Website Wizardry: 7 Secrets to Keep Clients and Prospects Hooked and Coming Back for More
In today's bustling digital landscape, a captivating website is not just a luxury — it's a necessity. Whether you are an agent, broker, or team, your website is the first point of contact for potential clients and prospects, it serves as the digital storefront for your business, and is crucial to your success. But in a world where attention spans are fleeting, how do you ensure that visitors not only visit your website but stay and, ultimately, keep coming back for more? Along with the challenges of keeping visitors' attention, many real estate professionals become frustrated with their website if it provides little to no lead capture or engagement. The solutions to these problems lie in the art of "Website Wizardry" — the magical formula that transforms casual visitors into loyal clients and offers an abundance of lead capture opportunities. Here are seven secrets to mastering this digital sorcery that will act as an impactful checklist of elements that your website should include to increase brand awareness, provide better information and a better experience for your visitors, capture more leads, and keep prospects hooked and coming back for more. Tip #1: Incorporate IDX for a Mystical User Experience Whether you are a new real estate professional or have been growing your business for years, you've likely heard the term IDX. IDX (Internet Data Exchange) is what your website needs if you want to allow your website visitors to search for MLS properties on your website. Hint: YOU DO WANT THIS! Without IDX, your visitors will likely leave your site pretty quickly to spend their time searching for properties on other sites such as Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com, or even another agent's website that does have IDX functionality. Incorporating IDX into your website is an easy and seamless way to offer more value to your prospects and clients. Explore more benefits of incorporating IDX into your website here. Tip #2: Work with the Pros to Create a Spellbinding Design The visual allure of your website is the first enchantment visitors encounter. A clean, intuitive layout with eye-catching visuals draws them in like a magnet. Invest in a professional design that reflects your brand's personality and values. Aesthetics are not just about beauty; they are about creating an experience that resonates with your audience. Along with the aesthetic benefits of working with a pro, there are a few steps to properly incorporating IDX into your website that they can help with. IDX feeds are tied to rules and regulations overseen by your MLS and can be slightly challenging to navigate. A strong website developer can help ensure all IDX regulations are followed along with other website requirements so that you deliver a compliant and engaging website experience. Tip #3: Deliver Consistent, SEO-Driven Content Content is the potion that fuels engagement. Craft compelling, relevant content that speaks directly to your audience's needs. Whether it's spellbinding blog posts, captivating videos, or enchanting infographics, each piece should add value and keep visitors coming back for more. A static website won't rank well in the search engines, so it's important that you update your website regularly with fresh content that is rich in keywords. A great idea is to have a built-in blog that features listing updates (pulled automatically from your IDX feed), relevant lifestyle content, and hyper-local information that speaks to the needs of home buyers and sellers in your local area. Tip #4: Enchanting Engagement and Social Strategy Syndicate all of the great content you post to your website across all of your social channels. The average American spends over two hours per day on social media, so you need to make sure your content is easily visible to them when they are scrolling their social feeds. Linking your website and social media together makes it even easier for prospective clients to find you on whatever online platform they may be using and, vice versa, make sure that the content you post on social media is linked back to your website. This is a winning strategy because it keeps prospects and clients engaged with you consistently. Tip #5: Build in Lead Capture with Secret Passageways (CTAs – Calls-to-Action) Guide your visitors along the path of conversion with strategic calls-to-action. These magical buttons and links should be strategically placed throughout your website, inviting visitors to take the next step — whether it's subscribing to your newsletter, scheduling a meeting with you, or inquiring about a property. Additional things to consider having on your website to allow for more intentional lead capture are calculators, value-driven downloads, or other helpful resources. Tip #6: Make It Easy and Personable Ensure your website loads at lightning speed to prevent visitors from vanishing into thin air. Optimize images, leverage caching, and invest in reliable hosting to keep the magic flowing smoothly. Visitors should be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Statistically, the average person spends less than a minute searching a site, so the initial moments a visitor experiences your site are extremely crucial. Keep your homepage simple with the most relevant information for home buyers and sellers easily accessible. Back to tip #2: this is another reason why having IDX is so important – it offers your site visitors a quick and effective way to find the property information they need. Tip #7: Make Your Personality and Brand Shine Humans are social creatures, seeking validation and connection. Showcase testimonials and reviews to demonstrate your credibility and to build trust. Foster a sense of community through social media integration, forums, or user-generated content, where visitors can engage with each other and your brand. People want to work with those they know, like, and trust and your website offers the initial opportunity to create this connection. Make sure your website reflects your personality and showcases your strengths, specialties, and expertise to establish credibility and build rapport. Website Wizardry: 7 Secrets to Keep Clients and Prospects Hooked and Coming Back for More In the realm of Website Wizardry, these seven secrets hold the key to captivating your audience and weaving a spell of loyalty. The magic lies in the meticulous crafting of every detail. By infusing your website with these seven secrets, you'll create an irresistible allure that keeps clients and prospects hooked, eagerly returning for more. To view the original article, visit the IDX Broker blog.

