Essential Plugins for your WordPress Real Estate Blog

Jay Thompson – PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com

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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

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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

TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

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

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Contact Form Gravity Forms

*Not* free ($39 for single site) Flexible, easy, sidebar compatible Free add-on tracks page form

submitted from. Referrer info for Gravity Forms

Cforms II Powerful, but can be complicated.

Plethora of other options

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Social Bookmarking

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Way for readers to share your articles on social sites.

Sexy Bookmarks

ReTweet and Facebook Share buttons

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Subscribe to Comments

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Subscribe to Comments Allows commenters to get emails of others

comments Set so not enabled by default

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Email & Print Post

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WP-Email and WP-Print Surprised how much email link is used.

Some analytics provided. Exercise caution – Big Brotherish

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Subliminal Message

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Please contribute if you can:

DanKeitz.com

TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

Mobile Themes

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WordPress Mobile Edition WordPress Mobile Pack Wptouch iPhone Theme

TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

Cache Plugins

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Reduce server load and speed up sites W3 Total Cache WP Super Cache

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Increase time on site plugins

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Recent Posts Recent Comments Similar Posts Random Posts Popular Posts

All available at http://rmarsh.com/plugins/

TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

Encourage Commenting

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CommentLuv

“DoFollow” Numerous options

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Nerdy Plugins

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Executable PHP Widget – php code in sidebars Google XML Sitemaps – helps SE’s crawl site Feedburner Feedsmith – 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

TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

Product Specific Plugins

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dsIDXpress Must be a Diverse Solutions IDX subscriber

Altos Connect Widget Must be Altos Research Pro subscriber

TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

Finding Plugins

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See something cool? Ask! WordPress Plugin Directory Google – “Cool plugins” “Essential plugins”

TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

Thanks!

4/6/2010

Presentation posted on Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/PhoenixREGuy

Please, help my friend Dan Keitz http://DanKeitz.com