Essential Plugins For Your WordPress Real Estate Blog

Essential Plugins for your WordPress Real Estate Blog
Jay Thompson – PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com

Not a plugin, but the most important thing you can add to your real estate blog is…
An IDX search solution
IDX – Internet Data eXchange. The “MLS” on your website
Choices vary by MLS
Not all IDX solutions work in all MLS’s
Not all IDX solutions are created equal
Test with actual home searchers
Most likely, you will need a “no sidebar” template
4/6/2010
TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

What is a plugin?
A piece of code that adds functionality to your blog.
Don’t freak out on “code”
Some plugins conflict with each other.
Add one at a time, and test
Some plugins only work with specific versions of WP
The vast majority are free. Some are not.
Be careful, some are poorly coded and not supported well.
4/6/2010

Anti-spam
Akismet
Included in standard WP install. Need WP.com API
WP-SpamFree
Compliments Akismet. Stops many spambots
Bad Behavior
Similar to SpamFree. Plays well with Akismet.
Captcha’s
Can be annoying to users
4/6/2010

Contact Form
Gravity Forms
*Not* free ($39 for single site)
Flexible, easy, sidebar compatible
Free add-on tracks page formsubmitted from.
Referrer info for Gravity Forms
Cforms II
Powerful, but can be complicated.
Plethora of other options
4/6/2010

Social Bookmarking
4/6/2010
Way for readers to share your articles on social sites.
Sexy Bookmarks
ReTweetand Facebook Share buttons

Subscribe to Comments
4/6/2010
Subscribe to Comments
Allows commenters to get emails of others comments
Set so not enabled by default

Email & Print Post
4/6/2010
WP-Email and WP-Print
Surprised how much email link is used.
Some analytics provided.
Exercise caution – Big Brotherish

Subliminal Message
4/6/2010
Please contribute if you can:
DanKeitz.com

Mobile Themes
4/6/2010
WordPress Mobile Edition
WordPress Mobile Pack
WptouchiPhone Theme

Cache Plugins
4/6/2010
Reduce server load and speed up sites
W3 Total Cache
WP Super Cache

Increase time on site plugins
4/6/2010
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Similar Posts
Random Posts
Popular Posts
All available at http://rmarsh.com/plugins/

Encourage Commenting
4/6/2010
CommentLuv
“DoFollow”
Numerous options

Nerdy Plugins
4/6/2010
Executable PHP Widget – php code in sidebars
Google XML Sitemaps – helps SE’s crawl site
FeedburnerFeedsmith – Track RSS subscribers
Feedlist – converts RSS to HTML
FLV Embed – embed video directly
TS Custom Widgets – different widgets on pages/posts
WP DB Backup – back up your database, a MUST have

Product Specific Plugins
4/6/2010
dsIDXpress
Must be a Diverse Solutions IDX subscriber
Altos Connect Widget
Must be Altos Research Pro subscriber

Finding Plugins
4/6/2010
See something cool? Ask!
WordPressPlugin Directory
Google – “Cool plugins” “Essential plugins”

Thanks!
4/6/2010
Presentation posted on Slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/PhoenixREGuy
Please, help my friend Dan Keitz
http://DanKeitz.com

Essential Plugins For Your WordPress Real Estate Blog

by Jay Thompson on Apr 06, 2010

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Essential Plugins For Your WordPress Real Estate Blog — Presentation Transcript