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Show You’re a TRUE Neighborhood Expert – Geocode Your Blog Posts

Jeff — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:53:22 +0000

Over the years, you’ve probably heard several hundred times that “Real Estate is local” and how you need to become the “neighborhood expert” by proving your knowledge of the areas you’re choosing to work in. If you’re like me, you probably thought to yourself “how do I do that?”.

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.

New Listings on your IDX map

Tyler — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:57:46 +0000

Visitors to your IDX website can easily access the newest listings available using the “New Listings” button. The “New Listings” button is available when you have selected an area, but have not clicked into a neighborhood yet.

Viewing the Newest listings on your IDX map:

Step 1: Select an area by clicking on its text label on the map, or in the alphabetical list on the left.

Step 2: Click the “New Listings” button on the left hand side to see the homes that were most recently listed.

Step 3: The new listings are represented by green home icons. Click on an icon to load the details for this new listing.

How is my “Blog Posts” page different from my “Recent Posts” page

Tyler — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:14:16 +0000

HomeQuest IDX websites add some special capability to WordPress, most importantly the ability to geolocate the post onto your special maps, the Blog Post map and the Search Listings map. There are different ways that you can have your site setup in order for your clients to interact with your blog content. The pages listed below are all created about

“Blog Posts” Map: The Blog Posts map shows the map of your metro area with all of your geocoded blog posts. Note that this map does not show listings, and does not show blog posts without a location. In order for a blog post to display on this map, it must be geocoded. Click here to see how to geocode your posts.

“Search Listings” Map: This map contains BOTH the listings from the MLS, as well as any blog post that you have geocoded. This is the map that your clients will spend the most time on, and this map is the only location listings will appear. If you feel that having your geocoded blog posts appear both on the Search Listings map, and the Blog Posts map is redundant or confusing, you may hide the blog posts map. Click here to see how to hide a page on your site.

“Recent Posts” page: This page does not contain a map, and will display your blog posts in reverse chronological order just like a any other standard blog on the internet. This page displays all of your blog posts, including the posts that have not been geolocated. This is useful if you would like to just show off your blog content without a map interface.