WORDPRESS PLUGIN
Built to run on top of the best blogging platforms out there. One that, if you’re not already using, we know you’ll love.
NO IFRAMES
All of the content is placed on the blog from a web service. The content is carefully constructed to be fully compliant with all current and future MLS rules since the web service controls the HTML.
SUPER EASY CONFIGURATION
All the blog owner needs to do after installing the module is add their activation key and click activate. That’s all! No PHP or WordPress guru needed.
SEMANTIC MARKUP
All of the HTML that the web service puts out is semantically appropriate. The benefit of semantic markup is that there’s less HTML bloat and more content for your visitors for search engines to see.
WIDGETS AND SHORTCODES
Widgets and shortcodes give the blogger more ways to interact with the data.
DEMO IT
We’ve set up a basic WordPress Blog with dsIDXpress installed and configured, check it out: http://wp.idx.diversesolutions.com
BETA TEST IT
If you are interested in Beta testing, please sign up here: http://www.diversesolutions.com/beta-signup.aspx We do not have an ETA on a wide-release, but if we need testers in your area, we will contact you.
Our elves have been hard at work here at Diverse Solutions working on something special for you this holiday season. Over the last year or so we have been receiving requests for search engine index-able listings and rightfully so. It is a great way to generate some additional traffic to your website for that long tail segment. Some of you more tech savvy people have found a work around using our current dsSearchAgent Pro product but it’s not easy. We’re going to change that. Since WordPress is open source, has the ability to allow custom plug-ins and has become the platform of choice for a lot of websites/blogs these days we figured there isn’t a better choice to roll out our new IDX product on. We have created dsIDXpress. It is a plug-in for WordPress that allows not only your clients to search the IDX natively via WordPress but more importantly it allows the search engines to index these listings too.
We are seeing some incredible results so far. One of our beta testers, who shall remain nameless, added the “property list” widget to his footer for his listings(14) and now the address for each one of those properties shows up #1 in Google with a link to the details page for that listing. In one week! I know talk is cheap but as we get more testers we’ll start showing some good hard evidence on how this thing kicks ass.
This is just a quick overview of what the plug-in can do at this time. We have many more ideas that are in the works that will be included in the plug in upon final release. Currently we are in the beta testing stage with this product and it is not available to the general public just yet. Product pricing and a final release date have not been set. If you are a current dsSearchAgent Pro client and would like to help us beta test this, or have comments, we’d love to hear from you.
Screenshots
Feature List
Widgets
- Search
- Visitors can search for properties via a simple, pre-built WordPress search widget. The widget’s search criteria include the property type, city, min and max prices, min beds, min baths and square feet.
- Each search widget can be customized with a title and a list of cities by the blog owner.
- The search form is built in such a way that it can be submitted by any search engine that supports forms (of which Google is one).
- Area List
- Visitors can see a simple list of links for the cities, communities, tracts, and zip codes that the blog owner has configured for each area list widget. All links created in these widgets are easily crawl-able by search engines.
- Property List
- Visitors can see a configurable list of properties presented in three different modes. All of the HTML for the three modes is placed directly on the page containing the widget when the page is loaded; the modes are toggled via JavaScript. Search engines see all of the content for these widgets.
- A list mode shows the properties as a simple list of links. These links are good for a simple, short, non-flashy display of the properties. These links are crawl-able by search engines
- A map mode shows the properties on a map. On hover, a small property thumbnail photo is shown along with some relevant details.
- A detailed mode shows the essential details of each property as well as a single 100px wide photo of each property. The different properties shown in the detailed mode can be navigated with “previous” and “next” buttons.
- This widget can be configured to show a user-defined number of properties from four different sources.
- It can show properties from a specific city, community, tract, or zip with a user-defined order (ex. top 10 properties in Laguna Beach order by highest price first).
- It can show only the agent’s properties.
- It can show only the office’s properties.
- It can show properties from a link created in the control panel if you have our dsSearchAgent Pro IDX product. This allows for a great deal of flexibility.
- Visitors can see a configurable list of properties presented in three different modes. All of the HTML for the three modes is placed directly on the page containing the widget when the page is loaded; the modes are toggled via JavaScript. Search engines see all of the content for these widgets.
Results
- The matching property results for the search criteria are displayed 25 per page with paging links at the top and bottom of the results.
- The search architecture is designed from the ground-up to be extremely fast. In many cases, we’ve found it to actually be faster than bringing up a WordPress post within the blog.
- Each listing in the results displays a 250px wide photo, the address, city, price, and other important information.
- Default sort order is to show newest listings first. This ensures a constant churn of properties in the first few pages of results for any search query.
- The title for the fake blog post (since we’re essentially displaying all of the results in a blog post) corresponds to the name of the area searched. The title is automatically placed in the area where the post title would go (usually in an H2 tag or something) and in the TITLE tag of the page.
