January 2012 IDX Broker Agent Newsletter

Interested in learning more about your IDX Broker Agent account? Sign up for this month's Agent Training Webinar, scheduled for January 25th from 10AM - 11AM PST.

This month's newsletter includes training on how to customize your search pages. We'll also show you how to build custom map search pages. Lastly, we'll go over how you can add a lead login widget to any web page.

Best regards,
The IDX Team
@idxbroker

Custom Search Page Options

IDX Broker's Global Preferences provide you with dozens of easily customizable features for your IDX pages. Easily tailor your search pages to fit your market area and audience. Go to My Preferences -> Global Preferences. The first section of options on this page is labeled Search Options, and the items here control which information displays on your search pages. Below, we'll explain all of the Search Options available and how they work.

  • Global Default Prices - Control the default high and low price values that will appear on your search forms when site visitors first view these pages. These default prices can still be changed or removed before performing a search.
  • Show Links To These Search Pages - Determine which search navigation links appear at the top of your search pages. If you would like to restrict access to a certain type of search, like the Address or Listing ID searches, just uncheck the boxes.
  • New Search Link - If you have created a custom search page, select Custom and enter in the URL for your custom search page. When site visitors click the New Search link, they will be automatically redirected to your custom search page URL.
  • Search List to Display - Select which lists to display on your search page for site visitors to use when setting up their searches - cities, counties, and/or zip codes. You can also select the list to display by default when site visitors first view your search pages.
  • Override Global Search Filters - For some MLS's, we will automatically filter out irrelevant data, such as listings that are located outside of the market area of the MLS. If you would like cities, counties, and zip codes that may fall outside of the MLS coverage areas to be available in your search lists, click these preferences to Yes.
  • Append State to City/County Lists - Determine whether you would like to display the state abbreviation after the city and county names in your lists. This can be useful for MLS's that cover multiple states.
  • Use Custom City/County/Zip Code List - If you have set up your Custom Search Lists, you can choose display them on your search pages using these three options. If you have not set up your custom city, county, zip code lists, you may do so by using the buttons to the right or by going to My Preferences -> Custom Search Lists.
  • Sort Custom List By - If you are using Custom Search Lists for cities, counties, or zip codes, you can determine the sort order for those lists here. You can sort alphabetically or by the sorted order in which you set up your lists.
  • Show Loading Screen For Searches & Show Logo on Loading Screen - Select Yes for both options to display an animation and/or your company logo while results pages are loading.

Build Custom Map Search Pages

Many of you are familiar with our Custom Links feature for pre-defined search results pages. What you may not know is that you can also create pre-defined map search pages using the Custom Link tools. Build multiple map search pages with different geographical locations for your site visitors to use to find properties in their desired areas.

To build custom map results pages, login to IDX Broker and go to Customize -> Custom Links. Click on Map Search in the submenu. Then, click on Build Map Search Custom URL's. This link will take you to a page where you will build out your links.

The custom map search builder page will look like your IDX Map Search page with a link builder tool displayed above the map. First, you will need to position the map over the area you would like to focus on. Use the map controls to navigate and zoom until you get it just right. This is how your custom map search page will look to your site visitors.

Next, go to Step 1 in the box above the map search. Read the instructions and click Generate URL. The URL for your custom map search link will appear in red at the top of the box. You can copy and paste this link into your website navigation.

Step 2 is optional. You can use this step to name and save your map search in the Saved Links area of your account, where you will have further customization options.

Custom map search pages provide a fun way for your site visitors to search for listings using a visual mapping tool!

Add a Lead Login Widget to Any Web Page

Once your IDX pages have been added to your website, your site visitors can sign up for their own My Listing Manager account, which allows them to save searches, save properties, and receive email updates with new listings. Leads with My Listings Manager are more likely to keep coming back to your site to browse listings. You can provide them with an easy way to login to their accounts from any of your web pages using our Lead Login Widget.

In IDX Broker, go to Widgets -> Lead Login. Here you will see a box with a chunk of HTML code.


Simply copy and paste this code into the HTML for your website where you would like the widget to appear. One popular way to display the Lead Login Widget is in the sidebar.

Advanced users or your web designer may use CSS to style and fine-tune the display of the lead login form. The Lead Login widget will help you make your website a one-stop shop for real estate buyers in your local area!

We hope you enjoyed your Agent Training Newsletter!