If you've ever taken a look at popular online discussions for real estate agents, you might think that everyone is building their own Web sites. Many of the items discussed make you feel like you've mistakenly stepped into an amateur webmaster's forum, where issues such as, "Where can I get the CGI code for making printer-friendly Web pages?" are discussed, sometimes at length. I can just imagine how, after reading stuff like this, many agents must feel intimidated and way behind the curve, wondering if they should get that Web Site Building For Dummies book they saw on Amazon.com.

You need to understand that these forums are populated with "early adopters." This is industry jargon for the minority of people who learn to use technology before the majority. Technology does not intimidate these people; rather, they are attracted to it. These folks are equivalent to the homesteaders who populated the West. They blaze the trail for the rest of us, and because of that they are indispensable. They should be applauded, and looked to for guidance. But should you follow behind the ones who are building their own Web sites?

Altogether, building and marketing your own site is a lot of work. There are so many different skills to master. Most professional web development companies have specialists: graphic designers, search engine optimizers, marketers, programmers… It takes a lot to master one of these areas, let alone all of them. You don't need to be an expert in everything to pull off a basic Web site, but keep in mind that your site doesn't exist in a vacuum. You must compete for visitors with every real estate site on the web, local and national! Why? All of those sites are one click away from yours! The more expertise you can bring to your Web site, in every area, the stronger your competitive position.

That's why it doesn't make sense for you to spend your time learning to be a Webmaster. Here's my recommendation: Do what you do best, and do what best makes you money. The successful online agents that I know do not want to be tweaking "key word density" or adding "Javascript" to their Web pages. They want to be working leads into prospects and prospects into transactions. That is how they make money. I've had these people tell me directly that they don't want to spend their time on anything other than working with clients, either via email or, eventually, face to face. At a recent Realtors' conference, a top agent proclaimed, to much applause: "We are Realtors, not Webmasters!" Welcome words to all those who are not out there blazing the trail.

If you really want to consider creating your own site, here's the overly simplified reality of what it takes:

1. Learn to use a Web page building program, such as Microsoft Front Page, popular with amateur Webmasters, or something a little more powerful, like Macromedia's Dreamweaver, popular with professional Web designers. You should probably take some courses in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language, used to build Web pages).
2. Find a Web host, a company that will give you some space on their Web server. There will be monthly fees of $20 to $30 per month or more for this. For access to SQL (Structured Query Language) databases and other features, the costs increase substantially. You'll have to decide between UNIX or Microsoft operating systems (if you use Front Page your choice is easy).
3. Work with your Web host to register your domain and get the DNS (Domain Name System) numbers set up properly (your numerical web address). Set up your email client, such as Microsoft's Outlook or Outlook Express, to retrieve email from your new domain. Test and test again!
4. Design your site, typically on your local PC. Create all the graphics. Learn to use Adobe Photoshop or a similar image-editing program. Add content, pictures, and graphics. Make sure the graphics are optimized for the web! Javascript knowledge will probably be a necessity. Learn Flash if you want leading-edge graphics.
5. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or send files (Web pages and graphics) over your phone, cable, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), or LAN (Local Area Network) connection (if you are working from a corporate LAN) to your Web host.
6. Make all the forms work, typically via CGI (Common Gateway Interface). I believe that Front Page automates a lot of this.
7. If you want a listings database, or any sort of dynamic (interactive or changing) features on your site, put on your programmer hat and build some tables, along with the code that retrieves, manipulates, and then displays the data and images that you store in these tables. Here is where your abilities will really be tested!
8. Speaking of testing, before it goes live, you have to check your site to see if it breaks, either in display or function, across different platforms (PCs, Macs…), or in any of the major browsers (basically Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer), including different versions! (Most professionals concentrate on version 4 browsers and up.) Don't skip this step just because your site looks and works okay on your computer!
9. Make the site live and tell everyone. Now the real work begins: Marketing.
10. Optimize the site for search engines. There are many good sites out there, such as SearchEngineWatch.com, that can direct you to sources where you can learn about this. Plan on spending hours every week on optimization. You'll need software like Web Position to track your performance in search engines. Good luck.
11. Submit your site to search engines and directories. (Make sure you understand the difference!) Decide which you are willing to pay to review/include your site. Yahoo is a good choice, but there are a lot of others worth considering too.
12. Investigate online advertising and other promotional possibilities. Local newspaper Web sites might be a good start. You can purchase key words and other forms of advertising at search engines. There are as many types and forms of advertising and marketing on the Web as you can imagine. Much is hype; tread carefully. None of it is cheap, except spam (bulk, unsolicited email), which will do you more harm than good. Don't forget traditional offline advertising as a means of sending visitors to your site! In all cases, each promotional expenditure should increase traffic and thus leads; maybe not instantly, but generally you should have a sense that it is helping. I'd ask every single client you get over the Web how he or she found you!

That's it! You did it. Also, remember to keep up with all the new developments on the Web. If you don't, your site will end up looking dated. Even worse, you could miss out on new ways to leverage the web to generate traffic and leads for your real business: selling real estate.