California Regional MLS, the nation’s largest multiple listing service with 96,000 members, has further partnered with website provider Absolute Strategic Agent to offer members an improved custom IDX link product, according to a press release.
IDX, or internet data exchange, links are a feature that allow agents to generate web addresses to market specific listings. Typically created in a website admin interface, IDX links are customer-facing URLs that can be used in emails, social media and other forms of online outreach to expedite the consumer’s home search.
Absolute Strategic Agent (ASA) became a vendor partner of CRMLS in 2017.
As part of the link upgrade, members are eligible to receive CRMLS’s IDX Plus product with full website solution at $29 a month through the ASA agreement.
The new version of the link feature will give consumers direct landing pages into map views with sidebar and hover views, a menu of additional listings, drop-down search menus, and agent branding elements. The new feature will be no additional charge to members.
“When we saw how Absolute Strategic Agent could help us generate better IDX links, we jumped at the opportunity,” said CRMLS CEO Art Carter in the press release. “We believe quality IDX solutions matter to professionals and consumers.”
Custom link generation will be unlimited and indexed by Google.
One advantage of such a custom link solution is that it enables users to leverage page links as searchable webpages for specific neighborhoods, home developments or recognized parts of a city. This also allows agents to further become known as an “area expert.”
For example, an agent can create “www.HomesForSaleOnEastAvenue.com” or “DeerCrossingHomesForSale.com,” and each link will lead to a page of homes in those areas.
Agents would be wise to not overuse the feature, as it would lead to having to manage content for a litany of pages. It’s best used to narrow down expertise in unique submarkets and property types as well as traffic markers for online ads and outreach.
Thousand Oaks-based ASA was founded by Richard Uzelac, previously a working agent in Southern California and New Jersey. He served as the senior director of production for realtor.com.
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