WordPress for Real Estate

GroundedGroup.com
(@jhouse)

15 years, 8 months ago

How’s it going guys,

After doing a bunch, okay, tons and tons of research, I was able to turn WordPress into a real estate Content Management System and property listing application. I definitely went through some freaking out, okay, lots and lots of freaking out during the development stages, but in the end it was worth it.

http://www.NWColorado.com

Their previous site wasn’t getting much traffic due to the way it was set up (wasn’t easy to update, nor feasible for the search engine spiders to crawl properly), furthermore, it didn’t have the power of the blog. Now with WordPress as the backbone of their site, it’s ranking extremely high under multiple very competitive keyword phrases on Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. I love WordPress!!! It allows my clients to constantly and easily update their site, something the search engines love. Fresh content is king.

I’m partially gloating, but moreover, want people to understand the power of WordPress and its power with the search engines…it’s a frickin’ search engine marketing machine…on so many accounts.

To be honest though, right after launching the new site, their web site traffic and responses plummeted, which is to be expected sometimes when you make several large scale changes to a site. Within two weeks however their traffic and responses returned, but with much more frequency. And it’s just the beginning.

On a different note, here are some snapshots of the customized admin area:

Property Add and edit properties

View Listings

I’d appreciate your feedback, good or bad. Ideally, I want to make this site and solution as effective and efficient as possible, especially since I want to focus exclusively on WordPress for Real Estate.

Have a great one!!!

Justin

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)

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Chrisber
(@chrisber)

15 years, 8 months ago

Nice work. It’s good to see unconventional uses of the WP platform. My only complaint is that I really hate vertically arranged drop down menus.

Thread Starter GroundedGroup.com
(@jhouse)

15 years, 8 months ago

Thanks for the nice comments, much appreciated.

Regarding the “vertically challenged menu,” I have to laugh and agree. I was thinking about making them rollover to the left, instead of right. Do you think that would simply things/make it better?

Thanks.

Chrisber
(@chrisber)

15 years, 8 months ago

I think that would be a big improvement.

dpeeples19
(@dpeeples19)

15 years, 8 months ago

As a fellow real estate person, I love it. As an internet user, I would change the photo/image at the top. I think it is cool, but waaayyy to big.

The “above the fold” real estate (errrr…no pun intended) is too valuable for such a large image…..in my opinion.

I am new to a real estate themed WP blog as well, thoughts?: http://shortsaleblogger.com

Thread Starter GroundedGroup.com
(@jhouse)

15 years, 8 months ago

Another valid suggestion, thanks dpeeples19. My client actually brought this up before too, and while I kinda disagreed with them, after hearing it from another party, it’s been ratified.

What we’re thinking about doing is reducing the header substantially in the subsequent pages, but not the homepage. I plan on adding different montages to some of the headers, per category, so I don’t want to ditch the header all together.

Thanks again for the quality input.

Regarding your site, it looks pretty cool. The content is nice and apparently plentiful, the design could just use some color. I suppose you’re kinda going with the newspaper look, but don’t forget newspapers generally have some very eye-catching photos to set it off. That said, some pictures will add life and color to your site, the more welcoming the better.

Have a good one!

wordpress_guy
(@wordpress_guy)

15 years, 7 months ago

Hey … i need some advice on something
I’m a designer and i’ve been working with some guys in a partnership(i was their designer and they coded real estate sites). Now they said they have developed a plugin for wordpress, which allows you to “bring in” the real estate informations directly into wordpress post and pages, and still allow you to post as WordPress usual does .. for me, as a designer, i’m actually working with wordpress themes, and they said for the homes i’m just working with html templates and css … if you have time, please give me some advices on it, i have a customer right now and i’m just asking myself if i should talk to him to get a site like that … here’s the link

http://www.wprealestatelistings.com/realestate/wordpress …

I might be on the wrong forum, if that’s the case, excuse me and delete the post

Thank

Thread Starter GroundedGroup.com
(@jhouse)

15 years, 6 months ago

That’s what I do, too. I’d definitely be willing to partner on some projects as well. I think I’ve made it really simple for Realtors to add and edit properties, plus I’ve made it really search engine friendly. It’s a turnkey system/web site (design and programming is already done) that a real estate agent could use immediately (well, after I changed the logo, header photos, text, and other minor stuff).

