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Wordpress plugin recommendation: Featured Content Gallery

By Matt & Riahna Kastner

Real Estate Broker/Owner with St. Louis Real Estate Society

March 01, 2010 08:51 AM

I have been using Wordpress for my blog going on two years now. In that time, I have learned a lot and had more than a few overhauls on my blog. I have been using a "magazin style" layout for my blog since I started it. I always figured it was more user-friendly those people who aren't familiar with blogs. But I was never satisfied.

I implememnted various upgrades over the following two years, but never found my comfort zone. Until now. Over the weekend I decided to go to a more traditional blog layout, but also keep a graphic laiden entry point for eye candy. Trying to model it somewhere along the lines of sites like CNet or IGN, I ended up using a Wordpress plugin called "Featured Content Gallery."

This plugin sets up a sideshow gallery for my featured stories, including thumbnails and descriptions. It took a while, but using this plugin and a little bit of custom programming, I have created an interface I can finaly be happy with. I still have a few tweaks to make to my post footers, sidebar and loading times, but I am quite happy.

I just wanted to share this plugin with anyone who is looking to impletment something a little different on their site. You can download the plugin here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/featured-content-gallery/.

If you'd like to see an example of this plugin in action, please check out my blog: St. Louis Investment Realty

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Evelyn Johnston

Friends & Neighbors Real Estate - Elkhart, IN

The People You Know, Like and Trust!

Great Matt, I am a new WP blogger and am still in the process of uploading information. To think I might have to/want to do it again is scary!

Mar 01, 2010 09:29 AM

Maria Marriott

Executive Properties - Roseville, CA

Realtor - DBRealEstateTeam.com

Thank you very much Matt. I use WordPress as well and really like your tip. All the best!

Mar 01, 2010 09:31 AM

Billie Hillier

http://702IsHome.com - North Las Vegas, NV

Savvy Home Realty Solutions

Here is my list of recommended plugins for your site - I consider these the basics and there are so many more that you can add to your blog to really make it robust. Rule of thumb, if you want to do it, there is a plugin for that. :-)

http://practicalrealestatemarketing.com/recommend-wordpress-blog-plugins/

If you are looking for something specific, let me know and I can tell you which ones I prefer over others and why.

Billie
Practical Real Estate Marketing

Mar 01, 2010 12:37 PM

Matt & Riahna Kastner

St. Louis Real Estate Society - Saint Louis, MO

Multi-family Real Estate Brokers - St. Louis City

It takes some tweaking out of the box, but if you don't mind the default settings, setting up the plugin isn't too hard.

Mar 02, 2010 02:18 AM

Jarrod Weaver

X3 REALTY - Georgetown, TX

I like the plug-in Matt. Thanks for sharing...

Mar 08, 2010 05:47 AM

South Austin Real Estate Blog

Sky Realty South Austin - Austin, TX

i'll have to check into it - i recently discovered NextGen gallery and really like it but this looks pretty slick too - thanks for sharing

Mar 09, 2010 05:07 AM

Grant Howell

Alex Lowery Real Estate - Frisco, TX

Broker/Owner 214-234-6901

thanks for the tip. I am working on setting up a wordpress blog. Had trouble picking a layout as well and haven't committed the time yet to get it up to my satisfaction level. Best of luck with yours!

Mar 14, 2010 11:45 AM

Troy Erickson AZ Realtor (602) 295-6807

HomeSmart - Chandler, AZ

Your Chandler, Ahwatukee, and East Valley Realtor

Matt - Thanks for sharing this plugin. I am just getting started with wordpress, so this may be a little advanced for me. I will bookmark for now.

Mar 17, 2010 03:46 PM

It does take a bit of knowledge to tweak the plugin, but it is pretty easy touse straight out of the box. After using it for a little over a month now, I think the layout would be really well suited to agents posting listings on their blog. I know some premium Wpordpress themse like Studiopress are even incorporating the plugin into their layout by default. Might be worth invesitng a few bucks on somehting like that if you are nervous about installing it yourself.

Mar 22, 2010 03:52 AM

Kryste Adams

RE/MAX Key Properties - Luxury Homes, Golf Course Homes - Bend, OR

Bend, Oregon Real Estate

Thanks for the info Matt! I just set up my site in WordPress. I tried several templates that had a featured post slider but didn't like something about the rest of the page. I may have to give this plugin a go. Your site looks great!

Apr 01, 2010 03:31 AM

Stanton Homes

Stanton Homes - New Home Builder - Raleigh, NC

Design/Build Custom Home Builder in North Carolina

Matt - thanks for the info! Do you have a premium or standard WP blog? I'm looking to build some WP sites and looking for more info.

Apr 07, 2010 01:54 AM

I use a self-hosted format via wordpress.org, not the wordpress.com model. If you are going to use wordpress, there is no other way. As for theme, I started off a little over two years ago withe the Revolution theme. That project is now part of the the Studiopress family of themes.

I have done so much tweaking to the theme though, that now it is really totally custom. Going that route has had it's go and bad sides, but for most people I would recommend finding a premade theme and just go with it. Studiopress might be a good place to start. I have no experience with Wordpress before using their them and was able to figure everyhitng out from there. Hope this helps.

Apr 07, 2010 02:20 AM

StudioPress is one of the best theme builders. Their coding is great! I love the lifestyle theme and streamline

Apr 11, 2010 10:32 AM

James Chai

agentlabs - Manhattan, NY

Real Estate Websites

Studiopress puts out some GREAT themes (like AgentPress) but have you seen these other Real Estate specific themes? Worth checking out!

Aug 23, 2010 07:50 AM

Been having some problems with the Featured Content Gallery plugin lately. Apparently it is coded in a way that can conflict with other Wordpress plugins. If I can't fix these conflicts, I mgiht abandon the plugin, as much as I love the look. If you use it, be sure to make sure it isn't slowing down your blog.

Jan 14, 2011 12:19 PM

Adrian Willanger

206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA

Profit from my two decades of experience

Matt, I've got a little too much white space on one of my sites the plugin should take care of that.

Mar 31, 2011 11:00 AM

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