Whether you are new to blogging, are ready to upgrade from WordPress.com, to .org, or are moving an old website to the WordPress platform, it can be intimidating and overwhelming to find and choose a theme, even for the best “do-it-your-selfers!” With so many choices and considerations, a little preparation can mean the difference between a successful launch of your online hub, or a conundrum of issues and problems that take time to manage.

As a real estate virtual assistant, I’ve learned a lot by trial and error on my own site, before I started delving into supporting agents with their transition to WordPress. I thought it might be helpful to put together my Beginner’s WordPress for Real Estate Preparation List, specifically for real estate in mind, that can serve to help you in your quest for being a WordPress pro. By organizing a simple list to consider you can weed out the NO’s and be on your way to having a killer real estate WordPress website/blog! So here goes:

#1  Will your WordPress theme serve as your website, your blog or both?

Choose a theme that has the main structure in place of what you need.  Look at the menu navigation options..Home Page, About, Services, as well as a Blog page. Will they be integrated? If so, choose a theme that already has a blog, and website already built-in.

#2 Is this site for your personal business, or for your team or multiple authors?

If you plan on using  your site as a business site consider the look and feel that would best represent a structure that suits your branding, or your need for multi-users. Perhaps you’d like a theme that offers a specific design structure to highlight multiple authors and their own about pages? If that is the plan stay away from themes that are too limited in what they provide.

#3 What is the budget for your site? Will you need a designer to customize it?

Let’s face it. Your site will need some level of customization. Your theme should reflect your branding, your colors, have a style that represents you.  How much will it take to turn your theme into the site it needs to be? Will you need special designer graphics, buttons, call to action items? Headers and images? What is already built-in, and what isn’t? This can help you decide what theme to choose. If the features of the theme allows you many options and “skins” you may only be a few steps away from having everything packaged just right, at little or no outside cost. (P.S. for choosing a website color palette, I love using www.colourlovers.com )

#4 Pick a theme based on your structure of content, and one that showcases your best attributes.

Do you use Video, Photos, as well as content?  Do you want to showcase your listings? Blog Posts? When thinking about how you are going to add content on your pages and in your posts, its helpful to use a theme that has easy ways to highlight those things. For example: the AgentPress Theme showcases listings beautifully, while this theme highlights your blog content mainly. Just know that are are some themes that may have more than what you need..and less. Finding a theme that has that balance is good.

#5 Is your theme widget ready? How much can you fit on the theme before it gets too cluttered? Create your widget Wish-list.

Create your wish list of widgets & Plug-ins. Check to see how many widgets the theme can support comfortably. Some themes already have built-in sidebar placement for email subscriptions, RSS sign-up, and Google Analytics. But if you are adding in IDX searches, Market Stats, Mortgage Calculators, Testimonials, Trulia and Zillow Widgets, over-crowding can become a problem! Choosing a theme with 3 columns or 2 columns can easily be overlooked if you don’t know what to look for.

#6 How social is your theme? Is there a place for all your social networking icons?

This MAY sound like a sidebar, widget issue, BUT now there are some really nice themes with Social Networking icons already built in, saving you the design trouble of adding them in yourself. Consider your WordPress savvy-ness, and you may opt for a theme that has your Social Sites and Twitter stream built right in.

#7 Is the Theme search engine friendly?

Unless you are familiar with with HTML and CSS it may be difficult for you to evaluate the SEO capabilities of a theme. Typically, FREE themes come in such a variety, that its best to choose a premium themes that offers built-in search engine optimization, clean coding, and fields in your posting area that allow for optimizing of titles, tags and descriptions. Having these in your theme helps your site organically and allows for easier time management when posting those hyper-local, keyword-rich posts.

#8  Your theme should help you stay organized and user-friendly!

Consider your Categories and Sub-Categories of content. Should this be built-in to your Menu Navigation or just in the sidebar? If you are a heavy blogger with lots of subjects, community info etc., think about how this is to be organized in your theme. I am partial to themes that have drop down menus in the navigation so that I can categorize pages and posts in a way that are user-friendly to site visitors. Nothing can steer away a site visitor more quickly that be overwhelmed at information that is not organized in a  way that is easy to find and browse through.

