What Benefit Are Google Sitelinks?

1. It improves your “Click Thru Rate”
– Your most popular pages are typically the ones that are shown in the sitelinks. Offering these popular links right away ensures your audience is clicking through to the content you want them to experience.
2. Sitelinks establish credibility
– The amount of space that your site with sitelinks below takes up in the search results is impressive. It shows a sort of endorsement from Google. You won;t be overlooked.
3. Increased the awareness of your services and offerings.
– Having your best pages appear in the sitelinks instantly reveals what you have to offer to your audience. Your brand, your reputation, your content… all of it is suddenly more visible than other results on the page.
4. Effective Pages get more visibility
– Instead of hoping that your homepage successfully directs your audience to the most effective pages on your site, sitelinks presents them right in the search results.
5. Having Sitelinks is a clear indicator of a website with healthy SEO
– This does not mean however that if you don’t have sitelinks that your site is poorly SEO’d.

How Do I Get Google Sitelinks?

There are no guidelines from Google as to how to get sitelinks.
What we do know is that sitelinks are associated with sites that use what Google would consider “best practices.”
Here are a several things we recommend to give yourself the best chance at getting sitelinks:
(Note – many of you will need to work with your website support to address these)

• Submit your site to Google Search Console (AKA Google Webmasters)
• Sign up for Google Analytics and add their tracking code to your website (you might need your website support you help you here).
• Make sure you have a unique and descriptive Site Title. This is ours: Real Estate Tomato | Custom Real Estate Website Design | WordPress
• Make sure you have a unique and descriptive Meta Description.
• Your main navigation menu needs to be clearly organized. This means ONLY the most important pages are the main menu items and their related pages are in dropdowns below. It is also a good idea to use Parent Page >> Child Page structure where you have deep content.
  For example:
  If you have a Community page that showcases all your featured Communities is might have the URL like this: awesomerealestate.com/communities/.
  Now a “Child” of that page would have a URL that looked like this: awesomerealestate.com/communities/alexandria/
  That is a proper hierarchy organization of your pages.
• Add and submit a sitemap.xml to your Google Search Console. If you are using WordPress you just need the Google XML Sitemap Plugin.
• Cross link to and from your websites most important pages. Continuing with the community page example, you should make sure that each page has links to the other important community pages, as well as to search pages, contact pages, and other site defining pages.
• Similar to the homepage Title above, make sure your pages all have SEO friendly titles that relate to the content within. This is important because it’s what appears in the sitelink.
• Similar to the homepage Description above, make sure your pages all have SEO friendly descriptions. This is important because it’s what appears in the sitelink.

Reasons Google might NOT show sitelinks for your site:

• Your site is poorly optimized (For ex: Pages have the same or similar title and meta description. Or you have thin content on pages)
• Your site doesn’t allow for the algorithm to find pages “good enough” for site links
• Sitelinks wouldn’t be relevant to a particular search query (not all searches produce results of site with sitelinks)
• You are missing a sitemap
• You have not submitted your site to the Search Console

Can I Change My Google Sitelinks?

There are no settings to control your sitelinks. Google’s algorithm selects which links it determines “when we think they’ll be useful to the user.”

Can I Demote a Google Sitelink?

Sadly Google stopped allowing this option in Oct of 2016.
Some important notes:
Current maximum number of sitelinks is 6.
Current maximum number of characters in the sitelink title is 31
Current maximum number of characters in the sitelink descriptions is 65
If you found the above tips helpful, you should really subscribe to future updates.
Or if you are a little embarrassed by your current website, drop us a line and we will make you look amazing with a website makeover!

The post What The Heck Are Google Sitelinks And Why Do I Need Them? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

In 2017 40% of the Visitors to Our Clients’ Websites Was Mobile.

This is a growing trend. We started noticing an uptick back in 2012, and it has been growing ever since.
2012: 9%
2013: 13%
2014: 19%
2015: 27%
2016: 33%
and now 2017: 40% Mobile.
At this rate, by next year nearly 50% of your website audience will be mobile.

