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Wordpress as a Brokerage site.

Posted in Real Estate Bloggers By , Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

Can anyone here point me to a real good example of a brokerage using WP as a company site? You know, something more along the lines of having static pages with great graphics and a blog incorporated.

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Submitted by on March 12, 2008 - 1:27pm.

http://blog.ewm.com

 
Submitted by on March 12, 2008 - 1:53pm.

Brad, we use WordPress but only as our blog, but is connected by a link through our company website. I feel like I recently came across a brokerage that was using just WordPress for it all. I will see if I can find it and let you know...

 
Submitted by Toby Boyce on March 12, 2008 - 7:02pm.

I use WP for everything, and am just starting to expand it to more than just my front page.

 
Submitted by on March 13, 2008 - 5:59am.

I like the idea of using a "magazine style" Wordpress template as the "front end" of a main site.

Benn Rosales did a fabulous job with http://www.singlepointerealty.com. And there's another out there Brad that's more "flashy" as you mentioned off-line, but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it.

I'll find it though...

Jay Thompson
Broker / Owner
Thompson's Realty

Blog: www.PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com

.

 
Submitted by Vlad Zablotskyy on March 13, 2008 - 10:18am.

I think one of the best examples of how to use WordPress for a real estate website is Utah Luxury:

http://www.utahluxury.com/blog/

They are using The Morning After theme, which has a learning curve. But once you get to know how to use that theme it can be indeed used very effectively as a brokerage website.

Vlad Zablotskyy
www.go-beyond-mls.com

 
Submitted by Thomas Townsend on March 13, 2008 - 11:36am.

There are some great themes coming out for Word Press users that are very impressive. The Utah site looks very nice indeed. WP will be out with a major update to the code this month and after that you will see some real nice stuff out. I envision that a lot of sites will go to straight WP and will move away from the old static html sites of yesterday.

 
Submitted by on March 13, 2008 - 12:59pm.

Thanks everyone for some really great examples here and giving me something to chew on. Joel pointed me back to his post of FOREM http://urltea.com/2xc4

There has been a lot of buzz about this idea lately and I love the idea of exploring this option for our company. Although, it seem (in our case at least) that incorporating a solid listing presentation is the missing example. www.utahluxury.com seems to be doing a good job of it and www.fruitproperty.com of AUS had made some custom plug-ins that work for them. The idea of using one of the "magazine style" themes greatly appeals to me personally, but may have to be relegated to another project.

Cheers,

Brad Coy - www.sfres.com

 
Submitted by Vlad Zablotskyy on March 13, 2008 - 1:10pm.

I think no matter what theme you chose, WordPress is probably by far SE friendliest content management system. Let us know when you roll out your website.

Vlad Zablotskyy
www.go-beyond-mls.com

 
Submitted by G Dewald | Union Street Media on March 13, 2008 - 1:25pm.

Search engine friendliness for CMS packages usually relies on the mix of plug-ins involved (and more importantly, the actual use by the writers). Wordpress is fabulous and I recommend it on nearly all small-site rollout. But it's no more SEF than Joomla, ModX, Drupal or other contemporary options out there.

There are ton of good reasons to make use of Wordpress but SEF tools are fairly standard at the moment.

 
Submitted by Vlad Zablotskyy on March 13, 2008 - 1:41pm.

Alright, I should have said "in my humble opinion". I think that Joomla, ModX and Drupal may have a slightly more difficult learning curve... I settled on WordPress precisely because ti was easy to learn and the back end interface is more intuitive that other platforms.

 
Submitted by G Dewald | Union Street Media on March 13, 2008 - 1:42pm.

Absolutely Vlad. Wordpress rocks on the learning curve. Didn't mean to come down like a ton of bricks on the SEF. :)

 
Submitted by on March 13, 2008 - 2:04pm.

We just started our blog and we have a website

do you guys think that we should have both or one, please visit our website at http://www.goterrabella.com and our blog at http://www.terrabellarealestate.blogspot.com
and send me your opinion, Thanks.

 
Submitted by Thomas Townsend on March 13, 2008 - 8:46pm.

