How to Create a WordPress IDX Website for Real Estate Step Guide
Thinking about creating an IDX website for your real estate business? It’s actually quite easy! With WordPress, you can easily create an IDX-compatible website that will not only look good but also help you generate revenue. Follow along with this step-by-step guide to learn how to create a WordPress IDX website and get started in no time!
Chapter 1: Why Create an IDX Site in WordPress?
The real estate industry is changing. There are more brokers than ever before and the market is competitive. One thing that has always been missing, however, is an easy way for property managers to manage their clients online. With the explosive popularity of websites like Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin, property managers are feeling pressure from multiple angles: both from these competitors and from homeowners who want more communication with their properties’ agents at any time of day or night. This sets up an interesting dilemma for many in the industry: do you use tools designed primarily for renters or homeowners?
With an IDX site in WordPress, you can offer your users all of the features they need on one platform.
Chapter 2: What You Need To Know About the Market
Before getting started, it is important to understand the market. There are three essential things you need to know about:
(1) your market
(2) demand
(3) competition.
Once you are confident with these key components, it is time to move on and assess the available real estate options. Remember that there are many places to find properties; whether it be online or in person. You will want to use all avenues of opportunity in order to get the best information possible. The next step is figuring out what you can afford as well as how much you have saved up so far. You will also want to make sure that there are no liens against any property or else you may lose money in court because of an already-existing lien. To find out if there are any liens against property, research courthouse records and look at tax records before proceeding any further with buying a property! Finally, if all goes well and there are no existing liens on any properties being considered, then it is time for negotiation!
Chapter 3: Keywords Are Key for SEO
Keywords are one of the most important parts of search engine optimization, and we’ve discussed how to optimize your home page for them. To maximize the potential for traffic from those keywords, you need to make sure that they’re included in other content on your site as well. The easiest way to do this is with blog posts, so get writing! Not only will blogging help you rank better in SERPs, but it’ll also encourage repeat visitors and loyalty, as people tend to go back again and again if they find relevant content.
Chapter 4: Uploading and Configuring the WP Site
Since WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) on the planet, it’s not difficult to set up. I recommend using Blue host, a hosting company that provides WordPress sites pre-configured with everything you need to start posting immediately. *The downside is that this option will cost you $5-$10 per month.* When you’re done uploading your site, click on the name of your website and then go into settings. There, you can choose how many posts appear on your homepage and change the theme so your site reflects your branding.
Chapter 5: Using Custom Fields to Optimize Your Listings
If you are already selling real estate, you know how much information needs to be entered in each listing. Wouldn’t it be helpful if your website could just collect all of that info without forcing the agent or broker to manually enter it? Custom fields can save time and energy when listing properties. Here’s how they work:
1) Navigate back to your settings tab in Dashboard >> General.
Chapter 6: Setting up The Sidebar Call to Action Boxes
Call to Action Boxes are placed in the sidebar of your website and provide important calls to action that you want visitors viewing your website’s homepage, or index page, to click on. There are two types of CTAs: Main Call to Action Boxes and Secondary Call Action Boxes. With the second type of CTA, there is no need for a Title with hyperlinks because they are directly linked from within blog posts themselves.
Chapter 7.1 SEO Tips (I) – No index On Categories & Tags Pages
It’s important to have SEO tips included in your site so that it can rank higher in the search engines. One thing you may want to consider is indexing all your posts except for categories and tags pages. This way, your navigation will be clean and easy to use without impacting how well you rank in Google.
Chapter 7.2 SEO Tips (II) – Front Page Title Tag & Meta Description
That’s it! This is your opportunity to add anything else you want. How about SEO? Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of optimizing your content and web pages so that they rank higher in the SERPs (search engine results pages). The main element of any successful SEO strategy is an excellent Front Page Title Tag and Meta Description. In this chapter we will explain how to find what makes a good one and then show you how to make one of your own.
Chapter 8.1 Adding Google Analytics to your site Section 8.2 Populating the properties Page with the latest listings/feeds
- After installing Google Analytics, you will want to add the Google Analytics Tracking Code to your site by copying and pasting the code from their website.
- Now that the code is added, we will go into settings and select or create an account if you do not have one already and click Get Tracking ID.
- In order to set up your tracker, enter the domain name and language of your site. Remember, a URL will work as well if that is what you need!
- Next, it will ask you which properties are in your account- this is where you put all of the websites you want to track traffic data for under one Google Analytics account.
