The Web sites have succeeded for the Realtors who are Meranda's clients. A variety of research shows that more than half of all home buyers do research on the Internet. And that's converting 30 to 40 percent into an actual visit. Meranda started his Web design business by building a site for his wife, Sandra, a real estate agent. He walks clients through issues such as design, Web hosting, applying for search engines and the most cost-efficient way to build a site.
Cost is attractive to the small business owner, too.
A flat monthly fee is charged for maintenance on a quarterly basis. Some benefits aren't visible. Meranda said he educates clients on listing their sites with the top 10 to 12 search engines. Miranda said his research shows that more than 90 percent of new leads will come from customers doing research using the search engines. He continually fine-tunes submissions to search engines and puts in requests for listing as often as possible to move customers up in the search engine rankings.