When Microsoft defers to a service like WordPress, Realtors should take notice

As many companies have discovered, you don’t want to mess with Microsoft. But when Microsoft throws in the towel and gives way to a competitor, then that competitor certainly has something major going on.

This was the case with WordPress. Real estate professionals would be wise to learn why WordPress is a great format for real estate websites.

In 2011, Microsoft had a blog platform as part of its Window Live Spaces. The service attracted as many as 27 million unique visitors in 2007.

Twenty-seven million? That’s quite a few eyeballs.

But for a number of reasons, Microsoft decided it did not want to be in the blogging or social media business anymore.

I can think of two – Facebook and WordPress.

In fact, in 2011 Microsoft partnered with WordPress and migrated all their blogs over to the WordPress platform.

That’s a powerful endorsement if there ever was one. Microsoft is no slouch – it’s market cap today is still in the $227 billion range.

There are 60 million WordPress.com sites in operation today.

The same technology that makes WordPress great for blogs can also be used to create fully-functioning  WordPress real estate websites.

WordPress websites that are perfect for attracting home buyers with large colorful photos, easy navigation and thousands of pre-set themes to choose from.

That’s the front end. Inside the back end, the administrative tools are even more fun for brokers and agents because it is extremely simple to use and more importantly, extremely simple to optimize.

A broker or agent can easily upload a blog, or an article, or a listing and then they can just as easily put in all the search engine goodies that will make that page better optimized for search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

That’s a function that was previously reserved for webmasters. Now you, as a professional real estate agent or broker, have that power and ability.

Guess what else is great? The price. You not only don’t need a webmaster, you don’t need to spend thousands upon thousands to build a website anymore.

So what are you waiting for? WordPress bumped off Microsoft for a reason. Do you still need a reason to check out WordPress?

To learn more about how  HJ Websites specializes in creating real estate websites using WordPress, click on the link.

Just like Microsoft, you will be amazed.