The Buying Buddy plugin uses a few pages - called Foundation Pages - to deliver full functionality. Three of these are Utility Pages (required for basic operation), while additional Feature Pages enhance your website's capabilities.
What Are Foundation Pages?
Foundation Pages are the essential "utility" pages that the Buying Buddy plugin requires to operate correctly. These pages contain specific widgets that enable core functionality for your real estate website.
Utility Foundation Pages
These are required utility pages. Do not display in menus.
- Search Results Page - Contains the ListingResults widget (data-type="ListingResults").
- Property Details Page - Contains the SearchDetails widget (data-type="SearchDetails")
- Market Reports Page - Contains the MarketReport widget (data-type="MarketReport")
Feature Foundation Pages
- Communities Hub Page - Contains the Communities widget to display Community Groups and Community Pages
- Agent Index - Contains the Office Roster widget for WordPress
Why Foundation Pages Are Critical
Foundation Pages enable these essential functions:
- Display search results when visitors use any search form on your website
- Show property details when visitors click on property links
- Create unique URLs for every property on your website
- Generate working links in listing alerts and other automated emails sent to leads
- Enable social media sharing of individual properties
- Support all property-related emails with correctly formatted links
Important: Without Foundation Pages properly configured, searches may not work and email links won't display properties correctly.
How Foundation Pages Work
Search Results and Property Details
- A visitor uses a search form widget to search for properties, or clicks a search link in an email etc:
- The plugin navigates the visitor to the Search Results Foundation page and displays the results using the Results Widget
- A visitor clicks to view property details and this is displayed in a new tab, or clicks a link to view a property from an email
- The plugin navigates the visitor to the Property Details Foundation page and displays the property using the Property Details widget
- A visitor clicks to view a saved Market Report or they click to view the market report from an email
- The plugin navigates the visitor to the Market Reports Foundation page and displays the specified market report using the Market Report widget
- A visitor clicks to view a Community Group or a specific Community Page
- The plugin navigates the visitor to the Communities Hub Foundation page and displays the specified Community or Community Group page.
In all cases, the plugin uses the slug from your dashboard settings to find the correct page.
Example: How Property URLs Work
When you have a Property Details page with slug "listing-details":
https://yourwebsite.com/listing-details?property_id=demo_2023596&address=2223-Bluffside-Dr-Arvada-CO-80004
The plugin automatically creates unique URLs for every property using your Property Details Foundation Page slug as the base.
Setting Up Foundation Pages
To properly set up Foundation Pages:
- Create each page on your website
- Add the required widget to each page:
- Search Results page needs the ListingsResults widget
- Property Details page needs the SearchDetails widget
- Market Reports page needs the MarketReports widget
- Community Hub Page page needs the Communities widget
- About Page page needs the OfficeRoster widget (WordPress only)
- Note the page slug for each page (the URL-friendly version of the page name)
- Enter the slugs in your Buying Buddy dashboard under
Tip: The page slugs in your website must exactly match the slugs entered in your Buying Buddy dashboard for the system to work correctly.
Summary
Foundation Pages are the backbone of your Buying Buddy-powered website. These pages ensure that:
- Visitors can search and view properties
- Every property has a unique, shareable URL
- Email alerts contain working links
- The plugin functions correctly across all platforms
Along with the Utility Foundation Pages, the optional Feature Foundation Pages provide additional functionality to enhance your real estate website. Take time to set up these essential plugin pages correctly for a fully functional website.