If you run a real estate website on WordPress, you are probably familiar with the bulk of plugins used for listing management, leads, and SEO. The right free real estate plugins granted by WordPress are a rarity. Therefore, you should never rely on them (after all, commission from just one sale can provide you with a customized site and reliable subscription-based services), but when needed, WordPress offers it.
Before we go into details, install the official WordPress Performance Lab plugin to improve the performance of your site. It’s a modular plugin with elements that will eventually integrate into the WordPress core, but for that to happen, you’ll have to install them:
- WebP Downloads: Converts JPEGs to WebP files (if supported by the server) which is the new image standard for the web, and is 26% smaller than PNG files.
- WebP support: To check if your server is serving WebP files and displays a warning when it doesn’t.
- Validate the static object cache: The object caching location health module stores the results of a database query for immediate display, without sending multiple requests to a database.
- Assets included in the checklist: It helps you speed up your site by limiting unnecessary CSS and JS resources.
Performance Lab is a must-have plugin for any website, but you can consider more plugins if you’re running a real estate website on WordPress.
Real Estate WordPress Plugins
Plugins extend or add functionality to your website; They are not mandatory and sometimes conflict with each other, causing site crashes and database errors. It would be helpful if you had a website developer who checks the process every time you want to install a new plugin.
- dsIDXpress adds SEO friendly MLS listings to your real estate website to convert visitors into leads. Features include unique, indexable listing pages, Google XML sitemaps, and optimized page titles.
- Estatik is an option if you want to create real estate websites for small real estate agencies and individual agents with a low inventory. It has a large number of free features and more with pro (paid).
- Realtyna Organic IDX + WPL Real Estate plugin is excellent for integrating MLS / IDX / RETS / VOW / XML / DDF servers into WPL – WordPress directly.
- Easy Property Listings is a rich real estate plugin that works with the Genesis framework, Headway, iThemes Builder and Avada. You can start with the free version and activate add-ons as your business grows. Plus, it has multiple agent details built in, so you can use it if you’re a single agent or an agency with more employees.
- WP VR – 360 Panorama and Virtual Tour Builder is the plugin you need to create virtual tours without breaking the bank. It features auto-rotate effects, scene fading animations, gyroscope support on mobile devices, etc.
- Draw Attention is a plugin that allows you to create interactive photo maps. An image map can contain more information such as images, text, short codes, gallery, video, audio, and more. Use it for floor plans, for example.
- Essential Real Estate allows you to do more than just manage real estate listings. Among its features, you will find flexible search, real estate comparison, featured and related listings, geolocation search, map directions, nearby places (attractions, landmarks, etc.), gallery, video, 360 virtual tour, call agent, and more. much.
Conclusion
All the plugins included have above average user ratings and can enhance the functionality of a real estate website. However, basic plugins include Performance Lab, WP VR – 360 Panorama, Virtual Tour Builder, and Draw Attention. If your theme doesn’t come with one, I recommend a Google Maps plugin. The WP Google Map Plugin works fine on most servers. Of course, you can choose to embed the map directly from Google on your site. Whatever you choose, remember that plugins are meant to improve websites for visitors as well as search engines. Use plugins that don’t drain your server resources, and make sure they are compatible with the WordPress theme you’re using.
