As an alternative to IDX solutions, real estate marketing company, RealShout, offers a free WordPress plugin that allows agents and brokers to have searchable real estate listings on their site.
With WordPress being the choice for many real estate bloggers, RealShout has unveiled a new plugin for the publishing platform that will enable real estate professionals to have searchable local listings on their blog or website.
 Up until now, real estate professionals had to purchase expensive IDX solutions in order to display neighboring listings to their visitors  |
The free searchable listing Real Estate Wordpress plugin can be installed on any WordPress template and functional the same day. Pulling data from the Google Base API, the plugin provides ample data to populate any real estate site. Customization capabilities include colors, location (cities), distance, bedrooms, bath, and price. The plugin enables listings to display in a list with thumbnail pictures, which can be clicked on to view more details, photos, a Google Map, and more.
Setting it apart from many IDX services, the RealShout plugin does not place listings in an iframe, thus allowing them to be indexed by search engines.
“Up until now, real estate professionals had to purchase expensive IDX solutions in order to display neighboring listings to their visitors,” says Misty Lackie, CEO of Go Smart Solutions, LLC, the parent company of RealShout. “We’re offering this plugin for free to allow agents and brokers to have searchable listings on their site without spending hundreds of dollars.”
The plugin is offered for free on the RealShout website or the WordPress Plugin Directory, and is compatible with most WordPress templates.
RealShout.com is a real estate marketing company that guarantees leads for agents, real estate brokers, and mortgage brokers. The company also offers marketing services to MLS’s nationwide.
RealShout is the creation of Go Smart Solutions, LLC, a company that has been providing advertising solutions for professionals and small businesses since 2002. RealShout provides lead generating online real estate advertising for agents and brokers in the industry.
You can view a live site that is running this from Real Estate In Chicago
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Go Smart Solutions, LLC |
Misty - I have to look into this. Our new office blog is Wordpress so am getting used to it but have so much to learn.
Good info, thanks!
Hi Misty,
I'm really excited about this plugin especially since one of my 2 MLS associations is powered by MLS Listings which has a challenging client portal to set up & overall not a great user interface when compared to what Rappattoni offers agents.
I dowloaded the plugin to my Wordpress blog and activated it but am not seeing any instructions as to why it's not showing up in my blog. There is also a license # that was sent to me but I'm not sure where/when that gets entered.
I'll contact your sales office today but thought I'd pass along this initial challenge.
Hi Cheryl - after activating the plugin you should see a "default search" option in the left panel of your WP admin area. Clicking on this option will show you instructions. You can also see them directly from http://www.realshout.com/realshout-wordpress-plugin-readme.php
I will also have a link to the instructions added to the email confirmation that is sent.
Let me know if you need any help installing it. I would be happy to help. Email me through my ActiveRain profile if you need help and I can help get this going for you.
I've bookmarked this to come back and absorb. Thanks for the heads up!
I decided to do this a week or so ago.
Then I chickened out.
Then I saw Rebecca's Re-Blog and thought I will... then I read and reread your post.
Then I got :
Warning: This plugin has not been tested with your current version of WordPress.
I am so sad.
Hi Maureen - what version of WP are you running? We can test the plugin on one of our development servers on the version you are running to make sure it works okay.
version 2.9.1
Hi Maureen - I just upgraded http://realestateinchicago.com/ to version 2.9.1 and the plugin works great. I updated the version in the Wordpress plugin directory too so you should no longer receive that error.
Hi Misty, I'm bookmarking this to check out later as I'm looking into setting up a WordPress blog/site. Thanks for the info.
I must have done something wrong. I have the widget showing up on my front page but nothing showing up on the page. Trying to figure out what I did wrong.
Hi Maureen - Is this the page you are trying to add it to http://www.columbusbestblog.com/homes-for-sale/?
If so try changing the Listing to {listing} and let me know if that doesn't work. I believe it is case sensitive too so try it with all lowercase.
