IDX sites are essential for real estate pros

A search engine friendly IDX website is the easily the most essential tool a Realtor has to obtain good rankings, high traffic, and plenty of motivated buyers. Why? Because an IDX web site gives property buyers precisely what they are looking for.

Why IDX is important

Providing IDX gives real estate websites the ability to allow buyers to search for homes using the data from their local MLS. Technically, multiple listing services are switching away from IDX to a technology called RETS, but the end result is the same; a real estate agent’s website with IDX or RETS can attract plenty of buyers with live listings.

What many real estate professionals don’t understand is that buyers are not looking on the search engines for an agent, they are searching for property. The absolute worst thing an agent can do is focus their site too much on themselves rather than on what the public is actually looking for, which is homes. Give them what they want and they are guaranteed to visit your site often.

Here’s how NOT to do IDX

When an IDX website is done right (meaning with a focus on search engine visibility), they are major lead producers. When done the wrong way, they are a waste of time and money.

So here’s what to avoid:

• Flash-based IDX (Flash looks great but is not search engine friendly)
• Framed IDX (where search results are displayed in a frame
• Third party subdomain-hosted IDX (username.idxcompany.com)

I’ve had calls from agents who spent $8,000 on a custom website that never produced leads, followed by over $5K on another site that also didn’t bring in any business. If you’re going to invest in a custom real estate website, you’ve got to hire someone who knows how to built it right.

If your website consultant wants to use Flash, frames, or third party subdomains for your IDX integration, run as fast as you can from them. They obviously don’t know a thing about real estate search engine optimization and chances are good your site will be a waste of effort, bandwidth, and cash.

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