Why your own real estate software instead of classic content?

Most real estate websites consist of two things: listings and guide articles. The problem: listings become outdated, and texts compete with thousands of similar articles. A small, specialized piece of software, on the other hand — such as a purchase price factor calculator or a capital gains tax calculator — solves a specific task and keeps the user on the site longer.

“A single well-placed calculator typically generates 4 to 6 times the amount of organic traffic of a comparable guide article over 24 months — and attracts backlinks from sources that would never link to a pure blog post: tax advisors, law firms, universities.”

The five strategic advantages

The value of a calculator does not lie in the code itself, but in the combination of user engagement, backlink magnetism, and lead quality. Exactly these dimensions make the difference to classic content — and justify the higher initial effort.

• Engagement Time: Tools keep users engaged for 3–8 minutes — texts on average under 90 seconds.
• Backlinks: Calculators are organically linked because they are citable.
• Lead Quality: Someone who runs a cash flow calculation is a potential buyer — not just a random reader.
• Repeat Effect: Users come back for the calculator, not just for a one-time read article.
• Scalability: A well-built plugin can be cloned for 10 additional topics.

Build vs. Buy: What does custom Real Estate software really cost?

The cost issue is the most common stumbling block. Those who used to pay 15,000 € for a custom plugin can now achieve a fraction of that cost with ChatGPT, a WordPress setup, and a few hours of time. The key is choosing the right path among four options — and having a realistic view of ongoing maintenance costs, which are consistently underestimated in every calculation.

Four Paths to Your Own Real Estate Software

The following overview shows the typical cost ranges, implementation durations, and SEO values of the four most common implementation options — from a standard solution in the marketplace to a custom agency development.

For a single computer — for example, to calculate gross yield or calculate net yield — self-building is almost always worthwhile. For more complex systems (CRM, portal integration, multi-stage evaluation logic according to income value method), a freelancer or agency remains sensible.

Hidden costs — what the maintenance fee really covers

The “100–300 € per year” figure is not arbitrary. It covers specific costs that every tool provider eventually pays — either with money or with their own labor. Whoever ignores this will have a dead plugin in the backend after 18 months.

• WordPress-Core-Updates: Major releases occasionally break the Shortcode API — 1–2 hours of adjustment per year.
• PHP version jumps: Hosting providers enforce PHP 8.x → 8.y every 2–3 years, deprecated functions must be replaced.
• Formula updates due to legal changes: Land transfer tax rates, inheritance tax exemptions, depreciation rates change.
• Security patches: Mandatory for input forms — regularly check for XSS and SQL injection vectors.
• Browser compatibility: Chrome/Safari updates change CSS behavior (Flexbox quirks, input styling).

Step-by-step: Building a WordPress plugin with ChatGPT

The process is straightforward — provided you structure the queries to ChatGPT correctly. Those who prompt without a plan get code deserts in return. Those who think in clear modules have a working plugin within an afternoon. The following workflow has been proven on over 30 productive computers.

Phase 1: Concept and Data Model

Before a single line of code is written, it must be clear: What input fields does the calculator need? What formula is used? What output should the user see?

• Define input: Purchase price, rental income, calculate purchase-related costs, Equity.
• Determine formula: e.g. Gross yield = (Annual net cold rent / purchase price) × 100.
• Plan output: Number, traffic light rating, comparison to market average.
• Consider edge cases: What happens with zero inputs or negative values?

Phase 2: Code Generation with ChatGPT — concrete example

Now ChatGPT comes into play. The key trick: don’t prompt “Write me a plugin,” but module by module. First, shortcode registration, then HTML form, then calculation function, then CSS. Test each module individually. This is what a productive prompt for module 1 looks like:

Prompt example: “Write me the PHP code for a WordPress plugin with the shortcode”[bruttorendite_rechner]. Three input fields: Purchase price (Euro), Annual net cold rent (Euro), Purchase additional costs in percent (Default 12). Formula: Gross yield = (Annual rent / (Purchase price × (1 + additional costs/100))) × 100. Output as rounded number with two decimal places plus traffic light rating: red below 3 %, yellow 3–4.5 %, green above 4.5 %. With validation against empty and negative inputs. Code WordPress-compliant, escaping with esc_attr() and esc_html(). Plugin header included.”

From this single prompt arises a functional skeleton of 60–90 lines. Modules 2–4 (CSS styling, AJAX refresh without reload, FAQ block integration) follow the same pattern. Important: Test locally after each module before prompting the next one — otherwise, follow-up errors occur that ChatGPT overlooks in larger code blocks.

Phase 3: SEO optimization of the tool

A calculator without an SEO framework won’t rank. Therefore, it should include: H1 with keyword, 500–800 words of explanatory text, FAQ, internal linking to related calculators such as Calculate Required Equity, Calculate Notary Fees, or Rental Yield. Enhance with Schema.org markup as `HowTo` or `FAQPage` — this brings rich snippets into the SERP.

Phase 4: Tooling and Test Stack

Anyone building professionally needs a small stack. Practical recommendation: ChatGPT Plus for code quality, local WordPress environment, version control, and a code editor with PHP linting.

• ChatGPT Plus or API: Free version is sufficient for hobby use, but for productivity, Plus or API access with current models is recommended.
• Local Test Environment: Local by Flywheel (Mac/Win) or XAMPP — avoids live crashes.
• Code Editor: VS Code with PHP Intelephense — catches syntax errors before upload.
• Version Control: Git repository (even private) — commit each ChatGPT iteration cleanly.
• Plugin Boilerplate: WPPB.io as a starter template, saves 2–3 hours of setup.

