How an MLS Data Feed Can Benefit Your Real Estate Website

September 18th, 2015 | by: Steve Pollack | Posted in : Marketing, Real Estate News, Services, New Technology, Websites, Project Features, Digital Trends

 The modern Realtor® is expected to promote the listings of their clients on multiple web platforms, but many Realtors have their hands full and barely have the time to upload new listings / update current listings in the MLS, let alone any other platform.  An MLS or RETS Data Feed has the ability to feed listing data directly from the MLS to your real estate website and beyond.  As you can imagine, this makes life much easier for the Realtor.     

You might ask, “What is the difference between a RETS Feed and any third party IDX solution?” 

The key difference that is most beneficial to the Agent or Broker is the fact that we can display the listing data to the client’s liking on the property pages.  The design of property pages and predefined search can be design and strategized to specifically meet the needs of your clients. For example you serve the beachfront community of Malibu, your website can have specific searches to show all Malibu oceanfront, all Malibu condos, all Malibu rentals… This method also allows the website to reflect your business and what your current and potential clients are looking for.   In addition to taking full advantage of the content being fed to the website from a Search Engine Optimization standpoint.  With a framed IDX solution, the website misses out on all of the beneficial content users are searching for in Google.  That listing data found in the MLS can provide content such as the property title, address, city, state, zip code, neighborhood, area, community name, village, and all that is described in the property description.

Agent convenience, user focused design, and increased SEO aside, the feed allows us at SM Sold to pull more than just listing data for a specific agent, team, or brokerage.  We have the ability to pull ALL active listings from your local MLS board, assuming that there are no regulations set in place by the board that prohibit us from doing so.  These listings can be pulled to a customized “Search” page which allows users on real estate websites to search for properties outside of the specific Agent’s current listings.  This ability for users to search other MLS listings on your agent / team / brokerage website is a greatly added benefit as it is a very convenient way of picking up buyer leads effortlessly.   

As we all know, staying cutting-edge in web marketing is extremely important.  It can save the Realtor time and effort, while driving and keeping traffic on their website.  If you are in the market for custom property / property search pages, increased SEO, and automating the process of uploading/updating listing content to your residential real estate website please call us to request a quote today.  (714) 546-7033.