A sneak peek inside Diverse Solutions dsIDXpress WordPress plugin

December 23, 2009
By: Jay Thompson
Author's Website: http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com

Last night, Diverse Solutions announced their new plugin, dsIDXpress (currently in beta testing).

I’ve been fortunate to be an early tester of this plugin, and can sum its potential up in one word:

Awesome. Radical. Kick ass.

OK, that’s four words. Work with me…

What dsIDXpress does, in a nutshell, is create search engine indexable pages of listings. This can be done via widgets for your listings, cities you work in, zip codes, communities, and even specific IDX links you create in the backend of the Diverse Solutions SearchAgent Pro IDX solution. The plugin also has short code support that makes it easy to integrate listings into a blog post or page.

This is powerful stuff people.

Live Examples of dsIDXpress in Action

You can see examples of the listing, city and neighborhood widgets in the footer of TPREG (The Phoenix Real Estate Guy).

Here is an example of what you can do with zip code searches (the page is ugly — that’s my fault, not the plugins).

This post uses the plugin short code to display the five most recent new listings for Scottsdale, AZ.

An individual listing looks like this.

So, does it work?

Unlike most IDX listing output in web/blog pages, none of what the plugin generates is framed. Search engines have difficulty seeing inside frames, so if you want IDX listing information to be seen and indexed by search engines, you’ve got to get them outside of frames and into something the Google’s of the world can “see”.

And this plugin does exactly that.

Here’s a snapshot of the Google crawl stats from my blog:

Click image for larger view

Notice that large spike in the first and second charts? That’s the number of pages crawled and amount downloaded by Google since I installed the plugin. In other words, since installation, Google as found many more pages on my site. And SEO 101 tells us Google likes sites with lots of pages.

Actual Search Results from dsIDXpress

Within a couple of days of installing the “property list” widget (the map in bottom left of the footer on TPREG), every single one of our listings ranked #1 on Google for a search on the address. If you think people don’t go to Google and search addresses, think again. In the last 3 days, there have been 23 searches for our listing addresses that wound up landing on TPREG. That’s not a ton of traffic, but patience Grasshopper, it’s only been 3 days.

Yesterday, I added several community searches in the widget in the bottom right of TPREG’s footer. Today, several of those community pages rank #1 on Google for the search term “community name Real Estate” (ie: Ray Ranch real estate, Lyons Gate real estate, etc) . This includes communities I have never previously targeted on the blog. And they are ranking ahead of other little real estate sites like Trulia.com, Homes.com, Realtor.com, Point2 Agent and more. And yes, people have already visited via those terms. These “long tail” terms are golden. Someone that Google’s “Lyons Gate real estate” probably falls into one of two categories — someone who knows about Lyons Gate and is considering buying there, or someone that lives in Lyons Gate and is considering selling. I like it when those types of people land on the blog, and simply adding “Lyons Gate” to a widget, which dumps new listings for that area into a blog page, and having it updated multiple times a day is. . .

. . . powerful stuff people.

Think of the possibilities, and the coolness…

Write a blog post about a community, or a zip code, or a certain kind of home (think “Phoenix homes between $300 – $350K”). Put a tiny piece of short code at the bottom of the post, and this plugin will automagically add in current listings. Current as in someone pulls that post up a year from now and they see new listings based on the time they view the post, not when the post was published.

This is powerful stuff people.

I’m not remotely close to being an “SEO expert”, so I can’t say if the search results I’ve seen would be easily duplicated. TPREG enjoys a fair amount of love from Google and is crawled frequently and deeply. I’m sure this helps. But I believe implementation of this plugin on any blog would prove very beneficial. Listings tend to be “keyword rich”, and I know for a fact that people use search terms including community names, addresses and MLS numbers. Having those items indexable, and new content constantly brought onto your site (automatically!) has to be a great thing for any blog on any level.

Check the post on the DS blog for more details and info. Again, the plugin is in beta, but I suspect it will be released pretty quickly. You’ll have to be a DS SearchAgent Pro user to utilize it, and there will be a price to pay (price point hasn’t been released yet). But ya gotta believe this is powerful stuff people!

