properties in their area in the comfort of their home will make your listing more appealing, and can earn you more traffic and commissions.
Single page property websites are becoming increasingly popular to use when advertising a home or business for sale. These are one page websites that offer pictures, information, and virtual tours of only the home in question. The domain name for these sites generally pertains to the physical address of the property, making it easier to remember. That’s the whole purpose of a domain name: to be to the point and as memorable as possible.
The beauty of a single property website is that it puts great emphasis on the property being shown. This allows the viewers to notice things that may have been overlooked if they were browsing through several listings at once. Small, less intricate homes can shine when there is no competition being offered around them. Giving the specific property your full attention may make it more appealing to the potential buyers in your area.
These one page websites have must be designed with care in order to be beneficial to the agent and property itself. They must be optimized for the search engines, or they will not receive much traffic. Creating content for these pages should include area attraction and amenities, features of the property, and contact information for the agent. These sites should be promoted by submitting them to real estate website directories in order for them to be seen and rank well in the searches.
Single page websites are very simple to create…most people choose to work off of a template and just upload the unique photos and content for the property. It doesn’t take much more than a couple hours to have this website up and running, and the unique domain name will make it easy to find when buyers become interested in the property.
Online marketing for Professional Realtors Building your Real Estate website with template or, custom solution. Online marketing for Realtors involves the application of many different online tools. As a professional Realtor, the decision as to which of these tools is best for you can be somewhat confusing. Here is a break down and brief explanation of some of the many options available to realtors in this modern age. First you need a website. Your Real Estate website introduces you to you customers and establishes you as a professional in your field. Your website should be attractive, informative and easy for your potential customers to navigate. There are an endless number of people and companies online that can build a website for you. However, I would suggest you have your site constructed by an individual or company that specializes in building Real Estate websites.
Next you have to decide if a “template” website is right for you or, should you look for a “custom built” solution. There are several online companies that have excellent, Real Estate templates available. They have the look and feel of a professionally designed site and include all the bells and whistles. Included in many of these templates are MLS or IDX capabilities, dream home finders, featured listings, pages as well as mortgage calculators, dynamic mapping to available listings, contact us, and about us pages and much more. A custom designed website is also a very real option.
There are web developers out there who concentrate on Real Estate sites. There is a greater amount of flexibility to a custom designed site. Custom designers utilize the most cutting edge technologies available, such as flash, slide shows, dissolving text, mouse rollovers, virtual tours, and more. A custom Real estate website is a thing of beauty and can give you a truly unique online presence. There are two other factors you should give a great deal of thought and consideration to when making your decision. There is the cost involved, but equally as important is how much control you want to have over your site after it is finished. Down the road you will inevitably want to make changes to your site. You need to consider how this will be done. There is an excellent template driven, Real Estate website company online that I would highly recommend. To begin with you can get a Free website to work on and customer support while you are learning is 100% Free.
They have over sixty custom built templates available and you can change your template anytime you like, on the fly. There is no software to download, you simply go online, log in and work on your site. When you decide to publish your new website, you can have your completed website live and on the internet for less than twenty dollars per month. This solution allows you to have complete control over your website and at a cost per month that is less than the cost of taking the kids to McDonalds for lunch. A custom solution will most likely cost, anywhere between nineteen hundred and thirty five hundred dollars.
The expense can be well worth it, as they are one of a kind, and unique to you and the professional image that you want to present. However, You will have to contact your webmaster when you want to make any changes. There is usually an expense involved. I have only been able to find one company that offers a completely custom solution, and gives you complete control of your website after it is completed, and has 100% Free customer support for as long as you own your site.
Real Estate Website Web Site Design with IDX property Search