Having a top-notch real estate website can help you stay competitive in today's Web-driven economy. But before you leap in and make a large purchase, you need to be aware of certain things -- namely, the various drawbacks of template websites.

About Website Templates

A template is a pre-built website "shell" that you buy (or subscribe to) and then customize with actual content and graphics.

Many of the templates I've seen are nothing more then eye candy -- nice to look at, but not worth an investment. Most are too rigid, with no way to expand the navigation or the content without "breaking" the template design.

"But it will hold all the content I have," goes the argument.

Heck, I've made this argument myself, and I've purchased a website template I thought was cool. The problem came when I tried to expand my website -- I couldn't add pages to it without completely reworking the design.

Most of the real estate template websites I've seen are poorly built (from a coding standpoint). They have "machine-generated" HTML code that's invalid and convoluted -- two things that search engines hate.

Benefits of a Properly Built Website

Error-free, properly built websites will display consistently in different web browsers, new and old alike. They're also more accessible to handicap devices like screen readers.

In addition, a properly built site is more search-engine-friendly, because the search engine's crawler doesn't have to wade through a mess of useless, outdated code to find the actual content it uses to evaluate the site.

How to Test Your Real Estate Website for Errors

If you have a website (or you're shopping for one), you can easily validate the code for errors. There's an online validator located at: http://validator.w3.org/

This validator is built and maintained by the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), the very group that created standards for website code in the first place. Truly professional web developers use this validator religiously.

To validate a website for proper (or improper) HTML coding, you simply copy the

site's URL (example: http://www.fakewebsite.com) and paste it into the address box provided on the site. Then click the "validate" button.

If you get a handful of errors, it may not be anything to worry about. If you get dozens or even hundreds of errors, the website has problems.

The green "Valid" bar is the web developer's ultimate goal. This means the site will be: Compatible in various web browsers Free from bugs, quirks and other unpredictable behavior More search-engine-friendly More maintenance-friendly And generally a pleasure to work with

Why Should You Care?

Your website is your best employee. It works 24/7, it never calls in sick, and it never complains or asks for a raise. Don't you think it's worth your while to invest time and effort in such an outstanding employee?

And with so many home buyers and sellers (78%) using the Internet, you want a properly built website that is:

Easier for search engines to find Clean, consistent and functional Easy to navigate Free of bugs and errors that reflect poorly on you

Shop wisely when looking for a website or a web developer. Quiz developers about the validity of their web code. If they tell you, "That stuff doesn't matter" ... keep shopping!

* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article in its entirety, provided you leave the byline, author's note and website hyperlink intact.

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