Microblogging on Real Estate Websites
If you Google "homes for sale" in any mainstream city, chances are high the top 10 search results page will return Zillow, Realtor.com, Movoto, Redfin, or a national real estate franchise. Unless you have had a dynamic website domain for 15 to 20 years, it's highly unlikely your website will pop onto the top 10 search page unless you have a large paid advertising budget with Google Ads. So, how can you compete with the larger competition and get in front of new leads? Beyond creating community pages with saved links and creating posts and videos about your listing ahead of MLS syndication, you can promote your brand and establish expertise and credibility as a real estate professional by publishing content on your website in the form of a blog—specifically a micro blog that highlights and showcases the benefits of buying a home and living in a specific neighborhood or community. An effective and affordable long-term strategy for your real estate business, micro blog posts should dig deeper into the reasons why a certain community or neighborhood is attractive. Is crime low? Are schools receiving high report cards? Are homes close to lakes, parks, rivers, restaurants, businesses, golf courses, etc.? Embedding Useful Content Consider homes in Nashua, NH that share a property line with the Sky Meadow Country Club. In addition to feature photos and key details, the listing agent embedded a YouTube video originally published by the Country Club with aerial drone views of the golf course into a micro blog post highlighting the benefits of living so close to the putting greens. Below the text and the video is a center point map and IDX widget with links to the individual properties. The combination of highlighting benefits, embedding maps and videos, and linking directly to featured properties is a great way to make your page more search engine friendly. Another way to keep a site fresh with current and relevant content is to embed an RSS feed to another site. In this example, an IDX widget has been added to the top of a page featuring homes in the Nashua School District followed by an RSS feed that pulls in information published by Nashua.edu. As new content is published by the school district, the stories automatically update on the site. Writing What People Want to Read Without a specific property address, people typically search for homes for a specific area or neighborhood or community using search terms like "waterfront condos for sale in Palm Beach County." If you are using a CMS like WordPress, you can analyze how much visitor traffic your site is experiencing through Google or Bing and add to or adjust the content to highlight certain markets or homes based on what pages people are clicking on and reading. Writing What People Like to Read You can also micro blog about properties of notoriety, properties that are not necessarily one of your active listings. For example, if you are in Miami or LA, a property of notoriety could be related to a celebrity of some kind or a historically significant building. Or perhaps the property is unique in its construction, architectural style, or design. Frank Sinatra's Palm Desert home or Elvis Presley's honeymoon home, for example. As long as the content you write is original, you add a disclaimer to the bottom, and add a link back to the listing agent, the story may bring extra visitors (and potentially a new lead) to your site. Be sure to include the property address and a link that says, "Click here for more pictures" that points to the syndicated property page directly through the MLS feed on your own website. Oftentimes your post can rank higher than the listing agent's own link on a Google search. Learning More If setting up a micro blog on your real estate website sounds appealing to you, but you don't have the bandwidth to set everything up, consider working with IDX Broker Developer Partner. For more information on optimizing your real estate website using community pages, saved searches, duplicate content, micro blogging, and other essential digital marketing practices, watch the Content is King recorded webinar through the Elm Street Technology on-demand educational academy. To view the original article, visit the IDX Broker blog.

