There are many systems that offer a similar solution but we believe that agents should have full control over this and be able to apply their branding to it as well. Building this system has also created a situation where the main websites uses the network to generate SEO because the property sites crosslink and the main website. So far there have been many advantages to creating this network and making use of WordPress fully. We still have some steps to cut out and some improvements to make but we are happy to be able to offer a solution that creates value and gives agents a competitive advantage.

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photo credit: striatic

Ever heard this from a service tech in your house, office, or maybe just on phone tech support? I have. Many times, and I’m sure that you have too.

I’ll leave which service, and which company unmentioned.

Every time I had problems with my service, they would send a technician who would inevitably tell me that the last guy had no idea what he was doing. The first time they came out to fix my service, I was relieved and thought to myself “I must’ve got a bad tech last time, this guy seems to know what he’s doing”. I felt assured that my problem was going to be resolved this time. Next time I needed a service call, the tech said almost the exact same thing the last one did. “Man, I hope the last guy that was out here was fired. He messed this all up.”

By my 5th service call, I had lost any shred of confidence left. Every service call the technicians were unknowingly reducing my faith in the company with every visit. It wasn’t that I needed service 5 times in 7 years. It was the fact that the people representing their company to me had no faith in each other, and I was taught to have no faith in the company itself.

The Consequence

In 2000 I could have ranted to a few friends about my experience with the company, but in 2011 I can send a tweet on twitter, or facebook status update to thousands of people in seconds. Imagine how many buying decisions I could effect by doing that. What if someone who reads my update chimes in and shares a similar experience? Now we have a discussion forming with thousands of eyes following our conversation.

In an age where word of mouth is probably the most important form of advertising; I would be on the lookout for disgruntled employees, especially if they come in regular contact with your customers. They could be costing you a lot more business then you know.

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Creating the process to unite two different personalities “the linear coder”,and “the butterfly designer” is a challenge.  Often these job titles reflect different personalities, and for a web agency it can be difficult to create a synergy. For a number of years we stumpled with this problem. The biggest problem for us was not having a standard or technology that facilitated the training of a developer and designer.

Then we found out about the Genesis framework from StudioPress… not sure if this was their initial intent but it helped us create a process for building websites. We started talking to our designers and educating them on widget areas, layouts and the amount of work involved when working outside of the boundries of a Grid System, and similarily talking to our developers and showing them why  build websites like this and how we use a framework to improve efficiency and quality. This helped us map out our process, and after we are started to see the benefits of using this process and we started enjoying what we do.

I know there are many web developers and web designers out there, that continually get frusterated at each other and forget “how” to work together. Working with Genesis taught us the Value of a Framework and what a Framework meant for building websites. Now we are glad to be at a point where we understand Genesis and are looking at creating our own framework to integrate with WordPress core.

If you are a new agency, or just starting out, understanding the value of a framework like Genesis will be crucial to your success. Hope this helped!

Do you have a designer? or maybe you love designing websites, but hate trying to code them! We offer to a PSD to WordPress (Genesis) service that allows our clients to send us their PSD and sit back while we develop it into a private label custom framework.

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