Real Estate Blog and Website Widgets: An Overview

By admin • January 25th, 2008

New!  Updated real estate widgets list below as of 3/9/2010. There are so many new tech terms to keep up with these days!  You may have heard the word “widget” being thrown around in a tech-oriented conversation, but does anyone really know what a widget is?  Economics made them famous, but a real estate widget?  I remember when I first heard blogs being discussed on headline news and thought to myself, wow we’ve hit the mainstream!  I jumped the gun a little, but we all take baby steps each and every day.  I find the only way to take a step forward is to learn little by little.  Before I embarked on creating this article, I did a Google search for “real estate widgets” and came up with very little of value.  Thus, I decided a great mission would be to tell you all what I know on this subject.  Probably not worthy of emeritus, but a foundation none-the-less.

In simple and general tech terms adding a widget (sometimes also referred to as a badge or snippet) to your website or blog is like inserting a window or a special box that can pull information from a third party resource (usually another website that is pushing data).  Once inserted, the data that is displayed in this “window” on your site manages itself and stays current.  I know, still confusing… let’s think about a specific example – a weather widget is a good one.  Some of you may have seen a small box displayed on a website showing the current weather for a certain local area.  That weather box is most likely pulling data from a third party website such as www.weather.com or the like.

How did they get it on to the website you ask?  Well every widget is represented by a piece of code – a set of instructions that tell it where to go find that data and keep it current while it’s living on your website or blog.  There are many different kinds of code (HTML, JavaScript, Flash, etc) that power widgets.  Honestly, unless you’re a programmer, you’ll probably never understand the code details (I don’t).  But that’s OK – most widgets are easily created by walking through a simple set of steps offered by the third party provider which allow you to easily make the widget code.  Once you create the widget code, your job as a computer programmer should really be done.  Unless you are a “do-it-yourselfer” when it comes to blogs and websites, all you really need to do is pass the widget code on to your techies and let them install it for you.

And, so… on to the real point of this article – real estate widgets.  If you think about the definition I gave you above, the idea of a real estate widget will start to take shape.  It’s simply a widget that might be beneficial for real estate technology use. Maybe to gain additional visibility for your listings, or to help generate leads, how about a mortgage calculator, or instant online communication.  I’m willing to bet there are hundreds, however I’d like to give you a list and explanation of a few that I think are useful (and most are free!).

Updated Real Estate Widget List (3/8/2010):

  1. Diverse Solutions dsIDXPress for WordPress (www.dsidxpress.com) – This nifty tool is actually a WordPress plugin, but if you can figure out how to get it installed (or have your blog provider install it) it provides some great real estate widgets – an MLS quick search,  a property search by coverage area, and a property listings widget by MLS data type (for instance foreclosures in a certain area).   This one is not free, but it’s easy to install and well worth the listings exposure.  Check it out!
  2. Altos Research Altos Charts (www.altosresearch.com) – Get live real estate market data on your sites!   Over 150 different market measures for each of the thousands of cities and zip codes across the country that they cover.  They offer a free version or a paid version with more extensive options.
  3. Zillow Widgets (www.zillow.com) – Wow, lots of tools here.  Everything from real estate statistics to new homes for sale to home value estimates.  If you are a fan of Zillow, they offer some great functionality.  These are FREE.
  4. Trulia Map Widget – (www.trulia.com) – Pin point your real estate listings on a Trulia map.  When users click on your listings on the TruliaMap widget, they go directly to the property on your own web site. Users can also watch a “slide show” of your properties on the map.  Nifty and FREE.
  5. Real Estate Technology Text Widget (www.realestatetechnologyonline.com) – This widget allows you to be contacted from your website or blog directly by text message.  Super Cool, FREE.
  6. Mortgage and Loan Calculator (www.mlcalc.com) – Nice UNBRANDED mortgage and loan calculator.  FREE.

Excellent Real Estate Widgets:

  1. VFlyer Listings Widget (www.vflyer.com) – VFlyer allows you to create single property web pages for your listings (up to five listings is free).  This handy service will also help you get additional visibility for those listings by submitting them to online real estate data engines such as Google Base, Trulia, Edgeio, Craig’s List and others.  VFlyer also conveniently allows you to create a featured listings widget for display on your blog or website.  There are several different gallery options to display listings.  This is a great tool – go check it out!
  2. Postlets listings widget (www.postlets.com) – Postlets is actually quite similar to VFlyer, it creates single property webpages and featured listings widgets that are very much like a classified and also distributes data to online real estate data engines.  Another great free basic service, just a little different format.  In fact, here’s a great comparison of the two: http://activerain.com/blogsview/22683/Postlets-com-vs-VFlyer
  3. Feedblitz RSS to Email (www.feedblitz.com) – if you have a blog, this is an incredible tool. It allows people to sign up to receive your blog posts by email instead of through RSS.  It allows you to use your blog as a direct marketing email news system to keep in touch with your existing sphere of influence.  Also free for basic service.  You can see this one in the top left navigation right on this page!
  4. Top Producer Market Snapshot (www.topproducer.com) – this one isn’t free (and actually I’m not sure of the cost), but it is a nice online lead generation tool.  It is basically a sign up form to get local real estate market conditions.  It offers a summary of what is for sale, what just sold and how fast properties are selling in your market.  It also requires viewers to give you name, email and phone to get the data. See an example: http://www.santaclaritarealestateblog.com (top righthand navigation)
  5. YouTube Video Gallery (www.youtube.com) – you may or may not be hip to the Youtube craze, but if you have videos on Youtube you also have the ability to create a video gallery widget.  The importance of online video is growing quickly so if you’re curious, go take a look.  See an example: http://blog.julesleni.com
  6. Custom widgets “borrowed” from your real estate website for placement on your real estate blog.  That’s right, you can make your own widgets.  One of my favorite things to do is to take an MLS “Quick Search” and add it directly to the navigation within your blog.  A blog helps you gain visibility, turning that visibility into leads is up to you – this is a great way to do that.  (not all of you have a quick search, but often times your IDX provider can make one for you!) See Example at: http://blog.homesmagazine.com (upper lefthand navigation)
  7. Picasa Web Albums (http://picasa.google.com) – Not only does this Google tool give you a place to store your property photos online, it also allows you to create cool photo slide shows that you can use on your blogs and websites to showcase those properties!  See an example: http://blog.prescottfinehomes.net (upper righthand navigation)
  8. Flickr Photo Badge (www.flickr.com) – similar to Picasa, Flickr gives you a space to store your photos online – you can also create fun photo “badges” for placement on your website or blog based on categories that you create within your photo album.  Flickr photos allow tagging and categorization that helps the pics get picked up in Google.  Another great free service.
  9. Meebo Instant Messaging (www.meebome.com) – Want to chat in real time with people directly from your blog or website?  Take a look at Meebo.
  10. Jaxtr Phone Link (www.jaxtr.com) – get a widget that links people directly to your phone while keeping your number private – again free!  So much for free time :)

This should keep you busy for awhile!  Hopefully, this article opens your eyes to the possibilities of the power gained from utilizing widgets.  There are so many to choose from out there – one piece of advise, try not to use too many.  Pick and choose the tools that are right for you so that you can gain the most out of your online marketing websites and blogs!  If anyone else out there knows of a great real estate widget, let the world know – please tell us in a comment!

Are you thinking about business blogging for real estate?  We can help, drop us a line!

Additional Resources

MyTechOpinion Updated Real Estate Widget List

HousingWidgets.com

Related Links

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