Now that I am climbing in the search engine rankings, I am beginning to shift my focus to keeping my visitors on my site, getting their contact information, and hopefully getting some sales from these leads.

My MLS uses MLXchange, Passport, and we can subscribe to IDX which is something I have not done yet. I am not even exactly sure what IDX is.

I recently met one of the guys involved with the following subscription service which I believe piggy backs on top of IDX:

http://www.mybuyingbuddy.com/

Here is the site of one agent in my area already using this service:

www(dot)summit-county-info(dot)com

The service seems to be on the right track. Users get some basic search ability without providing any information, but by creating and account they have much more advanced search options, can save searches, receive automatic emails for new listings meeting their criteria, access maps, and more. And there is an automatic drip email system to remind people to keep coming back.

I do not yet know how customizable the system is but I have a feeling that it is not very, which is certainly and negative to me. It also seems somewhat expensive.

But at least seeing this system has gotten me thinking that there must be others out there like it.

So, the purpose of this post is to find out what other such services others here are using and what you think of them. Examples of specific sites would be helpful as well.

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Sincerely,

Ted Amenta
Breckneridge Real Estate Agent
For Breckenridge Real Estate in Breckenridge Colorado visit www.amenta.com.

IDX is raw data, I believe here it is a csv file that is ftp'ed to you daily....how you present it and what you do with it is pretty much up to you (as long as you follow your local mls's guidelines). I think there are quite a few front ends already built out there that can be modified to fit your needs.

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Tampa Real Estate

I use Listingware - www(dot)listingware(dot)com. It gives you control over what you show and whether or not you want to collect a name and password before searching.

They create a site for you like this: http://sanfordrosser.listingware.com

I've framed mine so it looks like this: http://northatlanta-homes.com/search.htm

Cost is about $20 per month for a basic search and they can integrate most any MLS (or so they say). You can also customize it to send notifications to clients when new listings hit the market and the data is updated daily.

I suggest using http://www.mlsfinder.com/ if they are available in your area, they have some really good expandability, lead capture rates you can get iframed custom links to different areas etc. You can also show "just" your listings if you want things like that. Oh yeah and you want something you can keep on "your" site not have to send the user somewhere else.

http://www.jakemarsh.com/denver-mls.php
There is a main entry point (You can madate that they sign up first)

And here are some area specific links http://www.jakemarsh.com/mls/ Click on any one and you will see I have broken down his links into the major areas he covers, showing only the listings from those areas, and you can then optimize each page for that area

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Want to save up to 50% off Real estate webmasters product websites & common upgrades? Check out my latest blog post regarding our end of the year sale.

Hi Ted:

if you are using MLXchange, you should have mlx pro available to you. It is absolutely basic and not very customizable but I have access to over 9000 alberta real estate listings by using it. You can frame it into your site and you can require registration or you can straight link to it. For Alberta, it's got a huge design flaw in it presently because communities are sorted numerically rather than alphabetically but if they ever get it fixed, it's got good lead capture potential. PRO also has other benefits.

Go to my signature link below, click on AB Home Search when you get there and then the MLS listings link on that page and it will give you an idea what it looks like. It comes up presently as an IDX pop up because I have not converted it yet to a straight link. The direct link to it is:
http://elkebabiuk.abmls.mlxchange(dot)com

Cheers, Elke

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Calgary Real Estate

Have any of you used IDX PRO or Birdview?

San Diego,

Have you checked 1parkplace.com? The So Cal MLS (if that's the MLS you belong to) has licensed their data to 1parkplace, so there shouldn't be any compatibility issues.

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Kathleen Allardyce
Visit our BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog
Real Estate Marketing
Point 2 Agent Partner

KSA...thanks for your suggestion...I left several messages for their sales team and could never get anyone to call me back! What exactly do you provide?

San Diego,

I work with REALTORS in several areas of personal marketing:

• Creating a unique selling proposition. That means identifying the agent's competitive advantage and creating a well-defined, well-constructed message that sells a prospect on the benefits of working with that agent.

• Creating real estate websites. Writing copy, basic search engine optimization, obtaining a doman name, getting an IDX search integrated, and so forth.

• Producing personal brochures

• Simplified marketing plans

• Virtual Marketing Assistance for ongoing tasks

You can get more info at the website in the signature. There is usually less hassle working with the MLS vendor associated with your MLS... assuming you can get them to wake up!

If I can help, drop me a line!

My email is Kathleen at BuildRealEstateResults.com

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Kathleen Allardyce
Visit our BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog
Real Estate Marketing
Point 2 Agent Partner

I work for 1parkplace and noticed this post to the site. If you would like more information on our IDX solution let me know. We have a solution that can be framed into your existing sites.