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Review 3/3/2011
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I wish I had looked at these reviews before getting so excited about a "Professional Looking" site. I do think my site is visually fabulous, but that's where it ends. It is a semi-custom site which cost just over $5000. I own a small boutique company in a town of 14,000 with just 3 agents & 2 administrators so that is a big chunk of change in our operating expenses. It's an extremely extensive site but I have input well over one hundred hours of community info entry and created extensive searches via our IDX feed (which is a separate service unaffiliated with AI). So $5000+ later, a site that does not register on the search engines? We had a much less expensive site hosted under the same domain which searched on the first page. I turned over a domain name that searched high in Google (top 6) watched as we slipped into oblivion. I contacted AI for solutions and they had a "marketing rep" contact me. This is probably THEE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW before doing an AI site - if you want it marketed and search engine optimized – IT COSTS MORE! In our case a quote of $2000. Really??? So the site for my company of 5 in a community with a population of 14,000 would cost me over $7000??? Wish I had known!!!! To add insult to injury, the AI “marketing consultant” that contacted me up immediately began to create a quote that “redesigned” the home page as it was SEO un-friendly. He also commented on the featured listing being far too small and several other design inadequacies. How frustrating is that???? It’s as though the site was not even created by the company he works for as he was so negative about its functionality. I hadn’t even finished all the text input at this point. The site was only live for about 6 months and I had seen such a slip in the rankings that I was trying to stop the damage only to find that it was going to have to be re-engineered. I guess I’ve said enough – I wouldn’t use Agent Image no matter how deep your pockets are. The positives (if you can consider them that after such a negative experience) – the front end designer based in the US, Rachel was fabulous & creative to work for. The 2nd stage then goes to the Philippines. It certainly began to go downhill from there but there was an assistant named “Dustin” who was remarkable. He always returned e-mails & calls promptly – the only one in the company to do so. He was only an assistant at the time but if he was a customer service person representing clients, I am sure their calls would be returned and e-mails would be answered. I always wait a minimum of 48 – 96 hours even for a “Yes/No” question. I often e-mail more than once for an answer. Bottom line – there are a lot more effective companies out there for a lot less money!
See our site at www.PagosaSource.com
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Business's response - by Jennifer Gon 6/7/2011
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Update 6/7/11:
I personally spoke with Ms. Heraty in May at which time we went over in outstanding websites changes/updates she needed for her website. I also did a one-on-one presentation on how to increase search engine and leads through social media, blogging and being active on such forums as Trulia.com, ActiveRain.com, and AgentWebPros.com.
Last we spoke, Ms. Heraty confirmed that we had completed any outstanding web items to her satisfaction and we look forward to providing her with a better experience moving forward.
Previous Response:
It is true that our Imagine Studio and True Custom websites, because they are our luxury sites, are more expensive; however, we have websites to meet the budget of every real estate agent and broker. I'm sorry that you decided to purchase an Imagine Studio site instead of an Agent Pro or Semi Custom that were less expensive and may have been a better fit for your budget.
We will outright agree that we are not the cheapest real estate website provider in the industry, because we provide custom design and this is where we excel. If you want a cookie-cutter template website where generic content is added and is not even about you, then Agent Image may not be for you. Agent Image is for the agents and brokers who want a beautiful, unique real estate website design that makes them stand out from their competition.
"If you want it marketed and search engine optimized – IT COSTS MORE" Lauri wrote below. Yes, this is 100% accurate. And we are certinaly not hiding this fact and hope that in general, people know this, when purchasing a website with any company.
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