Nurturing Leads with Your IDX Website
So you've launched your IDX website with all kinds of property search options, featured listings, community pages and more. Now the leads should start coming, right? Unfortunately, it's not that easy, but an IDX website that also has a content strategy will help you attract and convert more leads.

Building a Real Estate Website? Start Here.
A staggering 95 percent of people looking for homes used online websites during their search. Yet, while buyers are using websites to find homes, nearly half of all real estate firms say keeping up with technology is one of their biggest challenges. It doesn't have to be. Here are several do's and don'ts to make sure your website attracts clients and generates leads.

Triple Your IDX Search Leads in Under an Hour
Are you tired of seeing traffic stats for hundreds of visitors to your IDX search page with very few turning into IDX search leads? How can you see almost immediate results for more IDX search leads from that page? It's really not as difficult as it may seem. The key is to think about what that visitor is seeking when they're on that page. There are two proven ways to generate leads from IDX and here is how to do it.

Get More (and Better) Leads Out of Your IDX Website
A recent spate of online articles claims that real estate professionals should ditch the "middle-man" and forego IDX capability on their websites. Their reasons are varied. One says that the IDX provider robs the agent's website of SEO value. Another says that consumers don't use agent sites to find listings, but instead depend on the big real estate portals. Any agent who pays attention to the stats in his or her website's backend knows otherwise. Real estate agents offer tremendous value to their clients and potential clients by offering them a way to not only search local listings, but also the assurance that these listings are up-to-date and accurate – a far cry from what the big sites offer. So, leave the IDX in place and read on for tips on how to get more leads out of your IDX website. Where are you? Advice about how to get more leads from a website is useless if people can't find your site. Content, consistently posted, is the roadmap that will lead them to your site and the best place to create this content is on your blog. You do have a blog, don't you? Not only will this strategy help you rank in search engines, but it's a fabulous way to demonstrate your expertise and local knowledge. Then, keep them coming back by pushing new content out and teasing it in your email blasts and via social media.

What Makes a Great IDX Provider?
Realtors are constantly looking for an advantage in online marketing. One of the clear ways to get ahead is through a program called IDX, or Internet Data Exchange. The program is designed by the MLS and follows a pretty simple construct that allows any agent or broker to display all of the MLS's listings on their website. The property search solution is called IDX because that is the set of MLS rules and regulations that need to be followed for appropriate display. So if you are looking for a property search solution, you will want to focus your search on the keyword 'IDX Search.' RE Technology has hundreds of IDX providers in our Product Directory, but choosing the right one can be hard. We connected with WolfNet, one of America's largest IDX providers to agents and brokers, to find out what makes a great IDX solution. 1. Does the vendor have data in your MLS? There are 728 MLSs in America today. Only a few IDX vendors, like Wolfnet, have data in all of them. If the vendor does not have IDX set up in your MLS, call another vendor. It's too painful to go through the hassle, and probably not worthwhile for the IDX vendor to set up an MLS data feed just for one customer.

Friday Freebie: IDX Property Search for 3 Months Free
Is your current website a lead generation dud? Leave it behind and give your sales pipeline the gift it really wants this year--a site that attracts, engages, and captures more online leads. Get 3 Free Months of WolfNet's Responsive IDX Property Search The end of the year is a great time to identify the tools that give you a poor return on investment. If your website is one of those things, consider upgrading. Save a bit of cash by looking for year end deals, like WolfNet's current special on their IDX search. They're offering 3 months free, plus 50% off the setup cost of their newly released Responsive IDX Property Search until December 31. Features include: Responsive design that works on all devices and screen sizes Sophisticated map search with street view, points of interest and driving directions Optional VOW data like days on market and sold listings Optimized lead capture features Support for high-resolution listing photos "Smart search" that automatically suggests search terms as the user types WolfNet is also offering 2 months free and $100 off the setup of their Modern Agent and Broker Websites through the end of the year. Claim or learn more about both offers here.

