RETS stands for real estate transaction standard and was designed to be a standardized format for real estate webmasters to utilize. Although it was designed to be a standard, many mls providers choose to map their data differently. This break in standards is what can make mapping certain fields very difficult and it can become a trial and error process determining what fields corespond to what data.

If you are using web based php or or asp powered software to import your real estate listings, you will need to make sure that your hosting provider will allow outbound connections. Most hosting companies block certain ports and restrict outbound access. If your rets software can’t connect, it can’t download listings.

Don’t forget most mls update on a daily basis, many 2 or 3 times a day. This can be very intense on your web hosting providers server. The recommended setup for hosting a website that imports real estate listings on a daily basis is a dedicated server or vps. Make sure you have at least 512 megabytes of memory and root access to the server.

Since most mls update this frequently it’s recommended that you set up a cron job to execute your php import script at certain intervals throughout the day. Once you map your own listings you will be own your way to having a totally automated website.

Most popular rets import software requires you to restart you web server and set up special settings, which just can’t be done on a bargain hosting account. Most bargain hosting accounts are shared hosting, which means your hosting is shared with other sites. Most of the time your hosting can be shared among 100′s of other sites.

Some of the most well known and popular software for importing mls listings is viele rets and transparent rets. Both will require serious knowledge of php to install and if you plan on acquiring your own server, you will need to know shell commands to set it up. Setting up a rets impoting website and server is not hard but does require some serious knowledge in php and database connections.

This article was written by Astonish SEO for more information on Real Estate SEO or Real Estate Web Design please visit http://www.mls-seo.com

Using a framework is a great way to learn php, as well. Frameworks include features such as modules that are pre-built to perform tedious coding tasks and can help you learn better coding practice. There are many to choose from. I will go over some of the most popular ones.

1. http://www.zoopframework.com ZooP – Zoop has been around for a long time and is a great choice for either beginner or advanced users. It’s biggest assets are that it is easy to learn and lightweight. ZooP allows you to easily use PEAR modules.

2. http://framework.zend.com/ Zend – This is a great choice if you are focusing on Web 2.0 types of applications. You can use APIs from Amazon, Google, Flickr and more. This framework has a massive following so you will be able to find plenty of help from the community.

3. http://www.seagullproject.org/ Seagull – Easy for any skill level. Great for beginners because there are a ton of pre-built apps that you can extend to suit your tastes or examine to see how they work. Experts love this framework because you can earn a cash reward if you offer an improvement to the code.

4. http://www.phpontrax.com/ PHP on TRAX – Based on Ruby on Rails. This framework has a strength in creating database-backed web apps which are based on the MVC structure. There are plenty of screencasts and demos available to help you get started.

5. http://www.horde.org/horde/ Horde – If you have been around for awhile you might recognize the name Horde from their fantastic webmail project. This framework was specifically designed to be localization-friendly.

6. http://www.phpfuse.net/ Fuse – This framework is based on CakePHP and Ruby on Rails. There are a bunch of features added to make this the most stable platform possible. Version 2.0 development is currently underway.

7. http://ez.no/ezcomponents eZ Components – A library of components geared toward specific tasks. If you have used ezPublish content management system then you may have seen some of the components in the library before.

8. http://www.cakephp.org/ CakePHP – A very popular framework that is easy for all levels of coders from beginner to expert. It has a strong focus on rapid deployment so it is a great way to save time.

9. http://www.agavi.org/ Agavi – Based on PHP 5 and forked off of the Mojavi project. Agavi’s primary focus is on building full fledged applications, though it can also be used as a web site construction kit.

10. http://www.akelos.org/ Akelos – Great framework to be used on simple web servers. Has a strong community. Akelos is a PHP port of the Ruby on Rails framework and is for building web applications.

That should get you started! If you have been wanting to code in php but just not sure where to start then your questions have been answered. These frameworks will give you a big jump in the direction of accomplished php coder.

With a more than 12 years of website & affiliate marketing experience, Dee Braun of AffiliateRugu.com teaches you how to build & maintain websites, generate traffic, basic SEO, & solid marketing. Increase your bottom line with our tips, tricks, tools, & tutorials at http://www.affiliaterugu.com/.