Anyone using WIX for websites??

[Joel Owens]

Looking at it for a redo of my site possibly.

[Francisco Nieves]

Hello, Joel.

I have used wix.com in the past for real estate. Do you have properties to list? If so, I don't believe they support an IDX feed yet. 

For all other things it works really well. I created my other company's site using it. Check it out...

www.myturnmediagroup.com 

[Connor Dunham]

Any website "service" supports html/php/MySQL. You generally just copy/paste the code for your idx application... Squarespace has a good feature for this called markdown.

[Robert Patrize]

Originally posted by @Connor Dunham:

Any website "service" supports html/php/MySQL. You generally just copy/paste the code for your idx application... Squarespace has a good feature for this called markdown.

 This is true, but it won't be mobile friendly. I just went through this and decided that wordpress is by far the best option giving all the additional features.  

[Dash Siva]

Happy New Year to everyone!

@Joel Owens

Did you decide on wix or another company? What has been your experience thus far and are you ultimately seeing lead generation and conversion? 

Regards,

D

[Joel Owens]

Das I went with a commercial real estate web company for my website. Happy with the result so far but I want to do more things with the site for 2016.

[Roger Rustad]

Wix isn't bad for those who need something quick and dirty.

Once you get some experience with websites, you'll likely need some of the flexibility that a solution like Wordpress offers. Plugins there such as Formidable Forms give you just about everything you need for collecting leads, and then using that tool, you can integrate it with SMS tools like Twilio and automation tools like Zapier (which can auto put that in your CRM funnel for your broker team to follow up on).

[Simon Shih]

I used Lead Propeller. One of the BP members created it with BP and it works great. I had my site up and running in one night. 

[Roger Rustad]

Joel Owens , did you end up using Wix? If so, free or paid version?

[Roger Rustad]

For $99, Unbounce does all of Lead Propeller. Couple that with Zapier and Twilio and it is much more extensible IMO.

[Joel Owens]

I went with a specialist commercial company and it was a fair amount of money. I do not have time to work on sites. I want to tell someone to do it and have it done in an expedient manner. 

[Asad Noorani]

@Joel Owens Looks like we are in the same area! Can you pm me details on the company you used and the rate?

[Joel Owens]

Jordan Lipsey is who I use.

[Kevin William]

DIY website builders like Wix and Squarespace can create simple, nice visual websites. Remember these services are built for the masses so you're not going to get any functionality specific to real estate (other than dropping in simple html embed codes that a third party provides).

If you want a true IDX integration, I'd suggest going with Wordpress then hooking up with a third party IDX provider such as IDX Broker. I've worked on a number of IDX powered wordpress sites and they can be very effective if setup right. In this situation, you'll pay for Wordpress site / hosting (or you could do it yourself) + a monthly IDX fee to the third party IDX provider.

IDX providers can sometimes have limitations for commercial real estate folks simply because CRE listings are typically not isolated to the local MLS. Listings can be in a number of places so the properties pulled via IDX are usually only a subset of what is available.

Still, the true value of IDX integration, in my experience, is on the lead generation side. IDX is the best way to generate leads off a real estate website (individuals looking to browse properties).  

[Ray Dipasupil]

Software engineer & web developer chiming in. Wix & Squarespace are both good. Highly recommended & they do have the SEO tools that can be utilized. However, at the end of the day, to rank higher in search results will always require quality content. Easy to make static websites nowadays as everyone & their neighbor has one but to create quality content that resonates with your audience, now that's another ballgame in itself. HQ content will always make your website stand out. Case in point: BP.

[Ben Giordano]

Agreed on DIY tools for simple projects -- def gets a bit more complex when you want MLS IDX integration. We have done quite a few projects on WordPress and our IDX of choice is Diverse Solutions IDX: $99 setup plus $29/mo.

The best part about it is that it works with the majority of WordPress themes out there so you can really plug/play it with your design and then just tweak the CSS if needed. Would def recommend this route if you want a more robust MLS experience.

Hope this helps :)

Ben