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walidmrealtor on December 23, 2009 4:29 pm

Looks interesting Jay, I wouldn't mind seeing what parameters will be available for display via the shortcodes, I play around with them myself every once in a while. The current date pull is what caught my eye…that would be nice to see in action.
walidmrealtor on December 23, 2009 4:29 pm

Looks interesting Jay, I wouldn't mind seeing what parameters will be available for display via the shortcodes, I play around with them myself every once in a while. The current date pull is what caught my eye…that would be nice to see in action.
china green tea on December 23, 2009 10:20 pm

Hi,
WOW,it looks great.I would love to appreciate you to explain everything about dsIDXpress.Thanks for the examples.
china green tea on December 23, 2009 10:23 pm

Hi,
What I think this really means is that the days when IDX works as an effective lead capture tool are actually coming to a close. Spiderability doesn’t seem like it’ll be such a big deal anymore when everybody’s hip and got it implemented.
china green tea on December 23, 2009 10:23 pm

Hi,
What I think this really means is that the days when IDX works as an effective lead capture tool are actually coming to a close. Spiderability doesnâ€™t seem like itâ€™ll be such a big deal anymore when everybodyâ€™s hip and got it implemented.
Laurent on December 24, 2009 7:59 am

The main problem is the awkward and tiny photo widget. Maybe not to search engines, but to people, photos are the most important part of an online listing.
Laurent on December 24, 2009 7:59 am

The main problem is the awkward and tiny photo widget. Maybe not to search engines, but to people, photos are the most important part of an online listing.
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[...] A steal look inside Diverse Solutions dsIDXpress WordPress plugin … [...]
John Wake on December 24, 2009 1:03 pm

Looks spectacular! Diverse Solutions was already head and shoulders above any other IDX for being able to be customized by the geeky real estate agent. Now they are in a completely different league.
John Wake on December 24, 2009 1:03 pm

Looks spectacular! Diverse Solutions was already head and shoulders above any other IDX for being able to be customized by the geeky real estate agent. Now they are in a completely different league.
Tony K on December 28, 2009 10:52 pm

Holy cow that is pretty great. It's amazing how fast this stuff changes. Just 7 years ago you couldn't fine listings online without searching through dozens of different sites. I remember when a Real estate agent could just put a few pictures up and have a short bio. Heck we didn't have websites at all in 1999. i wonder where we will be 10 years from now…
Tony K on December 28, 2009 10:52 pm

Holy cow that is pretty great. It's amazing how fast this stuff changes. Just 7 years ago you couldn't fine listings online without searching through dozens of different sites. I remember when a Real estate agent could just put a few pictures up and have a short bio. Heck we didn't have websites at all in 1999. i wonder where we will be 10 years from now…
justinmchood on December 29, 2009 5:09 pm

This piece of technology is going to change the way the game is played.

Indexable content on your URL?

Sweet.
justinmchood on December 29, 2009 5:09 pm

This piece of technology is going to change the way the game is played.

Indexable content on your URL?

Sweet.
Jay Thompson on December 29, 2009 8:53 pm

For those following this thread, here's the latest Google crawl stats from the dsIDXpress plugin enable blog:

http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/images/TPREG-Google-crawl.jpg
Jay Thompson on December 29, 2009 8:53 pm

For those following this thread, here's the latest Google crawl stats from the dsIDXpress plugin enable blog:

http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/images/TPREG-Google-crawl.jpg
drewmeyers on December 29, 2009 9:01 pm

Wow, that's pretty incredible
drewmeyers on December 29, 2009 9:01 pm

Wow, that's pretty incredible
Rail Life on December 30, 2009 5:27 am

saawweeeettt. Good stuff Jay. Fun to watch but sucks being on the sidelines… hint, hint Luna…
Rail Life on December 30, 2009 5:27 am

saawweeeettt. Good stuff Jay. Fun to watch but sucks being on the sidelines… hint, hint Luna…
Diverse Solutions IDX for Wordpress | Consistent Clients - Real Estate Marketing on December 30, 2009 6:45 am