#8 Does your IDX provider have WordPress friendly integration and/or Plug-ins?

When you are choosing a theme, consider items that might need to be integrated in a way that takes some technical expertise. Assuming you will be adding IDX feeds to your website/blog its important to know if your IDX provider allows integration to WordPress in a way that you can understand, or if you are going to have to hire a web designer to do it. IDX providers like IDX Broker and Diverse Solutions offer plug-ins that make this integration easier.

#9 Is Technical Support available?

Be careful when choosing themes. There are many designers and developers that have themes that are advertised, but have since gone out of business, or do not have technical support available for help. When working on your site yourself, it only takes the smallest character of wrong code, and a whole site can be out of whack or unable to view in all browsers, or any number of things. Having technical support, allows you to have a professional to walk you through it, and keep your site in tip top shape should anything go wrong. (no guarantees of course) Developers like Brian Gardner with Studiopress actually has a forum of tutorials, and a place to ask questions and get help with Studiopress theme related issues. He and his developers and designers are quick to help out and answer questions.

#10 Will you manage your website/blog, or will someone else be doing that?

If you are comfortable with the back-end of website platforms and blog formatting, then you are a do-it-your-selfer! If you are a blogger/writer etc, you could still be overwhelmed with managing your content. Before choosing a difficult theme, that needs a lot of customizing, specially formatted posts, etc. consider your theme for its user-friendliness to YOU. Can you manage it, or will this be a site that only someone else can manage for you? Consider what, when, & how you will continue building your work in progress. Pick a theme that can grow with you, not weigh you down.

Adopting WordPress as your main content management system is a fun and exciting venture!  Being prepared with your wants and needs is a little like house-hunting. Having the information to make your search easier can save you frustration and bring you all the excitement, bells and whistles to make your blog or website the best on the block!

SEO. I have a love/hate relationship with SEO. I can’t seem to get enough, and yet it’s always changing.

As more and more real estate professionals turn to using WordPress as their real estate website and/or blog, and have more control over their content, their interest in learning and analyzing their Search Engine Optimization practices is central to their success online.

And as many of us scour the web for information and articles to keep us up to date on the latest SEO tips and must haves it’s always nice to find information that is clear, is about real estate SEO, and also differentiates between myth and reality. Today (via Facebook) I saw Tribus Real Estate’s  Eric Stegemann’s latest  blog the Top Ten List of Search Engine Optimization for Realtors.

The “back to basics” proven real estate SEO tips are there, as well as expanding upon the WordPress specific tips like perma-links and writing content for long-tail searches.

I also asked Eric what his thoughts were on indexable IDX solutions, and opened up a Laura “Can of Worms”   Check out what Eric had to say, and hopefully my line of questioning will spur him to his next blog post! Thanks Eric!

Have you thought about using WordPress as your main real estate website or blog? Are you concerned about not having the lead capture forms and automated contact management system built in? Well, I might have a solution for you!

I recently moved my real estate virtual assistant website from a standard site, and jumped in and got my own WordPress blog/website combo. I don’t have the need for as many lead capture points on my site, but I decided that I DID need to do a better job at collecting visitor information, needs, wants, and I wanted a way to streamline the process, build my relationships, as well as build in some email marketing capabilities which I hope to add into my action plans as well. I’m no web designer/guru and I didn’t want to spend a ton more money on another CRM solution.

In looking over my options I quickly made the realization that there aren’t an outstanding number of real estate CRM systems that are quite equipped to handle many of the things traditional real estate websites do, it takes some extra additions. For example the challenges might be:

1. Adding lead capture forms to your blog that include What’s Your Home’s Value, Dream Home Finder, Market Stat Reports, or your Company newsletter/new listing alerts
2. Converting seller/buyer leads from your website to add to Top Producer or Outlook (requires manual input)
3. Based on contact type you have to input the contact info to your drip campaign, e-newsletter etc.

