It’s Got the Looks

The most apparent aspect to any visitor is the aesthetics of this site. The layout is tasteful, clean and easily navigable. The home page provides navigation tabs at the top of the screen for easy direction to specific pages, along with a custom quick search option, social media links and contact information. Any consumer landing on this website will surely feel comfortable in their browsing, as Doma Properties provides a truly enjoyable experience.

It’s Got the Brains

As mentioned, the homepage displays a custom quick-search module that allows visitors to search for homes based on location, price, bedroom, bathroom and type. This quick-search is impressive not only for its functionality but also for how beautifully it fits within the theme of the site. Offering an easy search option on the homepage entices visitors to continue to browse which can improve the stickiness of your site. The custom quick-search option on this site was created by a developer, however, once the aforementioned fields are filled out, the results are displayed using Diverse Solutions dsIDXPress Pro. Keep in mind that dsIDXPress Pro is a fully customizable plugin that allows forced registration options which can convert site visitors into leads.

Another feature on the site includes a tab to search unique architecture within Doma’s listing area. This section highlights significant structures and communities the Doma team works in and also provides the site with rich content and photos.

Doma Properties also makes great use of our dsSearchAgent. This feature is easily located on each page under a “Map Search” tab in the top navigation bar on the site. The site also features a “Listings” tab which features the office listings using dsIDXPress Pro.

It’s Got the Personality

We also love a site that is rich with social media connectivity and Doma Properties provides that in spades. At the top of each page, we are supplied with an email option as  well as a telephone number, while at the bottom we see various icons leading to social media sites ranging from Pinterest to Linkedin.

Another way that the site provides rich content is through its regularly updated blog. The blog covers basics such as recent listings but also discusses community events and home decor ideas. Remember, activities such as regular blog entries and cross-connection to social media can really improve the visibility of your site and may even help with search engine optimization (SEO).

We all know that Diverse Solutions products are stand-out on their own, but Doma provides us with a great example of what can be done if these products are used in conjunction with a site developer that can provide extra customization. Nice work, Doma Properties!

But what if they’re visiting your site from a smart phone with a 3″ or 4″screen width or from a 7″ or 10″ tablet?  What if they’re visiting your site from a phone one day, and their tablet another day?  What’s their experience then; what are they seeing and how well can they navigate around to the content they want and need?  The screen real estate on your desktop is worth far less per pixel than the screen real estate on a smart phone or tablet. It’s a lot like the difference between a land parcel with a value that may be a few thousand dollars per acre, or it could be a few thousand dollars per front foot or square foot.

Your visitors are going places, and your site needs to go with them.  Did you know that right now 5.1 billion of the 7.8 billion people on the planet own a cell phone.  When surveyed, we find that smart phone users are accessing the Internet more every day, and from just about everywhere.  They tell us they take their phones to bed, use them in the bath, and use them while watching TV.  Many also use them while they’re doing other things on their desktop computers!

“Mobile responsive” refers to a WordPress theme that is built from the ground up to adapt its display to the mobile device that’s accessing the site.  Unlike plugins that try to do this and mostly just re-size the display by shrinking it, a mobile responsive theme changes the way the information and navigation are displayed so they’re usable as-is without zooming.  Here’s an example of a theme we like at StudioPress.com that’s mobile responsive:

Now let’s look at it in portrait mode on an Android Phone, then again in landscape:

Notice that the theme isn’t just shrinking the display to fit the screen.  It’s completely re-formatting the information to not only display better but to be large enough to allow navigation with a finger tap.  Search boxes are usable and navigation buttons change size to display as many as possible, but in a way that keeps them in a usable format.

StudioPress has 20+ mobile responsive themes, but there are 16 more over at SoloStream, and you’ll want to check those out as well.  One solostream theme that provides some really amazing design flexibility is WP-Bold.  WP-Professional is a great one as well, but in all honesty, they’re all good.

The important thing is to take your site mobile, because that is the exact location where your prospects are using the Web more every day.

]]> http://www.diversesolutions.com/wordpress-tips/is-your-real-estate-site-mobile-responsive-7301/feed 4 http://www.diversesolutions.com/wordpress-tips/dont-become-a-wordpress-hack-victim-7383?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dont-become-a-wordpress-hack-victim http://www.diversesolutions.com/wordpress-tips/dont-become-a-wordpress-hack-victim-7383#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 17:43:48 +0000 Diverse Solutions http://www.diversesolutions.com/?p=7383 Continue reading →]]> In recent weeks, there has been substantial buzz around the Web centered around a brute force attack on WordPress sites.  These attacks are made by a network of more than 90,000 infected computers. They operate by logging in to the WordPress admin section with the generic login name “Admin”, as that’s how most WordPress sites are first set up. Those with weak passwords and an “Admin” username are getting hacked.