Link building with your own tools: The “Investment” strategy

This is where the real leverage lies. As described in the guide to the market situation when buying real estate, reach is increasingly shifting towards tools and data. Whoever builds a calculator for a niche topic — such as calculating prepayment penalties or calculating the speculation period — becomes the first point of contact for tax advisors, law firm blogs, and comparison portals.

The backlink mechanics in detail

Backlinks don’t happen by chance — they follow clear patterns. Tax or legally relevant calculators are especially frequently linked because they simplify client clarification and save advisors time. Exactly these sources are worth their weight in gold from an SEO perspective.

• Tax advisor blogs: link calculators for complex topics like Inheritance tax calculator according to § 13 ff. ErbStG.
• Law firms: use external tools for client clarification.
• Forums and Reddit: calculators are shared in discussions, texts are rarely linked.
• Comparison portals: list calculator providers — often with a Do-Follow link.
• Universities/colleges: lecturers link practical tools in scripts.

Outreach template that works

“Build a tool and wait” doesn’t work. The first 10–20 backlinks must be actively acquired. The following email template has achieved response rates between 12 and 18 % in its own outreach campaigns — five times higher than generic link requests.

Subject: Free calculator for your contribution to[Thema X]

Dear[Name],

in your

]]> https://lukinski.com/lukinski-kapital-founding-and-running-a-company-podcast-on-spotify-apple-deezer-co/ Wed, 05 Jan 2022 17:21:50 +0000 https://lukinski.de/lukinski-kapital-founding-and-running-a-company-podcast-on-spotify-apple-deezer-co/ Back at last! My podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon, Google and Deezer. Corona is coming to an end and it’s time for you to start your own business! The launch and kickoff. How much does it cost to start a business? What does it take to start a company? Can anyone start a company? How can I start a small company? From the first steps to tax types, legal forms, capital investments…. Here you will learn the basics of company formation and management.

Podcast for business beginners

We had the first virtual humans walk at a fashion show in Europe. We created virtual avatars at the Berlin Fashion Week for the first time worldwide, especially for a fashion brand. We were guests at Business Insider but also at TV stations like RTL.

Step by step.

The same way you build a business.

My vision is not to establish AI overnight, we want to learn about the different possibilities, play with them, we want to use, develop and combine AI.

Example.

Now on Spotify, Google, Deezer, Apple & Co.

Spotify, Google Podcast, Deezer and on Apple Podcast (formerly iTunes).

• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Amazon
• Deezer
• Google

Learn business skills, trading and real estate

Learn about the business world together with me. From absolute basics, like the types of companies, the types of taxes, to more complex topics, for example currency trading, trading cryptocurrencies, but also buying real estate, as an investment.

Why is it so important to understand business types? To understand taxes?

You are the architect of your own happiness.

Nobody but you can control (your explicit) business processes (so) intelligently. Controlling does not mean that you do everything. Controlling means that you act responsibly and delegate tasks. If you are the head of the company, you are the person responsible for its success.

You are the leader.

You don’t need to understand everything in detail, but you do need to understand the context. If you don’t know what your team or outsiders are doing, you can never judge whether a decision is good or bad for you and your company.

Don’t be a specialist, be a generalist.

Examples from practice: An insight

Example: Establish a holding company and secure assets

Let’s look directly at a practical example for your first company, your first startup. Have you ever dealt with the “holding model”? Without going into too much detail, you directly found two companies. More precisely, you found a company and this in turn founds a subsidiary company. The profits of your daughter company are then transferred to the parent company. So if your daughter company gets into trouble at some point, your entrepreneurial assets are secured.

9 out of 10 startups fail – in the first 5 years

Did you know that nine out of ten startups fail in the first five years? Once again, 9 out of 10 startups fail in the first five years. What does that mean for you? Imagine you finish school, vocational training, or college and you start with a few friends, you start your own companies. Even with four friends starting up, statistically each of your friends would have to go broke for you to survive as an entrepreneur.

Everyone has to go broke except you – statistically.

This reality check quickly makes young entrepreneurs realize how difficult the entrepreneurial game will be. Accordingly, it is important that you prepare yourself for the challenges.

Never see problems again, but solutions

The fact that you are listening to this podcast is a very good sign that you are interested in the right topics!

Establish a company: Quick and easy

Starting a company is pretty simple. All you need is a little start-up capital, maybe 1000 euros, an appointment with the notary and – simply put – you’re ready to go. You don’t even need the 1000 Euro starting capital, for example if you start your own business, as a businessman or businesswoman. Then 30 Euros, an identity card and an appointment at the Bürgeramt or Gewerbeamt are enough.

You only need start-up capital if your company is to be a “legal entity”. This means, for example, a UG, Unternehmergesellschaft, which later becomes a GmbH, a limited liability company. The big advantage of a legal entity is that you are not liable yourself. At least not in the usual, entrepreneurial activities.

Comparison offer: profit in purchasing

Another basic tip, even if it sounds very simple, always get different comparison quotes. Let’s say you want to build an online store for the products you want to sell in the future. The first online marketing agency will make you an offer of 80,000 euros, the second marketing agency an offer of 170,000 euros and the third marketing agency an offer for only 50,000 euros, with the same scope of services.

