Real Estate Web Hosting - Don't Overpay!

© 2010, Brandon Cornett. All rights reserved.

Today, I was using KeywordDiscovery.com to see what kinds of "real estate website" phrases get searched the most through the major search engines like Google. I was surprised to find that "real estate web hosting" (and the longer version, "real estate web site hosting") are two of the most commonly searched phrases in this area.

This could mean two things -- either (A) these web hosting companies are checking their rankings so often that it has inflated the volume of that search phrase, or (B) real estate agents are genuinely searching for real estate web hosting.

You Don't Need a "Real Estate Web Hosting" Company
Here's what I want you to take away from this blog post. Web hosting is a straightforward service that should not require much thought on your part. You can get web hosting for less than $10 per month. As a long-time customer, I only pay about $6 per month for hosting of my real estate websites.

Some companies bill themselves as "real estate web hosting experts," which really doesn't make any sense. Web hosting is web hosting ... it doesn't matter if you have a real estate website, a mortgage website, or a website about basket-weaving. All a hosting company does is host your files on a server so they may be called up whenever somebody's web browser requests the files (by typing your web address or clicking a link to your site).

So if you are paying more than $10 per month because a company claims to specialize in real estate web site hosting, you are probably paying too much.

Real Estate Web Development
Now of course, there are companies that legitimately specialize in real estate website development. Perhaps they're intimately familiar with implementing IDX, MLS and similar real-estate-specific data tools. But again, they should not charge you a lot for hosting, and if they do you're being had.

Some web development companies will tell you that they need to host your real estate website on their servers because your website requires special features. This too is bogus. A legitimate web development firm will let you host your real estate website anywhere you want ... they won't trap you into their overpriced hosting plan, or claim to be "real estate web hosting" specialists.

Web hosting should be simple, straightforward and affordable. If you find yourself paying an arm and a leg for "real estate web site hosting" ... you may want to start asking questions.

Learn more about websites and web hosting.

~Brandon