This is just one method out of hundreds that hackers use to attack WordPress sites around the world.  It’s even possible to be a hack victim and not even know it, as your site can be used to infect other sites behind the scenes.  Some hacking involves spamming activities which has caused sites to be banned by Google, creating an emergency situation and a lot of corrective action to get back into good graces.  So, how do you know if your site has been hacked and how do you prevent it in the future?

Wordfence is a very effective plugin, that is highly rated and easy to implement.  Go to your WordPress plugins page, click on Add New and search for Wordfence.  It will come up at the top of the search and is installed with one click.  Other than imputing your email address to receive alerts, you really don’t need to change the default settings, although you may want to go through and add a couple of check boxes should you wish to receive more alerts.

When you do your first scan, you may be surprised to find that you have already been hacked. The great thing about this site is that it provides instructions on how to delete compromised files, as shown in this image:

You also have the ability to monitor realtime access to your site and block specific IP addresses.  When you see sites from other countries accessing your login.php area, you’ll want to block those IPs. It just takes one click.

This plugin is free and effective.  Install it so you don’t become a hack victim.

It is our relationship with prospects and clients that generates commissions, not the management of their data.  Too much time is spent by the average real estate agent in capturing, recording, managing and updating the data in their CRM system.  This is even more true when it’s not integrated with their prospect capture and lead generation activities, especially on their websites.  In many cases they’re manually entering new prospects into a CRM solution from emailed form results from their website.

However, that’s not the only problem.  Part of the relationship is providing information, guidance and counsel in regards to real estate, whether the client is a buyer or a seller.  To do that, you need some input from the prospect, which is not always an easy thing to obtain.  If you have no idea what type of properties a site visitor is searching for in your IDX, you can’t offer suggestions or help specific to that type or price range.  You also need an easy way to record and recall information and documents that you have in the past, as the web has people shopping several months ahead of listing and buying decisions.

So now that we have identified what’s wrong with many CRM systems and their integration with other marketing, let’s explore a better way.  Let’s run through a quick look at how a Diverse Solutions dsAgentReach system works with the website lead generation tools to seamlessly pass through prospects from lead forms to the CRM space; deliver them drip email campaigns; track their site search activity; and keep track of documents and communications with them.  It’s all in one seamless flow, efficient and profitable.

You’ve created some special reports that you offer with forms on your site.  The forms are created right here, and they bring the form data, names, email addresses, etc. right into the CRM side of the system.  You can even have the forms drop your prospects into specific groups and/or tag them with tags specific to the form that brought them or the type of information to which they responded.

Once the contact/prospect is in the system, you have access to all of the information you collected with the initial form, but you also have so much more.  If they registered through your IDX search function, you can see the property types they’re searching for, price ranges and other characteristics.  This is valuable information if you have a new listing coming up and it is perfect for one of these prospects based on their desires indicated by their searches.

This image shows how you capture and maintain all of your interactions with a prospect or contact, even including telling you what pre-scheduled drip emails are in your campaigns and scheduled to go out to them.  Add notes about your conversations, upload files that attach to the prospect and more, all accessible right here.

Those email campaigns are all set up inside the system, pre-written, scheduled and applied to each new prospect based on the form that has directed them. The same can be done by using tags you assign automatically to new prospects from your IDX registration, forms or other lead generation systems.  You can have multiple campaigns going and have just the right one for a seller or buyer prospect automatically applied when they enter your system.

Once you’ve set up the dsAgentReach email campaigns, lead generation forms and prospect grouping and tags, it’s all automated and you’re not spending your time with the “Management” function.  You’re spending your time in the “Relationship” portion of CRM.  That’s where the commissions happen.

One of the best techniques a real estate website can use to capture leads is offering sold property and other statistical reports.  Offer to email buyers (or sellers) a market report or similar document if they provide you their email address.

Sellers also value statistics and they particularly look for them before they list or even contact a listing agent.  They are very interested in the current market and which homes, similar to their own within their neighborhood are selling for. Because of this, offering statistical reports will create both buyer and seller leads.

Creating your Real Estate Market Reports

Most software offered by your local MLS or real estate board includes options to generate or export market reports.   By simply “printing” out the report in PDF format, you will have all of the relevant information that you need to deliver to your prospects.  (If you do not have software that creates PDF files, Primo PDF is a free option for turning any file (or webpage) into a PDF file.)

Uploading your report to WordPress

Once you have your PDF file ready, you can upload it as a Media file to your WordPress site.  Once it is up, you will have a URL that you use on your site, in emails to clients, or in automated emails using AgentReach.  Simply place that URL in the delivery email and the user may simply click on it to download the file.

