Back by popular demand:  The Walk Score heat map! (Example on Portland Real Estate Site)

That’s right, we’re bringing the Walk Score heat map back to the HomeQuest property search map.  Plus we’ve also added the Walk Score for every individual listing available in the search.  The property’s score is now listed on the listing detail page, with a link to the Walk Score page detailing all the interesting places within walking distance of the chosen property.  Your clients will love being able to see everything their potential new neighborhood has to offer.

Other New Features Added to the HomeQuest IDX:

Google Map Overlays – “Hybrid View” and “Physical View” Google map overlays are now available

Default Search Layer – You can now specify which map layer to set as your default

Forced Registration – Now added to all “non-map” listing pages

Expanded Widget Functionality – You can now use the HQ widgets in multiple locations on your site

Some Behind the Scenes Updates:

The HomeQuest WordPress Plugin is now optimized for better performance with the  Thesis theme.

Updates were made for better handling of Ajax and jQuery

Updates for better compatibility with WordPress 3.0

We hope you find these new features useful and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

*Note – Walk Score heat map overlay only displays in areas where Walk Score provides the data.

For the last couple years, blogging has been the answer of choice for most people. You can create blog content that is relevant to specific neighborhoods, specific businesses, events, etc. You’re accomplishing a couple things by blogging. You’re going to be doing the research needed to write a good solid blog post, which means you might actually learn a thing or two AND you’re creating content online for people to search in the future, find your website, browse your IDX listings, and potentially become a client. Blogging is a great way to TELL people that you’re familiar with the fun and interesting things that go on in the neighborhoods, but back to the question of how to SHOW them…

With HomeQuest, you CAN show that you’re the true neighborhood expert!

One of the functions of the HomeQuest WordPress IDX platform allows you to geocode (which is fancy talk for “place on the map”) your blog posts which then display on the map as special icons. As an example, in the image above, you can see the various blog posts that have been geocoded to show up in the neighborhood right alongside the current listings. By displaying your content this way, you’re visually showing potential clients that you’re actually out in the community alongside them, doing fun things, trying new restaurants, keeping track of the market stats, or whatever it is that you choose to blog about. Oh and don’t worry, the content is still showing up as a normal WordPress blog post as well.

So now, when someone is searching for homes in this neighborhood on your website, there should be no question that you are the TRUE neighborhood expert.

Click for a quick video of how to geocode your blog posts using the Homequest WordPress platform.

The sites that are hosted with HomeQuest already meet all of the requirements for the plugin, but sites hosted outside of our system might need a few changes here and there to support the plugin.

It is also important to note that mileage may vary and some themes and/or plugins will interfere with the HomeQuest IDX Plugin.

Permissions:

• The “cache” directory under the HQ_IDX plugin folder needs to be writeable.  This is important for the speed of the system.
• The scripts stored in the “utilities” folder in the HQ_IDX plugin must have their permissions set to 644

PHP.INI:

• The PHP version on the server must be v5.  PHP v4 is not supported.
• allow_url_include must be ON
• allow_url_fopen must be ON
• register_globals must be OFF

There’s no better way to support this activity than to build a killer landing page for the neighborhood you’ve chosen. This landing page can become a great resource for clients searching for neighborhood information online, and a perfect place to direct visitors to land with your supporting marketing materials if you choose to do so. Plus, there are several other benefits that come along with doing this that may not be apparent right from the beginning. By actually doing the research to build the landing page, you’ll get to know the neighborhood better. Depending on the type of information you choose to include on the page, you may also want to get out and meet members of the community (ie: restaurant and store owners) which can possibly lead to creating a working business relationship and in some cases, great friendships.

For the purposes of this post, we’ll be looking at an example page that we created which focuses on Portland’s “Alberta Arts District”. So, let’s dive into the 5 tips that you can use to create a killer landing page for the neighborhood you’re focusing on.

Tip #1 – Keep your eyes on the prize.
When creating a static page like this, there should always be a goal in mind for when the visitor hits this page. It’s probably safe to assume that in most cases, you want the visitor to eventually register in your IDX lead capture system. So, it’s good to always keep that in mind and basically sculpt your content around accomplishing that goal.

