WebsiteBox Review: What’s the Catch with a $99 Real Estate Website Design?

WebsiteBox is a Toronto-based business that offers a real estate website builder. Their $99 real estate design template plans are one of the cheapest in the market.  If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering… what’s the catch? This comprehensive Website Box review will uncover everything you need to know about their design and MLS integration services. 

Can you build a website that generates business with the $99 basic plan? Does the $99 price already include IDX website integration? 

What do other agents have to say about their drag and drop site builder and design template?

There are lots of things to consider before choosing a real estate builder. How easy is it to use? How many real estate templates are available? Does it have SEO functionalities? I’ve organized this Website Box review into 4 sections to make it easier

I’ve organized this WebsiteBox review into 4 sections to make it easier

• Ease of use
• Design themes
• Customization options 
• Mobile responsiveness

Read on to see how WebsiteBox ranks in each section.

How Easy (or Hard) is it to Create a New Website on WebsiteBox?

WebsiteBox’s platform is a drag and drop, point-and-click editor. Just pick from one of their real estate agency website templates, and you can tailor the design from there.

However some Website box reviews, like the one on Hooquest, says their platform isn’t intuitive. 

Inman also published a Website Box review commenting on the interface of their real estate website builder. It claims the interface looks like a “Windows 95 (maybe XP”) look and sorely needs an update. Some reviews say the site editor interface.

Templates for Realtors Web Design

Agents have 20 WebsiteBox free design themes to choose from.

Customizing Your Real Estate Web Design with WebsiteBox

You can upload your own background images, head shot, change the text, add videos, and add other elements to your website design using the WebsiteBox interface.

They also provide several real estate templates to choose from, such as:

• Testimonials page
• Home page
• About or company page
• FAQs
• Listings
• Broker pages (only available to premium accounts that costs more like Team and Office plans)
• Landing pages (not available with the basic $99 account)

Aside from that, they have content blocks or “containers” that you can drag and drop on your site.

WebsiteBox has 40+ containers, including:

• FAQ
• Testimonials
• Mortgage calculator
• Galleries
• Call to action button
• Pricing

Pro Tip: Check out this post for some tips and inspiration on creating solo real estate agent websites.

Mobile Responsiveness

Their website says all the sites should render properly on a mobile device but some Website Box reviews claim that’s not always the case. 

Web4Realty Real Estate Web Design Features

What can a $29 a month real estate website builder give you? Quite a lot. Like WebsiteBox, Web4Realty is also a drag and drop, point and click website builder that allows agents to create sites with just a few clicks.

Our PageManager, the website builder tool, comes with a user-friendly interface where you can add blocks of content, change text formatting, and upload images by selecting the element you want to edit. 

Mobile Friendly Real Estate Templates 

You have 30+ FREE real estate templates to choose from in our portfolio. It also includes themes following the branding of big brands like Keller Williams. Yes, they’re all mobile-friendly so your site will load properly whether it’s on a mobile, tablet, or desktop. 

Build the Best Property Websites with Zero Design Experience

We’ve made everything super easy with our template pages and content boxes. Once you sign-up for a trial account and choose a theme, you’ll see a ready made website complete with the usual content a broker or agent may have on their site. But feel free to tailor these pages with your own content, and use our extensive media library. 

What can you customize in a Web4Realty realtors web design account?

• Page layout
• Menu navigation
• Color scheme
• Fonts and its color scheme
• Photos
• Linking settings 
• Background images and image sliders
• Breadcrumb search navigation
• Favicon
• Listing search bar
• Contact form questions and info layout
• Custom community pages
• SEO Settings

You can also add content blocks, such as:

• Testimonials
• Contact forms
• FAQ
• Maps
• Property search bar
• Mortgage calculator
• Properties or listings
• Company or about information

Available Ready to Use Real Estate Website Templates for Realtors and Brokers:

• Home page
• Home valuation page
• Services
• MLS search
• Testimonials
• Contact Us
• Listings page
• Community Pages

• Company or about us page 
• Pre-Construction Pages
• Blog (with WebsiteBox this feature is only available at $299 per year accounts)

It’s a great tool perfect for new agents and brokers looking for an affordable solution. 

