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Wordpress as the Foundation for a Real Estate Website - Examples to Model After

By
Real Estate Agent with Harmon Enterprises

At the recent Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco, Wordpress continued to gain visibility as the modern platform for real estate websites.  A full half day workshop was dedicated to the platform and it's use in the real estate space.  Over at Agent Applause, I'm continually on the look out for great examples of Realtor websites built on the wordpress platform and a recent post highlighted Realtor Amanda McMillian's Chicago Home Partner's Website as a great example.  I've also highlighted the Good Life Team's wordpress website which is the online foundation for Krisstina Wise's brokerage and is part of the package that warranted her group a 2010 Inman Innovator Award. 

It seems fair to say that Wordpress isn't going anywhere as a development platform for real estate.  I advocate it for agents, even if they aren't interested in blogging.  Wordpress allows Realtors to set up sites that look like websites, de-emphasize the blogging portion of the site, and still maintain a customized look and the flexibility of changing content quickly and without reliance on a developer. 

Check out this example from Glen Oaks Escrow - one on my Harmon Enterprises clients.  I project managed the building of their new corporate website, which is built in Wordpress.  Although we pulled in the blog element onto the home page, the majority of the site appears to be a static website, worthy of representing the corporate presence of the company.  Yet because it is built in Wordpress, their is an inherent flexibility in the site that allows for the company to change page content, update employee information, and post new pages as the business grows or chooses to emphasize different areas of expertise. 

Glen Oaks Escrow Wordpress Site

Realtors have the same opportunities with Wordpress.  For 32 great examples of Real Estate Wordpress sites, check out this post which gives screenshots and URLs for some great examples for Realtors to model their sites after.  I'll be updating the presentation soon with additional examples.  Stay tuned for an announcement soon.  Do you have a great real estate site, or know of one, that is built on Wordpress?  Let me know - I'd love to see it!

Show All Comments Sort:
Mara Hawks
First Realty Auburn - Auburn, AL
Inactive-2012 REALTOR - Homes for Sale Auburn Real Estate, AL

I'm still at the starting line of Wordpress website transformation, but making some good strides. Thanks for sharing tons more inspiration and motivation. Brilliant!

Aug 22, 2010 03:56 AM
Larry Story ALC
Total Care Realty - Greensboro, NC
Beneath it all is the Land, Covering all of NC

Stacy,

Great post.  I have my tech genius building my wordpress site now.  He is setting it up and dumbing it down so I can update and change the content.  I loved all the themes on Wordpress and actually had a hard time picking one.  I will have to post it on AR and Agent Applause when we finish.

Aug 23, 2010 05:27 PM
Stacey Harmon
Harmon Enterprises - Newport Beach, CA

Larry - Please do keep me posted when you launch your site.  Would love to see it!

Nina - I suggest hiring someone to do your Wordpress development for you.  It is fairly easy to find a low cost wordpress developer, and many are sprouting up that specialize in Wordpress sites for Real Estate.  You can get a great site built for $200 - $1500...whatever best works for your budget.  This is the same (if not less) than you would spend having a standard website built.  But, the advantage of Wordpress is the ongoing maintenance of it.  What Larry states in his comment is exactly what I recommend for the modern Realtor - have a develpor build the site and show you how to maintain it.  The maintaining part is what Wordpress for Dummies will teach you.  If you are insistant on doing it yourself, I suggest getting started for free at Wordpress.com. That is the simplist place to start.  The challenge is that Wordpress.com is that it is going to be limited in adding in functionality like IDX...you need to graduate to a self hosted solution for that (which you mention you want).  So, my best advice would be to hire some help to get the site built and focus on learning how to manage the back end of Wordpress to manage your site once it is up.  You actually have asked a very common question and I'm in the process of writing a series of posts designed to help answer in more detail...stay tuned!

Mara - Thanks for the comment...appreciate the positive feedback.  Keep up the positive work towards Wordpress!

 

Aug 24, 2010 06:53 AM
John Mosier
Realty ONE Group Mountain Desert - Prescott, AZ
Prescott's Patriot Agent 928 533-8142

I have several Wordpress sites. I am eager to see what happens when we get several authors publishing articles.

Aug 31, 2010 05:40 PM
Lisa Coates
Level Ten Construction Consultants - Halifax, NS
Residential Home Sales Specialist

Wow, Everyone, I have a word press site, I've not really worked on. But now I feel the love and I think it will be next on my list of things to master. Plus looking at all the great and creative work you've done. Is a real inspiration. Great post Stacey.