You can view my web work here: http://www.GroundedGroup.com

Here’s one of my latest real estate designs for WordPress:

http://www.groundedgroup.com/clients/WPRE/D2/D2_Interface.html (it’s still in progress, I plan on making the butterfly’s wings move, as well change colors, and the flower part will grow as the site loads).

Take care.

WP Realty
(@php4ever)

15 years, 3 months ago

VERY IMPORTANT FRAUD NOTICE!
wordpress_guy is actually Mike Dates Mihai, a Romanian programmer wanted by US Authorities for fraud. Dont belive me, check out the US FTC website where two serious complaints are levied against him for taking NAR Listings and selling the data elsewhere.

Mike Dates Mihai, quit promoting stolen software, you dont even have the intelligence to write your own content for your demo, you stole it from my site WPFeatured.com and EZProRealty.com This is not ethical or honest.

You foolishly admit to stealing our code on your own blog. WordPress does not allow the promotion of stolen or pirated software where you remove and or re license software as you have done with my code.

Also Mike, your demo has NAR listings on it and you are not even a Realtor.

For anyone who cares about your business, your ethical standing in the industry and your reputation I plead with you, be very careful in how you entertain this guy by giving him access to ANY of your code, servers or software. I would certainly NEVER give him access to MLS, IDX and RETS details because NAR has sent out a broadcast last month to avoid this guy by name, Vlad Dates Mihai aka Mike.

Anyone can contact me by phone for full details about his code.

WP Realty
(@php4ever)

15 years, 3 months ago

Mike or wordpress_guy or Vlad Dates Mihai, whatever name you use I’m going to follow you everywhere on the web where you post your jacked stolen code to reveal to people who you really are.

And another thing pal, quit jacking every-ones threads and blog posts, its unethical and rude, you are a hack that gets lucky at the expense of honest Realtors seeking help falling into that trap by hiring you.

bryanhelmig
(@bryanhelmig)

15 years, 3 months ago

I just released a free Real Estate specific theme not too long ago, it might be of interest to those looking to integrate a simple listing system with normal blog posts on the same WordPress installation.

How it works is pretty basic: any post under the “Listings” category is treated as a home listing and anything outside of that category is treated like an average article.

You can check out the aptly named “Smooth Real Estate Theme” here if you like, there should be a link to download it and demo it as well.

Oh, it’s also GPL licensed, so enjoy!

Thread Starter GroundedGroup.com
(@jhouse)

15 years, 3 months ago

Hey, it’s me again, the original poster JHouse…

I ended up making a site dedicated to using WordPress for Real Estate, with current and future links to real estate related plugins, articles, hacks, and such. Here’s the web address: http://www.WPforRealEstate.com

Peace.

menj
(@menj)

15 years, 2 months ago

Really fantastic stuff here, I am impressed with the work done to turn WP into a real estate listing site.

bloginstall
(@bloginstall)

15 years, 2 months ago

This is just usage of the great-real-estate-plugin.. and I don’t really like the example with the dark design.

I am working on improving or building an entirely new plugin for wordpress real estate sites.

You can follow the progress on twitter @wpreality

Thread Starter GroundedGroup.com
(@jhouse)

15 years, 2 months ago

Actually, the site you’re looking at (http://www.NWColorado.com) isn’t using the great real estate plugin…it’s something I created using custom fields, other plugins, some custom php, etc.

However, now I’m using the great real estate plugin on forthcoming sites, but I’m open to other real estate plugins such as yours and others, granted they’re really solid.

Once you’re done with your plugin, feel free to tell me about it and I’ll gladly cover it on the WordPress for Real Estate site, assuming you’re okay with that. That’s the objective of the site, to showcase and discuss WordPress real estate plugins and ideally sell real estate themes.

Regarding the dark green, yeah, I agree, but the client wanted it that way. To each their own I guess. Here’s the original version before I changed the colors:

http://www.groundedgroup.com/clients/ReLinda/toshow/RL_Index.html

Thanks for the feedback.

pstatus
(@pstatus)

15 years, 2 months ago

hey it looks GREAT!!! really doesn’t fit the wordpress mold.. love it!