Welcome to the minefield that is website design...more importantly website design for you letting agents out there!

When you search the Internet for Letting agent web design you are bombarded with people all claiming to be the best and to deliver what you require...more landlords and tenants.

I am here to help walk you through this minefield! Below are some questions you should jot down on a note pad as we go along

1) What URL (website address) do you want this can have a big impact on your Internet marketing and a keyword rich URL is better than an abstract name e.g. www.flatstorentswansea.co.uk is better www.snoringcats.co.uk This will help you in web based marketing and in search engine optimization

2)Firstly you need to decide your budget there are MANY companies out there and as many variations in their pricing! You need to decide on you budget and stick to it, click on some of the links to see idea of costs involved. then continue!

As your research is bound to have made you realise the costs vary from £100 - £2000, but as you can guess to a point you get what you pay for.

3) The next question is that of features, do you want to be able to submit your properties to the property portals e.g. Property Finder, Right Move, Eazylet etc, if so do you want to be able to do that manually (Time consuming as you have to upload them all one by one yourself), or do you automatically want it done when you upload properties to your site. Do you want to be able to upload unlimited homes to rent and flats to rent? Do you want a standard template website design or a full custom web design? Do you want to be able to manage the content on your website or do you want it static and the information to remain the same? Do you want an animated web design or a static image webdesign?

These are all things you should take into account before contacting these web development companies as they will try and upsell and you should be sure what YOU want as the customer before you contact them. Check out some of the companies in the links to see what options they have to offer.

4) Images are a vital part of a website and with regards to sales so you need to be sure that you have images that you want on your website. (! Be very careful when sourcing images from the web as there are many copyright laws on them and you can be fined a substantial amount of money if using one without permission!)So you need some images the best option is to get some great image from your local area either take them yourself or find some, just remember that these images are important and the aesthetics of your site really matters! Talk to your local market and sell your services with these images!

5) Check out other sites designed by these companies and check there quality and see if they fulll fill at least most of your requirements.

6) Many of these companies try to sell you website optimization as an extra, however beware, whilst this is a VITAL part of internet marketing, there are a lot of things you can do yourself check out this site for more information on this subject. Also you might want to check out specialized web marketing companies if you are very serious about this.

Finally remember in this financial climate they WANT your business so it is good to barter a little bit and they have naturally built this into their pricing system. Your the boss it is your site it should be developed in close contact with you, if you are not happy tell the company so that things can be fixed and corrected earlier rather than later remember if you wait 6 months on something you weren't happy with at the beginning because you weren't quite sure it WILL cost you more money, be honest and you will get a site that is right for you! Below are some of the companies available so that you have a starting point. Good luck!

Search Engine Optimization - How important?
Coverting A Website To A Site Which Converts
Pay per click - Google sponsored Links
Adwords PPC Campaign management
Creating A Good AdWords PPC Advert