Tag Archive for: WordPress Real Estate Solutions

Real Estate SEO

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Real Estate SEO

Real Estate SEO is a lot more complicated than it probably should be due to all of the technical source code aspects.

Here at RETS PRO we strive to take the time to assist all of our SEO minded clients in their pursuit to achieve their desired results. Why? well mainly because this is what we did ourselves prior to developing this plugin for our own SEO customers and because this is what RETS PRO does better than any other WordPress Real Estate Plugin out there!

We are building all New 2020 SEO video series this year for all of our current and future customers that will cover everything from getting started, to deep dive into advanced technical troubleshooting. This will also include a New SEO Forums section that will be a public Q&A with direct links and examples.

Working topics for February will cover the Google site/registration/analytics setup basics and xml sitemaps etc. We will lay out all of the basic steps to make sure that you are getting your site setup properly and getting all of your listing pages indexed.

This year we will also cover how to use free site tools like gtmetrix.com and cloudflare and several other free tools that will not only help you site to load faster but will also help you understand proper content writing, link descriptions, image alt tags and much much more!

If you have any SEO questions go ahead and jump into the forums https://retspro.com/forums/index.php?/forum/75-seo/ and post your questions for us – you can even create a poll on what you want to see covered first this year.

Don’t forget, we also offer Real Estate SEO services for those that want to hire us and this also includes our Auto-SEO and CRM setups – Call 888-540-9666 for more information regarding our SEO services and prices.

Cheers!

 

Google Maps Geocode Plugin | RETS PRO Geocode Module

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For many years the Google Maps API never required any form of credit cards or payment arrangements, but that changed not to long ago.

With the New requirement to put up a Credit Card it made things A-LOT-MORE complicated for “non-techy” website owners that need to Geocode a lot of addresses for their real estate websites. Instead of just know that you would get x-number of geocodes done per 24 hrs (2500) was great! – but – no more.

Now you have to enter daily quotas so that you do not exceed your free monthly “pre-credit” of $200 dollars. Not only that but every single thing has been broken down to a per api parse such as “did customer use your drag and drop on your maps and then use street view and “places” etc etc. All to the point where managing your own RE websites for average agents trying to do a DIY Real Estate Solution has become even harder for newbies.

We have just completed a new “How-to-gecode” video to walk you through all of the needed steps of both Setting Up Your Google Maps API – to How to Geocode with RETS PRO’s Geocode Module. Be sure to check both of those links to get you guys through all of the How-To’s without getting hammered by huge Google Maps bill for not paying attention.

To make things even easier for our customers we’re adding in a new “max-limit” setting to prevent the cron from running any more than what you set. Hopefully this should save everyone a ton of time and possibly some “oops” money.

And in case you’re reading this and wondering what we recommend setting the geocode limit/quota to?
Well if your Google pre-credit = $200 and then their monthly calculations says that = to 40,000 geocoded Per-Month.

Divide that by 30 and you will get 1,333.33 per-day.  Since you would typically never have more than a few hundred to maybe just over 1000 new listings being added to your RETS feed in a 24-hr period – but you need to also get all of the rest of the listings geocoded due to this maybe being a “new-install” then we would recommend going with setting limit/quota to a maximum of “1200” per day via your cron job.

The good news though for those that are located in the USA because you can pre-run the free Tiger geocode service with our solution and it will geocode approximately 75-85% of all the listings – only minor note though, the pins are placed on the side of the street instead of like google does it where it’s located over the center of the actual building/lot – but its thousands of “free” geocodes that are going to be on your site “today”. Then we typically switch right over to google and then let it run its daily limit for the rest of the 15-25% of listings that were not coded by Tiger.

Cheers –
RETS PRO.

Realtyna Alternatives | WordPress Real Estate Plugin

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Realtyna Alternatives

*SEE NEW UPDATE BELOW

Several times a month we get calls asking us what are the key differences between our RETS PRO WordPress Real Estate Plugin and the Realtyna solution.