3-Part Email Series for IDX Website Leads
The professional written emails below are part of a bigger strategy to create an IDX website that helps generate solid buyer leads. Here is how they should be used: Email 1 - Send this right after a visitor becomes a lead by registering on your website. Email 2 - After the initial contact, you should send this email 2 days after to highlight the advantages of registering on your website Email 3 - Finally, you should send this email to show them other areas of interest of your website. We recommend you customize this email and make it specific to your website You can copy and paste these emails into any email platform you use. Email #1 Title: Getting the Most Out of Your Home Search Tools [Salutation], Thanks so much for your visit to my [YourArea] Real Estate Website and registering for upgraded MLS listing search tools. The regular search features are great, but you're now able to use some really powerful tools to help you in your home search and selection. Save favorite searches: You want to be able to return to the site and search again, so a great resource is being able to save your favorite search criteria so you can do a new home search with a single click. More than that though, you often want to use somewhat different criteria, such as different price ranges or neighborhoods. Instead of having to change criteria, just set up more than one saved search and your next visit will be even more efficient. Get alerts of new listings and changes: Every one of us has had instances in our lives when we missed a great opportunity because we didn't know about it soon enough. It's really upsetting to see the perfect home at a great price snapped up by someone else before you even knew it was on the market. It can happen even when you're on the Web searching every other day or so. With our search tools, you can create an email alert search. Just enter your criteria and have an email sent out to you when a new listing comes on the market that matches your needs. Or, watch great homes for price adjustments with an alert search. It's a tool our users love. Thanks again for your interest, and I'm ready to help by email or phone. [Signature]

WolfNet's Upgraded IDX Platform Helps Agents Compete with Portals
Agents looking to compete with search portals need look no further that WolfNet's upgraded IDX solution. Dubbed WolfNet Responsive IDX, the update marries high-end design to an IDX property search (with optional VOW data!) that would easily be at home on expensive enterprise-level websites. As any modern web solution should, the updated platform displays beautifully on screens and devices of all sizes (see the image below). But beyond the aesthetic improvements, WolfNet has designed Responsive IDX to boost your website's engagement levels and lead capture rates. Let's take a closer look to learn how. Zeroing in on the Front-End Responsive IDX plugs into your existing website and is easy to integrate into your site's design, thanks to easy wrapper creation tools available in the solution's admin panel. The solution also adapts to your website's CSS stylesheet, letting you control font and photos sizes to further refine how it displays. Let's take a look at the results page, for an example. Consumers have the option to view results either on a map, in gallery view, or in list view. In the gallery view pictured on the next page, users can hover over a property's thumbnail to scroll through more listing photos without having to click into the property details page.

Tutorial: Combine Facebook Ads, Your IDX Feed and Your CRM for Success
So in my last article, I gave you all the reasons that Facebook is a great, yet overlooked marketing platform for agents. Today, though, I intend to show you how to INTEGRATE it into your overall marketing strategy. Integration is so very important because, simply put, just about everything in the real estate industry these days is disconnected. The average agent we come into contact with subscribes to roughly 6-10 technology platforms. 98% of those DO NOT talk to any other platforms (at least in a meaningful way), thus messing up the integrity of a agent's most valuable resource--their database. To those ends, if you are going to embark on a Facebook marketing campaign, you need to make sure that it is working seamlessly, in tandem with all your other vehicles. Making sure you can lead people from your Facebook ads to your IDX system and then turn them into leads that push into your CRM system is a critical piece of this puzzle. Using your IDX as the item of value to get someone to click on your Facebook Ad There are many ways you can run Facebook campaigns, given all the different types of demographic searches Facebook has available. However, let's stick with the same example scenario I posed in my last article. Let's assume you are an agent that specializes in "car properties" (luxury properties with multiple car garages), and you wanted to market your listings to people that were most likely to purchase one of these properties on Facebook.

