What I really like about this service so far is that I was able to choose from a lot great templates they have on stock and build the site from ground up. And although I have yet to try the other features of the service, I am attracted to the ease of use, something similar to like creating posts for a blog.
Here's what the template I choose looked like:
Old School Web
I started to use the internet to promote real estate back in the 1990s using the Geocities.com free service. I named the site, Visayas Property Link. At that time I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) Geocities was already part of the Yahoo network which made it convenient for me to just sign in using my yahoo id, which btw I still use until now.
At that time, the purpose for that site was to post pictures, content and other data on Manville Royale and other Bacolod properties for sale. I didn't want to put up that site but I got so tired attaching those files to my client emails (it was all dial up then) which prompted me to post all the infos.
The one thing I really liked about geocities was that it was so easy to use. It was like using Word or Power Point where you just compose your message, add photos, links and you have a brochure-type site running in no time. If you want to add new pages, you just click add a new page and do the usual stuff and link it to the main page or index. Btw, the screen shot on the left shows that my geocities site looked like as I retrieved it from archives.org.
That site really helped & got me regular monthly streams of leads and sales. Back when everybody was trying to learn email and discover the internet, I was already spending hours and hours a day developing and posting content to the site so much as that it ranked high up in yahoo's search engines (no, google then in the late 90s and early 2000s). As time passed, I added more and more pages for Iloilo and Cebu properties which got me more sales from the leads generated. Many of those buyers who bought their propeties from me ended up being my life long friends who I still communicate to this very day
Of course, there are a lot of downsides. First, you cannot expect your site to be really professional looking with just the simple functions and options unless you really take time (which I don't have as I am busy selling houses and other properties) to learn tricks and other neat stuff. Second, there are the usual problems with free sites. You remain at the mercy of the owner who might one day give up the service and bring down your entire internet business down crashing.
Which is what happened to geocities. When geocities decided to fold up, along with it my valuable data and as well as my steady stream of leads and property inquiries.
Although geocities made the announcement months before the scheduled closing, I hardly had time to prepare on what to do as I was already getting ready to move and strike out on my own.
To keep my online presence, I tried new property website advert sites starting to profilerate around the web and so far, the results have been fairly ok. I would personally recommend sites such as : Sulit.com.ph, Bahay.ph, iproperty.com and Ahyer.com.
New generation sites: web 2.0 for real estate
However, despite effectivity of these free advert sites, it doesn't change the fact that its about time I needed a real deal site and not just any website. With the presence of so many web services that allow people to share information and particpate in forming new information on real estate, I knew I have to come up with something that would allow me to:
1. access analytics data (no. of visitors, from where, etc.)
2. keep track of my leads that come in through my web site inquiry form
3. launch email marketing campaigns
4. create a blog
5. build a forum for discussions
6. manage and update my site easily without going to a webmaster or developer to do it for me.
Thus I scoured the web for services that allow me to do so and there are a lot of those available. You have applications such as Wix, google sites among others but again, what I needed was a more updated system that would allow me to converse with customers and house my daily selling activities such as emails, monitor my agents output and inputs, etc.
Ezprofitresults looks promising but I will still test it further and post more updates very soon.
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