Obtaining three different offers alone directly saved 30,000 euros.

From saving, you learn to become rich.

As an entrepreneur, it is always a matter of knowing your options, testing them and playing your cards. No matter whether it is about the company formation, as in our example of the holding structure or the simple obtaining of various comparative offers to save money already in the purchase.

By the way. A very important tip:

In the purchase lies the profit!

Tax structuring = additional wealth creation

Later, when you have a turnover of a few hundred thousand or even millions, tax planning becomes an increasingly important issue for you. Of course you can now say, I’ll get a good tax advisor, I’ll get a financial specialist, but do they really do a good job? Highly paid you notice their mistakes only when you lose money after months or realize after years that millions have become only a few euros. If you don’t know anything about taxes, you won’t be able to oversee their work and therefore won’t be able to judge whether a decision is good or bad for you and your brand.

Income tax (self-employed) or profit in the company

An example from the later tax types. If you are self-employed, alone and without a UG or GmbH, you pay income tax. From an annual income of ~ 9,400 euros, the initial tax rate is 14%. The top tax rate for income from ~ 57,000 euros is then already 42%. You reach this tax rate with a monthly income of 4750 euros.

If you make money work for you, you only pay 25% capital gains tax. Above a certain income, you are almost forced to think about tax planning.

Together we take a look at the types of taxes but also real estate as an investment. Because what do all people have in common when they grow old and wealthy? Real estate. That’s exactly why we will also frequently deal with the topic of real estate as a capital investment.

Real estate as an investment

Real estate as an investment means that you buy a property to rent it out afterwards. The big advantage, if the real estate yield is right, which you will learn later, your tenant pays off your property. So to speak, passive capital accumulation.

Passive wealth accumulation: Financial freedom

Passive wealth creation? Passive income? Exactly now the alarm bells ring at the latest with many, the passive income, financial freedom, exactly that want many!

To be financially free, you need to be financially successful. If you don’t happen to have a million-dollar inheritance waiting for you, the only thing you can do is play the lottery or work hard.

Learn the path to entrepreneurship step by step in my podcast.

Once you understand the subject matter and have gathered knowledge through this podcast, but also through other sources of information, it’s also about marketing. Specifically, performance marketing. If you understand how to build reach and how to convert that reach into customers, then all avenues are open to you. The world is becoming more digital, learn to work with that and play that as your strength, your unfair advantage.

That was Lukinski Capital. The first episode and the prelude to the special: Taxes in Germany.

Now on Spotify, Google, Deezer, Apple & Co.

Spotify, Google Podcast, Deezer and on Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes).

• Spotify
• Apple Podcast
• Amazon
• Deezer
• Google

]]> https://lukinski.com/first-real-estate-portal-virtual-realtor-digital-human-marketing-technology/ Fri, 19 Mar 2021 17:19:24 +0000 https://lukinski.de/?p=38710 Real estate portal with virtual realtor – In Israel the first real estate portal uses a virtual avatar (digital human) for the presentation of houses and apartments. Tips on choosing the right professional: estate agent guide. A new tool for realtors and portals in the marketing of real estate and especially in addressing young, very digital target groups. Innovations in marketing, a look at the project and a few other interesting aspects in the real estate industry, for example 3D printing for houses. Real estate, marketing, technologies.

Virtual realtor: Real estates 4.0

When you ask architects, builders and other people in the real estate industry what inspires them, it is usually the future. Future, is the change of reality and always brings different aspects.

While the world of real estate keeps turning over the years, buildings become more modern, require less energy, create different cityscapes, the presentation of real estate has often remained at a standstill, in the classic real estate exposé.

Future architecture: just one example from Berlin

To stay in the example of architecture, architectural firms such as Graft in Berlin show how to design modern buildings for future-oriented cities. Urban development that is no longer expressed in the typical, boring facades, but in elements, shapes and materials that bring completely new visual hotspots to the city architecture.

For example, if you look at the villas built by the architects in Berlin, for example in Grunewald, you can see this unique architecture from hundreds of meters. As well as the “Villa M”, a cube made of ceramic plates, each one unique. From the outside, the entire architecture is reminiscent of a giant erratic block. A true one-of-a-kind, as is the outer ceramic casing. In all of Berlin Grunewald, a unique object. Such pioneers are needed so that new ideas can emerge.

But pioneers do not only exist in architecture. There is now also the first real estate portal, with virtual avatar “Ella”, for presentation.

Change in presentation: virtual exposé

What if you could present any property, without an extra visit to the site, moderated? Be possible in 2021!

Digital avatars present real estate

First, what is a digital avatar? Digitalization is on the rise. In architecture, as described above, in building technology and also in presentation. So virtual, digital people are taking over presentation and moderation.

Especially for supra-regional realtors, who have properties not only in their own area, but in other cities, states or even countries, the presentation of a property involves a relatively large amount of effort. Travel must be organized, not only for the realtor himself, but also for the potential buyer, in the further step.

• Model agency: Ella (VR)

With this new technology, the entire laborious process can be skipped, the property is presented by a digital avatar.

Example: Real estate portal with digital presentation

Pictures say more than a thousand words, so here is a small video:

Source: GetKey

Here, for the very first time in the world, a virtual avatar presents a property. Absolute top performance! Here technology combines with one of the largest economic sectors of this planet, the real estate industry.