At this rate, by next year nearly 50% of your website audience will be mobile.

Have you ever heard of Bounce Rate?

Bounce Rate is the percentage of users that come, look one page, and leave your site without taking any action.
Our own Bounce Rate for November is 1.59% 
This means that less than 2 out of 100 leave our site without clicking to see more.
**If your website is not mobile friendly, your Bounce Rate could, at best be around 50%.
Half the audience you attract to your site leaves right away.
All that time, money, effort, that goes into your site is flushed for half your audience because you don’t have a mobile friendly website.
Nearly 3 years ago, Google announced that they give preference to mobile friendly websites in their search results.
So if you want to start appearing competitively again, and want to keep half your audience from leaving your site before they even look around, we can help!
Drop us a line and we will make you look amazing with a website makeover that brings you into 2018!
 

The post What Kind Of First Impression Is Your Real Estate Website Making To Mobile Users? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Action Items | Let’s Get Right With Google

Google has a couple of different links you can use to update your publicly facing profile with them.
Make sure both are properly filled out and looking good.
Google AboutMe
Google Profiles

I know you will probably never use it, but if you haven’t already, you need to sign up for Google+
It is important to make sure Google knows to tie your name, your profile, your website, your testimonials, your logo, and your business details all together.
By taking the time to properly sign up and fill out the above, you will lock in your Google Identity.

The other best reasons to use Google Plus:

(Keeping this simple so you see the value)
Demographics – Where FB leans under 40 and female, Google+ leans over 40 and male. Interesting huh?
Instant Spidering – Want a blog post to get spidered by Google immediately? Share it on your Google+ page.
SEO Boost – If your content is shared, reposted, or liked (+1 its called on G+) Google will consider your content exceptional, and place it better.
If you found the above tips helpful, you should really subscribe to future updates.
Upcoming posts include how to get those shortcut links under your website in the search results like this– you wont want to miss it!
Now if only your website represented your business as professionally as you feel it should.
We can help!
Drop us a line and we will make you look amazing with a website makeover!

The post Simple Must Do Steps To Build Your Real Estate Profile With Google For Better Ranking appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

• Your brokerage can supersede your efforts at claiming the address of the office.
  There can be only one business at that location. So it might be best to use a home office location or a specific suite number if possible.

Once verified:

• Add photos, including your headshot, logo, and images that you use in your other branding.
• Get reviews! Make sure some favorite clients visit the page and leave some 5 star reviews. Google will also pick up reviews from Facebook and Yelp.
• Share some content (blog post, quick insight, or the like) post it – get something fresh up there.
• The background/cover image for your business profile is currently set to be 1086px by 611px.
  You might need a designer to help you with this, or head over to Canva.com and work out something slick.

Another quick tip! Place your business directly onto Google Maps.
Zoom into your physical location, and right click on the area where you want to be located. There is an option to “Add a Missing Place”
If your business profile is verified (see above), and the address matches the location you are pinning, you can just fill out the quick form and bam! your business appears on Google Maps.
That will be enough to get you on the google results maps, unless all your competition just read this post as well.
If you found the above tips helpful, you should really subscribe to future updates.
Upcoming posts include how to best improve and leverage your personal Google profile – you wont want to miss it!
Now if only your website that comes up when you google yourself represented your business as professionally as you feel it should.
We can help!
Drop us a line and we will make you look amazing with a website makeover!

 
 

The post Hey REALTORS®, Have You Given Yourself a Good Googling Lately? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

1. Leads? What Leads?

When was the last time that your site was responsible for a new lead?
If your online representation of you and your business is not bringing you new clients then it is time for a change.

2. You Are Still Being Charged For Basic Changes

Modern platforms are super easy to make changes on, and shouldn’t involve any additional costs.
If you are being nickled & dimed for the updates you need to make to your site then it is time for a change.

3. Your Google Placement Is Terrible

Basic SEO can have you appearing competitively in Google.
Odds are, that if your site is out-dated, you are no longer being found in search results. It is time for a change.