- Las Flores community searched => “Real estate in the Las Flores community”
- Laguna Beach city searched => “Real estate in the city of Laguna beach”
- Melinda Heights tract searched => “Real estate in the Melinda Heights area”
- 92688 zip searched => “Real estate in the 92688 zip code”
- Link structure:
- yourblog.com/idx/city/laguna-beach/ loads the 25 newest properties in Laguna Beach with links to the older results
Details
- Example for the title of the blog post and in the HTML TITLE tag: 2665 Riviera Dr, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (MLS # L29755)
- Property details includes photo slideshow, all of the basic property info, the property description, many other fields and features, and a Google map showing the location of the property.
- Photo slideshow is loaded via JavaScript and Flash. Visitors without Flash / JavaScript, including search engines, will see the primary photo for the listing along with an appropriate ALT attribute for the photo.
- Link structure:
- Simple example for loading property details for MLS #L29755: yourblog.com/idx/mls-l29755-2665_riviera_dr_laguna_beach_ca_92651
Shortcodes
- Shortcodes are small bits of text that can be embedded in blog pages or posts by the blogger. When the page or post is loaded, the shortcode text itself is replaced with other data. In the case of dsIDXpress, the IDX shortcodes are replaced with live data from the MLS so that whether the post / page is viewed the day it’s saved or 3 weeks after, the data will be up to date.
- idx-listing: Will show property details when given an MLS number. Example: [idx-listing mlsnumber=”U8000471″]
- idx-listings: One example use of this shortcode would be when an agent wants to create a page for a particular city or community and wants to list the top 20 most-recently-listed properties in that area. Example: [idx-listings city=”Laguna Beach”]
AWESOME! This plugin is long overdue, congratulations on a fantastic job! Are you going to have developer’s license?
Sounds great!!!
I was just thinking today If you guys were going to have any updates or upgrades. It would be great to have a forum for Diverse Solution clients to make suggestion or share how they are using your services.
I still would like to see you guys to add to dsagentreach the ability to insert prospect first and/or last name in the drip email system/cards.
Just a thought.
@Julain – you can put the prospect’s first/last name in drip campaigns. in your “card” HTML just put [Contact.First Name] [Contact.Last Name] contact support to get a full list if you’re curious
I have a wordpress site. For my money this product MUST offer the ability to create saved preset searches based on neighborhood, zip code, and condo name…. it may already have it. Office name, agent, and listing type would be nice too.
Looks great. I very well may be contacting you when this rolls out.
Awesome! I’ve been maximizing the dss widgets in my wordpress site for a while now and greatly looking forward to this product.
What do I need to do to be a beta tester?
-Bob
@stephanie – you certainly will be able to link to filtered results, what exactly do you have in mind? My thoughts on your comment would be something like a link with the text “Newport Beach Homes 400k+” linking to those location and price filter results. I think the only thing we would need to look into would be the Agent / Office results, but I do know that in our ShortCode we’re going to allow you to drop in just “your” listings (filtered by agent / office id).
@evergreen – simple fill out the beta form here: http://www.diversesolutions.com/beta-signup.aspx
@customthemes.net go ahead and fill out our beta signup and note in your “why” that you’re interested in a Developer’s License: http://www.diversesolutions.com/beta-signup.aspx
This looks killer! Any chance of you continuing on with the open source love with a joomla version as well?
Thanks John, I see it now (and filled it out) I sent that earlier message while browsing the blog from my i-phone so I didn’t see the sign up form! Look forward to hearing from you.
-Bob
Thanks John i will contact support.
@tom right now we’re focusing on WordPress because of the amount of Real Estate community adoption. The trouble with Joomla and Drupal is that you often need a professional to help you out. While WordPress has come far enough that many people can get away with self-help. That said, Joomla and Drupal are on our radar, we know of them, we know people use them, we know they are exceptional, but that’s as far as it goes for now.
I’m really excited about this new product. It looks awesome!!! I’m proud that you guys have really stepped it up and filled a much needed hole in the market! Thanks!
Will an agent or Broker be able to specify what data is shown to visitors ie, (square footage range, active or conditional, etc) by checking the appropriate boxes in the admin menu?
@walid – interesting idea, right now however we display all the basic fields, other than fields prohibited or required by the MLS
FINALLY!!! I have been implementing the DS prodcut into WordPress via other means that are combursome and time comsuming. Yet, still do not work perfectly for a major effort at controling SERPs of individual properties. This should help me kill Homes.com in my market place.
I would love to be a beta tester and have filled out the form. I am one of only a handful of people in a huge market that have your product. I am looking to add a real estate web marketing blog do you by any chance have an affiliate program? Tell Robert Luna hi for me.
