The first step in creating your own professional looking single property is getting a hosting plan.
And these days, buying a website hosting package and setting up your own single property websites is easy.
Even if you’ve never done it before.
But let’s face it, as soon as you start talking about “hosting” people start picturing miles of servers in a giant warehouse and think you’re talking about something that’s highly technical and intimidating.
The truth is, if you can send an email, you have all the technical skills required to host and set up your own professional looking single property websites.
Why you should create your own single property websites
Learning how to host and create your own single property websites gives you more control over your content and saves you money in the long run.
And once you get the hang of things, you can have a new single property website up and running in about 20 minutes.
The ability to manage, update and control your own online content and marketing is becoming a critical skill for real estate agents looking to leverage the web and grow their business.
What is Website Hosting?
Sometimes people get confused about the difference between website domain names and website hosting. For example, I know real estate agents who’ve purchased a $9 domain name with an $80 hosting package when all they needed was the domain.
Domain names are simply the URL or the “www” part of your website that you type into the top of your browser. Think of them as your “street address” on the internet. Every new .com domain name or “street address” you want to register will cost you around about $9 or $10. I recommend Namecheap or Godaddy for registering domain names.
Website hosting refers to space on a server. This is the “computer” where all your website content is saved and stored. Think of hosting as your “house” and your content as the “furniture”. The bigger the house and the more furniture you have, the more space you need on the server.
Hosting companies own a bunch of servers and by purchasing space on one of them you get a home for your website.
Why I recommend Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the largest and most reputable hosting companies online. They’ve been around since 1996 which is a long time when you’re talking internet years.
This, combined with the fact that they currently host over 1 million domains means you won’t run the risk of them going out of business on you.
Unlimited domains
From a single property website standpoint, the best feature that Bluehost’s basic hosting package includes is the ability to host unlimited domains. In other words, other than buying a new domain name, you won’t have to pay every time you want to add a new single property website to your Bluehost account.
Once you’re set up with Bluehost, you can create an unlimited amount of single property websites on your basic hosting package at no extra charge.
Ease of use
As the video above shows, signing up for a new Bluehost account is easy.
And as you’ll see in the future tutorials, once you get your bearings, you can install a new single property website in about 10 minutes.
Bluehost comes with easy to use “one-click” installion software for popular website platforms like Wordpress so you don’t have to do any confusing technical acrobatics.
Contact and Support
I’ve been using Bluehost for three years now and in that time have had to call them on a few occasions for support. Each time they provided friendly and prompt service and had no problem patiently answering my questions and walking me through things.
Affordability
As far as shared hosting plans go, Bluehost offers some of the best value on the web. For $6.95 a month you’ll get:
- a free domain name forever
- hosting for unlimited domains
- unlimited hosting space
- 24/7 customer support
After that, the only costs you’ll face in the future from a single property website standpoint will come from buying new domain names.
When you consider what the average single property website provider charges for a new listing, your going to be saving a bundle in the long run.
So far Bluehost hasn’t let me down from both a performance and support standpoint and that’s why when I get asked to recommend hosting, I happy promote them as an affiliate. Seriously, I think you’ll get a lot of value out of learning how to host and create your own single property websites with Bluehost.
Single Property Websites 101
This is the first tutorial in a series of lessons called Single Property Websites 101 – a step-by-step blueprint for quickly creating your own single property websites on-demand.
In the next lesson, I’ll show you how to quickly and easy create a single property website with your Bluehost account using the Wordpress publishing platform.
If you haven’t done so already, make sure you don’t miss out by signing up to receive future lessons via email. Just enter your email address below now:
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