RealBird Blog

Create separate listing widgets for your rental and for-sale properties - the advanced method

Many of you are using RealBird for publishing both for-sale and rental properties and often times, the target audiences for the two types of listings are different. You can now create separate RealBird listing widgets for your rental and for-sale properties and embed them on separate pages on your website, or blog. You can also create distinct Facebook Page tabs for them.

We are still working on updating the member area so that you can easily select the desired property types for the widget on the user interface, but in the meantime, you can start using these targeted listing widgets from today. Just add the following to the end of your RealBird widget's link:

Add the following Url tag to the end of the link. It also works for the Board, Map and Gallery widgets.

&rb_type=

Values are dot separated and represent the numerical values of the RealBird featured listing types as follows:

1 - Single Family Residential

2 - Condominium

3 - Townhouse

4 - Multi Family

5 - Lots and Land

6 - Mobile Home

7 - Commercial

8 - Residential Rental

9 - Commercial Rental

10 - New Construction

100 - Other property type

So if you'd like to create a widget for Residential Rentals only, you would add &rb_type=8 to the end of any of your listing widgets. If you want to show Condos and Townhouses only excluding other property types, than you would add &rb_type=2.3 to the end of the link. Without this new parameter, the widgets will show all of your listings matching other criteria, just like before

This is an advanced method of using this new feature and may sound a bit overly complicated. We are going to release the updated code generator in the member area in the next few days, which will make generating these dedicated widgets as easy as clicking a few checkboxes.

Below is an example map showing residential rentals only, courtesy of Eric Slifkin

Powered by RealBird.com

 

As always, thanks for using RealBird and stay tuned for more upcoming features.

-- The RealBird Team 

 

Updated RealBird Property Card widget

The RealBird MiniSite and TinySite widgets have been used for years on thousands of real estate websites and blogs. We just released an update for these widgets, which we now call the RealBird Property Cards. This update is backward compatible: all the previously embedded widgets on your websites work seamlessly; no change is necessary. 

You can access the widget generator from within the RealBird member area, on the Listing Management page, just like before. Clicking the "Minisite widget" or "Tinysite widget" link, will bring up the new widget code generator. 

The listing on the example above is the courtesy of Experience Realty, div of Waterfront Professionals, Inc.

Using the widget generator utility, you can set the width and height of the iframe placeholder and also turn on and off the background theme, depending on your overall design goal when embedding these live widgets on your website. 

We hope you like the new, modern look of the updated RealBird Property Card widgets.

-- The RealBird Team

 

 

Updated Featured Listings Map inventory widget

One of the original RealBird listing inventory widgets, the Featured Listings Map is now updated. The new version provides many improvements, including:

1. Much, much better performance
2. Shows up to 200 of your recent listings published on RealBird (active, pending, sold or the combination of these)
3. Mobile-friendly and responsive: works the same on smartphones, tablets and desktop screens
4. Ability to configure it to use standard Google icons instead of default color coded house icons. This is important when you manage listing inventory, for which the house icons could be confusing, such as for rural farms or apartments in Manhattan
5. You can now set to cluster icons at high zoom level, which makes the map widget more user friendly and usable if you manage a large inventory

This update is backward compatible, all the existing, embedded maps on your website and blogs are automatically updated, no change is required. If you want to take advantage of the new configuration options (icon settings, clustering), you can easily generate new code in the RealBird Member Area (Member area > Listing Management > Widgets > Listing Map). 

Below are a few, live examples showing different configuration options.

Combination of active, pending, sold homes on the US Virgin Island listed by Lorine R Williams, with clustered and standard icon options

Sold listings in SoCal by Laura Baptista, no clustering and color coded house icons

For-rent and for-sale properties in Manhattan by Senad Pali, no clustering and standard icons

We hope you like this update.

-- The RealBird Team

New Property Slideshow Widget Launched

We just updated the RealBird single property slideshow widget: Instead of the legacy Flash player, the new version is now using HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript to automatically create a beautiful slideshow for your listings on RealBird. It is now compatible with Apple's iOS and with most modern smartphones and desktop browsers as well, including the old but still in use IE7. See a few examples below:

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

How to get yours:

The existing "Slideshow" link on the Listing Management page will bring up the new slideshow code generator. Similar to RealBird's Craigslist embed code generator, it lets you set some options and preview and generate the code for as many versions as you wish. For this particular RealBird widget, the width and the height are the customizable options currently.

We suggest to use the maximum width of 800px and maximum height of 600px and do not create smaller slideshow than 300/300 pixels. But again, you can preview your settings before you post your slideshow code on your sites, so go ahead, log into RealBird and generate the code which fits your requirements. Here is an example screen of the RealBird slideshow editor:

Here are few things to remember :

• Your slideshow widget is cached for 5 minutes for performance reasons. In other words, it may take up to 5 minutes for your changes in RealBird to appear on the slideshow.
• You can upload unlimited photos for your listings on RealBird, but the slideshow widget rotates the top 30 photos only - again, for performance reasons. 
• Works in most major browsers including the still in-use, but really old version of IE 7 and 8. The slideshow should work identically in the rest of the browsers as well including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, IE 9 and also on modern smartphones.

These slideshow widgets are automatically generated for your properties in RealBird. Just simply publish your listing as usual and the ever growing visualization goodies are instantly generated for you.

