There is no doubt that mobile phone web browsing has become ubiquitous with the rise in smartphones. Since we started adding real estate websites to our list of products we’ve noticed that clearly 10-20% of visitors to our clients real estate websites are from mobile solutions. The mobile devices may be an Iphone, android phone, blackberry or even tablets such as the Ipad or Android based tablets like Samsung’s Galaxy and Toshiba’s Thrive. Of course their is no real difference in viewing our clients real estate website on a tablet as the resolutions of those devices render the full website just as you would see it on your desktop computer. It’s those mobile users that needed an optimized version of our IDX real estate property search that caught our attention and we’ve come up with a solution.
Mobile IDX Search for Smartphones
So to get started what we thought would work well is to offer our clients a specific IDX search optimized for mobile. We’re making a huge assumption here, but chances are we’re probably correct in our thinking and that is, if a visitor to your website is using a mobile device they are mainly interested in searching for properties. Chances are they have some time available on their hands, for example sitting in a doctors office or waiting to pick up the kids from school. There are all kinds of studies and statistics that back this up. So why not be one of a handful (or the first) in your area to offer an optimized real estate property search for your clients and prospects?
So here’s what we have to offer to get you started.
All of our website clients that have a full real estate blog website will get this feature added for free. Until the end of the year we’re offering all of our existing IDX clients for a one-time installation fee the ability to add a mobile IDX search and then pay no more than their standard idx monthly or yearly fee. As long as you remain a client you get the mobile IDX search at no additional cost.
Facebook Page IDX Search
Plus, were going to throw in an optimized IDX search for your Facebook page. If you don’t have a Facebook page but are planning on adding one at some point you’ll get this option added when you’re all setup. See an example of an IDX Facebook search, click on the link on the left that says Property Search demo and don’t forget to like us when your there.
FREE Domain Hosting
If you want to have a mobile only website all you have to do is purchase a domain name (go here to register your domain name) and we’ll provide free hosting again for as long as you remain a client. You can purchase a .com or a .mobi domain or whatever you like.
Capture Clients with a QR Code in your traditional advertising.
You’ve seen QR Codes in advertisements popping up all over the place. A QR code (short for Quick Response Code) is basically a matrix barcode that users of smartphones scan and are taken to a website for more information. In your traditional marketing pieces, postcards, newspaper, magazine advertising, sign riders, flyers in your yard sign brochure are a great way to get potential prospects that have smartphones to quickly scan that code and arrive on your mobile optimized site.
If you have a smartphone, go ahead and scan the code below. The QR code is programmed to send the smartphone user to Mason Real Estate main website, but by adding a small bit of code to their site the visitor is automatically taken to the mobile version.
QR Code Used in Traditional Advertising
Getting the Mobile IDX to work with your existing website
As far as implementation goes there are a couple of options you have available. If your existing web design company will let you, we have a 4 line bit of code that needs to be added to the <head> section of your website. Don’t worry your webmaster will know what to do with it. If your webmaster isn’t able to add this code (don’t get me started on why they wouldn’t, I’m talking the big national web vendors here), then they should be able or even you could place a graphic in the header or on your pages that will link to the mobile version. It’s as simple as that.
Future Enhancements
We’re just getting started, so we have a lot of coding to do to get all the areas we have clients in converted. So as you decide this is something you want to do, we’ll start coding out your area as quickly as possible.
As we gain a better understanding of what your clients expect and you receive feedback from them we’ll start to add additional features and of course we’ll create different looks, so as we roll those designs out, you’ll be able to switch to a different design at any time. If you have a smartphone and don’t mind receiving SMS messages we can easily add a button to the details page so a prospect can text you about that specific property.
Don’t have a Smartphone and Want to See a Demo?
I’m guessing that not all our clients have smartphones To see what the mobile version looks like in your desktop browser (ok you have to pretend you have a small 3-4″ screen when you do this) goto http://www.masonrecolorado.com/mobile/index.html If you have a smartphone simply enter in http://www.masonrecolorado.com and it should automatically forward you to the mobile version.
Let’s Get Started
As always, if you have an specific requirements, or have suggestions please don’t hesitate to contact us.
To get started simply contact Ammie Thomas at 719-547-7969 and she can give you all the details.