Program code & CGI design: making ideas real

Digital avatars are animated from program code, partially post-processed with CGI design. This is how ideas are turned into reality, virtual persons who can then travel to places, talk about topics and much more.

In fact, we are thus only at the beginning of the journey in the real estate industry.

XXL precast factories and 3D printers

XXL Prefabrication Factories – Today, the first factories are being developed to develop entire prefabricated parts for high-rise buildings, for entire housing developments, not just the individual prefabricated house.

3D Printers – 3D printers are now shaping houses so that building materials no longer need to be purchased at great expense, everything comes easily and quickly from 3D printing. Here’s a short video demonstrating how a 3D printer builds a house in no time.

Just as construction companies, developers and the building industry are changing, so will the marketing of real estate, in the wake of digitalization.

Presentation of house & apartment through videos: Supraregional

Until now, real estate exposés were preferred by almost everyone. No between technology of presentation he has really prevailed, for example, 360 ° house tours. Why? It lacks the human element, someone to guide through the property.

Of course, as a real estate realtor, you could cover the presentation with a video, so prospective buyers see the property before visiting (just from photos). But this has two disadvantages. Either you have to moderate yourself, that is also be on site, or someone else has to do it and convey the same spirit, the same still know how, as the real estate realtor. Another disadvantage, the language. Do you know Israeli? Spanish? French?

In short, the presentation of the property has different factors, from location to languages. So, as soon as properties need to reach a national or international audience rather than just a regional one, the effort of presentation increases.

Lure new target groups: Marketing tool for real estate realtors / portals

Just as in the entire economy, the real estate industry is also about supply and demand. The new generation of future real estate owners, by purchase or inheritance, has grown up with the Internet. They jump on other carriers (trigger factor).

Therefore, new concepts are needed, also in real estate marketing. On the one hand in the marketing of condominiums, which are sold individually to private persons, for example over real estate portals, just as with the sales of luxury real estates, which are now times more difficult over a badly made Immobilienexposé, as PDF to sell.

If you also want to show innovation, you can’t avoid new marketing strategies. Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) gave the Internet only a few years in the beginning. Today, more than 20 years later, many real estate realtors, realtor offices and real estate portals are using social networks such as Facebook and Instagram (Social Marketing [external]).

Strategy: Reaching Generation Z

In Israel, a new project has now been launched that has never been seen before in the world. The above already to see in the example video, real estate are presented by “Ella” here.

Source: GetKey

Voice use in technology – Putting digital people in commercials, breathing emotion into them, a really difficult job. The next stage was now to integrate speech, so that Ella becomes a multi speech talent. As seen in example video (above), for example in Hebrew. This way, Israeli customers are specifically adressed on the website.

]]> https://lukinski.com/fashion-show-new-karl-lagerfeld-virtual-reality-world-premiere/ Tue, 19 Jan 2021 18:21:06 +0000 https://lukinski.de/?p=33585 How do I become the new Karl Lagerfeld? I loved him! With my model agency I even got to work with the brand Lagerfeld 2, 3 times in the last few years. I myself love fashion weeks and organize shows myself. Strike 1: The final show of Berlin Fashion Week ’19. Today came Strike 2: The first fashion show with virtual reality models. Future, Made in the EU.

“How Beautiful” by MarcCain (VR Fashion Show)

The world’s first virtual fashion show – In 2021, virtual humans will be seen on the runway for the first time. That day is today. Pictures speak louder than 1,000 words. Here is the world’s first fashion show with digital models. Created by MarcCain; Digital Models by CM Models / Zoe 101. Read more about virtual influencers (social media agency) here.

Many thanks to MarcCain. Now is the time to go shopping everyone! New outfits and collections are out now on MarcCain!

]]> https://lukinski.com/web-design-real-estate-agents-how-to-get-the-best-real-estate-website-advisor/ Fri, 11 Dec 2020 11:47:13 +0000 https://lukinski.de/web-design-real-estate-agents-how-to-get-the-best-real-estate-website-advisor/ How is a website made? What do you have to consider when booking an advertising agency for your own website? What is the price and cost of a website? How important is the design in relation to search engine optimization? We can help you as a real estate agent! Today we want to go into great detail about what an advertising agency does and what you as a real estate agent need to look for when commissioning a website. If you don’t want to look far, here’s our recommendation for their real estate web design: advertising agency.

Real estate agent website

Reading tip: Advertising agency real estate

Who works in the field of real estate listings, which must pay much more attention than usual to a high degree of seriousness. Seriousness not only plays a major role in the mediation of real estate, it is the figurehead. Finally, one invests as a tenant, especially of course as a buyer, relatively high amounts in relation to their own saved or income. Therefore one wants to be able to rely as prospective customers naturally from second one on on-line offer. The serious look of the advertising agency will therefore decide whether interested parties contact you or not.

Challenge technical quality and seriousness

Reference projects are so important for an advertising agency. The more references, or the more successful reference clients the company has, the more experience and expertise the advertising agency can also bring to your project. Therefore, you should ask for key figures that prove the success of previous projects.

However, an advertising agency should not only tell you about the successes, risks are also an important topic when it comes to investing in your own online media. Not all online media are suitable for every company, the selection, that is the media mix, also ensures success. Another factor is the planning, in which time frames does the agency calculate? Compare several offers and you will be able to identify your favourite more easily on the basis of the different coverings. Last but not least, you always need a concrete objective. Therefore, you should determine so-called KPIs together with the agency. KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator, which means key factors for success. This includes, for example, the number of unique visits to your website, which are the individual visitors, e.g. per month, or the impressions in the search engine, do the rankings increase and show?

