The agent website checklist: 10 things vendors look for
What vendors look for when they look up an agent online. The ten things your real estate website needs, and what you can leave out.
Ask three people what a real estate agent website costs in Australia and you’ll get three very different answers. That’s because “a website” can mean a custom design from an agency, a template you build yourself on a weekend, or a subscription product made for agents.
This guide walks through all three, explains what you’re really paying for, and flags the costs that tend to turn up later. We don’t quote other providers’ prices here: most custom work is quoted case by case, and DIY plans change often, so check current prices on each provider’s own pricing page.
Three ways to get an agent website
1. A custom site from a designer or agency
You brief a web designer or digital agency, they design and build a site for you, and you pay for their time.
What you get: a design made for you, as much or as little as you’re willing to pay for, and someone to call.
What to watch: you usually pay a setup or build fee up front, then separate amounts for hosting, updates and support. Ask who registers the domain and who owns the site files if you part ways. Some real estate CRM providers also sell websites, but these are usually built for agencies rather than individual agents. Rex, for example, lists its website as an add-on, with plan prices available on request.
2. A DIY website builder
General-purpose builders let you pick a template, drag in your photos and words, and publish on a monthly or yearly plan.
What you get: low starting costs, full control, and the ability to change things whenever you like.
What to watch: your time is the real cost. You write every word, choose every photo, connect the domain, and work out how to show your listings. Builders aren’t made for real estate, so features like listings from the portals usually need extra work or aren’t available at all.
3. A subscription product made for agents
A service like ours is built around what an agent’s site needs: your story, your suburbs, your listings, your reviews and a way to get in touch. You pay a monthly subscription that covers the site, hosting and, depending on the plan, your domain.
What you get: a site that’s set up for real estate from day one, with less to manage yourself.
What to watch: check what’s included in the monthly price, whether there are setup fees, and whether you can take your domain with you if you leave.
What drives the cost
Whichever route you pick, the same handful of things decide what you pay.
| Cost driver | What it covers | Setup or ongoing? |
|---|---|---|
| Design | How the site looks, and whether it’s custom or a template | Mostly setup |
| Words | Writing your bio, suburb pages and services | Mostly setup, then updates |
| Domain | Your address, such as yourname.com.au |
Ongoing, renewed each registration period |
| Hosting | Keeping the site online, fast and secure (HTTPS) | Ongoing |
| Listings | Showing your current and sold listings, and keeping them current | Setup, then ongoing |
| Updates | Changing details, adding sales, fixing things | Ongoing |
| Being found | Page titles, structured data, a sitemap, and any SEO or ads | Setup, then ongoing |
Design and words
A custom design is where most of the money goes in a bespoke build. The words are often forgotten. Someone has to write your About section, your services and your suburb descriptions, and if that’s you, it’s hours of work. Our agent website checklist covers what those pages need to say.
Domain and hosting
A domain in your own name is one of the cheapest parts of a website, and one of the most valuable. It stays with you for your whole career, as long as it’s registered to you. If you’re choosing one, read why your name should be your domain and .com.au or .au.
Hosting is usually a monthly or yearly cost. It should include a security certificate (the padlock in the browser), and the site should load quickly on a phone.
Listings
Agents have something most small businesses don’t: listings that change every week. Copying them onto your site by hand is slow and easy to forget. A site that brings your listings across from Domain and realestate.com.au saves you that work and keeps the site current.
Being found
Being found when someone searches your name starts with how the site is built: clear page titles, structured data and a sitemap. Those should come with the site. Ongoing SEO work and Google Ads are a separate cost, and ad spend is paid to Google on top of any management fee.
The costs people forget
- Your time. A DIY site is only cheap if your time is free. Count the evenings.
- Domain renewals. Miss one and you can lose your name. Turn on auto-renewal.
- Change fees. Some designers charge for every update after launch. Ask before you sign.
- Setup fees. Ask whether there’s an upfront fee as well as the monthly price.
- Leaving. Ask what happens to your domain and your content if you stop paying or change provider.
- Changing agencies. If the site is on your agency’s domain, or registered in their name, it may stay with them when you move.
Setup costs versus ongoing costs
A useful way to compare quotes is to add up what you’d pay over the first two or three years, not just the first month.
A custom build tends to cost more at the start, with smaller ongoing costs for hosting and support, plus extra for each change. A subscription tends to cost nothing or little at the start, with a steady monthly price that includes hosting and updates. Neither is right for everyone. Compare like with like: the same features, the same amount of updating, over the same period.
What you get here at A$0, A$49 and A$129
All of our prices are in Australian dollars and include GST. There are no setup fees.
| Plan | Price | What’s included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | A$0 | Your digital business card with QR code, save-to-contacts, a one-page profile on realagent.marketing, and an enquiry form with email alerts |
| Starter | A$49 a month | Everything in Free, plus your own .com or .com.au domain, your personal website, current and sold listings, co-branded or self-branded design, and search-ready pages |
| Pro | A$129 a month | Everything in Starter, plus the Pro website editor, website analytics, a blog with an AI writer, and your Google Business Profile reviews |
A few things to know:
- The domain is yours. It’s registered with your details, and you can transfer it out at any time, free.
- We write the words from your brief. You review and approve every section before it goes live, and the site only shows facts you give us.
- Online marketing is separate. SEO and Google Ads campaigns are quoted to your suburbs and goals, and ad spend is paid to Google.
Keep your portal profiles too
Your own site doesn’t replace your Domain or realestate.com.au profiles. Buyers search the portals for homes, and vendors search your name before they call you. Use all three: the portals for your listings, and your own site for the search that matters most to your career, the one for your name.
The short version
- Decide whether you want to pay for design, pay with your time, or pay a subscription.
- Compare the total cost over two or three years, not the first month.
- Make sure the domain is registered to you.
- Ask about setup fees, change fees and what happens if you leave.
If you’d like to see what a site written from your brief looks like, start with our websites page or compare the plans.
