I just started working on a new website for Wally Drake a real estate agent located in Riverside, CA that specializes in short sales. If you are in need of an real estate agent for short sales, please contact Wally.

We are using a pre-existing WordPress theme (the free version of the WhiteHouse theme by PageLines). The client is just starting to add content, and I will be creating a logo for his business as well as further customizing of the theme.  While I love doing custom designs at times it isn’t practical based on a client’s budget.

I will be doing the initial SEO for the website.

The redesign of J Town Properties website was launched earlier today.

This real estate website uses WordPress with custom page templates and the MLS IDX solution from Diverse Solutions.

The vast majority of my work is creating custom WordPress themes for others based upon the design they have created for their client.  They then send me the Photoshop or Fireworks file(s) and then I create the theme with the functionality they need.  None of these themes are meant or intended for more than a one time usage.

I also customize existing WordPress themes as some designers/developers just don’t have time to learn WordPress, but need something done and it’s not a problem.

However, if you would like a custom WordPress theme that will be reused and modified repeatedly for your clients these are the guidelines.

WordPress Theme Development Guidelines

1. No third-party is allowed to modify the theme and use it or place the designs in their portfolio.
2. If you will be using a third-party then I will price it accordingly for my loss of income with an additional license fee required for each website.
3. I always retain the copyright unless I specifically release it in writing.  If you want the copyright to the design (not the code) then it will be priced accordingly for the loss in income.  Or I will require a licensing fee for each website that it is used on.  The license fee will depend upon the industry the theme is used for.
4. I am not restrained from creating additional themes or working with clients in any specific industry as this is what I do for a living.  If you insist it will cost you big bucks.  I go for nothing less than $250,000.00.  Besides that’s a major non-compete no-no and I have never been your employee nor will I be.
5. You may modify the code, but you do not own the copyright to it, and I reserve the right to reuse it for other clients in the same or other industries.  Your theme is likely to be using code that I have used previously for another client or under subcontract to another designer or developer.
6. It is not your intellectual property.

If you don’t like my guidelines there are hundreds of WordPress themes out there as well as WordPress theme developers.

I created the following WordPress theme for a commercial real estate service approximately 18 months ago.  It is not available for download or purchase.

Commercial real estate (CRE) firms like residential real estate firms typically have a brand that immediately provides name recognition, e.g., Coldwell Banker, Keller Williams, and RE/MAX for residential real estate, with Colliers, CB Richard Ellis, and Grubb & Ellis for commercial real estate.

There are a great many WordPress themes out there that could be used for commercial or residential real estate websites along with one of the WordPress real estate plug-ins or direct link to a MLS service typically using an iframe to embed listings.  Another option would be to create custom templates to display information in a variety of ways especially for in-house listings or for small real estate agencies that might not be a member of a MLS, or a way for an agent to highlight his or her listings.

I am currently working on a custom design for an real estate agent in Florida (residential) that uses Diverse Solutions to pull in listings from the Florida MLS service.

I’d love to create a custom design and theme for you. Click here to get started.

Custom Design and Custom WordPress Theme, Highly Customized Templates, Custom Menu

Additional Commercial Design (sorry no demo)

Additional Real Estate Related Posts

• Real Estate Website Design
• Real Estate Website Converted to WordPress

It happens.   And I hope to never have to do it again.  The bad ones make you really appreciate the good clients.

My first client was let go after one of those I need it done or something done by X date.  So you work on fixing the small (make that tiny)  list of items he sent…then you get an email from him stating he never approved the go ahead of work when you send the invoice.  My response was to tell him that working together would not be a good fit.  He still wanted me to work with him, but I said no.

The former client then attempted to work with another web developer that I know.  Couldn’t/wouldn’t sign a contract or send a deposit.  So that client/developer relationship never progressed.

I ended another client relationship yesterday.  I have no problem working with clients that have a very tiny/small budget, and they understand  they are not going to have a  $7,000 website for $500. But when they expect a $7,000 site for $500 and then can’t understand why not….oh heck no!  I was not going to work on their project.

Red flags that I should have paid attention to and ended the work relationship with them a lot sooner, or just said no in the beginning.

• They were working with a previous developer and there was just a tiny list of tweaks to do when they fired the developer. I’m thinking they were actually fired by the developer.
• They complained about their ex-wife, and referred to a colleague as stupid.
• They want to meet so they can see on your laptop what you’ve done.  You tell them again that the work that has been done (site architecture aka the links/pages with the appropriate content and images have already been added) can be seen via the link they were sent earlier, and you advise them that you can’t go any further until you get design approval.  A week later still no approval, and they keep asking about progress.

Valerie Sheppeard-Hankins of Coral Beach Realty USVI came to me to move her website to a new host as well as setup it up on a platform that would allow her to maintain it.  As time was limited a redesign was not done.

A custom write panel was created in order to provide detailed information about a property that displays the property’s details.  Each real estate listing can be assigned to multiple categories, e.g., Featured Listing, Subdivision/Estate, type of property.

For the “Hot Description” conditional statements are used so a different design can highlight the property (Just Reduced, Just Listed, and Back on the Market).

