Special offer

WordPress For Real Estate?

By
Real Estate Agent with Realty Executives - PhoenixHomes.com

When I had my first major redesign of one of my websites done, it was changed from .NET (Advanced Access) to a Drupal site.  I wrote about that change in a post named Drupal For Real Estate within a month of making the new site live.

Well, it's happened again... only this time I moved a site from .NET (Point2Homes) to WordPress using PropertyTown (Greg Boser's newest project)!  And, if I do say so myself, it is working out better than I could have ever expected!  Sticking with tradition, I have waited just over a month to post about this move (mostly to make sure everything is working correctly before sharing the site here with everyone).

Now, you may be asking yourself how a blog can be a website... if so, I would read up here for those who are new to WordPress.

First off: I'd like to give a special thanks to Greg Boser (aka WebGuerrilla) for all of his help with this new project... I couldn't have done it without you!!!  Thanks to the brilliant SEO work of Greg, Dax and Cesar this has been an easy move to make!

The site I moved this time is my Scottsdale real estate sales website.  Below is a screenshot of how the new site looks...
Screenshot of our Scottsdale site 

Naturally, one of the coolest features about using WordPress for a real estate website is the fact that you have a blog already integrated into the site and design.  For this application I chose to name the blog Scottsdale Community News, which makes the most sense to me since it is about nothing more or less than just that.

One of the other great features is being able to have my listings on their own city appropriate pages.  On this site I offer homes for sale in Rio Verde, Pinnacle Peak, Fountain Hills and of course, Scottsdale.

Speaking of features, some of you may have noticed the similarities between my old Phoenix site and my new Scottsdale site... that's because my Director Of Marketing, Max Chirkov, took our old CSS and applied it to a standard WordPress Theme.  But, you don't have to be a CSS pro in order to have a WordPress site.  Take a minute to look at all the WordPress Themes available for free online.  Amazing heh?

Any-who, back to the new site... I have taken an extensive amount of time traveling, shooting photos and lining up details and facts about each of the communities my team serves with this site.  The communities are as follows: North Scottsdale, South Scottsdale, Pinnacle Peak, Rio Verde Foothills and Fountain Hills.  Note that not only do I have extensive information about each area that we serve, I now also have an extensive photo album for each community so as I blog about each, I can add photos to the blog posts and refer to the info on each individual community page as needed.

Any questions, comments or other website stories to share?  Then leave a comment, I check them all the time!

Posted in the Ramblings From Phoenix blog.

Comments (20)

Chris Tesch
RE/MAX Bryan-College Station - College Station, TX
College Station, Texas Real Estate
I like the look Matthew!  Did you do this yourself?  I'm getting the Tomato to do my blogsite.  Might just borrow some design elements from yours!
Sep 20, 2007 11:00 AM
Cathy Tishhouse
RE/MAX Showcase Homes - Royal Oak, MI
Royal Oak Real Estate
After some research and recommendations, I am about to start a wordpress blog and this came in a timely manner as I want a new look for another of my sites and just bought a new domain name - didn't know I could do a site with wordpress so I will check this out.  Thanks.
Sep 20, 2007 11:04 AM
Matthew Pellerin
Realty Executives - PhoenixHomes.com - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Homes Team

Chris, Cathy,

Well worth investigating!  And, doing it on your own will help you better understand how it all works so that later down the road if you want to upgrade anything, you'll already have a basic working knowledge of WordPress.

Chris, the design is all mine.  But, there are plenty of free options for themes available.

Sep 20, 2007 11:17 AM
Rosemary Brooks
BMC Real Estate - 209-910-3706 - Stockton, CA
The Mother & Daughter Realty Team
Great information to share.  Thanks.  I am registered with Wordpress and have done just a little on my blog/site but I will do more with your encouragement. I also have point2.  Thanks
Sep 20, 2007 11:40 AM
Matthew Pellerin
Realty Executives - PhoenixHomes.com - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Homes Team
Keep ahead of the curve Rosemary!
Sep 20, 2007 11:45 AM
Jacqulyn Richey
Prominent Realty Group - Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas Real Estate
It looks really good Matt. One of these days I'll finish transferring my site over.... -Charles
Sep 20, 2007 05:58 PM
Christopher Walker
Mission Grove Realty Inc. - Hemet, CA
Local Broker and Realtor - Hemet & San Jacinto, CA

Looks great. Since you asked for opinions and provided a link in another post I will do so.  Although it is visually appealing, you have copied one too many words on the homepage. Either somone has copied your fromt page or...you theirs but, there are over 1,000 sites with the same words as yours on their home pages. That alone will hurt you in the long run. Have a look. Pretty dull and boring from a readers perspective too so, change it up!. Make it even easier to find what they came to your site for too. You have done a pretty good job with the nav bars. Dont add too many choices. A mistake the majority make, thinking it will gain web ranking or???. It dosent work and alienates visitors that wil....very quickly ....leave. Good start on a good looking site. NEVER stop creating new content and make sure that the majority of it is YOUR content.