Before you know it, you are managing multiple accounts for your website and blog etc. That is not streamlining! So, here is the most affordable solution I have found so far, and will be adding it to my online business management systems. By using the user-friendly system Batchbook I can create a customizable CRM powerhouse for my business.

For $9.95 per month I have the ability to:

• Create customizable lead capture forms that AUTOMATICALLY are added to my contact management list for that form. (no need to add it to another system).
• Automatically create and send email marketing campaigns through my Mail Chimp account (Mail Chimp is free up to 5000 emails a month, with upgradable accounts).
• Track communications of my contacts and create TO DO lists.
• Import and Export my Outlook and Gmail contacts.
• Enter information such as Twitter usernames, Twitter feeds, blog feeds and LinkedIn profile URLs (plus many others!) on a contact record.
• Log emails, phone call notes, or any other communications with your contacts.
• Use a list to easily generate mailing labels, export, or back up your data or create customized, printable reports from your contact data. Use these reports to generate call lists, add to presentations or to take notes when you’re traveling, in the field, or working off-line.
• Super-Tag your contact types so you can easily sort them by birthday month, anniversary, buyer, seller, past client etc.
• Have your emails delivered to your mobile iphone, Blackberry or smartphone with the email forwarding so you never miss an email from a lead.

If you are thinking about your current CRM system, or need something to enhance your WordPress blog or website, (or another web platform) and need a great way to streamline, I definitely recommend taking a look at Batchbook. (and check out my sleek capture form below as an example..its easier than adding a widget!)

When considering your real estate website options, its easy to get overwhelmed. You need a website, you need a blog, and you need it to be branded and nowadays..you don’t want to spend a lot of money on customization and hosting.  Self-hosting a WordPress blog or website has become a mainstream solution for both, but for “do-it-your-selfers” there is still quite a learning curve. Everyone is talking about it, but its still not that easy. BUT, it just got a little bit easier!

Brian Gardner with Studiopress.com has been one of the masters of WordPress Theme designs for quite a while now. His designs are known for having “clean code” which in itself creates the optimum environment for having great search engine “readability”. He has once again created a new theme, only this time its specifically with the Agent or Broker in mind!

AgentPress has arrived to make it easier than ever to switch to a WordPress platform. Check Out the Demo to see for yourself! If you’ve been considering using WordPress for your outside blog and need a clean, elegant design the AgentPress theme has amazing built-in features, is SEO optimized and allows you to combine a compelling platform to market your listings, your blog content all is one stunning package!

The other great thing is that Brian is constantly pushing the envelope to bring new features, more flexibility, and an even greater menu of options.

So if you are looking to make the jump form an old website platform, and step into your own self-hosted, SEO super-charged website, where widgets, bells, whistles, IDX searches and all that good stuff can be added and customized to bring you not only a website, but a blog as well. 2 in1..can’t beat that.

For more on the advantages of using WordPress for real estate websites..this is good reading! If you have any other questions, about customization, or moving to WordPress, feel free to give me a call. (operators are standing by;-) )

Here are some demos to other StudioPress Real Estate Themes

The Agent Theme

The Genesis Theme Layout

P.S. This website was built and customized with the Agent Theme

So I drove home from my second experience at RE Bar Camp in San Francisco with a bit of urgency..after experiencing some amazing sessions! When I walked out of Trulia Headquarters, I realized what I walked away with was not just “ideas” or “new technology” or “tips”..I walked away with some “in your face” implementation tactics that can be used NOW!

If you could take steps right now to increase your leads, increase conversion, streamline your website and your Social Media strategies, and actually track your ROI, I know you would feel the urgency I feel as well. So here goes: My brain dump from my experience from RE Bar Camp San Francisco.

Why Your Website is Failing..Creating a Website that Works

by Jim Marks of Virtual Results

After studying the statistics of what consumers are clicking on there are some clear standout strategies that you can take now on your website to give the consumer what they want. The basic concept that you all must be considering is the difference between Traffic Conversion vs. Branding.