Is this available for all MLS’s ? We’re in Central Florida. I was about to start creating an internal solution that does exactly what you seem to already have. Also, what’s the cost?
Can’t wait to get this installed! Thanks DS, you guys rock!
This sounds very intersting and I’m looking forward to seeing how the product looks when it rolls out.
The word press site is an option that I have been looking at recenetly and being able to utilize the IDX solution is definately a bonus!
Gary 🙂
Well done guys! Love the innovation you guys are coming up with!
Thank you…it looks great Jon and Justin…when can I beta test it?
Okay, I’m chomping at the bit! This looks like a dream come true. When can I beta test this in CO? How cooperative is metnolist?(sp)
-Bob
This is great!
I was just researching this weekend how to convert the RSS feeds availble in the DS Links to HTML and get them into my WP site pages.
This could make this very easy for sure.
I’ll help you debug this. I filled ou the beta tester form.
Thanks,
Rob
This looks very interesting. I think I could refer some of my realtor partners over to you that are wanting to do some internet marketing!
Good stuff
Thanks
I have a high ranking wordpress site currently using diverse solutions idx. Would love to beta test for you.
Thanks
Wow. I have been asking for this and now it is here. I would be pleased to help your beta test and to improve the product. Great job guys. You rock!
Frank
@steve @frank make sure you fill out our beta form, it’s linked up above under “BETA TEST IT”
Jon, is there a way to add a contact agent about this listing so that we can engage with the consumers that view them?
@jay in the spirit of A. not reinventing the wheel and B. staying inside the scope of our widget, our current answer would be that you should find a contact-form plugin already built for wordpress and build it into your sidebar / theme
Nice!
This is a game changer.
I wonder what kind of damage a mortgage guy can do with this…
Justin
Hey, Thanks for the response Jon, I appreciate it. I filled out the beta form 🙂
So will the code for the plugin be encrypted or open source?
what is the ballpark price going to be?
@harley the code will be hosted and distributed on wordpress.org as open source. as for price we do not have anything to announce yet, but stay tuned!
I have been looking for something like this to include on my WordPress website, any chance this would work in Canada?? Not familiar with IDX at this point, not sure if it relates outside of the US of A?? Any info you could provide would be great!
Thanks and best of luck with the testing!
DS – looks like a great solution. Will I be pulling data into my own server or pulling data from your data server? I assume you are still hosting the MLS data and this is a gateway to get it onto my site under my domain name? Is that correct?
Everyone – How much would you be willing to pay for this plug-in?
@mikewiseman re: Canada, I would call our sales line, or drop them an email at [email protected] but off the top of my head I don’t see any problems.
@michaelmontez data will be housed at Diverse Solutions correct.
This is truly good news. I am in the process of placing RSS listings feeds and maps on http://indianapolis-indiana.funhomefinder.com/. Sounds like this option will be more productive than the options you have available to us now.
I’m using WPMU on my own Servers hosted at LiquidWeb. I have created a sub-domain for each city in the Central Indiana area. Within each city blog, will I be able to display listings at subdivision level like I’m building with your current tools?
Currently, when I click on one of the mapped listings or on one of the rss feeds, the link takes me to the detail page at http://www.mswoods.com/mls.htm. After I install the plug-in, will it take me to a detail page on my own WordPress site?
@mike yes, you can link directly to subdivisions. and yes, the plugin has it’s own detail pages, the urls look something like this: /idx/mls-l24555-2345_riviera_dr_laguna_beach_ca_92341
That is perfect. This tool will help me not only maintain the number one position for Indianapolis real estate, Indianapolis homes and Indianapolis homes for sale, it will help me expand to other areas of the country easily. Good work.
Very exciting, and I signed up for beta testing! I have a couple prelim questions. What are the implications in regards to registrations. Will there be a way to set the number of detailed property views before a registration is required if the agent wants to be able to collect registration data (similar as to the searchagent in place)?
Also, Is this plugin pulling from the idx data feed itself as does the current searchagent product, or does it (or more importantly, could it) pull the same data from Google Base? That second question is a very interesting possibility as many Realtors must pay for a monthly IDX feed fee from their MLS Board in addition to the DS monthly services.
@bill – Currently we do not have any registration in place. We are considering this functionality but for v1.0 this will not be in it. The most important functionality was getting these listings indexed by the SE’s. We wanted to get the core of the product real strong before we started with the additional features. The way we see this is that dsIDXpress is not meant as an IDX replacement for searching right now but more of a supplement to what you currently have.
I am a DS PRO Broker/user.
And developing several WordPress sites.
Would love to Beta Test.
Tried to fill out form, but Submit just HUNG UP.
— Ed
@Ed we got your beta form so no worries
As for price, I think it should be included with the DS IDX PRO license.