Tip #2 – Include relevant pictures and video.
Don’t just tell your visitors about all the cool things to do in your neighborhood, show them. Photo and video galleries are a great way to display the true look and feel of the neighborhood. Focus on things that visitors to the neighborhood may find interesting, odd, or unique. In our example page, we’ve used a couple WordPress plugins that allow us to include a photo gallery and a gallery of related videos. This avoids having to embed all the photos and videos separately, which can turn you page into lengthy display, that would most likely be very ineffective. This leads directly into the next tip…

Tip #3 – Keep it short and sweet.
A good neighborhood page should also contain info on schools, shopping, restaurants, and other fun things about the neighborhood. That means you’re going to have A TON of info to try to squeeze into this page. Not to mention fitting any photos and videos you want to include. You definitely don’t want visitors to have to scroll through all this info. So, how do you solve this problem? Well, we use another WordPress plugin called TabsSlides (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-tabs-slides/). This plugin allows you to create a set of tabs, each of which behaves almost like a whole new page with it’s own content. You can see this in action on the example page.

Tip #4 – Include some sort of lead capture device (preferably HomeQuest’s WordPress IDX plugin).
You’ll notice on our example page, that there are several ways we’ve done this. We’ve linked to the interactive map (which can include your neighborhood specific blog posts) using both a text link for SEO purposes and a graphic image. Once users are on the map and clicking around through the listings, they will be asked to register after viewing a certain number of listings (based on a number you choose). We’ve also included the neighborhood’s active listings at the bottom of the page, in list format. These listings are automatically updated so your page will always show the most recent listings available in that neighborhood.

Tip #5 – Link back to this page in future blog posts.
This is similar to tip #1 above but more for the overall strategy of your website. Using blog content to drive traffic back to your neighborhood pages can be a great strategy for converting visitors into leads, and eventually into clients. There are also some benefits in doing this when it comes to search engine optimization, but that could be a whole post in itself. We’ll save that for a later date. For now, just know that linking back to your content in this way is a good thing.

So, there you have the 5 tips that we think should help you create a great looking neighborhood landing page that actually performs well when it comes to converting traffic. If you have any other tips that have been working for you that you’d like to share, we’d love to hear them. Feel free to leave tips and ideas in the comments below.

Please note that if you have your site hosted with us you do not need to worry about these items.  We have already done them for you.

Caching:

The HomeQuest IDX uses caching to speed up its actions by storing several things from Google and HomeQuest on your local WordPress installation.  Inside of the HQ IDX plugin directory is a “cache” folder.  Make sure that the cache folder has write permissions.

Themes:

You can use almost any modern template with the HomeQuest IDX, but please be aware of the following to help you choose the best fitting theme.  The map takes up as much room as it can without forcing the user to scroll down.  This means that  if you have a tall header, your map will be pushed down and will be smaller.  This means that people using small laptops will not have too much room on their map to move around.    Use a template that does not have a huge header for the best results.  Your mileage may vary with different themes, but most modern themes will look great with the plugin.  We also have several Page Templates available to help with integration with your site.

Page Templates:

A Page Template makes a page look or act differently depending on the one that is used.  The standard WordPress template is used if you are just going to have a page of content.  However, the HomeQuest IDX map needs a special page template installed in order to let your site know not to include the widget sidebars.  This must be done because the IDX map should be fullscreen left to right to be useful and easy.  You don’t want a squished skinny little map that nobody can see or use.  The map_template.php file in the HQ IDX plugin directory can be copied to your current theme’s directory in order to add our HomeQuest Map Template to your WordPress system.

We know the importance of having an IDX and client management system that performs (SEO, lead capture, etc), but also recognize a big part of that is having a site that looks good.  We think these changes will help.  This new update should be out soon.  Enjoy!

View live examples: (Twitter – WordPress – YouTube)

We’re now offering custom design packages, perfect for keeping your branding consistent whether people are searching for properties on your WordPress site, reading your tweets on your Twitter page, or viewing your videos on your YouTube channel.  This package, starting at $1750, includes a custom designed WordPress site (examples here) which can house the HomeQuest IDX Property Search Plugin along with a matching skin for your Twitter page, and YouTube channel.

If you have questions, would like more information or you’re ready to schedule your design meeting, contact us:

HomeQuest Sales – 800-845-6056 – Sales@HomeQuestGroup.com

Save as many searches as you like. Come back to the site to view them anytime, or let the email updates come to you.

Saved Search from HQ on Vimeo.

This can be used for you to send listings to others, or your clients can use this to send listings to their friends.  It’s the easiest way for your clients to refer you to others.

Click to see the video below.

Get Link from HQ on Vimeo.

• WordPress 2.7 or higher  (there have been some issues reported with 3.2)
  
• PHP5 (currently only versions prior to 5.3)
  
• An active HomeQuest subscription

Please contact support@homequestgroup.com if you have any questions on the requirements for the WordPress IDX Plugin.