4. It’s Not Optimized For Mobile

Current traffic analytics show us that 40-50% of your website traffic is from a mobile device. If your site wasn’t designed for their convenience, then they are going to leave without looking around.
In addition to disappointing your audience, Google also gives preferential placement to mobile friendly websites.

5. It Is Slow Loading

Many factors can affect the load speed of your site: weak server, poor programming, too many large images, too many plugins, etc. If your site is not loading quickly, then your audience will not wait, and it is time for a change.
Bonus:

6. It Looks Out-Dated

Look around at the contemporary trends that your competition is using to impress their audience. If your audience has the impression that you can’t represent yourself competitively, then they will believe that you can’t represent them and their property effectively either.
We can help!
If you got this far down the post I bet you are considering a change with your website. We would love to have a no-obligation, non-salesy conversation with you about it. We’ve been doing this a long time. Answering your questions would be our pleasure. Go ahead – give us a call: 530-828-6764 or drop us and email.

The post 5 Warning Signs That You Need A New Real Estate Website appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Create an infographic.

A few years ago I created this infographic about How To Ensure Your Success As A Real Estate Blogger.
After publishing it on this website, I pinned it to Pinterest.
I had at times noticed that it was repinned quite a bit, but never paid much mind to it. Then yesterday I looked at the stats and see that it has been re-pinned over 3,100 times. Holy cow! I looked at the stats on all my other pins and see that of nearly 300 pins my second highest pinned image is 66 times (and the 3rd highest is just 33 pins). That’s almost 50x the amount of pinning!
The thing is, creating that infographic took me 50 times longer than any of the images I posted on Pinterest. So you could say I got out of it what I put in. And I haven’t created another infographic since then because of the time it took to do that first one (a few hours).
That is until today!
Turns out making infographics is no longer the massive chore it was just a few years ago.
Using a tool Canva.com you can create a great looking, super-shareable infographic in about 30 mins. If the results are anything like my first infographic, I plan on doing a lot more of these.
NOTE: My next scheduled blog post covers a ton of great ideas on what subjects to cover with your infographics for Real Estate. It’s sure to be an awesomely informative post. Make sure to subscribe to be notified so that you don’t miss it. Click here to subscribe.

How to Make a Successful Infographic

The above infographic was designed to be easily noticed and digested. Below is a little more insight on the included 8 points: 

Get Inspired

Rather than staring at a blank canvas, look at what others have done successfully before you. Save a few favorites for inspiration and borrow from them the ideas you need. This site has a ton of great examples that will get your creativity flowing: DailyInfographic.com. This Pinterest Board has a ton of Real Estate related Infographics.
Once you have a solid inspiration, you can use Canva’s infographic templates to design your vision.

Wireframe

Sketch out the whole concept on paper. It’s much easier and faster to work with the rough draft it than with the design program. I also found that I was able to come up with several solid ideas for future infographics as I was sketching out this one. Now I have a notebook with a bunch of pages of ideas all ready to go.

Use Canva

Canva.com – they are just what the novice designer needs.
Drag and drop content, simple editors, tons of free templates and graphics, and most importantly: guidelines to keep everything in place. I loved using it to create the infographic above. You can also buy premium graphics for as little as $1. I was able to keep my project free by designing some of my own images for the icons – which is another nice feature: upload your own graphics.

Think Mobile

My website analytics show that 40% of my audience is mobile. But the analytics on my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest profiles show that number to by upwards of 75%. So at this point, I would design the infographic for the mobile audience. Keep the message clear and simple. Overly complicated infographics with lots of images and data will not be appreciated by your mobile audience.

Contrast

Contrast gets you noticed. Contrast draws attention to the flow of the message. Use bold colors, bold fonts, attractive images, and enough white space to keep your audience on track.

Blog It

All your best content should originate on your blog. It will last forever there, well organized, well indexed (SEO), and clearly attributed to you. From there you can share it everywhere else.