Best of 2014: 4 Lead Generation Sources - Which Should You Budget for?
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in January and is #3 in our countdown. See #4 here. In December, we explored how Virtual Office Websites (VOWs) can be used to generate leads. There are many more sources for online leads, though, so we're kicking off the New Year by taking a broader look at our options. After all, now's the time when many agents and brokers turn budget- and process-minded, and examine what is working for their business and their budget. Some sources, like social media and Craigslist, only require an investment of time and motivation. But at the start of a new year, many real estate pros are more concerned about paid sources of lead generation and where--or if--they fit into their annual budget. With that in mind, today we're going to take a look at four different sources of online lead generation. Each will be evaluated according to cost, time and effort, and quantity of leads. Custom or DIY Websites Do-it-yourself websites come in all shapes and sizes. They can be anything from simple Wordpress sites to full-blown custom designed web destinations. Some who take the DIY route plug-in a third-party IDX search like Diverse Solutions to their site, or use only an MLS or association provided search widget. Others provided limited or no search capability. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. I'm particularly fond of this website for local brokerage the Davies Company. Why? Because it's clean, uncluttered, and makes it easy to find exactly what I need. There's no sense of being overwhelmed by property search options or other features--a feeling many generic template sites often convey.

What is IDX and How Can it Help Generate Leads?
This post comes to us from the Market Leader blog: If you have a website that displays listings, chances are you are using an IDX feed to get listings on your website. IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and is how the MLS shares listing data among its members. Since it is all about sharing listings, IDX is also sometimes known as "Broker Reciprocity." IDX enables all active listings in the MLS to be shared between MLS members and displayed on the websites of MLS participants (agents and brokers). IDX was created to make sure all MLS members have equal information to all MLS listings. Each MLS has policies in place for their IDX feed designed to make sure no one user has any unfair advantage and that all listings are available to the participants. While the IDX feeds are designed to give all MLS members equal access to listings information, not all IDX websites are created equal. The website functionality of an IDX feed can make all the difference between having a website that generates business and one that doesn't. What is Your Site For? The vast majority of agents say the main purpose of their website is generating leads. If this is your goal, effective lead generation campaigns rely on content that gives your target audience what they want. The purpose of a real estate agent's website should be to appeal to potential homebuyers and sellers in order to generate leads. So what are homebuyers and sellers looking for online?

4 Lead Generation Sources: Which Should You Budget for in 2014?
In December, we explored how Virtual Office Websites (VOWs) can be used to generate leads. There are many more sources for online leads, though, so we're kicking off the New Year by taking a broader look at our options. After all, now's the time when many agents and brokers turn budget- and process-minded, and examine what is working for their business and their budget. Some sources, like social media and Craigslist, only require an investment of time and motivation. But at the start of a new year, many real estate pros are more concerned about paid sources of lead generation and where--or if--they fit into their annual budget. With that in mind, today we're going to take a look at four different sources of online lead generation. Each will be evaluated according to cost, time and effort, and quantity of leads. Custom or DIY Websites Do-it-yourself websites come in all shapes and sizes. They can be anything from simple Wordpress sites to full-blown custom designed web destinations. Some who take the DIY route plug-in a third-party IDX search like Diverse Solutions to their site, or use only an MLS or association provided search widget. Others provided limited or no search capability. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. I'm particularly fond of this website for local brokerage the Davies Company. Why? Because it's clean, uncluttered, and makes it easy to find exactly what I need. There's no sense of being overwhelmed by property search options or other features--a feeling many generic template sites often convey.

