Industry Expert Encourages MLSs to Consider Point2's Consumer Search Portals
Saskatoon, SK, Canada (PRWEB) July 24, 2013 -- With two REALTOR® associations having already gone live with new real estate search portals powered by Point2, these consumer-facing websites have gained the real estate industry’s attention as an innovative alternative to other solutions on the market. Independent real estate technology reviewer Matt Cohen, named one of Inman’s top 100 most influential real estate leaders, is encouraging Multiple Listings Services (MLSs) to take a close look at Point2’s new and exciting service.
“The Point2 solution is on-par with what the big national publishers are offering to the consumers – in fact, it is in some ways superior – and it’s better than almost all of the MLS and agent websites out there today. If you are with an MLS, it’s certainly worthy of consideration,” advised Cohen.
In June, the Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS® (GEPAR) launched a brand new website powered by Point2 to provide both El Paso real estate agents and homebuyers with an enhanced listings search experience. This month, it was the San Francisco Association of REALTORS® (SFAR)’s turn to go live with its own fresh website featuring San Francisco homes for sale and rent.
In his review of the SFAR site, Cohen shines the spotlight on a couple of key points that make Point2’s solution a great alternative to more expensive custom websites on the market:
• The website is “feature rich” and is almost completely customizable;
• It’s offered at no charge, and the MLS doesn’t have to syndicate its listings through Point2;
• The design is mobile-friendly so the website can be accessed on any mobile device;
• The interface, search options and the optimization for search engines are very much up to par;
• Consumers can get access to more than just listing information – property reports offer “generous amounts of public record data” and “incredibly functional maps”.
Among the areas that can still benefit from improvement, Cohen mentions:
• Integration of neighboorhood and lifestyle information better into the search flow
• A ‘my REALTOR®’ option that can be used as a channel to communicate information to agents;
• Social-shopping capability;
• Including a listing-level drill-down option in the reports that are sent to track traffic and leads.
All in all, Cohen pointed out that although “Point2 is doing everything it should technically,” MLSs can improve website rankings though a series of link-back and other search engine optimization (SEO) actions. To help MLSs gain more visits and higher rankings in Google and other search engines, Point2 has developed a step-by-step SEO guide that will be included in the new portal package.
About Matt Cohen
Matt Cohen is Chief Technologist at Clareity and one of Inman’s top 100 most influential real estate leaders. He has over 17 years of experience in real estate technology and has served as an analyst for many MLSs in the US. More information about Cohen is available at http://www.CallClareity.com.
About Point2
Point2, a Yardi® brand, provides listing data aggregation and syndication solutions to MLSs, associations and boards in the United States and Canada, as well as real estate marketing and lead management software to brokers and agents worldwide. Point2 also owns and operates the real estate consumer search portal Point2 Homes. More information about Point2 products and services is available at http://www.Point2.com.
Saul Klein, Point2, http://www.point2.com, 858-737-2703, [email protected]
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