Hello all I am new to the forum and looking for a website designer. I hope I have started this thread in the right spot if not I am sorry.

I am looking for a designer/ programmer that can design a very good real estate website. ( No Flash )..to long to load

I am looking for this designer to be able to create a good website that offers my consumers easy navigation. I would like to also be able to incorporate in my new website this type of raw data converted to what looks like static pages from this website.

http://www.charlestonrealestateguide.com/listings.php

If you are able to help please PM me with your contact information and I would be happy to call you and discuss what I am looking for and your pricing.

I will be writing all the content and supplying the photos.

Do you mean you want your new website to take data off that website, and format it and display it on your website? Would you need this data to be collected at run-time, or stored on your website and updated from the other websites records every n days?

Originally Posted by webwoRRks

Do you mean you want your new website to take data off that website, and format it and display it on your website? Would you need this data to be collected at run-time, or stored on your website and updated from the other websites records every n days?

No I am looking to be able to accomplish the same type of layout on my new website..I am not sure but I believe that the example website I gave is in a PHP format and running the raw data from the MLS into a PHP database and then formating it into what you see on the example website.

I hope that makes sense..I am not a programmer

hmm.... do you mean displaying data from a MySQL database? That would allow people to enter records, then those records to be searched and displayed. Is MySQL OK?

Originally Posted by webwoRRks

hmm.... do you mean displaying data from a MySQL database? That would allow people to enter records, then those records to be searched and displayed. Is MySQL OK?

I am not sure..I do not understand what you are refering to..lol I am a realtor..I know nothing about programming. If you can try to explain it as if you were talking to a novice..which I am ...Thanks

I sent a PM yesterday, but didn't get a response.

webwoRRks
Typically, the local MLS (Multiple Listing System) system offers a "data dump" of the entire MLS listing on a regular basis. Someone would just need to create a script that parsed the flat file and search specific fields. If you wanted to do this, the realtor would need to contact his local Board of Realtors for username/password and instructions for obtaining this file. It's up to the developer to keep that file updated. Systems across the country are probably all a bit different, but I don't think any are offering automatic feeds. For the local system here in PA, the realtor and I were both required to sign off on a release whether we were using the flatfile access or the custom linking option (an offsite link where they keep the individual realtors info on all the property detail pages). They're pretty tight on making sure they know who's getting this information. The MLS contains flatfile contains EVERYTHING related to the listing, but they do have restrictions on what realtors and brokerages are actually allowed to display online.

Deb

Cheers Deb

OK then realtor, do you have access to this data (legally)? Also, please could you give an example of how the flatfile stores data? My xml parsing through PHP is terrible. I always dump data to the webwoRRks standard, but I expect I am the only one who does this...

Originally Posted by webwoRRks

Cheers Deb

OK then realtor, do you have access to this data (legally)? Also, please could you give an example of how the flatfile stores data? My xml parsing through PHP is terrible. I always dump data to the webwoRRks standard, but I expect I am the only one who does this...

Yes I will have access to this data through a feed from the MLS system..but I am not signed up yet with that local mls board..so I cant give you an example yet..but yes it is all legal.. As witchblade said it is a file that is recieved by downloading it to a database and then taking that data and having a script format it to the fields that you are looking for.

I am sorry witchblade for not replying to your PM..I have been somewhat busy with phone calls.

I was amazed to find out though that this type of mls data could be turned into staic pages..this is the second coming so to speak for those realotrs that want to add thousands and thousands of pages of index content to their websites that the SEs will love.

eugh.... don't you still want to DB it? You could easily create flat-files from the data, but I've had no problem with the main SE's indexing previous sites through query strings.... Heres a recent example (ignore the low ranking, thats cause Google never updates!). http://www.gite-alors.com

Although, if you DB it and create the static pages, it'll be searchable and SE optimised... plus each page will give you a back link, so instant SE growth.... contact me if you need something doing.

You really don't want to create "static" pages from the MLS feed. The website you referred to is not static (although it may appear to be). It is a database driven page which "pages" through all the recordsets (MLS listings), showing them in managable chunks (in this case 20 at a time), while offering users the ability to limits the displayed listings to fit what they're looking for. Most Search Engines can "read" these pages as if there were static content and will follow the links through each set.

It would not be practical to convert the feed to static pages because of the constant changes. The most efficient (and therefore cost effective) option would be to allow it to remain a database.

I now, I was explaining that it works better from a database, sorry I wasn't clear. I meant I like the non static like static database stuff. OK, that wasn't clear. I like database driven pages. I get there in the end.

Originally Posted by webwoRRks

I now, I was explaining that it works better from a database, sorry I wasn't clear. I meant I like the non static like static database stuff. OK, that wasn't clear. I like database driven pages. I get there in the end.

Yes that is my goal is to have those pages indexable by the search engines..however it can be done.

OK, but database driven pages are indexed by the top search engines, so you needn't worry. Continually updating / deleting a large number of statc pages might put a bit of a strain on your server.