Pro Tip: Don’t have the time to create a new website? Want a sleek professional looking site without effort? Get a semi-custom design for a one time fee of $250 or a custom real estate website for $600.

Email us for more information.

WebsiteBox Review of their IDX Integration

Premium WebsiteBox accounts come with IDX website integration to 300 MLS. These plans cost $199 a year.

Their IDX website integration comes with several search functions, such as search by property type, search by amenities, or search by deal type. A quick search of some websites made by WebsiteBox shows that NOT all IDX website integration comes with these advanced search functions.

Kotaoionline, a real estate website design by WebsiteBox, has no MLS search function for amenities or deal type. 

It’s the same thing with another WebsiteBox agent, https://djonesrealestate.com/.

Maybe the advanced search functions for properties are only available if you adjust the IDX functions on WebsiteBox’s platform? Or is it only available to Team and Office plan access? There’s nothing on their pricing page to indicate this limit but it may be a possibility. 

Several WebsiteBox reviews show agents claiming their MLS function is slow, and not user-friendly. 

Web4Realty Real Estate Agent Websites with IDX

Unlike WebsiteBox, all our users have IDX integration built into their plan. No upgrades needed.

Our proprietary IDX website integration software works with over 100 real estate boards across Canada and the US.

Based on our product team’s research, a lot of the IDX website integrations on the market don’t work because each MLS has different requirements, databases, and way of organizing property listings.

That’s why we spent 10+ years creating a software that can interface with MLS data from different states, and then display the results in the same data format for all our users.

Website Box Review of their Lead Capture and SEO Settings

Unfortunately, the lead generation features like building a landing page, asking visitors to enter their info before searching a property, and feature to edit the SEO settings are only available to Plus and Premium plan users. These plans are worth $299 and $499 a year respectively. If there’s a promo, you can get a $50 discount for each plan.

Here’s how their lead generation features work:

WebsiteBox members can activate a feature called “Lead Capture App” that forces website visitors to register if they want to search listings.

Lead Capture App has 4 options you can activate:

• Visitors are required to enter their contact info to search listings
• Optional registration
• A pop up box will appear and ask for contact details after a certain number of searches o
• Pop up box will appear after a certain number of viewed listings

Are the Websites SEO-Optimized? Here’s What WebsiteBox Reviews say

Like other real estate website builders, a WebsiteBox site comes pre-populated with certain text. This way, the agent can just customize the text based on their region and services. 

WebsiteBox claims the pre-populated text they provide is SEO-friendly. 

As a certified writer with SEO training, I honestly find this hard to believe. Good SEO writing isn’t just about stuffing a bunch of location keywords like “Los Angeles condos for sale” or “Phoenix Texas real estate agent” in your write ups. 

Like many website owners learned, Google already knows when you’re spamming. The Google Panda algorithm prevents poorly written, keyword-stuffed content from ranking on the search results. 

But I know there are lots of AI software out there that can provide SEO-optimized articles—some good, some bad. 

So I did some investigating… 

Here are several examples of WebsiteBox sites with keyword stuffing. Notice how the cities and the words “real estate” are repeated in the same paragraph? 

The same nonsense keyword-stuffed text is repeated elsewhere in this website. 

These are 3 different sites with the same wording. This isn’t SEO-friendly, and it’s not reader-friendly either. There’s no value there. I doubt potential clients will be impressed when they read sites like this.

Related: Here’s how agent Chris Audette ranks #1 on Google for several real estate keywords for Calgary.

So if you’re choosing WebsiteBox because of it’s SEO-friendly features, don’t. It won’t get you on Google’s first page. You also can’t write blogs on WebsiteBox basic sites. 

According to WebsiteBox pricing, blog features are only available on plus and premium plans, which cost $299 and $499 a year. That’s about $25 or $45 a month, at that rate you might as well find a better option because you’re not choosing WebsiteBox for its cheapest plan.

Web4Realty Real Estate SEO Tools and Lead Generation Features

All our users can create landing pages and use the lead generation tools on the platform. It’s free with our basic plan. No upgrades needed.