5 Keys to a Stronger IDX Website
Every year, more and more consumers use the Internet during their home search process. According to NAR's most recent Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, that number has grown to a whopping 92 percent. Agents can no longer afford to have a weak or, worse, non-existent presence online. Fortunately, most real estate professionals are savvy enough to recognize this. To capture searchers online, many agents turn to IDX-enabled websites. An IDX feature allows consumers to search all available properties in a market right from an agent's website. Allowing visitors to search all homes in area, rather than just your individual listings, gives them more reason to stay on your website--in theory. The truth is that the Internet is flooded with agent websites, both good and bad. In order to attract and keep web searchers, REALTORS® need to stand out from the competition. Wait, you're thinking, if everyone is getting the same IDX listing data from the MLS, how can I differentiate myself? The trick is to select an IDX solution that augments the listing data with information and tools that potential buyers need. We've covered the basics of choosing an IDX provider before, but to learn more about what advanced features to look for, we turned to an expert. Peyman Aleagha is the CEO of WebsiteBox, a turnkey IDX website solution, and he shared a few tips with us. Claim Ownership of Your IDX Linking to your broker's IDX search is not the same as having a built-in solution on your website. In fact, linking out can be detrimental to your business, since agents have no control over leads that come in to their broker's site. "Would you take your walk-in prospects into your broker's office, introduce them, and leave them there to be served?" asks Aleagha. "Don't send your prospects off to be served by others by not having an IDX solution on your own website."  

Is Your Website Serving the Needs of Tomorrow’s First-Time Buyer?
Members of the Millennial generation are reaching an age where they're considering buying a home for the first time. As the largest generation since the Baby Boomers, this means that an influx of first-time homebuyers is on the horizon. Are you and your business ready? Every generation faces their own set of home buying challenges. For Millennials, these challenges are often financial, thanks to a sluggish job market and a massive increase in student loan debt. These factors mean that this generation of first-time homebuyers often can't overcome the biggest obstacle to homeownership--saving enough for the down payment. But did you know that there's a tool you can add to your IDX website that can remove this common homeownership hurdle? It's called Down Payment Resource (DPR), and it's available as a free member benefit to an increasing number of agents whose MLS subscribes to the service. DPR integrates with your MLS to provide you with information about down payment assistance programs in your area. It's the first step to removing the down payment hurdle for qualifying consumers. Adding Value to Your Website While an average of 70% of listings in any given market are eligible for down payment assistance, these programs are often underutilized. Information can be difficult to find--if homeowners even know about them at all, that is.

Using PPC with IDX for real estate lead generation
This article comes to us from the Diverse Solutions blog: Short for "pay per click," PPC advertising is when you pay a search engine for prominent placement of your website on their search results pages. With even a small budget, any online business can increase traffic with PPC – the trick is knowing how to convert your traffic into real leads you can pick up the phone and call. How pay per click works Pay per click allows you to advertise your website at or near the top of search results or other pages of a provider's website. There are many providers to choose from, however Google AdWords, which manages ads shown in Google search; or Yahoo! Bing Network, which covers ads seen in both Bing (Microsoft) and Yahoo search, are the more well-known providers. Either of these options covers a broad audience and are great for beginners looking to promote their IDX and real estate website(s). Setting up an account with any of these services is pretty straightforward. Simply sign up as a new advertiser, add funding to the account (usually in the form of a credit card), then create a few ads and decide where you want your ads to appear. In most cases, you'll simply create an ad that will appear whenever someone performs a search on Google (or Bing or Yahoo) related to your site. Here are the basic steps...

