Before you object, we agree that the destination of a majority of your site visitors will be your IDX search page. That's where they want to be, so it's their destination. Only you can make it a guidepost or waypoint on the way to your destination, a transaction and commission. You can't do this with just any IDX solution though. There are some features you'll need in order to move an IDX search page visitor to a relationship and two-way communication.

Contact Information Capture

A comprehensive IDX solution will offer several ways in which to entice a search visitor to give you their contact information, name and email at a minimum. Of course, there's the "required registration" approach. It's considered by many to turn away visitors if you require registration simply to do any searches.

However, if you offer other incentives, such as the ability to create a custom saved search, and to get email alerts about new listings and information changes for listings matching the search, it's going to be received well. When a visitor likes your IDX search area, they'll be likely to register to save their favorite listings. The best IDX solutions will offer other goodies for registration, such as the ability to share their favorites with their friends.

Search Activity Monitoring

If you got the first part right, you'll get that name and email address. That's great, but if you sit on that information and do nothing with it, you're wasting a major opportunity. Sure, you can send them some emails, but there is a better way. The right IDX solution will allow you to monitor the search activity of your registered users.