You can create custom contact forms, and a home valuation page where visitors can get a report after giving their email address. After that, the lead’s contact info will be stored in the CRM. 

Users also have access to our SEO friendly dashboard, where you can enter the focus keyword, SEO title, and meta description for each page on your site. It’s a pop-up box that’s already pre-loaded with SEO content based on the text you enter for each page, but you can still customize it with your preferred real estate SEO keywords.

NOTE: The pre-loaded text on the about page, home page, and other sections of Web4Realty real estate sites are not SEO optimized. It’s just generic text, which any user can tailor for their business. It doesn’t have any keywords.

It’s meant not to have keywords, because as you can see from the WebsiteBox, keyword stuffing doesn’t work. We encourage our agents to use genuine keywords for real estate and conversion-focused writing to get leads.

Pro Tip: Learn how to improve your SEO for real estate by following these Google-approved tips. 

The same goes with our free blog system. You don’t need to upgrade to get it, unlike with WebsiteBox. Users that pay the basic $29 a month account access can post articles to establish their credibility in the market they serve.

Website Box Reviews: What Other Features are Available in their System? 

Alrighty, I’ve covered the basic aspects that should be considered when choosing a real estate website builder. Let’s talk about the extra features or nice add-ons.

Analytics

There’s nothing on their support page and the WebsiteBox reviews I’ve read that suggests they have an analytics solution or dashboard of some sort.

WebsiteBox doesn’t include a process or system for users to track who’s on their site and what pages they’re checking. This means you have no way of measuring your site’s effectiveness. 

However, if you pay $499 a year, you can link your website domain with Google Analytics. That price is a far cry from their affordable plan. 

Websitebox Review: Integrations and Added Tools for Real Estate Agents

WebsiteBox recently launched an integration that allows users to connect their domain with Google services. However, these system integrations are only available at the most expensive plan. That’s $499 a year — a lot of money. 

They do provide a real estate email marketing tool,  CRM, and branded domain email accounts, for an extra charge. 

Extra Features You can Connect Using Web4Realty’s Real Estate Website Builder

WebsiteBox reviews and their pricing model proves that everything on top of a basic website comes with an extra charge. Nothing comes free. There’s nothing wrong with this, as there’s a market out there for people who prefer it this way. However, there are still a lot of features that WebsiteBox doesn’t have. These are features many agents would value. 

Two of these features are live chat and automatic testimonials — both are available on Web4Realty’s drag and drop website hosting and design platform.

LiveChat

With the LiveChat Tool, site visitors will be prompted to chat with you, or a pre-programmed question and answer sequence. This Q&A can be customized on our platform. 

We think of this tool as a solution, a way of engaging a prospect even before they give you their email address. This way, you can answer their questions and address any concerns they may have about a listing right away, just like if you were talking to them in person. If you are offline, you will get a message if a lead sends a message and their contact information will be logged into your CRM.

We created this feature after getting tons of suggestions from our members looking for a chat feature that works with their CRM. It’s only $5 a month and it already comes with an easy to use editor so you can customize the questions on the chat.  

Pro Tip: Did you know real estate agents use live chat to get more leads? It’s not just a chat box, if you use it with a solid lead generation process in place.

Publish Testimonials on Your Realtors Web Design Automatically

Our Request Testimonials and Social Testimonials tools allow agents to collect and post testimonials on their website automatically. 

Here’s how:

• Social Testimonials allow users to sync all the testimonials they get from Zillow, Facebook, Google My Business, and other social accounts into their website
• Collect testimonials via email and automatically publish them on your site

There’s more…

You can also prompt clients who give you a testimonial using our tool to publish their review on Facebook, Google, and everywhere else. That’s a two punch combo.

Agents can also update the review with a thank you message that will be posted along with the positive reviews published on their Facebook and other accounts. 

WebsiteBox reviews and their support page show that you can only upload testimonials manually, one by one via their “testimonials container” feature. 

Why waste time when there’s a solution that allows you to sync and post testimonials automatically with Web4realty’s tools? 

What do WebsiteBox Users Say about their Customer Support Team?

I’ve read lots of WebsiteBox reviews from agents and software reviewers to write this. Some WebsiteBox reviews say that lots of agents have an account with them, but rarely use the website. Since it’s only $99 per year or $199 with the IDX website integration, they don’t care if it’s updated or if it works. 

How’s their customer support?

Based on the WebsiteBox reviews from TrustPilot, Facebook comments, RainMaker, and other sites, the service is good but only if you have a Premium account access, or one that includes their on-boarding service.

Look at these happy WebsiteBox reviews. 

Have you noticed what these WebsiteBox reviews have in common?

They’re not about the team’s customer support, price, or the drag and drop real estate websites you can design. They’re about the project manager who assisted the agent.

Even past WebsiteBox reviews are like this.

Here’s a WebsiteBox review I found about their customer support on RainMaker:

The realtor thought he would only pay $99 but he was charged $299 instead, but his site was not built. There are many more of these WebsiteBox reviews from RainMaker and Trustpilot. There’s no word on how easy or tricky it is for realtors to get a refund. 

Of course, this isn’t to say that everyone experienced this service. 

There are many more of these WebsiteBox reviews from RainMaker and Trustpilot. 

Related: Have you ever thought of using Placester for your real estate website? Read this Placester review.

Web4Realty Customer Support

We treat all our members the same, whether they’re on the basic $29 a month plan or the full bells and whistles plan that includes a real estate CRM and email marketing tool at $49 a month.

Everyone who uses our real estate website builder tools get phone and email support, plus a dedicated Client Success Manager with no extra fee on top of the monthly pricing. 

	WebsiteBox	Web4realty
Client Success Manager	Premium plans only	All members
Done for you support	Concierge custom or hired out on their services marketplace	Some services require a minimal fee
Phone	Plus plans only $299	All plans
Email	Standard plans only $199	All plans
Onboarding	Standard plans only $199	Yes
Knowledge base	Yes	Yes

With WebsiteBox, only Premium users paying $499 a year have a dedicated manager.

WebsiteBox Pricing: What Do You Get for $99 per Year? 

Below is a screenshot from their current price and solutions offered:

As you can see, the $99 real estate website design package is very limited. It’s just a real estate web design. That’s it.

It doesn’t even include an IDX website integration, so there’s not much a visitor can do.

As you can see, the one price for a $99 website is very limited. It’s just a real estate web design. That’s it. It doesn’t even include an IDX website integration, so there’s not much a visitor can do. It doesn’t include a domain. The $99 Basic Plan is good for an agent that just wants a site so they look legitimate online. As mentioned on their prices, realtors can’t write a blog with the basic account. 

People looking for real estate agent websites with IDX should pick the Standard $199 a year plan or the other plan prices. It also comes with a CRM for real estate, and an SSL certificate. There’s no word on how accurate their CRM tracking system is.

The Plus Plan worth $299 a year is for realtors looking for a real estate web design that can capture leads. This subscription also comes with their blogs feature, so you can write articles to improve your website’s SEO.

Web4Realty Pricing

If you’re a new agent and just want a cheap, no-frills real estate website design, go for WebsiteBox’s basic plan. We can’t compete with that. 

However, if you’re not happy with your previous website or you want a site with IDX integration, and effective tools to convert website traffic into leads for your business, Web4Realty definitely is the right choice. 

For one, our cheapest plan that costs $29 a month is almost the same cost as WebsiteBox’s Standard plan. This value for money plan already comes with MLS, blogging, free CRM for 30 contacts, lead generation, website analytics, testimonials, and a bunch of features to build a good site. It’s a great all in one tool. 

Yes, ours is $71 more but our MLS functions work, and you get an alert every time someone is on your website. You can even chat with them using our Live Chat tool. 

You can also get a comprehensive CRM for real estate along with your website for $39 a month, and an email marketing tool for $49 a month. Realtors and brokers looking for affordable solutions to run their business will love our CRM and email marketing tools because the customization and process tools we have to organize your leads are tailored to agents.