For better purposes the title should really be
“How to setup Showcase Widgets and Saved Searches in the new IDXBroker Dashboard“
As this post and video are going to focus on just 2 things…
- Creating new Showcase Widgets, and
- Creating new Saved Searches (they call them “saved links”)
Let’s start out with the good/bad. IDXBroker changed their dashboard. Is that good? Is that bad? meh. They simply moved the icons and menu bar that were at the top of the page to the side. The meat of the site (that stuff in the middle of your screen in white) still stays the same.
Did that ruin your day? C’mon we’re all better than that. We can overcome someone moving our cheese right?
Now, I do have a small issue with the width issues but that might be fixed in their new version. Let’s move on to the topic at hand.
THE SHOWCASE WIDGET
Let’s start with WHY. Why do you need to or want to create a new Showcase Widget?
IDX is so much more than just allowing your visitors to search for homes. You can use it to generate interest and leads. Do you have a community page on your site? Let’s say you live and work in Sunny Acres. You might have a page devoted to all things “Sunny Acres” – heck your website might be “Sunny Acres Living“. On that site or page you might have content that shows people what it’s like living in the fabled Sunny Acres. You might have market stats, pictures, blog posts and with the magic of a Showcase Widget you can also show them a snippet of current homes available in that area! That’s pretty cool, right? That’s the why. Setting up a Showcase Widget is something you do once and then dynamically the page is always going to be updated with the most current info.
CREATING A NEW SHOWCASE WIDGET
First let’s log in to your IDX Broker account. If you are logged in I can give you a quick and easy URL to get you there. https://middleware.idxbroker.com/mgmt/widgets.php
Navigation is simple. On the left side click on DESIGN then WEBSITE, then WIDGETS. Easy Peasy.
Next, see the top right side? If you are like me, part of your screen is not showing but there’s a small button that says “Create New“.
PS: I’m on a 13″ MacBook Pro and this is the one thing that I don’t like about the redesign.
Click that button. Now for ease, in this example you’ll want to create a new Showcase Widget (but there are others). I choose the Custom Search and then the Advanced Search (watch the video at the bottom for why).
Next pick the parameters that are important to you, make sure it has an image, click the Responsive radio button, Name it something that makes sense to you (only you see this), set the remaining options and build that widget!
You’ll be given the script. Copy and paste it or go build a new one. Either way, they’ll all be saved for you back in the dashboard.
Finally, add them into your page. If you are using the Block Editor choose a new block for Custom HTML and you are all set. If you are using the Classic Editor, switch your view to TEXT (as opposed to Visual) and drop the script where you want.
CHEERS! You’ve done it! Now let’s build the second half of the matched set…
THE SAVED SEARCH
Ok, they call them Saved Links but I’m still going to use what I think is the better term. Let’s start with the WHY again, shall we?
You’re pretty sharp. I know you noticed the radio button before you saved your widget and you are now thinking, “Mike, why not just click that little button there? That way I wouldn’t need to create a matching Saved Search.“
My answer is that you could… But let’s be better than that. You see, we’ve just given the viewer a tease of what’s available in the area. That might be the most expensive homes, the newest, whatever you chose in your creation. No doubt, we’ve got them salivating for more.
That “All Results” is going to create a small, inconspicuous link at the bottom of the Showcase Widget. Instead, why not have a nice big Call To Action Button that shows them everything instead?
Does that make sense? Good!
CREATE A NEW SAVED SEARCH
Creating a Saved Search (Saved Link) is going to be similar to creating the Showcase Widget. You’ll probably want to use the same parameters you used before.
Start by navigating to DESIGN, WEBSITE then at the bottom of the list you’ll see the misnamed “Saved Links” or heck you could just go to https://middleware.idxbroker.com/mgmt/savedlinks.php 🙂
Create a new one in much the same way. There’s one caveat though – use thought in naming your Saved Search as the title will be visible and determines the URL. For obvious reasons you might not want to name it “Who would ever want to live in that pit called Sunny Acres” – not that you ever would. 😉
You can also do a lot more with a Saved Search. You can play around with metatags and description, you can add content to the page, and so much more. Remember this is the page that you’ll be sending them to when they click that big Call To Action Button.
TL:DR; LET’S JUST WATCH THE VIDEO
Now that was pretty easy, wasn’t it? Come on, go ahead and say it. You know you want to. 🙂
PROTIP:
This is just the tip of the iceberg. You can setup saved searches for every possible combination. Like?
How about …
- 3 Bed / 2 Bath Homes currently for sale in Sunny Acres $400,000 to 450,000
- and 3 Bed / 2 Bath Homes currently for sale in Sunny Acres $450,000 to 500,000
- and so on and so on… Each Saved Search is a separate page that can be indexed by Google. Each page is something that you can link to from your main Sunny Acres page. Each page is automatically and dynamically always up to date with the most current information.
This video and it’s instructions have been inside each of my client’s WordPress dashboards for a while now. If I built your site, it’s there!
Speaking of which… isn’t it time for you to have a properly built site?
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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