Share It

Great content is meant to be shared. Get it in front of as many as you can and then let them do the rest of the work. I shared that original infographic just 1 time on Pinterest, and it was re-pinned over 3100 times. I’m going to dust it off and share it on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Recycle

Not only does the infographic make for great blog content and social media fodder, but it can be incredibly useful on your website pages. If you create an infographic on the Home Selling Process, this would be an amazing asset to your Selling pages on your website. If you have your website in mind when you consider your infographics, you can really make use of them over and over.
NOTE: My next scheduled blog post covers a ton of great ideas on what subjects to cover with your infographics for Real Estate. It’s sure to be an awesomely informative post. Make sure to subscribe to be notified so that you don’t miss it. Click here to subscribe.
 

The post How to Be Successful Posting On Pinterest – The Infographic appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

I know that thoughtful house warming gifts are a staple of good real estate agent manners after the new homeowner moves in. On the day we moved in to our first purchased home, our Realtor® gave us a beautiful set of margarita glasses. As much as we love them, and think of her when we use them, the reality is that they have gathered much more dust than they’ve been filled with tequila.
The idea of the house warming gift should be as much a gesture of appreciation for your clients’ business as it is a vehicle to have them remember you, fondly. The more they think of you (positively), the more they are apt to consider you again the next time they need the service you offer.

Give them something thoughtful and super useful!

The post mentioned above was incredibly popular with over 16,000 comments discussing useful items for a new home buyer. I’ve saved you the trouble of combing through it, and here is a comprehensive list of practical, and affordable housewarming gifts for a first-time home buyer.
^{*Depending on your budgets, some of these items would be great packaged together.}

• Folding 2-Step Stool – Under $20
• Ladder – Under $100
• Cordless Drill – Under $75
• Wetvac – Under $60
• Dusbuster/vaccuum – Under $50
• Flashlights & Candles – Under $50
• Nightlights & Light bulbs – Under $40
• Adhesives (various caulks, super glue, wood glue) – Under $30
• Plunger & Pipe Auger (snake) – Under $40
• Studfinder – Under $20
• Large Bucket – Under $20
• Dolly/Hand-truck – Under $50
• Wheelbarrow/Yard Cart – Under $100
• Personalized Coat/Key Hook – Under $50
• BBQ Grill – Under $150
• Grilling Tools – Under $40
• Fire Place Tools – $150

There were 100s of other ideas, but the above struck me as most generally useful, Here is the original post if you wanted to check it out.

The post How To Ensure First Time Home Buyers Will Think Of You Every Week appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

The first is WordPress.com

This is the free* version of their blogging/content-management platform. Each site is part of a vast network of websites all controlled by Automattic (the parent company of WordPress).

The second is WordPress.org

This version is completely independent and must be hosted, requiring some technical administration to use.
They are incredibly similar in that they both function as a platform to easily create content. However, they are vastly different in their capacity and set-up.

Below are the detailed differences between the two platforms.

Theme Options

WordPress.com

For the free platform, there is no access to modify the platform files (CSS and PHP) so you are limited to using the free themes available by WordPress.  You may however pay ($30/yr) for a CSS upgrade and there are some commercial themes available for purchase.

The main reason for this difference is that WordPress.com needs to be “locked down” completely and as universal as possible. This eliminates any security risks, and makes it possible for Automattic to manage their network as a single entity.

WordPress.org

Since you are in complete control of all the aspects of your site you can implement any theme, be it free, commercial or custom designed.

Plugins – “Plugins can extend WP to do almost anything you imagine.”

WordPress.com

Plugins are not permitted.  There are however many built-in features on the free platform that in order to have them on the .org platform, they will need to be added as plugins.

WordPress.org

Again, your independence allows you to upload and use any plugin whether it be free, commercial or custom.

Cost

WordPress.com

Free up to 3GB of storage space. However, the public will see text ads on your free site.
*From there, the costs can start to mount: Storage, Design options, Domain purchase,  VideoPress, Ad removal, etc.

