Successful real estate websites can be built in WordPress for one of 5 reasons.  While it’s true that for many years you either had to learn html (who wants to do that) or hire someone to build a website for you, things have changed dramatically.   Not that long ago when not as many people were familiar with html code, the cost of a custom website was out of reach to most new website owners.

The alternative was to use ready-to-use template websites where you just use an editor to change the text or add photos to customize your own website.  An example would be website providers like Intuit or in the world of real estate, Point 2.

The problem with template providers is that all of the websites come with a certain amount of content and images built it.  As great as that may sound, Google doesn’t like duplicate content and all of these websites are role models of duplicate content.  It’s not easy to rank a template site unless you know how to and can fully customize it to remove the content that is also on thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of other websites.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be another challenge with a template website.

Well now there is an alternative that is not only FREE and easy to learn and use, but these websites are also loved by Google and other search engines.

Successful real estate websites built in WordPress.

People still often think of WordPress as just another blogging platform, but that’s not true.  Countless “regular” websites are built using WordPress.

WordPress can be hosted on your own server so that you actually own and can manage your own content.  This is huge when comparing WordPress to a service like Blogger.  Blogger blogs are hosted (and owned) by Google.  So ultimately you have no control or ownership in the content posted.

So here are the top 5 reasons to build successful real estate websites in WordPress:

1. It’s Not Just a Blog- You can create a blog or use WordPress as a website.  The difference between a blog and a website is that blogs have “posts”. Posts are typically 300 words or more and appear on a site in the order in which they are posted.  A website is more like a static webpage.  You might update or change the information that appears, but for the most part it is one static page of content.  Here’s an example of a website built using WordPress, http://youronlineprofitsbootcamp.com.
2. It’s FREE and Open Source- There is the expense of hosting your website with providers such as Godaddy charging $7 or so per month, but there would be no additional cost if you were to build more websites.  They can all be hosted on the same server so the expense is not per website.  The great thing about WordPress being Open Source is that it means it is free for developers to use and constantly creating easy to use tools and features without a licensing fee.  WordPress is completely customizable and it is easy to find someone knowledgeable about WordPress to help you install or add any feature you would like.
3. Plugins Make Life Easier- Plugins extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine. There are tens of thousands of plugins for things like a Twitter widget, Google Analytics, Social networking sharing, Forms, Shopping Carts…you name it! A 60 second, two click installation of a plug-in can add more functionality to your WordPress website than you may have even imagined.
4. Themes- Make it easy and affordable to change the look or style of your website.  There are free and paid/premium WordPress themes that make it easy to try out different “looks”.  You don’t have to start all over from scratch if you don’t like the way your website looks.  You can simply install a different theme on your same website to change its appearance.  Very rarely do you even need a premium theme.  All of the free themes are fully customizable so you can still readily add your own graphics or images to a free theme to make it your own.
5. Google loves WordPress- Google is the most popular search engine in the world and millions of people use it every day.  If you are trying to make money online, the higher your website ranks on Google, the better it is for you.  The reason that Google loves WordPress as websites and blogs is because if you install WordPress with a good theme and plugins, you will have many things built in that do not come with a “regular” html website.  These items include but aren’t limited to: pinging (notification to search engines that new content has been published), user generated content (comments), an RSS feed, automatically SEO optimized titles, etc.

There is a learning curve with WordPress, much the same as if you’re learning to use a template type of provider to build a site, but the return on investment by learning to use WordPress to build a successful real estate website instead is immeasurable.   All you will need is a domain name which might cost you $12/year and a good web hosting account which may cost $7/month to have successful real estate websites built in WordPress.

To Your Online Profitability,