June 2011 IDX Broker Office Newsletter

This month we have a quick survey for you. Complete this survey and we will list you as a beta contact for future product/feature releases!

Training this month will focus on custom subdomains, dynamic meta tags for search engines, and how to train your agents to use their iPad App Agent codes.

Best regards,
The IDX Team
@idxbroker


Switch to a Custom Subdomain

Out-of-the-box, your IDX Page Links are Search-friendly and fully indexable by search engines. However, you may want to take advantage of IDX Broker’s Domain Control feature to take ownership of the subdomain that's displayed in the URL bar. When you take advantage of this feature, your personal domain and subdomain will share credit for having hosted IDX listing pages.

Here’s how to set it up:

 
  1. Login to your domain management platform and create your subdomain. Your subdomain can be anything you want. Some examples are search.yourdomain.com, listings.yourdomain.com or realestate.yourdomain.com. If you are unsure of how to create a subdomain, please contact the company that is providing you with your web hosting or domain management tools. Your Web Designer (if you have one) is also a good resource.
  2. Once you have determined the name of your Subdomain, you will need to create what's called a "CNAME" record for your subdomain. That CNAME will target idxco.com. If you are unsure on how to do this, you may contact your web host or domain management company and have them assist you with setting up the CNAME. If you are a GoDaddy customer, you can find instructions on setting up a CNAME record here. If you are a HostGator customer, those instructions can be found here. BlueHost's instructions are here.
  3. Once you have set up your CNAME record, you will need to wait 36-72 hours for those DNS changes to propagate across the Internet. After that, you can verify that your CNAME record is set up correctly and pointing to idxco.com by using a tool like CentralOps. When using CentralOps to look up the DNS records for your subdomain, you should see a line item that displays your CNAME record. If "CNAME" is displayed in the type column and "idxco.com" in the data column, it has been set up correctly.

  1. Now that your subdomain and CNAME record are set up, you can enter them into your IDX Broker account under Account Management -> Domain Control. Enter in your new subdomain in the field provided under the Custom Domain section. Switch the radio button to the right to Custom Domain and click the Change Domain Settings button.




There are two things you will need to do after switching to a custom subdomain:
  • Update any IDX links you have already pasted into your website or global wrapper to match your new links. You can usually do this via search and replace in your HTML editor.
  • Update your Google Map Key.
Take your IDX pages to the next level – Add a Custom Subdomain today!!
 

Unique Search Engine Meta Tags

IDX Broker gives you the ability to replace standard title and meta description tags on your property detail pages. Benefits of setting up your dynamic title and meta tags include:
  • More organic search traffic: Search engines prefer unique meta tags to static meta tags and so more IDX pages are likely to be indexed.
  • Better targeted organic traffic: Site visitors are more likely to click on links that contain information like listing description, address, city, zip code, etc. in the search engine results.
You can set up your dynamic title and meta tags in IDX Broker under My Preferences -> Global Preferences -> SEO Options. Here, you will see three sections – Dynamic Title Text, Dynamic Meta Tags Description, and Dynamic Meta Tags Keywords.


 
To activate any of these features, simply click the radio button to Yes. Once activated, your dynamic tags will be inserted in place of the title or meta tags already present in your global wrapper. You can format your dynamic title and meta tags using a combination of available dynamic tags and static text. For example, a dynamic title tag could look like this: {City} Real Estate {Listing #} – {Listing Address} – {Display Name}.
 

 
The dynamic meta description and keywords work similarly to the dynamic title tags. You can add your own static keywords, and mix and match those with the dynamic keywords. This will ensure that the meta tags display descriptive, relevant content.
 
 
For more detailed information on setting up Dynamic Title and Meta Tags, see this article in our Knowledge Base.


Agent Codes for the myAgent iPhone & iPad App

Your IDX Broker Office account includes a code for myAgent, our iPhone and iPad app. You can find this code in your control panel under the Mobile tab. This code will brand the app with your office contact information and logo. Did you know that each agent on your account also has their own unique code for myAgent? Each agent’s individual code will brand the app with their name and contact information. Agents can access their codes by logging in to their Agent Control Panel and clicking the Mobile tab.


 
Aside from showing off your brand logo, and affiliation with your Office, Agents can use their own agent codes in a variety of ways:
  • Use the myAgent’s GPS location search feature to view current MLS listings.
  • Use the app with their code to show featured listings.
  • Use it to ensure that a new lead calls or emails them directly!

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