WordPress.org

The platform itself is free to download and install. What tends not to be free are all the services that come with the responsibility of maintaining an independent platform.

Common costs:
Hosting
Domain
Customer Service
Custom Theme(s)
Custom Functions
Training
Search Engine Optimization

Monetization

WordPress.com

You cannot post money-making ads on your site until you reach at least 25,000 pageviews a month. Then you evenly split your revenue with Autommatic.

WordPress.org

It’s yours to do with what you like, including the right to plaster ads all over your site.

Maintenance

WordPress.com

Automattic takes care of everything, automatically. You are worry free.

WordPress.org

Because you are independent you are now responsible for:
Hosting
Upgrades
Plugins
Theme Changes
Spam Control
Security Risks
Backups
SEO
Domain Management

So what is the best solution for a Real Estate Agent
wanting to use a WordPress platform?

I am a proponent of if you are going to invest in something worth doing, then you need to do it right the first time.  For this reason I can only recommend that real estate agents wanting to leverage the incredible functionality and features of WordPress must employ the hosted WordPress.org platform.

The real estate site can be a very complex and feature rich. Trying to force the limited, free platform to accomplish the things your website requires will be done in vain.
Common needs such as showcasing Listings, offering IDX (MLS), and creating Neighborhood Profile Pages are not an option with a limited, free platform.
Sure the hosted version will most likely cost you set up and on-going monthly fees – but in marketing one needs to invest money to make money.
And the one mistake you don’t want to make is to develop a free site, full of months or years of content on the WordPress.com branded domain: yoursite.wordpress.com.  Firstly it is not professional to use a 3rd party in your domain name, and worse, you are building all that search engine exposure for a domain that you will regret. Bad idea.
If you want to learn more about how to take advantage of using the WordPress platform for your real estate business you just need to contact us, and we’ll answer all your questions, free of charge.
Also – check out our Pinterest page with a Portfolio of recent real estate blogsites.
 

The post What Is The Difference Between Free WordPress and Hosted WordPress? appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

If you haven’t heard of Pinterest, the newest social media phenomenon, you may be missing out on a key component of a rounded Internet strategy.
Pinterest has taken the lead in “buzz” among social media early adopters. And for good reason.
Pinterest is the fastest growing website in Internet history.
It’s extremely visual, fun and easy to use, it lets the Pinner’s personality shine and gets you great backlinks. By creating “pin boards” for photos you find online you can arrange them in visually interesting ways and backlink to photos from your own blog or web site, or from other favorite sites that might appeal to your followers.

Here are the Top 6 Reasons you should begin Pinning on Pinterest:

1. It’s fun!

Pinterest is high on the fun factor, and easy to use.
This is not a social media site that will take a lot of time to learn or use. Check out a few people who you know are on Pinterest and you’ll get the idea very quickly. The visual quality to the site means you can scroll through the Pins of the people you follow for a few minutes at a time, or for hours. You do not engage in conversations, so you can come and go whenever you like. There is the option to like someone’s pin, rep-in it or comment on it.

2. It Lets Your Personality Shine.

If you love old cars or picket fences or country barns, you can dedicate one of your pin boards to photos of those things. You’ll quickly connect with people who have like interests.
Mix those pin boards in with boards dedicated to listing photos, or your town’s best restaurants, or architectural styles in your area and away you go. You’ve created a personable way for people to get to know you.
Beware of self promotion or in-your-face marketing. You don’t want to turn people off to your pins before you even get started. Pinterest should not be used only as a vehicle to promote listings, rather it’s a place you can post beautiful photos to show your followers the types of homes you represent.

3. It Creates Links to Your Website.

One mistake I made early on was uploading my own photos. I seldom do this anymore, and only when I want to pin something I won’t be able to put on my web site first.
The best bang for your buck is to craft a blog post and insert a photo you also think would be great on Pinterest.
If you’ve been blogging for awhile or have a robust web site, go back through old posts and find photos for Pinterest. You can pin something you posted two years ago and create an instant backlink to your site from an old post. Pin photos from web sites or upload your own, but don’t steal them (as in from Google Images.) Copyright laws still apply.