Custom WordPress Theme, Custom Write Panels and Coding Using Conditional Statements

I recently had the pleasure of converting 3 existing websites to WordPress. All either used a different content management system or platform.

Visit Eat at Cane Bay

Eat at Cane Bay is located on the north shore of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands.

Visit Villa Marco Polo

The Villa Marco Polo is a drop-dead gorgeous Bed and Breakfast located in Victoria, British Columbia.

Visit RMD Architect

RMD Architect is an architectural firm located in the US Virgin Islands.

WordPress Themes with E-commerce Built-In

Found another WordPress theme with e-commerce built right in.

ShopperPress http://www.shopperpress.com/ There is a special going on.  You can purchase the plug-in for $79 ($199).  And you can use it on unlimited websites.  That’s a big plus.  And yes, I purchased it.

Plug-ins

Veracart  The plug-in is free.  However, there is a monthly fee associated with the cart.  See http://www.veracart.com/pricing_business.html

I love WordPress.  Now I’m going to say this once since nothing irritates me more than a developer asking what they should use without supplying any information as to what the client needs (e.g., wish list, multiple product images, etc.), or may want in the future. The software (plug-in or application) needs to meet the client’s requirements, and you may very well have to use a non-WordPress solution, and that is perfectly okay.

WordPress Plug-ins

Shopp http://shopplugin.net/ ($55) I’ve used this one on a couple of sites. So far so good.

eShop http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/eshop/

Simple PayPal Shopping Cart (free) and WordPress eStore ($39.95)  I’ve used both and am very pleased with both. You can also use it with NextGen Gallery plugin by Alex Rabe.

YAK http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/yak-for-wordpress/

ArtPal http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/artpal/ Great for one-of-a-kind products.

WordPress Shopping Cart http://tribulant.com/ ($49.99)

Ecwid http://www.ecwid.com/

PHPPurchase http://www.phpurchase.com/ (starts at $49)

CF Shopping Cart http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cf-shopping-cart/

DPD-Cart http://www.inspiredm.com/2009/10/07/how-to-start-selling-downloads-from-your-wordpress-blog-in-5-minutes/ The plugin is free, but you will need an account with Digital Products Delivery.  Pricing starts at $5 a month.

WP e-commerce http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce/ Personally I cannot recommend it. I’ve heard of too many reports of the shop no longer working after an upgrade, and I have personally experienced it. Furthermore I had purchased Gold Files and they were no longer recognized and my account didn’t recognize them either.

WordPress E-commerce Themes

The following themes incorporate e-commerce right into them.

The Jewelry Shop http://themeforest.net/item/the-jewelry-shop-wordpress-ecommerce/102478

The Furniture Store http://themeforest.net/item/the-furniture-store-wordpress-ecommerce-shop/94982

The Clothes Shop http://themeforest.net/item/the-clothes-shop-wordpress-ecommerce/64132

I have purchased all 3 of the above themes and have used 2 of them on client’s websites, and the documentation is great.

Note: Read the documentation.

Market Theme http://www.markettheme.com/

Store http://templatic.com/demo/store/

Non-WordPress

Seriously there are times where there isn’t a plug-in or a theme that provides the extended features that your client may need so you have to select a non-WordPress e-commerce solution.

And “free” isn’t always and should never be the basis for selecting a shopping cart. Quite often that free cart has to be beaten into submission and the time required to do it will quite frankly exceed the cost of using a shopping cart that requires purchasing.

Ecommerce Templates http://www.ecommercetemplates.com My personal favorite and I’ve used it with at least a couple of WordPress sites. Wonderfully easy to work in any design. To use it with WordPress you just need to include the wp_blog_header.php file at the very top of the files.

PrestaShop http://www.prestashop.com/ I’d really like to try this one out as it has lots of features http://www.prestashop.com/en/features.

Well I have to cross PrestaShop off my list. I tried installing it and it refuses to go past Step 3 and after searching the forums it’s a major issue.

ZenCart http://www.zen-cart.com As far as I’m concerned there’s nothing Zen like about Zen Cart. I just hate it.

CubeCart http://cubecart.com/ (From free to $180.00, plus additional fees for copyright removal.)

OptionCart http://optioncart.com/ Works with Mals-e (http://www.mals-e.com)  I’ve used the SiteBuilder version (you have to purchase it from a reseller, and I am one)  I’ve used it on sites and like it.  Very easy to theme for.

Mals-e http://www.mals-e.com Great for a limited number of items by itself. Create the buttons and just plunk the code using HTML view in the WordPress post or Page. There is a free version (manually process the card or PayPal Standard) and a paid (multiple payment processors). To manually process a card you log in to a secure area and retrieve the credit card information.

E-junkie http://www.e-junkie.com/ or FatFreeCart http://www.fatfreecart.com/

Magento http://www.magentocommerce.com/ Comes in three versions. Community which is free, Professional (starts at $2,995 USD/each year) and Enterprise (starts at $12,990 USD/each year) version.

Product Cart http://www.earlyimpact.com/ Great for a store that requires product customization at a reasonable price.  There are others.  However, they are very expensive.

