Hotsheets Library and Creating Hotsheets

What is a Hotsheet?

A hotsheet is a shortcode that displays listings on a specific page on a website. The hotsheet is linked to a specific search from the Search Library and the hotsheet will only show listings from that specific search. Hotsheets are typically used for Community/Area/Neighborhood pages, as well as showing featured listings for an agent or office. Hotsheets can be used on any page of a website.

Hotsheets Library

The Hotsheet Library can be found in your IDX Control panel, under the Hotsheets tab. Once a hotsheet is created, it will live in the Hotsheet Library until it is deleted.

There are several components to take note of in the Hotsheet Library:

• Search Bar: Allows you to search for a previously created hotsheet within your hotsheet library
• New Hotsheet button: The button you can use to create a new hotsheet
• Name: The name of the hotsheet that you set when you create the hotsheet. This is sortable by ascending and descending order
• Search: The name of the search linked from the search library that the hotsheet uses to pull the listings it will display via the shortcode. This is sortable by ascending and descending order
• Shortcode: The shortcode that is generated based on the name of the hotsheet, accompanied by a Copy button to use to paste the shortcode embedded a WordPress page
• Created: The date the hotsheet was created. This is sortable by ascending and descending order
• Actions: This is a hamburger menu with three actions:
  • Edit: Allows you to edit the hotsheet
  • Preview results: Allows you to preview the listing results only. If you want to see how the hotsheet will visually look, please copy and paste the shortcode to a WordPress page
  • Delete: Deletes the hotsheet. If the hotsheet shortcode you deleted is embedded on a public WordPress page on your site, the shortcode will cause an error

Step 1: Create a Search

Visit this article to learn how to create a Search.

Step 2: Create Hotsheet

There are two ways to create a hotsheet:

• You can create a hotsheet by clicking the blue ‘New Hotsheet’ button from the Hotsheet Library, as shown below.

• You can create a hotsheet from the Search Library by clicking on the actions menu next to a saved search and clicking the New Hotsheet option, as shown below.

Hotsheet Settings

There are several settings available for creating a hotsheet:

• Hotsheet Name:  This step is important!  Naming the hotsheet is important for easy reference and troubleshooting later.  A Hotsheet Library could end up having thousands of hotsheets, so it’s recommended to be specific in your naming convention and follow these guidelines: 
  • You are unable to save the hotsheet without a name
  • Be sure to create a unique name for your hotsheet.  You will receive an error if you attempt to create a second hotsheet with the same name 
  • Avoid non-code friendly special characters (such as &, *,‘, etc), these will break the shortcode
  • Be sure to remove any additional spaces at the end of the hotsheet name, as these will also break the shortcode
• Search: You can click into the Search field and see a list of all previously created saved searches: the search you attach to this page will determine what listings are shown in the hotsheet
  • When creating a hotsheet from the Search Library, the search will already be pre-loaded here
  • Alternatively, you could click the blue ‘Create New Search’ button to create a brand new search
• Display Options:  Choose Grid, List, or Gallery.  The Gallery option can also auto-scroll through listings. Visit our demo website for examples of each.
• Limit Results: Select how many results are initially seen in the hotsheet.
• Link to Full Results: This allows the ability to click a button to see more than what the Limit Results featured.  You may want to hide this if you are trying to highlight specific listings on a page
• Custom “See All Results” Button Text: The words “see all results” can be customized (Example: “See All Boca Raton Homes”)
• Show Map:  Determine if you want the map box included in the hotsheet
• Click the blue ‘Create Hotsheet’ box at the bottom

Step 3: Embed Hotsheet

Now you have created a hotsheet! Use the blue Copy button to copy the shortcode and paste it onto the appropriate WordPress page, where you want the listings to be displayed.

Updating A Hotsheet

Once you embed the shortcode, you won't need to touch it again unless you wish to make changes to the display or the search results. The listings will automatically update on their own as the data feed is updated.

To edit the display of the listings, navigate to the Hotsheets Library and using the actions menu for the corresponding hotsheet and select the edit option.

To display different listings on that hotsheet, simply go to your Search Library and edit the underlying saved search; your hotsheet will automatically update to show the new listings.

Want a step-by-step guide that shows you how to build hotsheets that will rank on Google? Click here for an in-depth guide that will show you exactly what to do.

You can also watch video instructions of this tutorial.