Great Real Estate Plug-In: The Secret Tool For Featuring Listings with WordPress
By Reggie · June 29, 2008
Many of you have already realized that WordPress has many benefits over a traditional Website. To start you are in full control of design, content, and distribution. Plus you can integrate any IDX MLS search unlike many template Website providers that only offer one solution. You could argue the only WordPress limitation for real estate agents has been the difficulty of displaying listings in an attractive and useful format…until now. Introducing Great Real Estate!
Great Real Estate is a new WordPress plug-in designed to assist real estate agents in displaying and marketing their listings online. This free plug-in was created by Roger Theriault; a developer/Realtor. To recognize the full potential of this plug-in, you should also install and activate the following plug-ins:
- NextGen Gallery: Adds integrated property photo galleries
- WordTube: Integrates property video
- FPP-Pano: Integrates 360 panorama
- DownloadManager : Integrates PDF attachments (i.e. disclosures, brochures etc.)
- Feed Wrangler: Adds listing feeds for listing syndication and display
So how does the Great Real Estate Plug-In work?
For starters, a new tab is created in your WordPress admin titled “Real Estate.” Once the settings have been customized, you can add & manage your listings from this area. When adding a listing, you’ll notice the plug-in adds an expandable field below the text editor titled “Real Estate – Property Information”. From here you can set Property Status, Address, Price, Dates, Marketing Verbiage, Physical Characteristics, and Features. You can also select a corresponding photo album, upload a QTVR file and set your properties geo-coordinates for a Google Map of the property.
Because this plug-in leverages default WordPress pages you can also bet that once you’ve added your listings, they will become optimized on Google and other search engines. To increase your listings optimization you may also utilize the All-In-One-SEO plug-in. This will help you ensure the meta-data accurately represents the home.
Now that your listings have been featured on your blog’s listing page, the next question you’ll be asking is, “How can I feature listings on other pages of the blog?” Simply access the Widget’s area of WordPress Admin (WP-Admin > Design > Widgets) and look for “Featured Listings.” Then click “edit” from the featured widgets pane. Here you can easily adjust how the properties are displayed: thumbnails, or list. For advanced users, you can also add a small line of code to one of your template pages and have the featured properties appear in a custom area. See more here.
The Great Real Estate plug-in also leverages FeedRangler to help you market your listings on Google Base, Trulia and Zillow. It also enables you to create a property feed for displaying listings in MyYahoo! and iGoogle. See more about the feeds here.
Read my Inerview with Roger here!
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Thank you for sharing this great tool now if I can figure it out
Hi Chris, I understand how that goes.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be looking at this plug-in from different angles. Next I have an interview coming up, and then I was going to provide a how-to. Also note that Roger has created some great instructions and a forum. Best of luck!
Here is a quick start guide:
http://www.rogertheriault.com/agents/plugins/great-real-estate-plugin/quick-start-guide/
Reggie
I have been looking all over for this. Thanks a million for showing this to us!
Great tools to know about.
@UtahLuxury – I glad to share. When I came across the plug-in I figured the community would benefit. It really put the power in your hands.
@Eric – You bet!
AMAZING! Exactly what I was looking for!
I may have missed it — do the plugs work with Wordpress.com, or only Wordpress.org?
Reggie, if you get this in next couple hrs, could you email me?
Great Real Estate Update {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/2bTULJt7qF_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”Great Real Estate Update ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/QkkP7CkbM1″}}}
Hi
Talking about wordpress real estate plugins, you might be interested in http://www.wprealestatelistings.com/realestate/wordpress, which “brings in” real estate listings directly into wordpress post, allowing you to search, view the searchresults, listingview directly into wordpress
Hi,
My Name is, Michael
great posts on here
check out my site:
http://SwakVkJ6.spaces.live.com/
Cool!
Hi
Just made a demo for the plugin with cars. You can check it out on
http://www.wprealestatelistings.com/cars/wordpress
It allows you to manually manage your listings, from wp admin. To “import listings” into wordpress posts/pages, you just have to type a line into the wordpress post/pages. It also allows people to comment on properties and stuff like that.
If you have any comments, suggestions, let me know
Thanks
Mike
You guys do such good work. Thanks for all that you do for us Realtors for such nominal fees when so many people create junk and charge hundreds of dollars. Keep it up. We need you!
Do you know if there is a plugin available for drupal?
Mike 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 JaredRitchey.com
You foolishly admit to stealing our code on your own blog. If I were the owner of this blog, I’d certainly not allow you to promote pirated code you were paid $1,500 to develop and never deliver.
BTW Mike Vlad Dates is a Romanian programmer with a lengthy history and I’ll leave it at that.
I made my own real estate plugin. Is autonomous, dependence only on Wordpress 2.7. My plugin allow:
- save real estate record with parameters and multiple images, and embed YouTube video (in admin part)
- Google Reverse Geocoding – with direct link to Google Map
- AJAX interface
- search real estate (frontend)
- viewing real estate and images (frontend)
- etc.
Some setting are now in XML files, but next release will by smarter. Please contact me, when you have interest.
The price will be fair. ozana@omdesign.cz
Wow . that’s great.
I want to buy it.
Yes if you combine the Great Real Estate Plugin with the StudioPress Real Estate Theme you can have youself a nice looking site built with Wordpress.
http://www.blogger911.com/themes/studiopress-real-estate-agent-them
I loved this plugin. I am now including it on my site. Hope it attracts more visitors!!
Hm that sounds good but I would like to know more details.
Your news is a cool stuff man, keep it going.
That’s good man, keep it going.
Good story for me but please more details.
Good information to me.
Stunning blog and good article. High 5 for u man !
Thank you very much for this great article!