Let’s summarize, this is what an advertising agency should be able to present:

• List of reference customers or reference projects
• Key figures of success
• Honest assessment of risks
• Timetable and roadmap
• KPI, Key Performance Indicators

How is a website created?

When it comes to websites, many people think of a uniform product, the family home, so to speak. However, websites and real estate differ from each other. From the so-called landing page, a quickly built prefabricated house, to the massive property, with detailed block and its own wiki on the subject of real estate.

Concept and strategy: graphic design to online marketing

Basically, the website always starts with the concept and the strategy. Here, the advertising agency looks at exactly what your real estate agency provides services for your customers. From property management to shell construction to real estate agency. The construction industry is extremely diverse and many agents are not only active in brokerage but also in buying, selling, new construction or renovation. Some larger real estate companies also have their own subcontractors, e.g. services such as janitorial or the property management just mentioned. Some sides are thus smaller, describe e.g. only the brokerage, other sides bring in also various other aspects and firm components. They advertising agency takes up all these information and bundles them in a short and conclusive concept from, which can be opened the final strategy. In the further it concerns the organization of the Internet side.

The design of the website takes place in close consultation with you. At the beginning, all variables are summarized and clearly determined. From the exact size of the logo to the color scheme of the website. Of course, components also play a role, for example, contact forms or forms to house evaluation. All this is determined in the first screen design, as it is called in the technical language. As soon as you as a customer approve the first layout of the web design, it goes to the elaboration of the Internet page.

Content management system

After the layout, the content management system, CMS for short, is now set up. The best currently available content management system for your needs is WordPress. The open source software is completely free of charge and is thus not associated with monthly costs. Nevertheless, it is the world’s largest system and thus offers 100% flexibility if you want to expand your internet site. For example, you can build your own real estate portal for brokering properties, here brokers but also customers can pay directly with credit card or PayPal. You can offer your own books, but you can also have your own real estate listings enhanced by a very accurate search filter. Thousands of possibilities you have with your own content management system.

The advertising agency takes care of the construction and setup of the website. Next, the content is planned. Basically, the website always starts with the concept and the strategy. Here the advertising agency considers exactly which your real estate agency at the achievements and services for your customers furnishes. From the house management over the carcass up to the broker’s office. The contents of an Internet side differ extremely, depending upon how exactly you would like to work in the search machine optimization. For the real estate sector, however, it is worth investing in search engine optimization, because high profits can be made here, once you make it to page 1 of search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex or others, a lot of people visit you sustainably, every day. Once you manage to attract 500 or 1,000 visitors a day to your website, compare that to a local real estate agency. 500 to 1,000 visitors a day. Wouldn’t that be powerful? This is exactly why large real estate companies invest in their own internet sites. We also recommend for you, if you work locally and regionally, to invest in your own website with local search engine optimization.

Opportunities and advantages for your brokerage office

The own Internet site brings extremely many advantages in the competition, because it is not only a modern visiting card, it brings buyers, tenants and salesmen to your office. No matter which area of real estate you specialize in, the shell, renovation, sale, rental or even the classic brokerage business, for any form of business your own website is profitable. The investments, which are needed for the structure of the one Internet side, play themselves in the course of the time fast again in. Especially for high-priced business models the own website is profitable for gaining customers and interested parties.

The big secret behind success, good web design and search engine optimization. We also want to enter both points in this article on web design for real estate agents.

The advantages of having your own website at a glance:

• Modern business card and competitive advantage
• Permanent visitor source for buyers, sellers and tenants
• Always and everywhere retrievable
• Retrieval from computer, notebook, tablet or smartphone
• Interested parties have access to information even if you do not know it
• Placement of current offers

These are the most important details you should consider when booking an advertising agency. Now let’s take a look at all the services in detail.

• What does web design mean?
• What does Responsive Design mean and what advantages does it bring?
• What does content management mean?
• What is WordPress?
• What does search engine optimization mean?

All services at a glance.

Webdesign design of the website

Although performance factors in particular speak for the success of a website, the design, i.e. the graphic design, is of course usually important for the client. While websites in the first ten or fifteen years still contained many design elements, websites today have a very minimal structure. Why is that? With the increasing number of end devices and thus also different formats of screens, the science can be tuned less and less. In the past, a design had to be made for one screen, the computer. Today there are smartphones with 4K screen, 05many still use older models, whose pixel count is only on 10%. In addition, there are tablets, notebooks, smart TVs and many other end devices, e.g. also smartwatches, which offer more and more power and bring more security, also for accessing the Internet, into everyday life, directly on the wrist. Due to the many end devices, websites are built very functionally today. Nevertheless, the corporate design, e.g. the color scheme or the shapes, whether square, circle or triangle, plays a role in the design.

When it comes to design, however, the advertising agency is also concerned with the usability factor. Usability is an indicator for the user-friendliness of a website. Simply put, how many steps do your customers need until they reach their destination? Is it just a single click or does the visitor have to navigate through a multitude of pages? Can they find the right offers quickly and easily or are they hidden in a complicated way? This usability raises the performance of your website, in terms of satisfied visitors but also in search engine rankings.

