Center for REALTOR® Technology Web Log

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to your website. CRT gets asked quite often by REALTORS ‘How do I develop my website on my own?’ It has taken me a little time discussing this concept with all ranges of REALTORS to finally understand there are some definitions that need to be laid out first before that conversation doesn’t just end up spinning some wheels and going nowhere.

First, think of a website as a car. There is the body that makes it look sleek, there is the interior that gives you the experience of the ride, the engine that runs the car, and finally the gas that powers the engine. Without the engine or the gas, the car is just something that looks good. Without the sleek body, the engine can still get it places, but it may not be something other people want to be seen driving.

Now lets apply this concept to a website: the layout, graphics, text, etc are the body of the website - it’s what people see. How the website interacts with the user (the user interface) is the interior of the website - that which gives you the experience. The foundation/software/programming language is the engine of the website - it’s what runs the show. Finally, the data is the gas for the engine. Without data, your website will just be a fluff site.

The next set of definitions  are more preferential, but they help in making sure we’re all talking on the same page.

Developing a website - this means working on the engine of the website, the programming language or the application framework that runs your site.
Designing a website - this means creating the visual look and feel of the site (the body).

For all intents and purposes, getting a new look for your website (or skin) should be much simpler than building a whole new engine from scratch. Think of how BumbleBee in Transformers started with a smoking hot engine when he was a classic Camaro, but got a makeover to get himself a ultra sleek body. In fact, many of the application frameworks (Drupal, Joomla), as well as some of the REALTOR hosting providers, have utilities to change the layout, look and feel just by selecting a new template.

When starting from scratch, and want to work on the engine, you want to find a developer. If you are looking for a new visual layout, and want to redesign the body, you are most likely looking for a graphic designer. Typically, these are people who call themselves WEB developers or WEB designers, which points out their specialty in either of those fields.

Occasionally, both the engine and the body need an overhaul.  In this case, you need  someone who can wear both hats, or to have a developer and a designer working in close tandem. Finding someone who can wear both hats is probably a more difficult prospect than it sounds. I know a lot of developers that have a hard time coloring inside the lines, and I know a lot of designers whose programming skills looks more like spaghetti than anything else. I’m not saying having superior skills for both is unheard of, but they use diffrerent sides of the brain, and thus are more rare than Amazing Fantasy 15

This all resolves back to the original question: ‘How do I develop my website on my own?’

Now that you understand that developing means building the engine, I suggest that as a REALTOR you should be more focused on refueling the website with more data, like blog articles and other content that provides the utmost in client service from your digital presence. The typical REALTOR shouldn’t be using their time to reinvent the wheel programming a custom website themselves (my take on trying to keep up with the Jones’ in this regards is found here).

Most of the time the REALTOR is really saying, ‘I hate how my site looks, I want to design a new one’. Again, for the typical REALTOR, this may not be the best use of your time; however, I think using this for a creative outlet away from the sales world may be beneficial in itself. If you are using a template based system, a good place to start is looking at some of the pre-canned templates (see Drupal Themes). You could start to rip those apart and tinker, and it is also a good place to find someone to work with you on your site design; if you find one that is oooohh so close to what you want, I am sure the designer can make a few tweaks on the cheap.

Bottom line is - use your time wisely, and in the most effective manner that will serve your clients. If they gain more from you spending 15 more minutes a day narrowing searches, setting up tours, or blogging, then maybe that is the simplest answer.

Autobots - transform and roll out.