Connecting your CRM to your website so listings update themselves

You connect your CRM to your website through the CRM’s API. A scheduled job reads the listings every day, copies the photos, and rebuilds the website’s pages. New and changed listings appear on the site without anyone copying them across by hand.

What the daily job does

1. Reads every listing from the CRM’s API.
2. Copies the photos to the website’s own storage, and shrinks the large ones so pages load quickly.
3. Turns each record into a listing page, with the fields the website shows.
4. Rebuilds and publishes the website.
5. Sends a report: what changed, and anything that failed.

One record isn’t always one listing

A CRM can hold several records for the same thing. Records that describe the same item are merged into one page. Working out those rules is part of the job, and the CRM’s own data shows what they need to be.

Why the API, not copying from another website

Copying listings off another website’s pages breaks whenever that site changes its pages. The CRM’s API is meant for this, and it holds your own data.

Ask your CRM for API access early

Some CRMs include API access. Others charge for it, or need a special user set up by their support team. Ask early: it decides what’s possible and what it costs.

FAQ

How often can the website update? Daily suits most listing sites. It can run more often, within the CRM’s API limits.

What if my CRM has no API? An export file on a schedule can work. Copying from web pages is the last resort, because it breaks when the pages change.

Can the listings be translated too? Yes. See translating your website automatically.