• Minimal design due to the many end devices, from smartphone to 4K Smart TV in the living room.
• Functional design, more on this in the Responsive Design section.
• Usability as a success factor
• Relevance for search engine placement

Brand identity and corporate design

After the basics of functional design and usability have been discussed, we move on to the integration of your own brand identity or corporate design. Corporate design stands for a uniform appearance that allows prospects and customers to quickly recognize the own brand or project. Corporate design includes aspects such as colouring but also shapes, fonts and spacing. Everything that has to do with the design of media. Media does not only have to be digital, corporate design also exists for the printed company car. Where is the logo placed? At what height? And what about other car models?

The own brand identity plays a role in many aspects, from the outdoor advertising on the business premises, to the company car to the own website. Therefore, the advertising agency should of course also discuss and consider this aspect. After all, your identity is what makes you stand out to your customers. From your philosophy to your external image. So give the visitor a familiar feeling when he visits your new website.

Tip from our editorial team: Send the advertising agency a flyer, a brochure or a link to an existing website with the first briefing. So the agency can look directly at the current graphic design. Because not always an Internet side must be set up completely again, on it goes also only around modern Re Design.

Redesign

If you had your website programmed in 1995 or in the year 2000, you are of course completely outdated nowadays. At that time there was still screen resolution in the offices from 800 to 600 pixels. Who had a high-end device, which came already times on 1024 pixels. Today, smartphones already have 4k resolution, with almost 4000 pixels wide. In addition, there is no longer just the classic landscape screen, devices are rotated, screens are split, a website must adapt dynamically to every situation.

Therefore, many real estate companies have their website revised after a certain time. As a rule, it is advisable to have a constant companion on the subject of homepage and maintenance anyway. Because if you let your website lie fallow for years, you will lose valuable visitors who can ultimately be sellers of houses or buyers of houses and condominiums.

Re-design involves transferring the aforementioned aspects of corporate design into new systems. The most popular nowadays is WordPress. We come to this directly after the topic of Responsive Design.

Responsive Design

What is Responsive Design? As we have already mentioned above, the number of devices has multiplied extremely. Designs, i.e. the graphic design of a website, must be dynamically adapted accordingly.

When developing websites, advertising agencies therefore make sure that all elements are packaged in such a way that they can be accessed from all possible end devices. This is not only about the basic different end devices, also the models differ from each other. Just consider the Apple iPhone. Currently, the following models are commonly used:

• IPhone 6
• IPhone 7
• …
• IPhone X

Each terminal has its own screen format, not only each iPhone, of course, each tablet of the company, notebooks, computers. Then there is the fact that Apple does not even have the largest market share, currently leading is Samsung. Immediately, ten more models are added. This large variety of devices must take into account their advertising agency, and therefore in the first conversation should also talk about the topic of Responsive Design.

That’s going to be expensive! Fortunately, the costs are kept within limits, because advertising agencies resort to content management systems that already bring a large part of these functionalities with them. So your website doesn’t have to be developed completely from scratch, the foundation of the house, if you will, is delivered ready to go. So let’s take a look at content management systems and the most popular CMS, WordPress.

WordPress CMS Content Management System

Before we get into this topic, don’t worry, you as a real estate agent don’t have to deal with this on a day to day basis! We wanted to give you an overview, what is a content management system? After all, it is your foundation, for your modern business card to your own real estate portal.

Content management systems stand for dynamically generated content. Explaining it simply, in the past every single page of a homepage had to be programmed by the developer, using HTML and CSS. So every single blog post had to be written in a single HTML file. When there are changes, this HTML file has to be opened, edited and saved again one by one. Additionally, all other files have to be changed, e.g. if the link to the HTML file changes. A lot of effort!

With the possibilities of Web 2.0 came content management systems. Basically, all content is now no longer written in individual files but in a common, large database. Depending on what information the user wants, the page is created based on this database, e.g. a search form in your website. The user is interested in condominiums in Berlin, our system looks into the database and retrieves all entries on the subject of condominiums in Berlin. The search results are then dynamically compiled results from the database. The advantage: structure and content are now separated. The structure is HTML and CSS is the basis. HTML determines the individual elements, e.g. the upper area in the header, then comes the text, then comes a footer, e.g. with our contact details. CSS determines the design, e.g. whether the header is blue, green or white. It also determines the shape of the font, the width but also its color. This is how you build the interface of the website and the content, blog posts, search results or even real estate listings are then retrieved individually from the database and displayed within the specified places.

This is the basis on which 99% of websites currently function. Therefore, it is important to know the basics of the functionalities. So that you do not have to deal with such details in everyday life, but can fully concentrate on your real estate business, it is recommended to book a good advertising agency:

• Advertising agency real estate

Homepage maintenance and updates

The support includes not only the setup and installation of the website but of course also the maintenance and updates. From simple changes, which then affect your design, e.g. if an extension has been further developed, to attacks by hackers, who specifically look for vulnerabilities in outdated scripts. To eliminate all these vulnerabilities, your ad agency should not only take care of the one-time creation and setup, but also maintenance and updates. This includes not only the prevention from attacks, of course also the creation of backups, backup copies of your website.

To avoid falling into a cost trap, bring up the point of maintenance and updates early in the conversation. Imagine that the advertising agency of your choice ultimately does not offer the service and you have to switch to a third-party provider who then smells big business, after all, you need someone to take care of the job. Basically though, it’s not just about the content management system, it’s also about the domain and hosting.

