Google + Maps + Real Estate Search = No IDX Required

There are three things I really love; maps, Google and real estate, so when you combine all three in a super-easy-to-use marketing tool and customer resource, you couldn’t make me much happier than RealBird did when they rolled out their map-based property search this week as part of their insanely affordable Pro-Member benefit package (read the Press Release).  The search pulls from Google Base, so your options are expanded beyond what you can get from your local IDX.  You can created unlimited searches to embed into blogs, post on Craigslist and Backpage, post on your blog or website, etc. in several different formats, from full page to tiny widgets, it’s your choice.  As far as I know, RealBird is the only provider of customizable Google Base fed property searches.

SEE IT IN ACTION HERE OR JUST SCROLL DOWN

Some Ideas for Using RealBird’s Map Based Property Search:

• You can really target long-tail keywords by embedding a map of listings into your community blog posts.
• You can use the keyword search in the RealBird search to hone on on specific property characteristics (ie equestrian, gated, lakefront, etc.) to provide specialty niche searches
• You can create targeted searches (ie city and price point) then post those searches on Craigslist, Backpage and Kiiji (this works VERY WELL)
• You can have a specialty site, like Susie Blackmon does at Horesalicious.com and post searches across the whole country and then build a referral business from those leads that you receive  (I am personally convinced that you can build an entire referral business just using this tool alone, right from your home office and a $99 Pro Membership)
• Easy to use embedded social media shareability

You are limited only in your creativity in how you use this map based search.

Special Extra Features:

• The search pulls from Google Street Views and even Google Earth, so where available the consumer will get an street view as one of the main images of the property.  This allows them to look at the property (especially helpful when no pictures are posted) as well as up and down the street to get a view of the neighborhood.
• The viewer can click on list view in one stroke and have the list embedded right in the map (Genius)
• The viewer, once on the map, can then change the criteria, should they prefer other search parameters
• The user interface is very easy and intuitive so you don’t worry about the user becoming confused and clicking off site
• The search is very fast
• It is SEO friendly, especially for long-tail hyper local searches (even the Craigslist posting titles have been indexed when I post links to my RB searches)

Note:

The data is pulled from Google Base so there are pros and cons of using a Google Base search over an IDX search. Use it instead of your IDX search, in conjunction with it (depending on use) or use it where IDX is not available.  RealBird has a built-in disclaimer on your site notifying the viewer that data is from Google Base, so you don’t need to worry about adding that.  The search shows where the data came from, but the contact information for more information is yours.