Category Archives: Geek Build 2012

If you have followed Geek Build 2012 you know we had a designer working on TheClearwaterBeachLife.com home page design, which will be used as a template when building our custom theme for the Genesis Framework (affiliate link). Last week the designer finished up her work and sent us the final Adobe Photoshop .psd file. The total cost for the work was $280, including a $30 bonus for additional work to the search box not included in the initial quote. Once we had the .psd in hand … Read More »

Geek Build 2012 is moving along nicely, and we now have an initial design concept ready for public comments and suggestions for revisions. We chose to use TheClearwaterBeachLife.com for our initial design, which will be finalized in Adobe Photoshop .psd format. Once this is complete we will hire a developer to turn the design into code, and that code will be used to create our custom child theme for the Genesis framework. We submitted our job on elance.com and ended up receiving twenty bids between $110 … Read More »

A lot has happened with Geek Build 2012 in the past month, and we thought it would help to summarize what we have accomplished and explain where we are in the process. About one month ago we got the steering committee decision recommending  www.wpengine.com for hosting, at $29/month. After that Drew put up a great content checklist for a real estate website. Next up was the IDX choice. IDX being arguably the most important decision we saw a lot of posts on the subject, and … Read More »

After a very long and strongly debated case over who should be the official IDX recommendation of the Geek Build Steering Committee, we have decided on Real Geeks. Remember, the focus of Geek Build is to build websites with the following goals in mind: Maximize lead generation (signups, blog or IDX) Maximize lead conversion (phone calls, requests for showings, specific property requests, track closings from site long-term) Maximize time on site, page views/visit Minimize bounce rate Conversion is the most important aspect of an IDX, particularly … Read More »

The web is shifting toward minimalism. Less is more. Chris Smith — and probably many more — agree with me. I really like the latest wireframe revision for Geek Build. But it’s more of the same. It’s bloated. It’s the norm in the real estate agent/broker website world. How about something different and innovative? How about taking a risk? How about BETTER conversion? One word. Simplify. Truthfully, if I were an agent or broker launching a new website right now, I would build a custom … Read More »

We’re inching closer and closer to actually designing and developing the 6 Geek Build sites. I just took some feedback into account, and made a revision from the first of the two wireframes I posted last week. You can also take a look at John Stegner’s revision here, along with the comment stream with feedback. Changes made to Option 1: Added RSS and Email updates icons to the navigation Simplified the search module — removed bathrooms and minimum price as search filters (on the home … Read More »

I wanted to take a stab at incorporating some of the design feedback that was received regarding Drew’s two wireframe layouts. The first option was the one that was most liked and used as the basis of my revision. Here is the result of that effort (click on the image to view alone in the browser and then click again on the image once in the new window to zoom in and see the expanded view):  First, I put in some language specific tweaks to … Read More »

The steering committee has discussed the theme framework decision, and decided on Genesis (affiliate link) as the recommended theme framework for Geek Build 2012. Why? As you can see based on Ricardo’s post, any of the premium theme frameworks can be used effectively for a real estate agent site. However, Genesis seems to be the most flexible and powerful platform, with the strongest support community behind it. One of our steering committee members, Dominic Morrocco, has used Genesis to build one of the best brokerage sites in … Read More »

When building a new real estate blog, you’ll have to decide on which theme to use (unless of course you’re hiring someone to design a custom site for you). Although there are tons of free themes out there to choose from, it’s often best to invest in a premium theme. They have better code, they’re constantly updated, and often times, they’re easier to work with. Most premium themes work right “out of the box,” but it’s also nice to know that you can customize a theme … Read More »

Prior to starting on the actual design, wireframing our Geek Build 2012 sites is the next step in the website building process. What is “wireframing” you might ask? According to Wikepedia: A website wireframe, also known as a page schematic or screen blueprint, is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website.[1] The wireframe depicts the page layout or arrangement of the website’s content, including interface elements and navigational systems, and how they work together.[2] The wireframe usually lacks typographic style, color, or … Read More »