Domain and hosting

What is a domain? In the meantime, there are no longer only the classic domains, e.g. ‘.de’ or ‘.com’, but a multitude of domains, e.g. also ‘.one’ and yes, even ‘.real estate’. In the meantime a whole jungle of domains has opened up, the competent and serious advice of an advertising agency is therefore worth a lot. Not only when choosing your own domain but also when finding a name. The older the domain, the more complicated is the name finding, because most of them have been sold over the decades, of course. Now there is the possibility to buy an older domain, for expensive money or to have a creative advertising agency that finds solutions, even for the old and competitive domains.

Do domains matter in search engine optimization? Yes! There is even a separate term for good domains, so-called keyword domains. A so-called keyword domain deals with what they do. For a social media agency, for example, this would be ‘socialmediaone.co.uk’. Here, the activity is directly linked to the agency name. Even better would be just ‘socialmediaagentur.co.uk’. Therefore, you should also try to have the word real estate or the word broker in your domain. This makes it easier for search engines but also for users to recognize what it is about and this will be noticeable in your successes.

You can make many mistakes when hosting domains and URLs. Even if it is ultimately only peanuts per month, some costs accumulate over the years.

50 € a month? Too much! When it comes to hosting and hosting providers, we trust our advertising agency and can recommend this article on the subject:

• Cheap hosting

Here you will not only learn how to book your webspace with the cheapest provider, the provider also offers German quality, with German data protection rules and of course server location in Germany. This in turn plays a role for the speed, the so-called pagespeed. In short, the faster a page loads, the better it will rank if the rest of the content is right. If domains are parked in the USA, but your visitors are mainly from Germany, all data packets have to be retrieved from the USA every time. Despite fiber optic cables, it costs a few seconds of time if, for example, images are still being loaded. Valuable fractions of a second, which ultimately plays into the hands of the competition with servers from Germany. So that they do not have to make a complete change of provider later, you should trust a good hosting provider right at the beginning.

Should it be something more than a real estate agent site? If you want to build your own real estate portal that contains listings from different districts, cities, then you need accordingly adapted content management systems but also hosting.

Advertisements for house and apartment

Depending on how many listings you want to present on your real estate website, it is a smaller or larger system. If you have less than 100 listings, the management is not a big task. However, if the number of your advertisements develops in the direction of 500, 1000, you will need something more.

Should you now consider booking an advertising agency, then this should be one of your most important aspects, already at the first briefing, or the first e-mail or the first phone call. Because the development of such a system requires much more time, which of course must also be planned in advance. Therefore, remember to estimate already at the beginning the development of your own website, in the next one, two or even three years. This will allow you to develop the system accordingly right at the beginning, or develop it in a certain direction, so that the extensions can be added later.

Search engine optimisation for estate agents & real estate: being found

Search engine optimization is the big sticking point for all websites! Page 1 on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGogo and many other search engine providers is comparable to the most popular shopping street in the big city. Everyone wants to be placed here, here walk the large crowds of visitors, tourists, constantly new people.

That’s the big secret of page 1, investing in ads brings one time visitors, if you want more visitors, you need to spend more money on advertising. Investing an internet site of your own, is a lasting investment, because once you make it to the top, you have to get past it. So if you create a great system with which you make it to page 1 for important keywords, for example property sell Frankfurt, then you have sustainably created something that must first be surpassed by your competition. Until your competition delivers a better offer, the search engine will give you preferential treatment.

With a little luck, this can be not only over months, but also over years and sometimes even decades. Nowadays, on page 1, there are sometimes still websites that were programmed in 1998. For certain topics, no one has ever created something new and greater. As long as no one provides a better source of information, the old page stays on top. If you now have not only one good keyword but maybe even 1000 good keywords, chances are that you will collect visitors for a long time, every hour, every day, every week and every month. Then so to speak, quasi for free, because your investment has already been made.

So that pages generally remain strong and of course also collect new keywords, so that they get even more visitors, so that even more interested parties, tenants, buyers or sellers, the constant care is important. The constant care is in relation to the structure, however, very uncomplicated, content is constantly supplemented, small optimizations are made to the design, keyword usability from the beginning. A website is like a real estate, the foundation, the construction, especially with new construction, requires a lot of work. If the house once stands, it is but mostly still beauty corrections to increase the value.

Just like in home building, there are two areas on websites. On the one hand, there is onpage optimization, which is, so to speak, all the changes you make to your property, and on the other hand, there is offpage optimization, which is, for example, all PR actions to make your property known. We just want to tell you briefly what it’s all about.

Onpage optimization on your website

Onpage optimization of internet pages deals with all the work that is done on one’s own internet page. This includes regular content, which is published in previously calculated length, to exactly certain keywords. In addition, there are various improvements, for example in pagespeed. As mentioned before, the faster an internet site loads, the better it is rated by search engines but also by users. The risk of users bouncing or search engines not ranking us well is low. Further it goes with design and usability, does the visitor feel comfortable and does he find the right offer fast and easy? Many aspects that ultimately result in a great overall concept, the constant and permanent onpage optimization, which must be considered at the beginning of the development of a website.

For the optimization one uses software, which can be different products, from free and free software, which is offered for example by Google itself, the so-called Google Analytics and the Google Search Console, up to software which is used in the market, e.g. Xovi. With these software products, editorial plans are created, from which the individual work steps are derived. From new content to the optimization of existing content, from extensions to changes in the design and so on.