4. It Enhances Your Keyword Strategy.

When you pin a photo, you also create a caption. Consider how you can use the captions to focus on specific keywords within your Internet strategy.
If you want to be found for “Tulsa,” have a pin board or two that focus on Tulsa.
Pin photos of the area or local Tulsa happenings – and use “Tulsa” in your captions. Do you want to be found for “Beachfront in Bimini?” Use the opportunity to write about beach property and the beauty of Bimini, then pin the photos to a Beachfront in Bimini pin board on Pinterest.

5. It’s a Digital Memory Enhancer.

We’re all prone to forgetting.
Surf the Internet for more than a few seconds, and you’ll undoubtedly think, “I should come back to that.” Or, “That’s what I want my garden to look like this summer.”
While there are many outstanding sites for cataloguing articles, RSS feeds and ideas, Pinterest lets you catalogue photographs. You’ll be pinning to create connections, but a hidden use is to give you ideas.
By going back through your pins later, you may remember a blog post you wanted to write, or a better way to photograph your new listing.
Are you helping your daughter plan her wedding or a close friend renovate his kitchen? The photographs on your boards will remind you what you liked about the cool new kitchen design you saw. Don’t forget to pin the photo when you see it – it won’t enhance your memory if you don’t get it on your board.

6. You and Your Boards Can Be Followed.

An interesting feature on the Pinterest site is that you can follow a person, or just follow one of their boards.
Some of your friends may want to follow everything you pin, and all of your pin boards. But the country barn lovers might only follow that board and skip the board you have on gardening. If you’re into contemporary design, you might find a lot of people following that, and fewer people following your pictures of cats. That’s OK. Pinterest lets people connect around shared interests.
Pinterest is growing exponentially at a mind-boggling rate. As mentioned above it is the fastest growing standalone site in the history of the Internet – which leads us to believe that it is not only worth participating in, but something that looks to have staying power.

And best of all, it’s a natural fit for real estate.
Visuals of homes, design, colors and landscaping are all beautiful on Pinterest. You now have the opportunity to craft your own visual expression of yourself and your brand with a single click. So get Pinning!
Not sure who to follow? Here are a few allstars from the RE social space:
Lani Rosales
Eric Bouler
Ines Hegedus-Garcia
Mike Bowler
Thanks so much for the article Gretchen!
Gretchen Faber is an incredibly professional Realtor in the Denver, CO area.
Check out her Pinterest page and her awesome blog: LifestyleDenver.com.

The post 6 Reasons Real Estate Bloggers Should Be Pinning on Pinterest appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.

Photo by miss karen.

Thinking About Going Mobile With Your Real Estate Website/Blogsite?

Do you need it? 
Is this just something that the buzz is causing you to feel like you are in danger of being left behind? Or is the fact that mobile web browsing has exploded in the last 2 years mean it’s time to get in front of that audience too?
Do you have a mobile audience yet?
Check your visitor statistics.
Exactly 13% of all our clients’ traffic was from a mobile device last month (Feb 2012)
Does what you currently offer fail on a mobile level?
Check it for yourself:
Desktop Simulator
Online Simulator
Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that this article’s content will be irrelevant by the time I hit publish, but the topic has generated enough discussion around these parts that it warrants at least a solid overview, however fleeting it may be.

What are my options when it comes to being mobile friendly
with my real estate blogsite/website?

The trend to handheld computing is putting a lot of pressure on designers to make sure that their clients’ websites are up-to-snuff when it comes to rendering on a mobile device.

But, the solutions aren’t necessarily worth it, yet.

The first challenge is that often those that are inquiring about a mobile friendly website aren’t exactly sure what they are asking for.
But the bottom line is that they want to ensure that their audience is able to have a rewarding experience on their website regardless of the device they use.
The biggest challenge is the fact that most real estate websites are dependent on the use of a 3rd party IDX function to offer a home search and other special listing services. Most mobile solutions don’t account for the IDX function and the consequence is the loss of this incredibly important feature. More details on this consequence in the options below.

