Changing current provider, should I go with another templated website or a templated wordpress site

[gemmoss]

Hey all,

I work with a real estate agent; I've maintained a point2 agent site for him for 10+ years.  We used to average about 3000 visitors a month (all organic), this year our rankings have slipped somewhat and we are down about 1/3.

Just this year there’s been a major change in that programmers can now access a listing feed from the national association. With this change we would like to move to another website provider that will program an IDX solution into a website. We would like a product that is: responsive, does not frame in the IDX, is seo friendly and relatively user friendly, and has a good support desk. Most importantly would one of these choices have a better chance to preserve our current ranking or (fingers crossed) improve on it.

I’m not going the custom route. I have looked at REW (real estate webmasters), Agent Evolution (word press based). Any advice on which may be the better of the two, or suggestions for other providers?

Appreciate the help

[WilliamCarr]

I don't have much knowledge on integrating the feeds, but this theme, by studiopress, is worth looking into: http://my.studiopress.com/themes/agentpress/

[gemmoss]

Thanks William. The provider for wordpress uses childs play.

[KaneJamison]

I don't consider myself an expert on IDX & listing integration, but I'd personally choose a Wordpress-based site with a reputable real estate agent theme. I'd choose Wordpress because it will be a lot easier to add additional content than most custom CMS options (and I'm biased towards Wordpress in general).

A couple I've heard of (can't vouch for any one in particular):

• https://placester.com/
• http://themes.agentevolution.com/
• http://www.wp-agent.com/
• http://www.premiumwp.com/the-best-real-estate-wordpress-themes/ seems to have a good list as well and updated recently.

Also, you could try Googling competitive markets (e.g. Chicago real estate agent, New York real estate agent, etc) and open up the top 10 results, and see which ones are based in Wordpress. If they're ranking in those SERPs, it's a good sign that the SEO aspects of the site are working just fine.