Holiday Deal: WolfNet Property Search
Property search functionality is a crucial part of any real estate website. In fact, it should be the backbone of your entire site. Without it, visitors won't hesitate to head for a competitor's site to find what they're looking for--homes for sale. If your website is lacking a search feature, we've got great news. With our latest Holiday Deal, you can get three months free and 50% off setup costs on WolfNet IDX property search and available upgrades when you sign up before the end of the year. WolfNet IDX is a simple, yet powerful, search solution that lets visitors save searches and favorite listings, among many other features. It also gives you, the agent, lead capture tools and the ability to add bigger photos, virtual tours, and enhanced listings. Other features include: Service in 400 MLSs nationwide Lead Capture tools Mobile Optimized Lifestyle Search Neighborhood and School Reports Live customer service Visit WolfNet's website to learn more.

Listing Syndication Definitions
Just when I think I "get" listing syndication, I'll find myself in conversation with someone about it and completely out of my league. Tired of feeling underprepared, I enlisted the help of a syndication expert, Celeste Starchild at ListHub. I asked her for a crash course in listing syndication and she explained to me that the first thing I needed to do was get the terminology right. She's spot-on. In order to have an intelligent conversation about anything you need to properly use the correct vocabulary. Perhaps I'm not alone. I have a feeling that many of us could use at least a little refresher on what these commonly used (and commonly misunderstood) terms mean. Listing syndication Listing syndication is the distribution of active real estate listings by brokers/agents (or by the MLS on behalf of brokers/agents) to third-party websites, for the purpose of advertising to consumers. Listing syndication is different from IDX or VOW, which we will discuss next, in that it shares data with third parties who are not members of – or participants in – the MLS (such as property search portals like Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo! Real Estate, etc.). The value to the broker or agent is the opportunity to attract a buyer to their property listing, and the value to a third-party website is to acquire listing content for consumers who visit their website. Listing syndication gives brokers the ability to selectively choose the sites to which they syndicate their listings, based on their advertising goals and business model. Of course, each broker may syndicate only their own listings.

Product Review: Immobel’s Multi-Language Website IDX and REAL-Buzz
Although we set out to write a review of Immobel’s Multi-Language IDX Translation, a look at REAL-Buzz was inevitable. Thus, our review covers both. Many REALTORS® who invest in IDX translation to market to global buyers will also choose to participate in the (free) REAL-Buzz.com portal.

RealtyTech123 Agent Website and IDX
Introduction RealtyTech is a full-service website and IDX hosting platform provider for both agents and brokers. Located in Westlake Village, California, they have been providing real estate websites for over 10 years. They have both agent and broker product offerings, with tiered levels of options ranging from templated agent sites to fully customized agent and brokers websites. Their IDX offering IDX123 offers standard listing access, widget creation, and custom link creation. Standard product offerings include the following: Agent123 Websites Broker123 Websites IDX123 Property Search Internet Marketing Custom Site Design Additional Products and Services

dsSearchAgent IDX
dsSearchAgent is designed around Web 2.0 features that make connections and engagement between the consumer and the agent seamless. This product is built from the ground up to be a map-based search solution. Sliders and features that allow the consumer to narrow their search criteria are dressed along the left side of the map for ease of use. This design is not only very functional, but it allows the consumer to view more property information without scrolling down the page. Like most IDX solutions, dsSearchAgent has many features that encourage consumers to register to the website to access helpful property search tools. For example, customers can save a search and get listing alerts. dsSearchAgent goes even further by allowing the consumer to get the information in the form of an RSS Feed as well as email. Customers can also register to add their own notes to property. The agent back office control panel allows for easy access to customer searches, favorites, and viewing patterns. There are also some nice features that allow agents to organize leads.

Birdview IDX
Birdview offers a full-featured IDX service to real estate agents and is available in most markets across the nation. With Birdview IDX, all of the local IDX/MLS listings can be displayed on a real estate agent website for consumers to browse. Birdview offers the ability to search multiple counties and cities at one time and offers many lead generating tools like save a search, listing notification, schedule a showing, and save listings to favorites. Birdview updates the listings on each website as often as every 15 minutes in most MLS markets through the use of the RETS or Real Estate Transaction Standard.