The Best Tools to Integrate with Your Real Estate Website—And How to Optimize Them
You’ve heard it a million times, but it bears repeating: your website isn’t there just to look good. It’s there to bring in business. Without the right tools and integrations in place, your website may as well be an expensive screensaver.
In the same vein, plenty of agents see tools like CRM and lead capture as things to simply check off a list, but they’re incredibly crucial to your success. You just have to make sure that you're using them to their fullest potential.
Let’s take a closer look at the best real estate tools and integration strategies for your website.
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Table of Contents
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Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A CRM helps you keep track of your leads and clients. It’s your digital Rolodex but smarter. When your website is connected to your CRM, new leads are automatically stored, organized, and assigned. This means faster follow-up, fewer missed opportunities, and less manual work for you.
A CRM automatically captures and organizes leads, helping you follow up faster with less effort.
Common CRM features include:
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Collecting lead info directly from your website
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Contact organization
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Automatic emails or texts
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Notes, call logs, and communication history
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Task and appointment reminders
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Tracking where each lead is in the buying or selling process
Why it matters:
Without CRM integration, you’re most likely to waste time and effort—yours or your staff’s—on manually triaging and importing data from contact forms or property inquiries.
Expert Tip
Use your CRM to build trackable funnels.
What’s one benefit of CRM that is severely underutilized? According to Bernd Rennebeck, Agent Image’s Chief Technology Officer, it’s funnel optimization.
“Funnel optimization is really the foundation for building a pipeline that scales. If you aren't doing this, you're leaving money on the table, period,” Bernd says. “Remember: if someone inquired on your website, regardless of the inbound funnel, that's a high-intent lead.”
How to do it:
Once your CRM of choice is properly connected to your website, start setting up dedicated funnels for each of your marketing channels. For example, link your social media posts or paid ads to curated landing pages on your site. You can even add a property-specific URL to your open house flyers.Not sure how to build out funnels in your CRM? Our team can help you connect the dots and make sure everything flows the way it should.
Agent Image websites are compatible with over 30 CRM platforms, including Follow Up Boss, Hubspot, Boldtrail, KW Command, Lofty, LionDesk, and RealGeek.
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Internet Data Exchange (IDX)
IDX tools allow you to show real-time MLS listings directly on your website, so visitors can search for homes without leaving your site.
Here’s what IDX does:
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Show live MLS listings with full property details
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Add filters for price, location, and home type
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Create one-click searches by buyer or area
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Capture leads through alerts and inquiry forms
Why it matters:
Without IDX, your site is mostly informational. With IDX, it becomes interactive and provides visitors with real value while helping you capture serious, high-intent leads.
Expert Tip
Use IDX saved searches to guide different types of buyers.
There’s a behavioral phenomenon called analysis paralysis. When a buyer is faced with too many choices, they become overwhelmed and unable to decide. The same could happen to buyers looking for properties online. So, the more curated your search options are, the better.
IDX turns your site into a home search tool with live listings and built-in lead capture.
Use IDX to create one-click saved searches tailored to specific buyer types in each area you serve. What’s available for young professionals without kids? Families who need good schools? Someone ready to downsize? Where’s the luxury market? When your IDX is organized around what buyers are actually asking, then your site becomes a valuable resource.
“Some stores are more successful than others because of curation, taste, and knowledge of the market,” says Ace Hain, Senior Web Marketing Strategist at Agent Image. “For example, Nordstrom is known for their high-end brands. They don't sell anything and everything—instead they curate the selection of products they feature. How are you curating properties to better serve your market?”
Agent Image is partnered with iHomeFinder and IDX Broker to provide seamless MLS integration for your website. We can also connect with your IDX provider of choice.
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Lead Capture
More than offering something of benefit to your visitors, tools such as home valuation forms and landing pages are crucial tools for collecting information on potential customers.
Why it matters:
These tools give visitors a reason to take action. When done right, they can be the stepping stone for turning passive visitors into actual paying customers.
Expert Tip
Find the right moment to ask for a lead.
One common mistake agents make is setting up lead capture that's too aggressive—forcing registration too early can drive visitors away. On the flip side, some agents don’t follow up at all, letting valuable leads go cold.
The key is to strike the right balance: use lead capture settings that prompt visitors to register after a few property views or searches (most IDX providers offer this), and then make sure you have a follow-up system in place.
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Live Chat & Chatbots
Several of our top-performing clients use live chat not just to answer questions, but to build trust in real time. Live chat tools allow you to engage website visitors in real time or automatically respond to common questions. Many, if not most, live chat tools today also come with AI chatbot features.
Common features include:
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Chat pop-ups
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Offline forms to capture visitor information
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Canned responses
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CRM integration
Live chat and chatbots do the talking, even when you’re not there.
Why it matters:
Not everyone who visits your website is going to fill out a form. A live chat is an alternative avenue for gathering information on potential leads.
Expert Tip
Set up your tech to work together.
If your chat tool integrates with your CRM, make sure you’re saving those conversations so you can follow up later with context. Even short interactions can turn into solid leads when handled well.
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Social Media Feed Integrations
Many agents ask whether they should focus on their website or on their social media. We say both—and you can even connect them and allow each platform to support one another. A direct social media feed is one of the simplest and most effective integrations to set up.
Why it matters:
It keeps your site feeling fresh and gives visitors a peek into your personal brand and current activity.
Expert Tip
Keep your brand message consistent across platforms.
Integrating your social feed is simple—but to get the most value from it, make sure the content you’re sharing aligns with your brand and speaks to the audience you want to attract.
“Our system makes it easy to integrate social media feeds from various platforms. You just need to connect your Meta account and pick the page you want to showcase on the site,” says John Corpuz, head of Product Development. “For YouTube, you can even create a playlist that we can showcase on a dedicated page.”
This kind of setup ensures your site is always showing recent, relevant activity—without requiring constant updates. Just remember: if it’s on your homepage, it should reflect the quality and tone of your business.
Want your Instagram or YouTube feed to appear in a specific spot? We’ll place it where it fits best with your site design and audience flow. Talk to an Agent Image expert to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, if your CRM is integrated properly. Once connected, your site’s contact forms can automatically send lead information into your CRM for faster follow-up.
Yes. If you’re not sure how to connect your tools, Agent Image offers support from our Digital Strategists to help set everything up properly—you don’t have to figure it out alone. We’ve created over 27,000 high-performing websites, so we can likely implement whatever functionality you need.
Many platforms offer free trials or demo versions so you can test their features and compatibility with your website before making a commitment. With Agent Image, you get a full team of expert developers specializing in plugin integration who can guide you through the installation and testing process.
Yes, you can typically change or remove integrations as your business needs evolve. Make sure to review the documentation for each tool to understand how to do this without disrupting your website’s functionality.
Yes. You can launch your website without IDX and add it later. Another option is managing listings through Agent Image’s AIOS Listings feature, which lets you manually upload listings to your website through a built-in and customizable property module.
Some third-party tools may have their own subscription fees, but connecting them to your site usually doesn’t cost extra unless it requires custom development. Agent Image Digital Strategists can advise on any costs upfront.
Make Your Website Work For You
Agent Image gives you a high-performance website, powerful tools that grow with your business, and a dedicated team committed to your success—the complete package.
Call us at 1.800.979.5799 or click here for a free consultation.