The old static web site does not do much to draw in views. While your site looks nice, and decent SEO, you will never get anywhere near the attention that you could obtain by dropping the static site and keeping a predominantly Blog based Site.

While you have a good start on the blog, you should move to a Self hosted Word Press platform with a professional theme. This way it won't necessarily look like a blog but will provide all the Social benefits including drawing potential clients in and getting you much more attention directed to the site from the search engines.

Here is a link to a guy in Tampa, that can cut your costs (probably in half) from what you are spending now on your site. They can provide a top notch Word Press Blog system that will have your pages drawing a higher PR and list your content on the top pages of the major search engines.

I have worked with some of his customers on Video Projects. He has a loyal following that is starting to really expand.

If you decide to hire him, do me a favor and tell him that I sent you :)

http://www.getfoundnow.com

 
Submitted by on March 14, 2008 - 5:41pm.

I for one see the wordpress site as a brokerage site as a mediocre solution. When I first started learnign about blogs and using them and navigating them, I personally thought they were an unorganized smattering of thoughts and opinions. It really turned me off.

I bet some other folks who are not technocentric feel the same way. That said, I think a "static" site that is updated often that also includes a blog is a better solution. It covers both the folks who like blogs and the folks who like regular websites.

Just my 2 cents.

joe

Mortgage Calculators | Gracywoods Texas Real Estate

 
Submitted by on March 14, 2008 - 7:53pm.

I actually agree with Joe and I consider myself one of the technocentric types :)

A website that is updated often in addition to a blog I feel is the best solution. Most people are used to going to a website to view information about the company and services, to search through listings, etc. and go to blogs for opinions and conversations. I feel a blog compliments a website but should not be used as a substitute. Wordpress is a great blog platform and when setup correctly can be an outstanding addition to a good website.

Your Friends at ClassifiedFlyerAds.com - Online Advertising That Works!

 
Submitted by Fred Carver on March 14, 2008 - 10:12pm.

Hi..There are no silver bullets, just Experience. When you need to realy get serious, call.
Cheers, have a great day!

 
Submitted by on March 15, 2008 - 6:32am.

Utahluxury.com is a beautiful site but it's not a brokerage or agent site. I'm not sure what the guy who runs it actually does. In my state, if you have an agent sight, the local real estate board imposes all sorts of restrictions on advertising so your site has to have your firm logo, name address, phone number etc. and the font for the agency info has to be as big as your personal contact info. In other words, they want it to be very clearly identified that you are a licensed agent selling real estate.

I think having a blog that is not part of the 'static' agent site (but nothing says it has to be static) give me more credibility with the readers of my blog (hobokenrealestatenews.com)because I'm acting more like a journalist - not a sales person.

Since we don't yet have IDX capability, my static site (www.hobokensbesthomes.com) is just a place holder - from what I've learned, all the public wants are listings! So my game plan is to become the expert in my area, gain a reputation for intelligence and honesty, and when IDX comes, use my 'agent' site for the listings. Hopefully, I'll have built up a community of readers who will know from my blogging that they can go to my agent website to look at the listings. Then they will feel comfortable with me & confident in my ability so that when they want to see a property or list theirs, they will contact me.

Maybe I'm crazy but it's the best plan I can come up with for now.

I'm happy to hear your feedback.

 
Submitted by John Lauber on April 1, 2008 - 4:49am.

Jay Thompson is too humble (see his comment) to push his own site as a great Wordpress example.

It does everything a brokerage or single agent would want and is one I'm using as an example to emulate in my own redesign using Wordpress. I'm getting away from the template site with integrated blog.

Check his out.

John Lauber

 
Submitted by Phil Sexton on April 24, 2008 - 9:34am.

We run a separate WP.com blog. The looks are similar, but definitely not the same. The price was right to begin playing with it to see if it was something we wanted to stick with, which it is.

We've only been doing this since Dec., but so far enjoy having 2 separate sites because it allows us to have a different personality on the blog.

As stated in "The Purpose" section of the blog, the professionalism that shines through on our regular website, might be slightly less shiney on the blog. It basically gives us a little more freedom as we learn.

Phil Sexton - Agent Support
John Hall & Associates - Phoenix, AZ

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