If your website is all about you, then you are not giving consumers what they want. They don’t care about you, they don’t care how many designations you have and what they stand for. They Want LISTINGS! They want Information! According to statistics of what consumers click on the most, here are the Top 4 things to do on your website right now to increase traffic and conversions;

• LISTINGS- Your Home page biggest feature should be “FIND YOUR HOME” “call to action” with a basic MLS/IDX function right there. Don’t make consumers look for it, give it to them by framing it into your home page. (DON’T call it “Search the MLS“, as only 17% if consumers actually know what the MLS is”) You can have different levels of search functions. An example would be to have limited basic photos and details, before asking them to sign up or add their email.

• MARKET REPORTS- Let your consumers know how the local market is doing? What are the stats? Put this info in layman’s terms so that they understand what those stats mean to THEM. What is the information per neighborhood or development? They want to know what their neighbors house sold for and why?

• WHAT IS MY HOME WORTH? Another popular call to action is offering a CMA so that they can find out for free what their home is worth? Convert these leads by giving them something of value! A free Market Report, a Community Newsletter are some ideas. (ok I added that in…)

• Add YOUR BLOG TO YOUR WEBSITE- How many of you have a static website, and separate blog? That is SO 2006!!! Your Blog IS YOUR BRANDING! Remember how putting your dog on your home page was all the rage?? NO more! Your blog needs to be incorporated in your website, and it is there that you are free to share your voice, your personality, your photos..but remember to remain an authority on your community and balance your branding and flair with relevant information for your consumers! Even if your only blog is on ActiveRain, get it into your website!

Edutizing an Agent Population by Matt Dollinger

Learning to be a Local Expert does NOT just have to come from your experience or out of your head. It come from real life, in the moment information. And sometimes being the first to get that information out, makes you the front runner in being THE Authority in your market. So think about how you get that information and streamline the process so that your are getting relevant information for your consumers and your market. Some must have tools to have in your arsenal are:

• Use Google Reader: Grab your favorite RSS feeds from blogs, online newspapers, real estate outlets and craft your information to give the consumers what they are looking for.
• AGENT Metrics:
• OutsideIn.com
• MetroMix , YELP
  
• Local Photos, FLICKR
• Education.com, GreatSchools.net

Next, you must find out the correct delivery of this information for you target consumer. Do they hang out on Facebook? Do they respond to video media? Are they on Twitter? Are they Blog Followers? What is that they want the most?

You may need to do some experimenting to find this out, but here are some thoughts:

Have a 30 Day Facebook Campaign, a 30 Day Twitter Campaign etc. For 30 days track your statistics of how many people are clicking on your links, referring back to your website etc. Spend 30 minutes a day pushing the information out there and see where most of your hits come from. Then you will know what works and what doesn’t. Keep your 30 Day campaigns separate so you can track them accurately. But once you know, you can create an even better strategy for getting you information out there so they can devour it from their expert! (you can track your links with various link shorteners, like BUDURL.com and others.)

Ask yourself these questions on an ongoing basis:

What did I learn?
How was it received?
What medium is better in my market?
Was the topic valuable?
How could I make this more effective?

Implementation is sometimes the hardest thing in real estate! What many of you may feel you need is a start-up plan to help you start implementing the strategies that you learn along the way. As fast as things change in RE Tech and Web 2.0 we just can’t afford to sit and figure out HOW, when we just need to DO it!

This was just a taste of what I learned at RE Bar Camp SF..hopefully I can write more later, but I’m still wrapping my brain around it all!  It is an awesome event!

It was so great to finally meet IRL, ACTIVE Brad Andersohn, Gena Riede, Calie Waterhouse, Heather Elias, Ines Hegedus-Garcia, Rocky Turner, Mike Mueller, Dale Chumbley, Kristal Kraft, Sandra Mathewson and see again all the friends from RE Bar Camp LA.

Special thanks to:

Andy Kaufman, Ginger Wilcox, Todd Carpenter, Brad Coy and Rudy Bachraty