For My Money there are 3 Best Real Estate IDX Plugin for WordPress
IDX Broker, Diverse Solutions, and Spot-On Connect IDX Plugin for Wordpress
I know there are a few more options out there but there is no real unique quality proposition, in my opinion.
Diverse Solutions is owned by Zillow and offers 2 levels of IDX Service. I do not recommend their dsIDX solution wich is an IDX Plugin. Unfortunately this is the more affordable plan. Although it does implement well with Wordpress and is pretty easy to use it lacks the features that you can get with the other 2 providers at the same price or less. The dsSearchAgent product is probably the most feature rich of all IDX services available. It is also the priciest.
IDX Broker offers virtually all the same features and a few unique features for a lower price. And offers an IDX Plugin.
Spot-on Connect is unique not just because it is the least expensive, but because it actually builds all the listing pages as new pages onto your Wordpress site.
IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and is a real estate property search enabled site that allows the public to conduct searches of approved Multiple Listing Service (MLS) properties in a certain area. It is the exchange of the MLS Data to the IDX customer giving the IDX customer the ability to display all listings that are on the MLS. Just like Redfin, Zillow or Trulia.
Having the MLS data on your website can be quite advantageous (see aforementioned business models for proof). You see when people begin their new home search they want to find a website that will show them all the homes that match a certain set of parameters, that is easy to use, that is easily accessible, and that makes sense.
Often times they will use an IDX enabled Real Estate Website such as Redfin.com, CB.com, KW.com, etc. But we want them to use your Real Estate Website to start their new home search. They can't do that if you do not have an IDX feed built in to your site.
The other place that new Buyer's and Seller's will go to find what they are looking for is Google, Bing or Yahoo, the search engines.
They will type in the Keywords that match their particular search criteria, such as:
- Downtown Condos
- Waterfront New Construction
- Big City Homes On a Golf Course
- 4 Bedroom Homes on Country Club
- Homes for sale in the City
Many times the results they find will be Realtor.com, the big local brokerages, or Zillow, but often times the results they find are Real Estate Agent Websites that have been Empowered with an IDX Wordpress Plugin.
If the Buyer or Seller finds what they are looking for on a beautiful Wordpress Website that is strategically laid out with the Full Power of the MLS, that Real Estate Agent has instant credibility.
There are many ways to get IDX on your Real Estate Website.
- Iframes
- Links
- IDX Plugin for Wordpress
Neither Diverse Solutions or IDX Broker were designed around being an IDX WordPress Plugin. Both of these companies were designed around being an HTML Website focused IDX provider utilizing Links. That is why I think there is a Better IDX Wordpress Plugin Available for WordPress Real Estate Sites.
I Recommend Spot On Connect (Disclaimer: I am an affiliate for this product and make a small commission if you buy it)
It is my new Favorite IDX plugin. Well it is the only IDX Plugin for Wordpress that I would use for integrating IDX into a Real Estate Site. Because it is the only one that was designed Specifically to be a WordPress Plugin. In addition it has all the features needed to build a world class site at an unbeatable price. What does that mean for you and I, the consumers?
- It is Less Expensive because it does not require the provider to run Massive Servers to store all your data
- It is Easy To Use because it was designed that way
- It is Works Better and with less bugs with your Real Estate WordPress Website
- It creates More SEO Friendly links back to your Website, each custom search that you create generates 10′s to 100′s to 1000′s of SEO Friendly Indexable Links back to your Website and MLS search functionality
- Backend Management that is In your Website and not another Backend you have to keep track of
- It Has Multiple Lead Capture Widgets built in
- It has a Featured Listings Slider Widget
- It has a built in Quick Search Widget
- Fast and Fresh and Automatic Listings
- Beautiful Map Search Functionality
- Featured Property Slider Widget
- Quick Search Widget
- Backend Management in your WordPress Dashboard
- Lead Capture
- Matches Your Website
- Easy Neighborhood and Niche Search Page Creation
- Blog and Categorize Properties
- SEO All Your listings
- Publish listings to social media sites
- All properties linked back to your domain.
- No iframes
- Indexable Property Listings
- Automatic Sitemap Generation
- Friendly URL’s
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