The following are the options currently available
for a mobile friendly experience.

Do Nothing

The websites that we design are optimized to display properly within a 1024px wide resolution.  Anything wider than that will display a background image filling in any empty space.  This is currently the standard in the industry.

The height of a standard website was at one time 768px. But with the propensity to scroll, users no longer expect everything to appear ‘above the fold’, and there is no longer a typical height for a website.
Sites built in the standard 1024px resolution render just fine on smart phones and tablets because these device makers need to be able to offer an enjoyable web experience to their users. So they have made an effort to meet this standard.
However, looking at and using sites on a handheld can prove to be cumbersome, with all the zooming in and swiping it takes to get a rich experience… hence the development of more friendly solutions for websites.
Pros:
– No cost
– Full website experience, even if it is a little cumbersome.
Cons:
– Mobile internet can be slow, and having to load your full website can kill a visit.
– Non-smartphones will have an impossible time using the site.
– You feel like you should do something, right?

Layout Altering Plugins for WordPress Content:

What happens in these plugin-generated, mobile versions of your site is that your content is consolidated for easy viewing, and the rest of the site’s functionality is either removed or dumbed down. This causes an issue with the IDX/MLS display in that it is no longer an option to any mobile viewer.
Their value is that they are simple for the mobile viewer, but I don’t feel that the sacrifice of the IDX is worth it.
WP-Touch automatically transforms your WordPress content into a mobile theme.
WP-Touch Pro (Starting at $49) allows for a more customized theme/branding as well as the option to switch back to non-mobile display.
Wapple Architect ($0 to $1000s) Claims to do a better job of maintaining your site’s style/branding with custom editor options, all-the-while offering a much more robust viewer experience.
WPTap Plugin that automatically detects the mobile browser and activates the mobile theme you have installed or redirects it to a unique mobile url (m.domain.com).
WPTap Themes is a collection of more elegant layouts/themes/functions for sale in the $40-$100 range.

Pros:
– Easy to implement
– Fast loading
– Easy to read content
– Cheap
Cons:
– No IDX!
– No calls-to-action
– No lead generation
– Weak branding
– You end up with a site that is hardly similar to your actual site.

Layout Altering Plugins for IDX/MLS Content:

Instead of losing the IDX functions, you lose all your content, and the site, when viewed on a mobile device is simply a portal for property searching. All of the below require an approved and paid IDX subscription.
These plugins offer similar features; searching, location based avails, contact agent, favorite listings, etc.
iHomefinder Optima IDX Mobile
dsSearchAgent Mobile
IDXBroker Mobile
Pros:
– Mobile IDX is awesome!
– Lead generation
– Easy to implement
– Fast loading
– Easy to read content
– Cheap (as long as you already have a compatible IDX)
Cons:
– No posts, no pages!
– You end up with a site that is hardly similar to your actual site.

Mobile Version/Makeovers of Your Website

Sticking with the idea that the website can detect that a mobile device is being used to access the site, these services offer much more full featured, robust renditions of your site.  The main difference from the Plugin options above is that these can be applied to non-WordPress websites. However, in order to make your site at all user-friendly it looks as though you’ll need to cough up some developer fees and get it done right.
In addition, you will not have the ability to include the IDX as part of the design – it will either need to link off to the actual website, or linkned to a separately hosted version of the IDX plugins above.
DudaMobile ($0 to $500) offers both do-it-yourself and professionally supported mobile versions of your website.
Mobify (Free, then paid versions start at a whopping $249/month) offers both do-it-yourself and professionally supported mobile versions of your website.
GoMobi (free trial and $8/month, build fee $295) – There are a number of resellers of this service, and it basically makes a cute, easy to use version of your websites main navigation.
Google: Of course they have their hand in this market as well: Howtogomo.com (complete with testing your site and links to mobile design services)
Pros:
– Good branding
– Include calls-to-action
– Include content
– You end up with a site that is somewhat similar to your actual site.
Cons:
– You’ll need a workaround for IDX integration, but it can be done.
– Doing it right is not cheap
– Now you have 2 sites to worry about keeping up.
One thing to keep in mind is that with a separate mobile site, the device detection can be unreliable as new devices are released. It will inevitably fail at times.

