Hi everyone,

Been a while since I posted but I have received my salesperson license and am in the process of starting my career.

I will be joining a broker in a week or two but have already hired someone to create a wordpress website for me. Where I am having an issue is deciding how to handle the property searches on the site, and have been researching a lot of the MLS integration options for Wordpress.

These seem to be the main two I keep coming across:
http://www.diversesolutions.com/dssearchagentidx-solution.aspx

http://www.dsidxpress.com

Both cost $$.

Anyone have any recommendations on me on the best way to handle integrating my MLS with my WordPress site??

IDX Broker and Diverse Solutions both make the best products in my opinion. I would have gone with DS but they do not service my MLS. Both have indexable property pages (IDX Broker you have to make the change manually and make the IDX search a sub domain of the site).

Can't go wrong with either one. DS is a little more expensive. Who did you get do design your WP Blog if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks for the info. Actually a friend of mine who specializes in Wordpress is going to put it together. We are just getting the concepts together now.

What is the difference between dssearchagentidx and the dsidxexpress? Both made by the same company, is it just that dssearchagent has many more options?

DSidxpress is just their IDX integration with Wordpress.

Still a little confused...does that mean you need both if I want to use it on WordPress? Searchagent looks to be $60 or so per month...then do I need to do the idxpress for 30 bucks a month too to integrate it with wordpress?

You just need the idxpress. Call them and they can explain as well. They are always pretty helpful over the phone.

Well I am leaning towards DSSearchAgent as my initial program. Anyone have any experience with Diversesolutions or this program they can share?

I would also like the dsIDXpress as well for indexed pages, but as a new agent can't afford both those fees. The features in Searchagent seem very impressive.

Hi REApprentice,

I've built a good number of websites utilizing both dsIDXpress and dsSearchAgent - both are great pieces of software. You can integrate both into your WP site.

dsSearchAgent: provides the "map" interface that allows a website visitor to search through a portion, or the entire MLS. The biggest downside is that the "map" portion and all the data therein is COMPLETELY INVISIBLE to search engines. The reason is because you're placing iFrame code into your site, which in turn shows the search interface to the website visitor. So in other words, dsSearchAgent is great for users, but bad for SEO.

dsIDXpress: users are able to access a variation of the "map" interface, but it's harder to find and less user friendly. The biggest advantage to dsIDXpress is that it is VERY SEO friendly because DS places all the home listings on your site so that they can be indexed by search engines. Why do you want that? Because a lot of people search individual addresses and MLS #s, and it looks to the search engines like your site is constantly being updated with new content (i.e. new homes for sale). This is all delivered via a WP plugin.

My recommendation: if you have the money, go with both, if funds are limited go with dsIDXpress.

Thanks RTChris.

That's a great summary and I actually talked to diverse solutions today as well.

I was thinking of starting with dsSearchAgent because of the options and customization along with the lead generation it offers (sign up forms, etc) compared to IDXPress. I figure I can drive as much traffic as I can to my site myself at first, then the lead generation is ready when people get there. Then eventually add IDXPress after I get a sale or two under my belt and get rolling.

I guess there isn't a wrong way, I'm sure I will change my mind again a few times before settling on which one to start with.

We have both and are getting between 1000 - 1500 unique visitors a week but we cannot convert anyone with dsIDXpress.

What have you done to help your clients convert the traffic it generates?

That is exactly my concern. I will try and push as many people to the site as I can myself, then I will have the tools there to actually capture some leads. That's why I decided on starting with Searchagent, seems to do the thing I need most that IDXpress does not, lead generation!

Edit: And I went and changed my mind, I think I am going with IDXBroker. Offers a lot of similar things as Searchagent, but cheaper initial costs and monthly costs. Seems like a great lead generation and management program.

Diversesolutions said it would be $100 a month (and $200 setup cost) for my MLS with just dsSearchagent, that was disappointing.

Actually a great deal of traffic comes in from dsidxpress (thousands) and the traffic that does come in converts well into leads, and the leads that come in have through the roof conversion rates into buyers.

I'm not saying the company is at 100% or anything, but the numbers we have seen blow most anything out of the water except traditional keyword targeted SEO. Why does it convert better? Maybe it boils down to the effort and sales of the REALTOR. Either way it is hard to quantify what part of our system is the key.

The only trick with dsidxpress is getting the addresses indexed in the first place. Then it's a question of ranking for the address and/or MLS number. Neither is necessarily tough, it's more a matter of implementing your current SEO campaigns and letting the "juice" from that overflow to the rest of the site.

I don't think you can do wrong with either of those 2 choices. But the dsidxpress is definitely a unique product and one worth looking into.

I'm getting more and more familiar with IDX Broker and am enjoying it quite a bit more now than when I first started. Although I don't think it is as visually appealing as some others, it tends to work well.

My site doesn't generate huge traffic numbers, but I still manage to get about 10-20 leads from the IDX each month by requiring sign-ups after 5 property views. This is only with 700 visitors a month or so.

Going to be launching a new site soon that is a more general site (not just foreclosure specific) so I am hoping I can generate quite a bit more visitors.

Let me know if you have any questions about IDX Broker.

I personally do not suggest WP for a real estate website. As far as I know they all use framing solution which does not help you to get SEO friendly URLs to get better visibility and rankings..

Wordpress has a lot of options that aren't framed. I use ListingWare. Easy to setup and very reasonably priced. As low as $19/mo. It includes some great features.

It's not that Wordpress requires the iframed solutions, but the IDX providers. Both IDX Broker and dsSearchAgent are "iframed" solutions. But dsIDXpress is fully integrated into the Wordpress site allowing each listing to be crawled.