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Introducing IDX+, WordPress Real Estate & IDX Done Right

I’m happy to release IDX+, the best WordPress IDX solution.

Enhance dsIDXpressIDX+ is a project I’ve been working on for months. It was born came out of necessity: a client told me “there is no perfect solution for WordPress real estate websites.” After looking into it, I realized he was right.

IDX+ is the solution to your real estate website’s problems.

The current previous state of WordPress real estate plugins

Realtors who want great SEO, complete IDX results, and customization have been in a tough spot: you either had to:

  • list listings individually;
  • have all the IDX results on a subdomain;
  • or pay tens of thousands of dollars to develop a leased website, then pay through the teeth for minor changes to wording or for features like related properties.

Subdomains divide website value, and adding listings individually is often against MLS regulations and isn’t feasible for a large brokerage. Paying tens of

As a result, real estate agents and brokers had to have two websites: one site to get traffic, and the other site to convert the lead.

The best available real estate plugin is great…

The best WordPress plugin for getting site traffic is the dsIDXpress plugin by Diverse Solutions. It offers fully indexable IDX content, great URL re-writing, Google Maps integration, lead forms, and more.

Diverse Solutions got it mostly right–for getting indexed by search engines. dsIDXpress is an SEO powerhouse, but it’s not a one-stop-shop.

…but not perfect.

Your site can get tons of traffic with dsIDXpress — and now there’s a way to convert the traffic into leads.

dsIDXpress downsides:

  • No user registration
  • No saved searches / favorite listings
  • Lots of user dead-ends (for example: once listings expire, they’re gone, leaving 404 error pages)
  • Not customizable

Real Estate Plugin for WordPress

IDX+ = the best WordPress IDX solution.

IDX+ builds on top of dsIDXpress to create an amazing platform

dsIDXpress is the foundation for IDX+ and is required to use the plugin. IDX+ plus dsIDXpress makes an amazing package.

IDX+ adds tons of features, including:

  • Beautiful user registration – either forced or optional
  • User/lead data – including every listing a user views, all searches performed, saved favorites, saved searches, last login, number of logins, and more.
  • Favorite Listings & Saved Searches
  • Totally customizable SEO title tags for listings or search results
  • SEO-friendly redirects for expired listings (redirect to the listing’s city or ZIP with a message to the user)
  • Hundreds of customizations – either “install and forget it,” or tweak the settings.
  • Related Properties – even choose the search radius and +/- price spreads!
  • Related Articles – You’ve blogged a ton; start reaping the benefits.
  • Completely template-based: customize the HTML, PHP, CSS to your heart’s delight!
  • Developer-friendly: WordPress actions and filters abound.

There are hundreds of features for one flat price – the beta version of the plugin is $599. All purchases of the beta will have free upgrades and support for one year.

Buy the plugin today – beta pricing of $599

Learn more on IDXPlus.net

By Zack Katz

Zack Katz is the founder of GravityKit and TrustedLogin. He lives in Leverett, Massachusetts with his wife Juniper.

7 replies on “Introducing IDX+, WordPress Real Estate & IDX Done Right”

Personally i think that you could perhaps show your class on how to make a superb blog. That is wonderful! This wasn’t state, everything that definitely got people had been a type. You recognize how to make your website above a rant approximately a challenge. Youve meant it was practical for individuals to get in touch. Useful in  since possibly not more and more persons realize theyre accomplishing.

Thanks Zack! This looks amazing. Many of us have been asking Diverse for a long time for these types of features only to be told that we should upgrade to dsSearchAgent. This has always put a sour taste in my mouth. 

Now my only issue is being able to justify the cost for a product that Diverse is not happy about and possibly looking to make “obsolete”. 

((WHOOPS! I logged in as one of my partners. I’m Sam Ingersoll 🙂 See next post))

The dsIDXpress plugin has been the best, low cost tool for SEO for a very long time even though DS did not provide us the ability to easily:

(1) customize the layout of the pages to enhance SEO,
(2) customize the design to increase “time on pages” and “decrease bounce rate.”
(3) capture leads
(4) encourage repeat visits with “save search” etc… functions(5) enhance agent ability to follow-up effectively,

Zack’s plugin is a major step forward in this area. 

