New features in this release include all new APIs that allow us to implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus, post types, and taxonomies. We also get the merging of MU and WordPress, which for me has always been crazy to be separate. I think the custom post types is the most important new feature as we are developing some sites that rely on this new feature. See below for video.

We must also remember that contributions to make this open source software possible come from around 218 people from many different countries). These are the folks that make WordPress the amazing kit it is and in the words of WordPress’s Matt Mullenburg “whose collaboration and hard work enable us to build something greater than the sum of our parts.”

The website uses all of Agentpoint’s latest WordPress plugins creating a super WordPress website which provides website users with an abundance of features and widgets. We’ve also implemented our enhanced Subscriptions Manager plugin which allows the client to automatically build their database through the website forms. Property and News alerts are then automatically sent to this database on a daily basis.

Our web designer was required to integrate third party advertising into the design making sure it was not to intrusive for website users.

This is an early beta. This means there are a few things we’re still finishing. We wanted to get people testing it this weekend, so we’re releasing it now rather than waiting another week until everything is finalized and polished. There’s a ton of stuff going on in 3.0, so this time we’re giving you a list of things to check out, so that we can make sure people are testing all the things that need it.

Can’t wait to look into it, especially given it is merging wp with wpmu through a super admin dashboard. This will make deploying real estate solutions for franchises with numerous offices a breeze to manage.

We’ve also included a WordPress plugin which allows their database to build automatically through the website and then keep this database informed through real estate, property and news alerts.

The widget displays a summary of sales statistics for the suburb the property is located in along with a flash enabled graph for median house and unit prices over the past 10 years. In the demographics tab you’ll find handy information regarding the demographics of that suburb.

This plugin will work on any WordPress website so contact Agentpoint or APM for further information.

The headline changes in this release are:

• A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.
• Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.
• Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.
• Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.

Can’t wait for wp 2.9 they are currently beta testing it so Agentpoint will get involved with that.

What does all of this mean? It will increase the size of your sitemap by around 500% because around 6 website pages are created for every current property and all future properties added to your website. The headline of the post is the headline of the property ad while the post description is the property ad description. At the top of each post we have the property type, listing type, type of sale and address of the property which are all keywords which property seekers are likely to search Google for.

Because everything is automated we are also generating automated tags which search engines love. The tags are specific to the property location and property type, lets take a look at this listing http://www.brealt.com.au/2009/08/acreage-lifestyle-close-to-cooroy/. We have:

363 Lake Macdonald , Cooroy, Qld
House For Sale – $780,000

The tags which are automatically generated are: Buy House Cooroy , House For Sale Cooroy , Real Estate Agent Cooroy , Real Estate Cooroy , Sell House Cooroy.

If the property was for lease, a different type (eg house) or in a different suburb the tags would be different. Each one of these tags creates a page in WordPress which is then included in the sitemap and sent to Google. This plugin is so powerful as the sitemap for this website http://www.brealt.com.au/sitemap.xml has gone from around 30 pages to over 600 pages in the matter of seconds. So 570 pages packed with property descriptions, headline, address and keywords property seekers can type into Google.

This is only possible due to features of the WordPress CMS system and how search engine friendly it is.

The LME is a plugin which draws property data from Zillow, Education, Flickr, Walk Score and Yelp allowing you to create a plethra of local suburb resources which makes searhing for property on your real estate website a pleasurable experience.

As soon as some of the larger online companies in Australia get into gear and develop an API which can be accessed we will be sure to develop the first Australian based plugin with similar functionality.