So let me point out the obvious key Realtyna Alternative differences that set us apart:

  1. Most import key difference (License Branding Limitations) –
    (We) offer 3 options – Basic License bound to single domain @ 999 that includes ALL add-on modules. Basic+Plus License bound to single domain but unlimited MU and subdomains @ 1999 or our Developers License bound only to the IP address @ 2999
    (They) “Per-Site/domain-License” with a license key that must be validated.
    **UPDATE – They have “changed” their license policy on 04-26-2017 …so you’ll need to call them to verify what they have in place now – but either way we have confirmed that they still do not offer any “non-license-keyed” versions as of this update made here on 4-28-2017.
  2. (We) also offer Additional site license keys that can be purchased at $499 each.  All our add-on modules can be used on unlimited sites. (We) Also allow a Basic License owner the ability to upgrade to an Unlimited Use Developers License at any time and we will deduct the originally purchased base price from the upgrade cost so no penalty for starting with our basic and then upgrading later if you decide to upgrade.
    (They) call them to ask them how much they charge for more than one site license.
    **UPDATE – They have “changed” their license policy on 04-26-2017 …so you’ll need to call them to verify what they have in place now.
  3. (We) are a SEO first company aimed at providing Professional Developers/Programmers looking for a “Limitless Expandable Software Solution” with more SEO goodies than any other software out there.
    (They) well….If You’re a SEO guru then call them and then call us and decide for yourself who’s solution has the most SEO options.
  4. (We) have the ability to do Commercial applications such as running hundreds of websites off a single db, joining multiple db’s into a large master db, and also hot-linking listing images from a media server as opposed to being forced to only downloading them which requires a dedicated server or VPS.
    (They) if you want anything mentioned above then you’d better call them first to confirm with them that they can deliver your requirements.
  5. (We) have been actively developing RETS data since 2003 – Our RETS script works with 100% of all RETS providers right out of the box – period!
    (They) ? Call them.

I hope this outlines the basic “key differences” of our Realtyna alternative. If you would still like more information about our WordPress Real Estate Plugin, just give us a call and we’ll be happy to give you all the information you need to get you on the right path with your project.

– Cheers –

=========================
**UPDATE – February – 2018
=========================

We have just reviewed the latest version of Realtyna PRO version that has a fully functioning MLS addon as well as their own WordPress theme called WPL28 and here’s the general opinion on what makes us different in one word – “Options“.

If you are looking for something that gives you TONS of customization options then all we have to say about that is to Contact Them and let them give you a Full 100% Complete Sales Pitch with Live Screen Share etc….. then be sure to ask to have these main items answered and let them show you how you would go about implementing any of this yourself – (yourself) – being the key-word here.

Customization –

  1. How do you do any CUSTOM changes to any of the plugin templates – say I wanted to change or add something, where and how is that done?
  2. If I make any custom template changes/edits to the plugins (listings templates) will they be overwritten on updates?
  3. How difficult would it be to create my own custom designed layouts for my Advanced Search Forms for my site?
  4. Does your Search Forms have options to allow them to auto-populate data from database AND or autosuggest as I type?
  5. How do I add-in any (statistical-data) by combining RETS fields into my pages or post? ……and without using a 3rd party to do it.
  6. How easy is it to create polygon drawn area maps to include with my featured listings?
  7. How easy is it to fully integrate the plugins RETS data into other themes while using that themes own html/css? in other words “seamless integration”
  8. Just how much can you do with their ShortCode builder to insert Custom Templates/Features/Statistics into Page/Post/Widget?

SEO –

  1. How easy is it to modify plugin Listings-Templates to include schema.org structured data wrappers around each individual RETS field(s) for Best SEO Practices? – In other words, if you can’t easily open up a template that contains listing data and custom modify this then you’re SEO handicapped.
  2. How would I go about custom editing templates to include Additional Dynamically Generated SEO Content Within Listing Details – yeah this is also HUGE for those of us who actually DO SEO for a living and is one of the main things WE built into our system years ago.
  3. How much control do I have over the downloaded listing images? can I set min/max size and SEO compression quality? Can I opt to also hotlink them from a separate media server location?
  4. Are the included plugin listing templates AMP ready/compatible?
  5. How does the plugin handle Yoast SEO canonical urls on the Listing Details pages?

RETS data mapping –

  1. Is this something that can I can handle myself or do I always need to rely on someone else to make changes/updates?
  2. Is it Possible to Combine (2) or more Different RETS providers into the Same Database? and if so how are images handled when the first RETS requires media url format and the other requires Download Only? – For Example, California RETS (CARETS) doesn’t allow for Downloaded Images but CLAW does.
  3. How are fields that say Pool: Y/N but produce 0/1 data outputs handled? – no one wants to see Pool: “0 or 1” on the details page
  4. How are number formats and Price formats handled per field and how easy is it to override with changes?
  5. How are listings Lat/Long GEO-Coded if they are not already provided by the Data Provider? if only by Google then will I have to wait up to 10-days to complete 25k listings?