 

Sep 21, 2007 02:42 AM
Darla Vanderlip
Santa Clarita, CA

Matt,

Congrats on the launch of your new site. It is very apparent you've worked very hard on the design and content of your site, now if those other agents would stop taking YOUR IDEAS!!!!!

Sep 21, 2007 04:56 AM
Matthew Pellerin
Realty Executives - PhoenixHomes.com - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Homes Team

Charles, thank you!

Christopher, good to hear your comments.  The home page is on my to-do list... not sure if you are familiar with Point2Homes websites or not, but this is where I moved from.  And, the home page text is their stock text, only I altered a few words, but basically it's the same text you'll find on all stock Point2 sites.  But, it's the only page with any duplication what-so-ever.

Funny that you're the only one to catch that. :-)  Thanks for taking the time to look at the site, and to look for possible duplicate content!

Darla, good to see you here, and commenting!  You are right on the money, of course, I did work very hard on the site and I am sure a few low-lifes will copy stuff from it like they do from my other sites.  Brats!  But, Christopher nailed it with the home page analogy...

Sep 21, 2007 07:17 AM
Access San Diego
San Diego Real Estate - San Diego, CA
I see lots of agent sites. Yours certainly is memorable and unique. Where did you get the theme? 
Sep 21, 2007 11:59 AM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Great job, Matt, and mega-kudos to Max for another job well done!!  I don't see any indication of a template in your source code, so I'm assuming the design is original.  Very nice. 

I've been thinking of converting one of my sites to WordPress, and still might do it.  Right now I'm in the middle of trying to learn CSS though, so it's probably going to be a little while before I get to that point.  Did start working on a WordPress blog several months ago, but as usual I got side-tracked somehow. 

Just a p.s. - Might want to list Max as a part of your team on the "team" page.  He obviously makes HUGE contributions to you guys!  It was quite a coup getting him over to our part of the world.  Now if I can find a way to hire him away from you.... Hey Max!  Want to move up to Bullhead and find what it means to live in a REALLY warm climate?!?!  :-) (j/k)

 

 

 

 

Sep 21, 2007 12:40 PM
#11
Chris Tesch
RE/MAX Bryan-College Station - College Station, TX
College Station, Texas Real Estate
Gosh, I almost feel embarrased that I need this much help to get mine up!!!  You make it look so easy, and it's saved you $3000!!!  Go Matthew!!  Where are the design ideas that are free?
Sep 21, 2007 03:44 PM
Matthew Pellerin
Realty Executives - PhoenixHomes.com - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Homes Team

Access San Diego - Thank you!  It's actually a standard WP Theme with our CSS applied to it.

Gene - Max and I have talked about adding him to the "Team Page" but he still hasn't done it.  BTW, I only know that is your comment because you mentioned Bullhead City... you forgot to put your name in.

Chris - As mentioned in my post, here's a good place to view themes http://themes.wordpress.net and don't feel embarrased, I had a lot of help. :-)

Sep 22, 2007 06:15 AM
Dan Forbes
Bradenton, FL
Thanks  I've been considering Wordpress. 
Sep 22, 2007 06:20 AM
Matthew Pellerin
Realty Executives - PhoenixHomes.com - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Homes Team
You're welcome Dan.
Sep 22, 2007 06:29 AM
Anonymous
Gene Hahn
Oops!  Yeah, you're right, Matt, that comment was mine. 
Sep 22, 2007 06:36 AM
#16
Scot Thrapp
Coastal Palmetto Realty - Conway, SC
Looks great and thinks for the info on Wordpress I am looking into right now
Sep 24, 2007 07:24 AM
Matthew Pellerin
Realty Executives - PhoenixHomes.com - Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Homes Team
You're welcome Scott, I hope it helps you out! :-)
Sep 24, 2007 07:54 AM
Tim Derylak
Keller Williams Realty - Fort Mill, SC

Wordpress is terrific!  I recently transitioned from a Top Producer website to a Wordpress website/blog.  I couldn't be more thrilled with the results and the increased traffic I've seen.  Check out my Charlotte Real Estate website that utilizes a wordpress template from StudioPress.

Jul 30, 2010 03:02 PM
Anonymous
PhoenixRealEstate

Yeah i agree, wordpress is great... Ive been using it for almost 3 years now as a Phoenix Arizona Real Estate Agent check out my site http://www.phoenixrealestate.com.au

Oct 09, 2011 11:03 PM
#21