The plugin also runs entirely independently of the DS plugin so changes either to the DS plugin that might make it incompatible can be fixed very quickly.

The only thing they could do is to try and identify people using it and tell them to turn it off under a “you are violating terms of service by changing design” issue. Their design is approved by MLS boards and this was a big issue when WP IDX plugins first came out.

I think this is very unlikely. (A) They would lose customers. (B) People would just “hide” their use of it. (C) It could be open-sourced to everyone which would totally prevent policing of it. (D) Zillow (the parent company) may start to lose access to MLS Board data and so desperately needs another route in to establishing relationships with agents. My guess is that this why they bought Diverse Solu.  They have a sick amount of money, and could just very easily buy Zack out and bring him in.*

*If they then killed the plugin it would just pop up in another form.

Anyway, I’ve tracked down some big agents who are using this who have NOT told anyone about it – even though they’ve been commenting in relevant discussions around the internet. When you see that happening, you know something is good because they probably want to get the jump on everyone before it comes out of beta and is promoted heavily.Zack does have an “Affiliate Program” for this — it’s one of the “affiliate programs” I’ve ever signed up for. I’m going to start a small group of people who buy it through my link who share best practices using IDXplus, dsIDXpress, and some other WordPress Plugins – privately with each other.  I can already see some things that need to be done in terms of:

(1) changing the alternative page design to work even better for SEO and making the photos more dramatic, and(2) freeing up page space by having the Search form, Saved Searches, and Saved properties, slide out instead of in sidebar.
This will also include things like how to create SEOd pages for every property address in any area — BEFORE they ever go on the market and then how to use them to get listings. 🙂  I don’t think Zack will mind since if we have created about 10 awesome, unique examples of using this to totally kick-butt in a number of different markets, it will sell like gang-busters.  (If it is a problem, Zack just delete or edit any of this you want.)Anyway, I’m just starting to test this on a number of different Themes from AgentPress, Templatic, some really beautiful ones through ThemeForest etc… Let me know if you want to take a look.Sam Ingersoll
(Google Me. I’m easy to find.)

(((Kim Barber above is actually me.)))

A draft of what you could do with dsIDXpress IDXplus is posted above. 🙂 I take no responsibility for how you use this information to dominate the search engines and crush your competition. lol

Here is a draft of a new layout to try : )   Note the:

*Minimal header to remove distraction and increase visitors taking desired action. Under this would be a slider that would show Saved Properties, Saved Searches, and User profile saying, “Hi Julie!”

(1)  focus on the Address and town instead of including the state and zip which is rarely typed, (2) Special “SEO capture” Google +1 and “Viral Listing Advertising” strategy by hiding key details.(3) Greater dramatic impact by making photo bigger and moving maps up.(4) Enhanced conversion technique of using the “call to action buttons in multiple locations” (5) Notice the “Trust building” use of 4 testimonials that “change automatically for each page”. THEY even provide a PHONE number to contact them and an Email link to contact them. Talk about credibility!!!! Any agent that has the cajones to do that must be good.

(6) Repeating of Address in headline tags several times.

(7) Inclusion of unique description content near the bottom right above the “Contact Us” form for higher contact rates.

(8) You can’t see it but I’ve also put in the Address at the beginning and the end of the description paragraphs.(9) Reduction in another links to strengthen value of links to other related properties.(10) In sidebar, I dropped in some “Unique Value Proposition Language” as a hint to showing how we increase contacts.  (This is very rough and the sidebar doesn’t contain everything it would.)*To attract sellers I’d include a “Why hasn’t this home sold yet?” section. We get calls from property owners at about 60 – 90 days who are getting frustrated that their home hasn’t sold, and who have viewed the list and details on our “Home Selling Truth and Lies” page and “1001 steps in our marketing plan.” :)Hope this is helpful.

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