Automating with AgentReach

With your report link in hand, you use the form builder included in AgentReach contact manager to build a form to capture buyers and sellers from your site.  Build a form (instructions here) where once visitors have filled out their information and clicked “submit”,  they either are sent directly to the report, they are sent to a page with a link to download the form, or they are setup on an automated campaign (instructions here) that will email them a link to the report.  (This last option will ensure visitors are providing legitimate email addresses).  Whichever route you choose to go,  you will have a new lead.

Call to action buttons

Get more buyers and sellers to use your form with call-to-action buttons on your WordPress site.  Be sure to place these buttons in numerous sidebar locations around the site, offering reports next to content that is relevant.  Our earlier blog post covering IDX login buttons includes some samples and provides details to adding call to action buttons to your site.

In summary…

1. Use software from your AOR or MLS to generate a market report
2. Save your report as a PDF file
3. Upload the PDF file to your WordPress site
4. Build a AgentReach form to capture leads
5. Create an email in AgentReach that includes a link to the file you uploaded
6. Create an AgentReach campaign that sends your email to everyone who completes your form
7. Add the AgentReach form to a page on your WordPress site
8. Add call to action buttons linking to your form page on related pages

Real estate agents and brokers have a history of building both meaningful and profitable  relationships through community involvement.  It’s not unusual to see an agent or a broker join civic organizations, sponsor softball teams, and become active in local planning and government.  We know all of that works and is rewarding but there is only so much that you can do with the limited amount of time that you have.

The Internet has changed and improved many ways that we do business and go to market.  One significant advancement emerging onto the scene is Google+. This provides a new way to be involved and target your community through its community feature.

Example of real estate agent using Google+ for community building

The Solution

The image above is of a brand new local community for Taos, NM set up by a real estate broker.  If you set up a profile on Google+, you can then start your own communities. You will find that the communities on Google+ are so new that there is ample opportunity to be the first real estate business in your area.  What you’re trying to do is to place content and attract followers from your community who will want to participate in discussions, upload area photos and in general, be actively be involved.  In return, your followers can advertise their softball schedule, church activities, bake sales, etc.

Be sure that you are not setting up a community entitled “YourTown Real Estate Community.”  That’s too “sales-like” in most cases.  You want to be more general. Consider setting up a community for the area without any limitations, as in “YourTown,” and providing information about the area. Next, you can place categories (as illustrated in the image on the left) and one of them can be real estate.  This is a more subtle approach to marketing, much like going to a Rotary meeting and not forcing a business card on everyone there.  You mix, mingle and communicate, taking marketing opportunities as they arise.

Once your community is set up and you have some photos and posts there, send out an invitation to your entire contact list to join.  Once you get the ball rolling, you’ll find that the sharing nature of social media and Google+ will grow your community quickly.

WordPress is a great platform for a real estate website.  A WordPress site has the ability to feature popular posts or recent posts in the sidebar which can keep a visitor on your site longer.  Have you considered how “sticky” your site is?  Being “sticky” refers to a site that engages viewers causing them to spend longer periods of time on the content and return.

Let’s say that you have been compiling local real estate sold property or other market statistical reports for your site.  Then let’s say that a visitor arrives on your site from a search on keywords associated with that content such as “yourtown real estate statistics,” or “sold property report yourtown.”  Ultimately, the viewer turns up at one of your informative posts with lots of data and your market commentary.  Now what?

Achieving A “Sticky” Site With Related Posts Thumbnails

If you’ve planned ahead, you have a plugin that will display related posts specific to that post. Ideally, this will be displayed towards the bottom of your content so that it is visible just as they have finished reading.  We recommend using the Related Posts Thumbnails plugin, as it uses images as well as text.  We all know that images make a site more fun, engaging and most importantly, they can capture a  visitors attention.  Remember, we’re trying to stay “sticky”.

For sorting purposes, you can setup the plugin in various ways to use either categories, tags or other criteria to determine which posts are related to the one currently being viewed.  This site is set up for categories, one of those being Property Statistics.  It’s also set to only pull posts with a featured image so you don’t get empty space over the descriptions.

If you use analytics and watch your page views, you’ll find that once you instal and configure this plugin, people are staying on your site longer and viewing more pages.

Share your real estate blog using a WordPress plugin

Your Real Estate Blog Can Be Shared Using Social Media Sites

The good news is that social media actually makes things easier. The even better news is that it is 100% cost-free to its users.  This is significant when you consider that social media, through sharing options, facilitates the distribution of your content to a wider audience without costing you a penny. Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Diigo, Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon and dozens of other sites, people are sharing information and making recommendations like never before. Consider sharing your newest blog post that could include local market sold property statistics, or a great post about how to negotiate as a real estate seller.

Your aim is to get people from search engines and on-site promotion and linking, to read the blog. Remember the old days in which your readers could only share content via email article links? Even if one of your readers was kind enough to do so, how many of those emails remained unopened by the recipient? Today, it’s just a couple of clicks and one reader who likes your content can send it out with their implied endorsement to hundreds or even thousands of their friends and followers.

