This one is worth sharing and I know everyone has their own rules regarding what they let people see on their sites and whether or not the consumer should sign up to browse your IDX …..yadayadayada
We have tried different approaches to our IDX system on our website. We’ve had it totally available and without sign up requests, and now we have made a conscious decision to include call to action buttons on Miamism.com where the consumer can actually see some information from the MLS, but if they want more, they would have to sign up. Once done, they can choose whether or not to be included in certain campaigns and receive emails from us on a regular basis.
Here’s the deal – our website is our house. We built it, we decide what information we provide, we have a business from it, we own it, we pay for it, we work for it, and we make the rules. If people don’t like our rules they have 3 choices:
- don’t come back
- ask nicely if we will make an exception
- be difficult (can’t write what I really wanted to write for option 3)
Take a look at what someone wrote to us this past weekend (in bold and all caps as if screaming at us):
aT THIS TIME i DO NOT WISH TO SPEAK WITH AN AGENT. i AM ANXIOUS TO FIND THE PERFECT HOME FOR ME AND MY FAMILY AND i WOULD LIKE TO DO MY OWN LEG WORK WITHOUT AN AGENT CONSTANTLY CALLING ME
So let me get this right. This person is visiting MY home and setting rules for me? So because I sell real estate, this person thinks that they have the right to scream at me? (I swear I’m laughing while I’m writing this but isn’t it a bit absurd?) This person wants to use my system, that I pay for and make a living from, but does not want me to contact them?
I’m leaving it here, haven’t decided what to do with it yet.