Enjoy !

-- The RealBird Team
http://www.realbird.com 

Facebook Profile listing widget, new ActiveRain and blog embed code and other feature updates

We had many feature releases in the last couple of weeks, plus many improvements of existing features. The article below summarizes the result of the last month R&D efforts here at RealBird. I organized the new and updated features by products, but note that some of the improvements are interconnected, hence providing additional benefits by channeling visitors from one of your RealBird services to the other.

But first thing first. Check out these examples of the just released embed code optimized for ActiveRain, Localism and your regular blog with SEO in mind. Just enter your listings in RealBird as usual and use the new link on the member management page called "Embed it in ActiveRain & blog post". You can configure the width and show or hide contact info and center or left align the widget.

New RealBird embed code examples

PGA NATIONAL GOLF ESTATE - Escape To Your Private Oasis

Overview Maps Photos Features Description Video Neighborhood Market Stats

$2,499,777 Single Family Home For Sale Main Features 7 Bedrooms 6 Bathrooms 1 Partial Bathroom Lot: 0.86 acre(s) Location 5 Rabbits Run Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418

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Nestor and Katerina Gasset International Properties and Investments, Inc (561) 753-0135 [email protected] http://www.wellington-luxury-homes.com Listed by: International Properties and Investments Inc.

Our recent listings Short Sale Historic Grand View Heights-West Palm Beach FL 33401 Short Sale Condo with Ocean-IntraCoastal and Pool Views! Short Sale -14289 Calypso Ln Wellington Florida 33414 Short Sale - 752 Lake Wellington Drive Wellington 33414 3419 Pony Run Wellington Florida 33467 Short Sale Subscribe to our listing feed

See more Palm Beach Gardens, FL real estate for sale

Unforgettable Views Olympia Waterfront

Overview Maps Photos Features Description About Olympia

$999,000 Single Family Home For Sale Main Features 4 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms Interior: 3551 sqft Lot: 0.64 acre(s) Location 7500 Sandy Point Beach Rd. NE Olympia, WA 98516

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Mike Conner City Realty, Inc. (360) 970-4408 [email protected] http://www.cityrealtyinc.com Listed by: City Realty, Inc.

Our recent listings Stylish New West Olympia Condo Unforgettable Views Olympia Waterfront Perfect West Olympia Starter Multi-Family Zoning Near Downtown Olympia Gorgeous Olympia Rambler Subscribe to our listing feed

See more Olympia, WA real estate for sale

Live Work TownHome in Market Common - Incredible Location and Price

Overview Maps Photos Description

$329,900 Townhouse For Sale Main Features 2 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms 2 Partial Bathrooms Interior: 2150 sqft Location Howard Avenue 2834-D Myrtle Beach, SC 29588

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MIRELA MONTE BUYERS' CHOICE REALTY (843) 251-2378 [email protected] http://www.MyrtleBeachHomes.US Listed by: Mirela Monte

Our recent listings Windy Hill Dunes Oceanfront Condo for Sale in N. Myrtle Beach SC Kenley Court - Apartments for Sale in Loris, SC Live Work TownHome in Market Common - Incredible Location and Price Adorable Home in Cherry Grove Beach The Best of Both Worlds: Ocean and Marsh Merger Subscribe to our listing feed

See more Myrtle Beach, SC real estate for sale

RealBird Listing Publisher - new features

• "Homes for Sale" tab widget for both your Facebook Profile and Facebook Page
• New ActiveRain and Localism optimized embed code with stunningly good looking slideshows (see examples above)
• New Photowall listing inventory widget
• Updated configuration tool for the Featured Listings Map widget with Google Earth 3D view and options to generate maps for your sold and pending inventory as well
• iPromote integration
• Your RealBird single property websites now link to your RealBird Property Search, providing more comparable properties for your visitors. All leads go to you.

RealBird Property Search - new features

• The search RSS now includes MediaRSS extension
  Photos are now attached to the RSS items with the industry standard machine readable MediaRSS extension, hence allows advanced reusability, e.g. tou can use it now to create slideshow and other media widgets using 3rd party services
• Mapped search results as default option
  PRO subscribers can now configure the service to show the mapped results by default.
• Advanced configuration options.

• Configure the service so that clicking on the property search result keeps the details page in the same iframe. The default behavior is to break out of the embedded frame into new window.
• Hiding header and footer for smooth integration.
• These are PRO options as well. Please contact us for instructions.

• Your featured listings are now promoted on your Property Search interface.
• Cross-market and showcase your own listings under a prominent "Featured Listings" tab. This is a PRO feature also.
• The RealBird widget for Facebook Pages and Facebook Profiles also links to your RealBird Property Search

New PRO subscription option - go monthly for only $11.95

Some of the new features are RealBird PRO only options, like the industry-first Facebook Profile and Facebook Page widget, MLS-compatible unbranded virtual tours, ad-free Property Search. To make your upgrade decision easier, we introduced a monthly payment option for only $11.95/month. You can upgrade instantly through the member area. Just log in and click the Upgrade link either on the member landing page or on the listing management page

If you like these new features, please consider upgrading to the PRO account in the RealBird member area. It's only $11.95 per month (equals only a few bucks or less per listing per month)

-- Zoltan 
RealBird.com