There are dozens of WordPress plugins that automatically insert sharing icons in posts, pages, sidebars or wherever you may wish to insert them.  For this post, Hupso Share Buttons is a featured plugin because it has various setup options that should fit within your site’s theme. However, doing a search in the Plugins > Add New screen for “social share buttons” should turn up other options for you to check out.  The image above shows the icons one site owner elected to display at the bottom of each post. What’s incredible is that by clicking on the “Share This” button gives your visitor more than 90 other sharing choices, ensuring your content can reach the widest audience possible.

 Don’t waste a second if you’re not using a social sharing plugin on your WordPress site.  Make it easy for your visitors to share what they like and multiply your reach.

Post on-the-go with WordPress app

The life of a real estate agent is far from easy. In fact, when you are doing any level of business at all, it can be quite hectic. Between showing homes, taking photos, gathering documents, listing properties, and coordinating transactions, we belong to a busy group.  What’s more is that all of these activities comprise your everyday duties as an agent. There is more to be done if you are tacking on additional  tasks such as promotion by way of marketing. Much of our work is done on-the-go and as a result, sitting at a desktop computer, attempting to  post to our WordPress site often has to get in line behind other activities. What’s a real estate agent or broker to do?

We could always carry around a notebook computer, fire it up and post but then we’re subject to the limitations that brings such as dwindling battery power and the reality that despite their name, notebooks really aren’t all that portable anyway.

Making a WordPress App the Solution

Since just about every real estate professional on the planet is carrying either a smart phone or a tablet computer, it certainly would make life easier if we could post from those devices.  That’s where the WordPress apps come in. These apps are a perfect, on-the-go solution for creating fresh and diverse content for your site. Here are links to the apps and a short WordPress video for each.

WordPress App for iPhone & iPad         WordPress for iOS Video

WordPress App for Android       WordPress for Android Video

What you won’t see in those videos are some really powerful ways that real estate agents can use these apps.  Did you know that the app, if you allow it, will geotag every post? Think about the next time you’re taking a photo of a listing or something interesting you’re going to post about.  It’s geotagged and you can use one of several great mapping plugins to use that information to place a map in the post.

Because you can post in Draft, you can begin your posts with the smaller keyboards on your portable device, place an image, etc., but finish the post when you’re back in front of the larger screen and keyboard of your desktop.  Instead of posting less because you’re away from the office and on the move, you could be posting more and with some great content.

Consider These Options:

• The next time you meet an inspector,  take a photo and do a post about home inspection. Consider highlighting a certain inspection item commonly a problem in your area.
• Checking on a survey?  Do a post about surveys with an image of how corners are marked, and it can be mapped.
• Do it with video!  You can select a video or record a new one right from the post and it will insert easily.
• If you take notes in the field on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, why not make some of them the draft of a post?  You’ll find that suddenly, you’re placing a lot more fresh content on your site that visitors will appreciate.

Check out the official Word Press app for your device and get creative.

Real Estate Reviews on Social Media

Do you have people reviewing you, your services, or your website and blog at social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Yelp.com, and Google Maps, Bing, Yahoo Local, City Search and Local.com? If you are active in your business, client reviews should already be appearing naturally. However, there isn’t a whole lot you can do to moderate the content of these reviews. At most, you can ask and encourage your happy clientele to post positively on your behalf. In the instance that you find the dreaded negative review, you can sometimes respond or get the reviewer to remove or modify it. Unfortunately, your control over what is said about you on the Web is minimal.

Using Microformat Enabled Reviews as the Solution

Why not take some control and have your own reviews on your site?  This isn’t just a page where you post nice things your clients say about you. Many of us already do that.  The trick is to get those comments “microformat enabled” as hReview entries.  You see, sites like Google Places and Google Local Search are now looking specifically for that format.

hReview entries work to indicate a review and can be displayed as such in special areas of sites and search results.

WP blank testimonials are Microformat enabled.

The image above shows an example of a special review page at the WP Customer Reviews plugin site.  Your reviews would of course be about how well you do your job as a real estate agent or broker placed on a page created specifically for this purpose.  Here’s how the WordPress entry form looks to your clients wanting to enter a review:

Identified customer reviews

How You Should Encourage hReviews

Every happy client should receive an email from you with a link to this page and a request to do a review.  In time,  you will be building a page full of positive reviews, and these reviews will be specially indexed as hReview formatted entries.  They should start showing up on pages around the Web that search specifically for reviews or within searches with the word “review” in them.

A bonus here is that you can also use this plugin to place a review button at the bottom of posts or pages about your local sites, restaurants, and other businesses.  This will encourage your visitors to submit reviews for those as well, which in turn, will provide more Internet exposure for your site.