Is WordPress Power/Penetration in the Real Estate Industry Dwindling?
As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been thinking about WordPress a bit recently, having spent time re-launching Local Market Explorer and looking into agent review plugins.
I can’t help but notice the fact that the largest real estate technology player, Zillow, doesn’t seem to be aggressively pursuing WordPress development as a distribution strategy.
Sure, their agent websites are built on WordPress (see coverage here) and they still actively maintain dsIDXpress (last update 3 weeks ago).
That said, as an actual distribution platform for content — there doesn’t appear to be much. Other than dsIDXpress, a search for “zillow” on the WordPress plugin directory shows a bunch of out of date plugins (in several cases, last updated 6 years ago). See here for search results and here for tag results.
Is that because Zillow is now so large, they don’t need to invest in distributing their data at all (note they still have a number of widgets)? Is it because 3rd party developers deem there is no demand that would make it worth their while to develop plugins? Or, is there a deeper reason related to WordPress as a platform?
The core question:
Is WordPress losing steam in real estate?
Is your website on WordPress? If not, and you’re planning on launching a new website, is WordPress going to be your platform of choice? Would love your thoughts, particularly if you are a consultant/tech vendor who helps agents/brokers with websites.
Todd Carpenter
Posted at 22:02h, 05 JanuaryI’d imagine the lack of support for those widgets is mostly a reflection on their perceived value by brokerages. Which finally matches their actual value. Zero.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 22:40h, 05 JanuaryCertainly a valid argument to be made.
Sam DeBord
Posted at 08:45h, 06 JanuaryIt’s an interesting question. I hear less about WP lately, but maybe that’s because I’m not personally using it much anymore. I don’t know if Z’s experience translates to the rest of the industry. WP continues to improve, but as you point out, I don’t see much new real estate innovation in WP.
The RealSatisfied widget you highlighted was the newest thing I’ve seen in a while, and apparently they’ve had it available for some time.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 15:52h, 06 JanuaryWhat innovation is needed w/ wordpress? Anything? Perhaps some super super slick CRM/lead gen of some sort?
Sam DeBord
Posted at 12:31h, 07 JanuaryThat’s a good question. I’m not sure if a lead gen/CRM system would work on WP but I would be an interesting concept. I just haven’t seen a lot of idx changes lately.
Maine Home Connection
Posted at 13:23h, 08 JanuaryI totally agree with the comment that the value Zillow widget is pretty much nothing. That being said, the issue with WP is the sameness of it all. No matter how much you “customize” a real estate WP site……it basically looks like every other site.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 13:28h, 08 JanuaryI could make the argument that every real estate site looks like every other one — regardless of what platform it’s on.
Stephanie Crawford @AgentSteph
Posted at 22:01h, 12 JanuaryI love WordPress. Wouldn’t consider anything else. My domain is a decade old. It’s been on WP for the last 7. I’d love to see better integrations with my CRM – but that’s more of a job for my IDX company that WP.
walkities
Posted at 22:48h, 11 MarchHaving developed something for a handful of Realtors I don’t think I’d go back to anything but WordPress. As someone living in Canada I imagine it’s a different option but I used something to integrate the CREA’s DDF feed into these websites which then allowed me to index thousands of listings, a solid RETS IDX solution I couldn’t seem to find.
The customization of WordPress and this plugin are second to none and as a web designer/digitial marketer this allows me gain complete control as well as get the benefits from SEO.
Fortunately (for now) we don’t have the Zillow’s of the world to compete with in search.