Responsive/Scalable Web Design

Imagine not having to worry about any of the above, and just having a site that reorganizes its layout according to the resolution of the browsers that load it.
One of my favorite examples of responsive web design is the Boston Globe. In order to see if in action you can pull it up on multiple devices, or open it in a standard browsers, then slowly resize the window (click/grab an edge and drag it inward) to watch it respond to the new resolution. As the screen gets smaller, the content reacts accordingly. It’s magic!
Each site has multiple layouts with alternate headers, navigation, columns, footers, etc. The appropriate layout is displayed depending on the device resolution that accesses the site.
Here is a brilliant article on How To Design A Mobile Responsive Website.
Here are two more for the geeks in the room.
Media Queries
Responsive Design Planning 
There are still 2  MAJOR challenges, however.
First: That IDX solution that you have embedded/framed into your website is not built on a responsive stylesheet. So, once a mobile user clicks on your IDX features, the site will not render properly.

Solutions:
1. Use and IDX provider that allows their content to conform to a scalable/responsive stylesheet.
2. Use a mobile device detector that will send any click of an IDX feature to the mobile friendly IDX as described above. So, the site is scalable up until someone clicks on an IDX link, and then it activates the mobile plugin, away from the website.
Second: The layout of your full-featured website crammed into a small, single column, vertical display is going to be a cumbersome experience for your visitor.
I am not sure that your visitor is going to enjoy the experience as much as you’ll be lead to believe.
Pros:
– A single site that is compatible with all devices for the foreseeable future.
– You lose no branding
– You lose no content
– You lose no calls-to-action
– You lose no lead generation
Cons:
– You’ll need a workaround for IDX integration, but it can be done.
– Doing it right is not cheap because you will have to invest in multiple layouts and stylesheets.
– Because you lose no content/ctas/branding/etc, you have an overwhelmingly long, vertical website.

To App or not to App.

Many of the requests we get for a mobile friendly version of a website is a request to turn their site into a mobile app; something available for download at an app store. To prevent this article from getting out of control, I will limit my editorial comments on this option and simply link to some popular app building services.
MobileAppLoader for Real Estate ($100 – $200 set up + a monthly)
WiziApp ($20-50/month)
Pros:
“Oooh I have a real estate app!”
Cons:
Finding an audience that even cares.
There are a lot of options when it comes to building a mobile app for your real estate business. Today’s article was strictly concerned with how to best present your real estate website/blogsite on a mobile device. I will be sure to follow up with an article specifically focused on mobile apps for the real estate agent.
In the meantime, here are a few links for your enjoyment: MobileDevHQ, SmarterAgent, AgentTouch, MobileRealtyApps, SeattleClouds.

Tablet Specific Websites

In my research I failed to find Tablet Specific web design for real estate.  The only example I have seen that was even mentioned alongside real estate was OnSwipe (their CEO spoke at a recent InmanNext event). Unfortunately, unless you are only using your blogsite as a blog, and not a way to showcase pages and listings you’ll find little use for it.
At this point, it looks to be nothing more than a glorified WP-Touch plugin for tablets.
I still don’t see a need to rush this trend given that browsing the web (as is) on a tablet is already incredibly rewarding. I’m sure there are all sorts of creative applications that I haven’t fully considered (Facebook integration, picture galleries, neighborhood profiles, etc.) but this is an article about how to make your current real estate website/blogsite as mobile friendly as possible.

We Can Help!

If you want to learn more about any of the above for real estate, just contact us – we are at your service!

The post Mobile Friendly Real Estate Website Options and Pitfalls appeared first on WordPress Real Estate Website Design | Real Estate Tomato.