[...] of IDX services, has just launched a new plugin for WordPress users. Very cool! Jay over at the Geek Estate Blog goes into lots of detail, and it looks like they’ve really got things figured out (especially [...]
Eric Bryant on December 30, 2009 9:39 am

Jay, great post! I knew that Justin and Bob at Diverse Solutions were putting out a nice product, but this is beyond nice, it's…”powerful stuff”! I have been teaching Agents and Brokers for years about Blogging and the one constant question was…”When will be able to get IDX on our Blog in an interphase that is Consumer friendly?I think we may have found it? thanks for the critique

TheRECoach
Eric Bryant on December 30, 2009 9:39 am

Jay, great post! I knew that Justin and Bob at Diverse Solutions were putting out a nice product, but this is beyond nice, it's…”powerful stuff”! I have been teaching Agents and Brokers for years about Blogging and the one constant question was…”When will be able to get IDX on our Blog in an interphase that is Consumer friendly?I think we may have found it? thanks for the critique

TheRECoach
Harley on January 6, 2010 8:28 am

Whats interesting about their product is that it looks to be almost identical in appearance as another plugin I found on WordPress. They call it WPRealty and all the sites I've looked at show similar results.

Has anyone seen this at all? They have the same exact display of listings in posts and pages as diverse solutions does but they also allow for customization.
Harley on January 6, 2010 8:28 am

Whats interesting about their product is that it looks to be almost identical in appearance as another plugin I found on WordPress. They call it WPRealty and all the sites I've looked at show similar results.

Has anyone seen this at all? They have the same exact display of listings in posts and pages as diverse solutions does but they also allow for customization.
Amy Jones on January 8, 2010 10:06 am

That's AMAZING, Jay. I know it works because I just put in the address of one of my new listings and guess where it showed up at the #1 spot. Hint..it wasn't my website. DRAT. Trumped by Jay Thompson once again. Ok..now where to I sign up?!
Amy Jones on January 8, 2010 10:06 am

That's AMAZING, Jay. I know it works because I just put in the address of one of my new listings and guess where it showed up at the #1 spot. Hint..it wasn't my website. DRAT. Trumped by Jay Thompson once again. Ok..now where to I sign up?!
Walkability – More than a Fad | RealCentralVA.com on January 15, 2010 4:28 am

[...] This is the perfect opportunity to show a little bit of what I’ve been playing with here for the past few weeks. The good folks at Diverse Solutions have been kind enough to let me beta test their nifty new plugin – dsIDXpress – and it’s awesome. [...]
SacramentoBill on January 15, 2010 9:01 am

Hi Jay,

This sounds great. Is that high volume of pages crawled by Google created automatically (for exaple each property page), or did you make pages one at a time?

Thanks
SacramentoBill on January 15, 2010 9:01 am

Hi Jay,

This sounds great. Is that high volume of pages crawled by Google created automatically (for exaple each property page), or did you make pages one at a time?

Thanks
1floridawaterfront1 on January 18, 2010 4:39 am

Jay, you are on it man! If dS can do this and roll it out, that is finally a good reason for me to bump up my IDX vendor.
Jacksonville real estate agent on January 18, 2010 4:39 am

Jay, you are on it man! If dS can do this and roll it out, that is finally a good reason for me to bump up my IDX vendor.
stolman on January 25, 2010 6:39 am

Aren't you the same person who shows up in just about every IDX and WordPress thread asking *ahem* questions about WPRealty?

Just 2 months ago you were telling everyone how awesome WPRealty is in the WordPress plug-in directory. Stay classy WPRealty guys!
stolman on January 25, 2010 6:39 am

Aren't you the same person who shows up in just about every IDX and WordPress thread asking *ahem* questions about WPRealty?

Just 2 months ago you were telling everyone how awesome WPRealty is in the WordPress plug-in directory. Stay classy WPRealty guys!
stolman on January 25, 2010 2:39 pm

Aren't you the same person who shows up in just about every IDX and WordPress thread asking *ahem* questions about WPRealty?

Just 2 months ago you were telling everyone how awesome WPRealty is in the WordPress plug-in directory. Stay classy WPRealty guys!
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