Sep 22, 2010 01:18 PM
Kim Weis & Kelly Zarda
Platinum Realty, LLC - Overland Park, KS

Stacey,

Thank you for all of your great advice.  I may try to dig in to this project this winter.  We are looking for a better website platform!  We've heard so much about word press, guess it's time to finally check it out!

thanks again!

Kelly, from the Kim and Kelly Team

Sep 26, 2010 04:57 AM
Vanessa Pollock
RE/MAX Village Square - Maplewood, NJ

Great Post!  Using a wordpress blog platform and premium theme is the way to go!

http://www.livinggardenstate.com

Nov 05, 2010 10:16 AM
Stacey Harmon
Harmon Enterprises - Newport Beach, CA

Vanessa - I totally agree and your site looks really nice.  I particularly like the listing integration you've done with IDX broker.  Thanks for your comment!

Nov 05, 2010 10:45 AM
Ellen Wright Adams
Academy Mortgage.......We are a Equal Housing Lender - Eugene, OR
LoansByEllen- Licensed in Oregon

Thanks for the examples and ideas Stacey!

Nov 05, 2010 04:44 PM
John Bunka
AgentAvenue.com - Colorado Springs, CO
SimplexStudios.com - WordPress for Real Estate

Great article I love how much traction and pr wordpress seems to be getting lately

Nov 08, 2010 11:03 AM
Ray Grau
PropTrackr - Littleton, CO

Great Post! I am a fan of WordPress as well, and use it for several sites.

PropTrackr Real Estate Management software comes with a free, customizable, WordPress site.

Nov 09, 2010 03:38 AM
Larry Story ALC
Total Care Realty - Greensboro, NC
Beneath it all is the Land, Covering all of NC

I have loved the Good Life Teams sites.  I have even asked my web designer to study their look while working on mine.  

Nov 27, 2010 03:35 PM
Daniel "Dan" Waterman
Gilbo Realty - Syracuse, NY

Stacey, I just ran across an amazing WP plugin for real estate agent's websites and there is a free version:   www.realshout.com.  It was a bit of a process to install, but it was far superior to many of the other options out there....(1) they have a free version (and a paid version to set it up for you), and (2) it was pretty simple configuration (need to know how to use an FTP client, unpack the zip file, and configure the plugin - reading the documentation is simple).

 

 

Dec 02, 2010 04:36 AM
Adrian Willanger
206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA
Profit from my two decades of experience

Stacey,

There are blog sites then there are blog sites that are business platforms! Very impressive.

Best,

Adrian Willanger

Dec 11, 2010 05:43 AM
John Novak
Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace - Las Vegas, NV
Henderson, Las Vegas and Summerlin Real Estate

32 sites for inspiration is just what I need right now. Thanks, Stacey!

Dec 11, 2010 05:47 AM
Ray Grau
PropTrackr - Littleton, CO

I agree! Word press is a great foundation for a RE site. It comes with all of the tools necessary. Thanks for the examples!

Dec 16, 2010 10:10 AM
Paul Gapski
Berkshire Hathaway / Prudential Ca Realty - El Cajon, CA
619-504-8999,#1 Resource SD Relo

stacey love that chicage website with the three pics.

Mar 12, 2011 05:34 PM
James Chai
agentlabs - Manhattan, NY
Real Estate Websites

Always happy to see other evangelists promote Wordpress as a Real Estate Marketing Solution!  

Thanks for sharing.

Apr 20, 2011 08:39 AM
Mayra Espinosa Realtor San Mateo Pacifica Homes
Mayra Espinosa Broker- Realtor | Call 650-996-8961 - Pacifica, CA
San Mateo County Real Estate | Buy | Sell | Invest

 

Great useful information! I was looking information on wordpress website and found your blog. I need to have IDX and CRM. Need help! Thanks for sharing!

 

Sep 15, 2012 04:56 AM
Karen Fiddler, Broker/Owner
Karen Parsons-Fiddler, Broker 949-510-2395 - Mission Viejo, CA
Orange County & Lake Arrowhead, CA (949)510-2395

Interesting! Thanks for the post, I'm working on a new site and need all the info I can get. 

Mar 05, 2016 07:36 AM
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