Summary –

After you get a full backend tour of their product and answers to questions above – Give US a Call (888) 540-9666 – so that we can then show you a side-by-side product comparison so that you can make your own “informed” decision as to what product suits your needs for your own Website Project.

 

Cheers –

WordPress Real Estate Plugin | Multi RETS Data Merge | Multi Office

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Multi RETS Data Merge | Multi Office

This is a RE/MAX Multi RETS Data Merge, Multi Office site that we are currently building out with our WordPress Real Estate Plugin. Beautiful, large scale photos are just one of the highlights of the site. The RE/MAX  Sea to Sky franchise is out of the Vancouver, Canada area with 3 office locations including one in the stunning ski resort area of Whistler, BC. The broker has a vibrant and long standing blog that we will incorporate into her main site / landing page and then break the site down into three distinctive sites per office location, along with distinctive Agent Rosters, Featured Listings, Area Information, and other pertinent details. The main site will also include the capability of searching for property throughout all three markets with a single data base merge.

This is being built on the WordPress MU frame so that the broker can offer all of her agents their own distinct websites using the integrated RETS data via subdomains or the agent template site can be copied onto an agent’s own independent domain. Our WordPress Real Estate Plugin allows data to be pushed to any site via the broker’s RETS credentials. This is a great marketing tool for brokers and agents. All of this is available using our Developer License with Broker Build Out. 

WordPress Real Estate Plugin | Multi RETS Data Merge

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Multi RETS Data Merge | 5 Major Markets


This project has been a real test for our WordPress Real Estate Plugin and our Multi Rets Data Merge capabilities. We’re calling it “the Mother of All Data Feed Projects.” Several month’s ago, this client approached us with a request for a site build-out that merged 5 major market RETS feeds across Texas into a single database. In addition, they wanted to incorporate some slick statistical information for communities, neighborhoods, areas of interest and more. They also wanted to incorporate sold data, which is only available from a couple of the RETS providers. They are a unique brokerage who obviously handles transactions statewide. They have agents statewide working from virtual offices so they needed WordPress MU capabilities as well along with Agent Site Templates so their agents can have their own sites with all of the aforementioned features. And to top it all off, they were looking for an alternative to a Real Estate Webmasters site they had seen (plus the merged data feed and other extras) for a price they could actually afford.

We’re not going to lie, it’s been a bear. A long haul…several months to be exact, a bit stressful, some high emotions, and a ridiculous amount of coffee. In order for this site to run smoothly and efficiently, it had to be built on our 4x version…which was still under development so the project took much longer than it would have if our 4x version had already been complete. It has now been about 5 months since we received their RETS credentials from all of the markets and we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. 4x is almost out of beta. Data feeds are merged. Statistical data can be displayed using polygon map draw tools and our customized shortcode. Programmers are tweaking the customized map search and we are looking forward to a final punch list soon. We’re anxious to see the final project and looking forward to showing off some of the exciting new, custom features.

BRAND NEW 4X beta released!

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After nearly (6) straight months of rewriting and testing we think we have something special to show you!
NOTE** = This beta version is currently only available to our developers license owners =
What are the key differences between 3x and 4x?
Here’s a quick list of “main points”:
  • Brand New admin UI – future proofing ourselves for the next 4+ years.
  • Brand New Multi-RETS Solution – Now you can import/export all of your RETS and can even join multiple RETS into single data base now – while still maintaining their own custom image settings/paths – and YES you can still hot-link images as well!
  • Brand New Search Form Builder – We took a bootstrap 12 column grid-stack and made you a custom drag/drop/size option to make building custom responsive “Advanced Search Forms” a snap using Select2 w/bootstrap3 forms that now includes autosuggest text boxes and ajax loaded selects and multi-selects.
  • Brand New Auto Suggest builder – Now you can easily configure your own custom Auto Suggest box on your home page (watch our new video – pending).
  • Brand New Stats Options for the Short Code Builder for creating Area stats that can even be applied to the polygon drawn areas  (watch our new video – pending).
  • Brand New Listing Alerts Beta – Will be released with first stable 4x version (about a week away – watch our new video – pending).

What to expect with the beta release?

  1. Not much in the way of documentation >YET<  as this is the very first “beta release” – but – those of you who want to check out our https://youtube.com/retspro channel will be able to get up to speed fairly quick.  –   We are currently working on a New [in-line tool (?) tips] that are going to popup every place needed in the UI to either provide “basic info” or “embedded samples” or “direct links either to a FAQ or to the video” for technical items that require more details.
  2. Possible cosmetic CSS/HTML or “possible” minor bugs that we are already flushing out.  Any bugs currently within this release are going to be minor, nothing is currently preventing us from using the plugin to build out our projects so we felt its time to share.

