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The Real Estate Web Blog
Filed under: Real Estate Web Design
— admin @ 6:09 am
Time and again REALTORS ask this question: Should I use a VOW (require registration before search) or an IDX (search first ask questions later) type site?
It depends on 5 factors:
1.) How well does your site develop a sense of trust with visitors in the first 7 seconds?
- The more trust you can develop, the more likely you can get consumers to register. Whatever you use IDX or VOW, you need to sell the idea that it’s the best one in that moment.
2.) What does your competition have and how quickly can your site’s visitors click the back button and find a competitor?
- How will consumers find your site? Is your competition a few clicks away? Keep that in mind when deciding to go with an IDX site or VOW website.
3.) How are you marketing the site?
- TV and radio advertising can allow you to use a VOW by eliminating the “hit the back button and go to the next competitor” trend. By exclusively channeling site visitors to your specific site, you have an opportunity to capture more visitors who would otherwise be able to go somewhere else.
- Search engine (Pay-per-click [PPC] and Ad Buys) are best suited to IDX. It’s too easy to lose leads if 2 clicks can get them to your competitors IDX site. Users know when they click an advertised “Sponsored site” and judge you accordingly. They had better be impressed in the first few seconds of visiting your site. Otherwise, no trust and on to your competitor. Click click, bye bye.
- Search engine optimization (Regular search results) are best suited to IDX, but VOW’s may apply if under the right circumstances. Users have been proven to convert at a higher percentage when visiting sites found in the major search results as opposed to “Sponsored/PPC sites”. You have a little more trust before the user even gets to your site. But wait, don’t get too confident, it only buys you a few more crucial “first seconds”. If you use a VOW you still have to sell the idea that registration before searching is a good idea.
- Print advertising is all about how exclusive you are in the consumer’s mind. It’s also how much trust they can develop that motivates them to put the publication down and visit your site. For example: If you’re in a weekly real estate book with several other competitors, a real estate IDX site may be your only hope. IDX could actually be a selling point if any of your competitors require registration before searching.
4.) How do you plan to handle your leads?
- If someone registers on your site are you able to followup within 15 minutes? 30? more? Fast response times solidify consumer trust in a world where another real estate agent is close by. If you use a VOW site, you’re likely to do more qualification by phone. If you use IDX you’re allowing consumers to “find a property and qualify themselves” which tends to work better for those who are already busy or do not have a qualification assistant/staff.
5.) Does your MLS/Association actually have a VOW policy and offer true VOW data?
- True VOW data is closer to (or sometimes the same as) the actual MLS data itself. If there are data columns in your MLSes VOW/MLS feed you need, that are not available with IDX, you might want a VOW. Note: The majority of MLS/Associations don’t have an actual VOW policy.
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