It worked... you are wonderful!
little l did the trick.
thank you, thank you, thank you!
Misty..you are very patient and helpful in what you do! I have a stand alone blog with mostly Maine people and the place slant..not heavy real estate dosage but would like a smaller corner of the site to showcase real estate in a small, minimalistic way. Options to shink, a light version? I'm sure it is not just a case of changing the height and width of the source code like an image, video embed.
Hi Andrew - yes you can use this plugin on your meinmaine.com blog. The plugin allows you to control what cities you want available in your search so if wanted you can add only a few cities relevant to Maine. You can download the plugin from http://www.realshout.com/wordpress-real-estate-plugin.php. Let me know if you have any questions/problems after downloading.
thanks for the tip, Im going to check this out
This is exactly what I was looking for. I've been cruising through IDX options but free is better than 40 a month. I want to buy a template though. I found a few that are very professional and not that expensive.
Please let me know when it will be ready. Yes, I have 3.0 glad to know I am not losing my mind. So, at this point even if we paid the fee it wouldnt help. Can you tell me a timeline? Or does anyone have an idea how to downgrade WP?
We have been testing out changes today and are working on final updates. We are hoping to have the new release ready by end of week. This was not a simple change because WP 3.0 made a lot of changes, which affected a lot the features within the plugin. We will send an email announcement out when it is ready.
Hello Misty - I have a fully updated Wordpress platform. I also have two real estate sites on this platform. I've installed RealShoutSearch per the instructions, and have a shiny, new license key.
I still cannot get your plugin to work.
I have a button/link for "Real Estate Search" in the lower left of my Admin area. When I click on it, it takes me to the "Default Search" page, where I am only able to select a Custom Page. Nothing else appears. The "Search Real Estate" page indicates "set the License Key in your admin control panel", yet there is no place to do so.
We'd really like to use this plugin. It solves a number of issues for us. Plz provide some direction on how to get your plugin to function as described.
Thank you!
If you'd like to reach me directly, you can do so at mike@northernshores.net
Hello Mike, You can read step by step installation instructions from http://www.realshout.com/realshout-wordpress-plugin-readme.php
You can see it fully functional on http://realestateinchicago.com/search-real-estate/
If you still need help installing and setting up the plugin, we offer a paid support version from http://www.realshout.com/real-estate-plugin-download.php
Many have asked for examples of live sites running the plugin.
You can see many by searching Google http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q="Search+Created+By%3A+RealShout"
FYI.....
From this thread >> http://ow.ly/2vWak
RealShout posted the following:
"We have removed the WPMU from the 3.0 change log http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/realshout-real-estate-property-search/changelog/ due to complications with it on WPMU and to avoid to confusion."
WPMU and WP Multisite/Network is what the above is referring to.
I'm looking forward to your release of a version with a network option. And if it works, I will gladly provide an accurate review of its functionality.
Hi, if RealShout 3 installed and actived with either wpmu or wp 3 mutlisite enabled blogs, the completed 'Default Search' drop down menu will only appeared on the primary blog due to the database table was hard coded and created on the top of other blogs. If you are web owner, you could find the setting from the top primary blog, go to Dashboard->My Sites->[Primary Site]->Real Estate Search, however, the setting form 'save' function may be imcompletd either. Good Luck.
The plugin is not compatible with wpmu or mutlisite. It is only compatible with WP single site installs.
Absolutely loving this. Installed it on one client's site today (www.SonoranHomeLife.com) and intend to install it on 3 other real estate agent's sites that I manage. Thanks again!
Dan
Working for multisite yet?
Misty, I'm looking for a new solution to our company based website. I have several (4) WP sites I used for marketing. What I love the Chicago site mentioned above. Who do I get talk with?
Thank you so much for the information. I especially love that the RealShout plugin does not place listings in an iframe, allowing them to be indexed by search engines. Great Stuff!!!