Offpage optimization through link building

The offpage optimization includes all external steps that promote the success of the own website. A large part of this work is the so-called link building. Linkbuilding can be explained quite simply, imagine a bar, someone walks in the door and no one talks about him or her. Accordingly, no patron is going to reach out to him or her. If you specifically have two or three people pointing to you as you enter, for example by pointing or whispering and looking in their direction, you will draw the attention of other patrons. The classic public relations! You have a new product? Your PR agency places it in magazines, the more magazines talk about you, the more will take notice of you. It’s the same on the Internet!

On the Internet there are many blogs, for example, blogs that deal with the topic of crafts, decoration or even more specifically with the topic of making money with real estate. On all these blogs, you can usually buy so-called advertorials. These are paid blog posts that talk about a topic of your choice, you will be linked. If the craftsman blog reports, for example, on the topic of reputable real estate agents and refers to your website, very many users will follow this recommendation and visit your website. Through this targeted link building, the amount of referrals increases and so does the amount of clicks that occur because of this referral marketing.

Such and other off page optimization is also the focus of an advertising agency when it comes to search engine optimization.

Frequently asked questions and answers

Finally, we wanted to share a few common questions and answers lists that are often asked in regards to marketing real estate, especially if you are entering the agency world for the first time. When it comes to the differences in agency work, many ask the question, who does what? Our overview on the topic of advertising agencies:

What do you do in an advertising agency?

Advertising agencies are the full-service partner, they take care of both the very basic issues, such as corporate design but also simple forms, stationery, up to extensive websites. Their work also includes everything to do with marketing and public relations. If you turn to an advertising agency, you can and should expect them to take care of all your media and communication needs.

What is a marketing agency?

Marketing agencies specialize in sales. From the product to the price, packaging but also distribution channels, or promotion. When you turn to a marketing agency, then with the goal of optimizing your product and sales channels.

There are also different categories among the marketing agencies. On the one hand, the classic print marketing agencies, as well as sales agencies, e.g. for telephone acquisition and marketing campaigns, up to modern online marketing and of course social media marketing agencies. The higher the degree of specialization, the more precise the focus on a particular strategy. Depending on the company, it is recommended to either use a specialized agency, or a general active one. For example, if they want to increase sales through Facebook ads, they should go straight for a social media marketing agency. If they are undecided about which forms of marketing is best for you, you should contact a general online marketing agency, which will show you the various advantages and disadvantages of each way.

What do you do in a PR agency?

PR agencies are also a more accurate form of marketing agency. Public relations is the channel that helps products gain notoriety. Public relations means publicity that really bears fruit only when mentioned regularly. This means your brand or company needs to be placed in various relevant media outlets more frequently. For the regional estate agent, this can be the daily newspaper that is on your breakfast table on Sunday mornings, as well as the fashion magazine in which you can place articles as a luxury estate agent. However, the work of a PR agency goes even further, e.g. it ensures positive mentions for the right people, e.g. at events, through invitations or also through the event. PR agencies ensure that the own brand or product is in the right light and becomes better known.

So PR agencies ostensibly have the purpose of brand awareness, not sales. If they want to sell, you should turn to a marketing agency, because they also consider the sales channel, not just the channel of awareness.

How many agencies are there in Germany?

In Germany there are actually over 10,000 agencies from the field of advertising, marketing and PR. So the choice is huge and a recommendation that has so much value.

What is online marketing?

Online marketing in its special form deals with the marketing of products and services via digital channels. The concepts are extremely different. From funnel marketing that collects interested parties and visitors through targeted channels, to ad management on Google, to the placement of ads on other sites. Online marketing sets itself the goal of using digital media as a sales structure. This creates great advantages for customers, because unlike marketing methods that take place offline, the individual paths can be reconstructed very well. This means that you end up with extremely accurate sales figures. Each individual campaign or advertising action can be evaluated in the exact percentage range. So you don’t just hang a poster in the city centre and hope that it will generate more sales. You know exactly which person, based on which channel, ultimately made which purchase or not. This precise tracing of an individual channel allows extremely accurate conclusions to be drawn when data is collected. From this you optimize the individual campaigns and advertisements. This results in more sales. This is exactly the job of an online marketing agency. Digital sales and constant optimization of the sales channels.

What is SEO and SEA?

SEO means search engine optimization, this part deals with the work on your own website. The optimization of individual pages, blog posts or even real estate listings, up to improving the page load time and of course the basic structure.

SEA means search engine analysis, in this discipline you look at the developments of your own website in the search engines. How were the individual pages and blog posts ranked? What changes have there been since the previous month? What measures can be taken to improve the ranking even further? This is what search engine analysis is all about.

Tip. Real estate exposé with drone (recommendation)

What enhances a real estate exposé? Pictures say more than a thousand words and drones deliver the most beautiful pictures or videos that you can wish for as a real estate seller.

Buy a lightweight, fast and good drone with camera cheap online? Before buying a drone for photo and video shooting, you should definitely read reviews. Because, there are many drones in the market, but which one is really good in comparison? We have had in our years many drones in our offices and this, is our absolute favorite: Perfect images, easy to use and a drone under 1,000 euros, including all accessories, from propellers to hard case for the road. This is the ideal way to showcase houses, villas and land for the next real estate exposé. With the DJI Mini 2 drone videos or drone footage are created so quickly that you have learned the entire shoot around flight and production in one day.

• DJI Mini 2: Experiences

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