PayLoadz https://www.payloadz.com Good for digital downloads.

I belong to several website design and development groups.  Recently there was a discussion on what a client/customer would look for, what they want to see, including what annoys them when shopping online.

My personal pet peeves are:

• Having to create an account before I even purchase anything or add to a cart. I will go elsewhere.
• They don’t realize that the US Virgin Islands uses the USPS.
• Having to contact the business to see if they ship here.
• Shipping being calculated as a foreign or international destination.
• I have to call you in order to purchase.  Guess what! I’m not going to call you.

Comments from members:

“I want to be able to find what I’m looking for quickly from the home page. I don’t want any song and dance about the wonderful company or cute names to decipher. I want a clear taxonomy of the products on offer so I can get right to evaluating the product.

I want complete information about whatever it is, and exactly what I want to know may not be the same as what someone else wants to know. I want to know how big it is, what it weighs, is it a legacy product or brand new, what it’s compatible with. What chipset does it use, how much power does it draw. Feel free to make this a second “full specifications” page or popup, but make sure it’s there.

And don’t ever make me guess how much it costs. If I want to become a dealer, getting wholesale prices can wait, and maybe I want to join an affiliate program or maybe not. In the meantime, tell me what it costs to get one in my hands.

I don’t want a bunch of crap about the vendor on the home page, but I do want to know who I’m dealing with. It shouldn’t be hard to learn where the business is, how long they’ve been around, and what business they’re in. If the site is about breath mints, I want to know if the company behind it is mostly in candy or mostly in health care products or just somebody that had a good recipe from grandma and is now selling it for the first time out of their home.

If there’s an interesting story to the business or the proprietor(s), I probably want to hear it. I don’t want it in my face, but I may be starting a relationship with this enterprise, and being able to “personalize” it in my mind is important.

People are different, and how they approach buying things are very different. The site design needs to give everybody what they need to know without blocking anyone else from learning what they need.”

— Van

“I buy almost everything online. I get irritated when I can’t choose the number of products displayed (like 12, 24, 48 or 1000) because I’m on dialup and a smaller number is more likely to download. I can do this easily on Land’s End, but not at all on Jessica London.

I want direct navigation; if I click on toasters, I want to see a bunch of toasters; not toasty socks or a bed warmer.I want to be able to refine my search. After arriving in “womens” I want to see just sweaters, not bathing suits, pants, shoes or overcoats. Make it easy for me to do this. Also, one click should take me to the merchandise I want to see, not to featured products or a general department the merchandise might be found in.

I want an easy way to contact you if something goes wrong; I want to know when things are shipped, confirmation that the order was received, and if anything is being backordered. I want to know when the money will be charged to my account. I want to know your website is vendor safe; verified and that every hacker in the world is not privy to my information. In addition to a picture of the merchandise, I want the dimensions somewhere in the copy. I don’t want to spend $50 on a set of “porcelain” cups & saucers at Target plus $10 shipping only to find out that the copy writer doesn’t know the difference between stoneware and porcelain (they refunded my shipping costs, but I wouldn’t have bought them at all had I known the truth).

I love the ability to read other customer’s comments who have already bought the item I am considering. Sometimes the unanswered question preventing me from making a purchase is answered in a previous customer comment; so that’s valuable.

I don’t want “controlled forms” that I have to fill in to complete the transaction. Land’s End has added a slider bar to their review form, one end says “fits small” the other end says “fits big” and the center, where the slider sits prior to entering anything, says fits perfectly. The form will not be accepted until you move the slider, even if it fits perfectly. Dumb. Makes me not want to try a second time. Or the form that asks for my phone number, but kicks back the form because I let autofill put that in. I have to retype my phone number (exactly the same numbers) in order for the order process to continue. Waste of my time.

Having a promotion code makes me spend more, shop more often and buy things I might not otherwise buy. I can find them at coupon sites,but I prefer to receive them from the vendor as a reward because I am a valued customer. Free shipping is a clincher every time–makes me go back and make sure I haven’t missed something.”

— SDK

“I want to know right up front if they don’t ship to my country. What currency is being quoted?

As for pictures of the product – I want them. Maybe several pictures for a complex or expensive product, and give me thumbnails for sure but give me a decent size large picture so I can really see what the thing looks like. I loathe those sites that give a link to a ‘larger version’ of the image but it’s still just teeny tiny.

I think there’s no such thing as too much information about a product, even if you hide some of that info to start with.”

— Miraz

I want complete information about the product. I also want to be able to calculate shipping to my location before I start the checkout process.

— Judy

Additional Resources
How To Engage Customers In Your E-Commerce Website
Getting Started With E-Commerce: Your Options When Selling Online
Handy Tools and Tips for E-Commerce Websites
35 Beautiful E-Commerce Websites – A great starting point to show your website designer or developer what style you are interested in, how you want the products to display, etc.
5 Universal Principles For Successful eCommerce-Sites
Principles Of Effective Search In E-Commerce Design

For more articles on e-commerce visit the blog section on e-commerce.