Comments on: Using Wordpress to sell Real Estate

By: Janice Harper

Janice Harper — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:32:39 +0000

I’ve often thought wordpress is far more powerful as a content management system than simply a blogging platform. As it gets developed further there could be some useful WP extensions just for real estate. I can think of a few just off the top of my head.

In regards to SEO, I agree WP is very SEO friendly, but I don’t find that “Realivent” in this case for several reasons:
1.It takes far too long time to actually show up in Google once you launch your new domain. (This is not the case if you posted the home on an already established domain like propblogs.com)
2. Home Searchers don’t search for “123 E. Main St., Anytown, USA”. The majority search for “Anytown Real Estate” or “Anytown Homes”, etc.
3. You really don’t have any time to develop any Pagerank to a site like this. It takes years to develop a good Pagerank, so it’s best to establish links to one site with all your home listings on it.
4. Depending on market conditions, the home may already be sold by the time home buyers actually get to the site. This is my argument against all one property websites in general.

I will say this is a good tool in your arsenal to help you land more listings.

By: Jay Zenner

Jay Zenner — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:50:04 +0000

Lots of stuff here about the technical aspects of getting a single property site up but little about how to use it. A few things to think through:
1. What’s the purpose? It is actually possible to share too much information about a home sometimes and put up too many pictures. The goal is to get showings. How the copy is treated and the choice of pictures should be a tease that makes the potential buyer want to see more.
2. Because (you hope) this will be a temporary site, getting traffic can’t depend on SEO. The url has to be in print ads, on eflyers, on sign riders,on REALTOR.com, etc.
3. The community should be featured. Many relocating buyers will just see a tree and not get a grasp of the forest without community information. This can almost be templated, i.e. the same community information for such and such neighborhood can be used for any listing there.
4. Some of the site services like The Listing Widget will provide syndication as well as coordinated eflyer campaigns when you get your site from them.
I am also late to this discussion but agree that WP is a very good option if you invest the time in learning how to use it. It seems simple once you’ve done a few sites over a year or so but for newbies they could sell the house before getting the site up. The Thesis theme for WP is fabulous but a little more to learn.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:33:14 +0000

I definitely agree with you about the Google friendliness and flexibility of WordPress. It continues to grow and expand it’s user base which simply amazes me.

I tried to check out the PropBlogs.com but it looks like it is no longer up.

By: Paul - Unique Urban Homes Toronto

Paul - Unique Urban Homes Toronto — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:07:54 +0000

I have to admit, i’m very happy having moved to Wordpress recently. there are still a few bugs to work out, and I likely spend a bit more time working on my site, but it’s amazing what the response has been:

http://pauljohnston.com

Comments are totally welcome!

By: 24Seven

24Seven — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:55:38 +0000

There are quite a few Real Estate Themes out there – but finding one that looks and acts like the client wants is the trick.

We offer the customization of any theme out there! And you tell us what you are willing to pay! NO Reasonable Offer Refused!

Premium Wordpress Sites for Real Estate Professionals.

By: عقار

عقار — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:04:24 +0000

Thanks Joel for posting and thanks to Realivent for working on this.

By: Using WordPress to sell real estate « Web Manager Solutions

Using WordPress to sell real estate « Web Manager Solutions — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:26:28 +0000

[...] Visit August 11th, 2009 | Category: Real Estate [...]

By: Jeremia Froyland

Jeremia Froyland — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:00:19 +0000

I saw you mentioned Smashing’s post on their 83 themes which is a very excellent resource for real estate agents.

If you’re looking for themes or design ideas, I have actually put together a couple posts that focus exclusively on real estate WordPress themes that might be helpful: http://jeremiafroyland.com/wordpress/14-free-wordpress-real-estate-themes/ and premium (paid) ones http://jeremiafroyland.com/wordpress/5-beautiful-premium-wordpress-real-estate-themes/.

I think that using WordPress for real estate keeps gaining traction all of the time and I see more and more agents and those in the industry using it.

By: Ron Stone

Ron Stone — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:01:18 +0000

Interesting. I am considering establishing several FSBO homes listing sites for various niche real estate markets. Using Wordpress for these sites might just be the ticket for me. Thanks.

By: http://blog.lakehome.com

http://blog.lakehome.com — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:35:21 +0000

There are a lot of good themes out there to get you on the right track. For those of you who have tinkered around long enough with WordPress, check out Joomla 1.5 and the free Open Real Estate component. In my opinion it is far superior to the whole wordpress platform. I wish someone had told me that before I wasted a year with WP.