When I got into real estate, I did what many modern agents do: I grabbed a Stan Store link, plugged it into all my social bios, and called it good.

After all, Stan Store is awesome for what it is. It’s fast. It’s simple. It lets you sell digital products and capture leads straight from Instagram or TikTok without needing a full-blown website. For a brand-new McCall Idaho Realtor who was already juggling clients, contracts, and content creation, that felt like a win.

But pretty quickly, I realized something: Stan Store was doing its job, but it wasn’t doing my whole job.

There was a big, obvious hole in my marketing strategy: I had no real home base online. No place to tell my story. No long-form content. No way for Google to really “see” me as a local McCall Idaho Realtor and send people my way.

So I decided to fix that.

Stan Store Is Great, But It’s Not Your Home Base

Let’s be clear: I’m not anti-Stan Store.

It’s fantastic for:

• Selling digital products fast
• Dropping one simple link in your bio
• Capturing warm leads from social media
• Testing new offers without a big tech setup

I still use my Stan Store, and I’m glad I have it.

But I realized that:

• My Stan Store didn’t tell anyone who I really am
• It didn’t share my story as a McCall Idaho Realtor and why I am a local expert
• It didn’t explain my values, my mission, or why I care so deeply about helping people build wealth through real estate
• It definitely wasn’t going to help me rank on Google for McCall, Idaho real estate, short-term rentals, or eXp Realty

It’s a storefront, not a brand home. And I needed a brand home.

Why Every Realtor Needs More Than a Brokerage Site

The next logical option was my brokerage website through eXp Realty.

But here’s the thing: brokerage sites are built for one primary purpose – real estate listings. And while I absolutely help people buy and sell homes in McCall, Idaho, that’s not all I do.

My business includes:

• Serving buyers and sellers as a local McCall Idaho Realtor
• Coaching agents
• Selling digital products
• Building a downline of agents at eXp
• Teaching short-term rental strategy + selling my Built & Booked Blueprint

There was no way a standard brokerage site could hold all of that. It also:

• Looked like thousands of other agent sites
• Didn’t give me freedom to really brand myself without paying a web developer a boatload
• Wasn’t built around content marketing or long-form blogging
• Didn’t reflect my 25 years of entrepreneurial experience

If I wanted to attract not just clients, but also eXp-curious agents, investors, and other entrepreneurs, I needed a site that felt like me, not a template.

Rapport Comes Before the Sale (And Your Website Should Reflect That)

One of my biggest beliefs in business is this: Rapport is how you get to the sale.

People don’t just wake up and decide, “I want to work with a random name I saw once on TikTok.”

Especially not when we’re talking about:

• Buying any form of real estate
• Investing in a short-term rental
• Moving their family across the country
• Joining eXp Realty under your mentorship

They want to know you. They want to understand how you think. They want to hear your story and assess whether your values align with theirs.

And you simply can’t build that level of rapport on:

• A Stan Store page
• A brokerage-provided template site
• A static “about me” section with two paragraphs and a headshot

The Tonic Template + Showit Combo: The Winning Duo

Once I decided I wanted a real website, I went into research mode.

What I found was this: the top digital marketers I respect – people like Jenna Kutcher, Amy Porterfield, and Amy Gregory – weren’t just randomly slapping something together on the internet.

They were using:

• Tonic Site Shop templates
• Built on Showit

That combo mattered to me for a few reasons:

• Design freedom: I didn’t want to look like every other Realtor online. Plus, I’m not a graphic designer!
• Ease of use: Showit is like WordPress’s cooler, more user-friendly cousin. Drag-and-drop, no hardcore coding.
• Blog capability: I could still use WordPress on the backend for blogging and SEO power, while designing everything visually in Showit.
• Brand storytelling: Tonic templates are built with storytelling and conversion in mind, not just “throw your headshot here and call it good.”

In other words: I could create a site that looked custom, felt like me, and functioned like the marketing engine I needed.

Why You Need a Full Website If You’re More Than “Just” an Agent

If you’re:

• Selling digital products
• Coaching other agents
• Building a downline at your agency
• Speaking, teaching, or building a niche brand
• Or just a multi-passionate human with more to say than “Here are my current listings”

Then you don’t just need a link-in-bio or a standard brokerage site.

You need:

• A brand hub where everything lives—real estate, offers, story, content
• A blog that feeds SEO and positions you as the go-to expert in your market
• A place your clients and potential agents can feel your personality, not just see your headshot
• A professional presence that reflects the level you’re operating at

For me, as a McCall Idaho Realtor growing a business beyond transactions, a full website wasn’t a “nice to have.” It was the missing piece of the marketing puzzle.

Yes, I Can Help You Build Yours Too

Here’s a fun twist: before real estate, I helped build around 300 websites in my last company.

So when I say I care about design, functionality, and strategy, it’s not theory. It’s muscle memory.

Now, alongside my work as a McCall Idaho Realtor and eXp agent, I also:

• Help other agents and entrepreneurs map out their website strategy
• Guide them through building a Showit site using Tonic templates
• Make sure their site isn’t just pretty, but actually set up to support SEO, lead generation, and multiple income streams

If you’re realizing that your Stan Store and brokerage site aren’t cutting it, and you’re ready for a real, grown-up website that reflects your next level, you should check this out.

You can always reach out through my site at yahooidaho.com or DM me on social and we can talk about what a custom or template-based site could look like for your business.

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About Me

I’m Ragan Erickson, Realtor®, marketer, and entrepreneur with eXp Realty, and part of Powerhouse, a community of 600+ who believe in collaboration over competition.

After building and selling a tech company in the wine industry, I brought that same business mindset to real estate, using social media, modern marketing, and AI to grow a brand that attracts clients and opportunity.

Now, I help other agents do the same: build scalable businesses, attract dream clients, and create freedom through multiple income streams, from real estate sales to revenue share.

📬 Connect with me: yahooidaho.com | Instagram | TikTok
📌 Also on Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube