Microsites

[OCTeam]

YEs, online-fatigue could be a problem. However, once set up, there is nothing to maintain. I don't do any "traditional" marketing, prospecting, mailers, etc. so, basically, all my time is internet related to own every spot on page one.

[seo matt]

Just wanted to toss around a couple more ideas on this..

Here's a city tourism site:

http://www.tourismnanaimo.com/

and here's an offshoot of the tourism site that started pretty micro and has basically grown into its own site:

http://www.secretnanaimo.com/

Obviously they needed a unique URL and a new site for this marketing pitch - secrets about Nanaimo. You can see the continuity between the two sites, but I don't think it has to be there - in fact it might be better if the second site looked completely different.

Now what do you guys think about an approach like that in real estate? Do you ever come up with services or marketing approaches that would work better on a new URL with ties to your main site?

[Agnafl]

I have been tinkering with these individual property sites for a few months now and they are pretty easy to set-up regardless of the platform. I have seen many using different wordpress themes, custom css templates, and even a 3rd party site/s like listingdomains that are pretty much fill in the blank (similar to postlets). Some of the 3rd party sites will allow you to set-up the property website as a trail for 7 days to use in a listing presentation, see here. I know that there are several advocates for these individual sites and Greg over at Blood Hound loves individual sites as stated in his most recent post.

It is a tricky game to get these sites to rank quickly and for something that has even a little traffic. Many of the 3rd party template sites, that I have seen, are not that great for SEO. The example that I gave in the link above is not designed very well in terms of SEO. In order to drive traffic to these niche/property sites you will need to market the site/URL in many different mediums on the interent as well as in print, all in an effort to drive traffic and potential sales back to your main site.

I think that it can be argued eqully on both sides whether they are worth the time and money spent. Depending on your market they may work like a charm, others may just get minimal traffic to drive a few extra people to your site each week, and many will, if not loved and caressed, will just be a complete waste.

Matt

[Ryan Ward]

I've just got the format done for my first one. I'm going to be heading to the house over the weekend to get the necessary photos for the gallery (I have samples up). I was able to use WP and some plugins to create a pretty slick slideshow on the homepage and what will be a nice photo gallery as well. It basically took me about 6 hours to create the template theme for the website and now I should be able to get one up with photos and all for about $6/year and an hour of time.

Here's my first go 'round:

www.370atlanticstation.com

[rmasse10]

The more you are out there, the more chances of being found...just added work to maintain but if you have the time, go for it

[gregharaksin]

PLus you still have some top spots in Brea.

We use them for many of the properties we list. We keep most of them up after they sell if they have good SE position. Mainly, they have links to our main site and a visitor can search our IDX for other property. So, it is just another avenue to get people to our main site.
Here is and example; www.CuteBeachHome.com or www.AvenidaGranada.com

Sellers are impressed as we can show stats on how many visits, how they got there, etc. A great listing tool. Plus, it refers visitors to our main site...a win-win.

We use the url to promote it on flyers, post on CraigsList, some email signatures, etc.

[flatfeerealty]

Right I do micro sites. They are more nitch than my macro sites. However I think that having a bunch of sites is a big part of being a web master because you can share links in between all of your sites.

[Ron Tarvin]

If you do single property sites or individual community sites, on separate domains, does a link back to your main site help or can it hurt? If the site is coming up well in particular searches that are popular, wouldn't that help with the original site authority?

[Portland Real Estate]

Is there any particular property microsite service that people have used and would recommend. I've thought about setting up microsites before, but I want to find a good system that is an easy and low maintenance way to do them.

I know I've seen some services, but the ones I looked at wanted like $9.95 a month for a one page website. It seems like their should be a service where you can setup a one or two page website for a couple dollars that makes it easy to setup a description and some photo galleries or something to that effect.