PLEASE NOTE**
If you are currently using 3x then – Do Not Overwrite it with this 4x Version!

How to test and what needs to be tested?:

We would like all of our developers who are “real” developer/programmers to download and install the plugin according to the Install/Setup video below.

  1. First is the new Multi-RETS – check out new tab-1 settings and options to pre-set the mapping box (i’ll post video here later)
  2. Check out new image options are now in tab-2 for downloading or hot linking (i’ll post video here later)
  3. Check out new tab-3 option – ONLY OPEN 1st RESI property class – then spend the time to do 100% of your your fields you want and set the rest to trash etc and get everything to successfully SAVE. – THEN – open another property class and you will discover that all the trash fields are already gone and all the matched fields that were already mapped are now mapped for you in the new property class as well.
  4. NEXT – we need you to try out the new Search Form Builder – We know we have a few ideas left to apply to that but we would LOVE some good feedback on it as well so we can wrap up any request prior to next weeks first release.
  5. For those of you who have already have a great deal of experience with our 3x will not ever want to go back to it after this – so go ahead and test everything out and you will find that the overall time to setup and do a project has just been cut by more than half with this new version –
  6. Also – New stats shortcode in this version and NEW auto suggest builder and New Listing alerts is currently being beta tested and should be ready for next weeks first stable 4x release.

IDX Broker Alternatives WordPress Real Estate Plugin

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IDX Broker Alternatives

IDX Broker alternatives for their WordPress Real Estate Plugin has plenty of competition, and has many comparable options to our own RETS PRO solution.
I’ll try my best to make a simple key comparison list of what we consider to be pros and cons versus our own WordPress Real Estate Plugin .

Main Obvious PROS:

  1. Price – Upfront cost is typically a few hundred dollars to get everything all setup and running.
  2. Setup – They’re going to be about 50% faster to get your site up and running the way you want it.
  3. Options – They’re going to have a few more options than we currently have – primarily CRM…but at additional cost.
  4. They manage the data and the changes to the RETS feed.
  5. Having someone hold your hand – that’s what your never ending monthly fees will cover for you.

But now for the CONS:

  1. Price – though cheaper up front, you will have spent way more with them after 1+Years than you would have with “our solution” and if you have more than (1) website then its NOT worth it to go with them.
  2. SEO – although they claim this and that – their data is NOT on your website and neither is the url + you can NOT do proper micro-data on your own key fields using schema.org. (what is micro-data Schema.org? never heard of it? ever heard of Real Estate Webmasters? They use micro data and so do we!) You also can’t create dynamic content using IDXB – SO – if SEO is important to you as it is to us then this alone would prevent us from using their solution. We have more SEO features/options than any other solution-period!
  3. Owning your data and having it reside in YOUR website without any monthly fees – not an option with them.
  4. Complete customization – If having someone tell you “NO” we can’t do that or “NO” that’s not an option means anything at all to you then just stop right now!  Aside from the  SEO limitations, the #1 complaint we hear is the limitations on maximizing your own creativity.

I could go on and on but I think its only important for me to point out the main differences. Trust me on this part, if you called me and told me you were doing only one website for a customer and you just wanted to get-in and get-out and get paid to put up a realtor site. Then I would highly recommend them over any other solution – BUT – if you told me that SEO and doing custom website options with the possibility of doing more than (1) website then I’d have to recommend our solution.

Looking for other IDX BROKER Alternatives? Join us in the forums for some lively debates with other developers that have previous experience with them.

WordPress Real Estate Solutions

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wordpress-real-estate-solutions

WordPress Real Estate Solutions

WordPress real estate solutions seem to be everywhere these days but finding one that you can actually buy and own the code may be a little harder to find. While all of the real estate solutions slug it out with each other on who is going to offer you the lowest cost-per-site system RETS PRO™ has broken through all of that by offering you a Pay-Once solution that allows you unlimited sites….thats right “Unlimited” with no per-site-cost.  RETS PRO™ is also the only wordpress real estate solutions that you can buy that is guaranteed to work with all RETS providers in North America including CREA, TREB, CARETS etc.

 

If you would like more information, or would like to see some live examples, please give us a call and we will be happy to take the time to make sure that you are heading in the right direction, even if that means sending you to someone else’s solution. We take pride in being some of the most knowledgeable real estate website developers out there and you should take advantage of our 11+ years of our active real estate software development experience so that we can possibly save you time, headaches and money. – Cheers –