Brandon - I am positive that you can make much more out of a blog / site on your own personal domain. For a business, $10 a year domain and $6 a month for hosting should really not be the reason for not having your own personal site, plus the flexibility of your own site is incomparable to wordpress.com or other instant blog sites.

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Best Regards,
Sean
Eating WordPress for breakfast

Get wordpress professionally customized for realtors on your own webhost for FREE! | Got wordpress realated questions , submit them on twitter @wpreality

Hi-

I am new here and I am working with WP for a realtor friend.

I am using a specialized software which is basically design software for WordPress. I didn't see it mentioned in this thread, so I thought it might be a helpful resource for y'all.

http://rapidnichewebsites.com/

This is NOT an affiliate link of any kind. ;-)

The software was originally developed for a different online niche but would be very effective for the Real Estate niche.

Jeff, the developer, is in the process of rethinking how how he handles licensing, if you want to use it for clients.

At the moment, you can only use it for your own sites, but you can use it on an unlimited number.

There IS a learning curve, but it is not too bad.

I would be happy to answer any questions about my experience with it, on or offlist.

I am looking forward to spending time here on the great forum. ;-)

Tink

I use wordpress for my real estate blog and have begun using it to create mini sites for various communities such as Portland Maine Home . I have nothing but good things to say about the software and strongly recommend using the SEO plugin to help in optimizing. I would be very interested in hearing about any plugins that greatly help real estate professionals though?

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John Herrigel
Green Tree Realty
207-650-5383
Southern Maine Real Estate - Portland ME Real Estate - Coastal Maine Real Estate
An Exclusive Buyers Agent for Southern Maine

Hi John - I had been hearing that

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/...-one-seo-pack/

may have been starting to have problems with recent WP versions.

http://techblissonline.com/platinum-seo-pack/

May be a good alternative.

I haven't worked much with either one since RapidNicheWebsites comes with its own set of SEO options.

Tink

TinkBD,

There is no problem with all-in-one-seo-pack even with wordpress 2.7 candidate 1 which I am also using along with 2.6.5 official.

I don't know where you get your info from, no offence.. but it seems to me that you are here for the prowl .....

__________________
Best Regards,
Sean
Eating WordPress for breakfast

Get wordpress professionally customized for realtors on your own webhost for FREE! | Got wordpress realated questions , submit them on twitter @wpreality

Hi Sean - Thank you for the clarification on the all-in-one-seo-pack. I'll check back in my notes and see where I got the idea... I had been researching WP for a project. Obviously, I was remiss in posting without rechecking!

*Edited to add - Apparently, there has been a transition with support and maintenance for the plugin changing hands:

http://wp.uberdose.com/2007/03/24/all-in-one-seo-pack/

Obviously, I remembered/interpreted what I read incorrectly and inaccurately. Clearly, *NOT a good thing*, to quote Martha S., on my part!

End edit*

I also apologize if I seem to be *on the prowl* That is not the case at all. I appreciate all of the useful information here and will certainly be more careful about how I present myself here.

Again, thank you for the clarification regarding your experience with the all-in-one-seo-pack

As I mentioned, I have been using a different solution...

Tink

I was checking out PremiumThemes dot net today and I think they might actually have some pretty good options to combine a blog theme with some good interior pages and search capability. You pay about $30 for a theme and your off and running.

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Jerry Campbell, CRS, GRI
The Muljat Group
Bellingham, WA 98225
Professional REALTOR for 16 years
BA WWU Management of Information Systems
Bellingham Real Estate | Bellingham Homes For Sale | Whatcom County Real Estate

Tink you have any example sites you have set up using this software?

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Michael Trinchitella
Associate Real Estate Broker
e-PRO certified Internet Expert
RE/Max Classic Realty - Yorktown Heights, NY
Putnam & Westchester County NY Real Estate

Mahopac NY Real Estate | Northern Westchester County Condos | Heritage Hills Somers NY