It’s been a LONG TIME since we had any updates, fixes, or improvements.
Some are very badly needed.
@Ed we certainly haven’t just been sitting on dsSearchAgent Pro. We have a lot of new features in the pipe that we’re hoping to see released in -this- quarter.
thanks Jon!
Any beta testers for Oregon and SW Washingtons RMLS?
I submitted my request to beta-test.
I think your dsSearchAgent tool is fantastic and the plugin a great compliment to it.
DigitalPoint.com has a backlinking tool I started using a couple of weeks ago.
It will also check ranking for keywords.
Its free and I look forward to using it to check up on progress with the wordpress plugin.
Is this plugin available for all MLS ‘s? I know a number of agents in Chicago market that will jump on this.
@Eli we plan on providing this plugin for all of the MLSs we serve.
I am in the process of converting to a WordPress site and I would love to beta test the dsIDXpress plugin. Please contact me if you need somebody in the Philadelphia area (TREND MLS). Thanks!
Just trying to confirm that this plugin will be good to go with WordPress MU?
@tom yes, we have MU as part of our Beta mix, so far it’s been just fine
Will there be a multiple photo format available with this plugin where more than one photo initially shows per property?
@tom You mean on the results page or the detail page?
I was looking at your plugin screen shots and wondering if on the initial optimized page an option will be given to show more than one photo.
Every option shown above is a single photo for each property.
Didn’t know if any tests have been done as to public response to single photo vs. 2 or more initial photos.
@tom gotcha, the plugin will be launching essentially as seen (with one-photo on results pages, and then all photos on detail pages) however we’ll take that into consideration going forward.
So sounds sweet and I’m ready for it…..so when will it be released?
I’ve been waiting for this for over a year…How do I become a beta tester? sign me up etc. etc. etc.
This has great potential. When do you expect a release date? I have been considering changing my blog to wordpress and this would be a deciding factor.
Is it difficult to becorme a beta tester?
Jon,
I’m very interested to be a beta tester in Colorado, I will fill up the information.
Please let me know when it will be ready and I have great suggestions to give about this new plug in to be more SEO friendly ! 🙂
Jon,
I’ve just signed-up for Beta testing in Central Florida. Looks like a great way to increase overall listing and website exposure. I’m glad to see that I have my website and IDX solution with a company that is progressive!!
I am excited to learn about this new product. Do you have a timeframe for its release?
@robin Stay tuned here!
Hi..this is fantastic..I have a DS site and this blog weaves through it…I tried to sign up on the beta test list but it didn’t accept my email. Would love to beta it for Atlanta!
I was curious to know what others are doing using their home search and idxpress together. I’m a little worried the indexing is stopping visitors from registering for my home search and I might be losing potential business. Have any of you figured out a successful strategy?
The plugin ia a great inexpensive product that I will probably end up using, but I think the additional home photos should be under the main picture of the home.
Cheers!
Eric – you will get more “showing requests” with the wordpress plugin from Diverse Solutions; we are. The showing requests go directly into Agent Reach contact manager. You may want to widen the column of your navigation menus so that it looks better.
Create neighborhoods and use the plugin for each of the neighborhoods; people shop for homes by neighborhoods and zip codes…then drive by homes and search on the web for addresses.
When you preview or show a house and you like it, blog about it on your site. Then use the DS plugin for individual properites….ie Home of the Day or Best Buy in Maple Grove or another city in town.
Hope this new idea proves really successful as it is quite convincing. Even i would also love to try something like this. Hope it is a success.
This really looks to be a top notch IDX feed. Are the wordpress plugins simple to use or do they require tweeking for different themes?
My MLS area is NTREIS (N. Texas) and want to display REO, Foreclosures & HUDS on my site. Will I be able to get that specific as to filter “Seller Type” as is the search term we use for this MLS? Would this be an exampled use of Short Code?
Top-notch article it is really. My father has been looking for this tips
hello jon,
diverse idxpress is just great and works so quickly.
i would like to know if there is any option to convert the lot and home size unit values? for example, sq.ft to sq.m.
Sorry, Shreyo, we don’t offer any option that will display square footage as square meters. We DO automatically convert the Lot Size value from Sq Ft to Acres for any listings that are larger than 1 acre… but we don’t offer any conversion for the Home Size field.
We’ll definitely see if we can add this ability across all feeds should we expand into additional MLS feeds in International markets.
I used to use dsIDXpress back when and was pleased with the results. The only reason I stopped using it was I took some time off. The long tail was unmatched. Thinking of using again in the coming months and I hope the shortcodes are as easy to use as I remember.
I’m a pro client and I would like to be a beta tester if possible.
@Artur – please fill out the beta signup form here to be considered: http://www.diversesolutions.com/beta-signup.aspx