Some interesting ongoing debates...throughout the blogosphere...people seem to STILL feel contempt towards the big dawgs...you know REALTOR.com.....Zillow and Trulia....
A question was posed to me...why send them to these places when they should be hitting your site...the point is CONSUMERS should be hitting your site...no debate here BUT when I think of what we do as listing agents...our job is to market listings to anyone and everyone and if that means its not your site? It's bad and wrong????
- To give a seller a fighting chance with global exposure from various places...selecting high traffic...known sources of where real estate buyers and sellers hang out regularly. It's bad and wrong?
- You mean to tell me if a buyer showed up because of REALTOR.com you would not want them? You would pass that buyer along because they did not come from your site?
- Real estate is a numbers game and will always be a numbers game..and sometimes the numbers on your site...are not as big as the exposure a real estate seller really needs today. Face it sometimes your site is just not enough especially if you are providing a true service for real estate sellers by marketing their properties to anyone and everyone.
- If you play your cards right...and create your own social web...by connecting the dots...meaning...connecting all of your social media together...with the center point being your site....more than likely the consumers will end up on your site.
- Most social media outlets allow for your web site to be promoted..including...REALTOR.com, Trulia and Zillow.
Oh...the vanity!
The way I view my services is the fact...I will market your listing to anyone and everyone...I offer global exposure...I use my online marketing...without considering my personal feelings...without being biased..but more along the lines of neutrality...
If you are new or your business is not where you want it to be..or you have a few listings that you can't seem to shake...re-examine what you are doing online. Be careful to who you listen to...your business may be different from someone else's...what works for one online may not work for all. Do yourself a favor.....
Don't let ego get in the way...of SOLD!
Midori Miller is a licensed Florida REALTOR, BK645709. Proud member of the Daytona Beach Area Association of REALTORS and trains real estate agents. Midori is also an Activerain Ambassador and is a real estate copywriter/SEO writer for International Web Media.
Excellent advice Midori. Part of our job as a listing agent is to give that home exposure and we have think "big picture".
Great points! It IS a numbers game - more exposure can only be GOOD - and Don't let EGO get in the way! Beautifully said. Cheers!
Midori - Good insight. I market all over, but I watch the return on investment. Many of the high-fee sites don't provide the return.
When one of my listings is uploaded to my personal website, it is automatically sent to Zillow, Trulia, and all the rest. What is most important to my sellers is that their homes get sold. It doesn't matter "where" the buyers come from. Just that they get there to find the house and buy it!
Hi Midori. I don't care where buyers find my listings, but my sellers and I care that they are SOLD. Whatever we do to drive buyers to our personal websites or idx so that we can "capture" them, is great, but we need to market as fully as we can. After al, we don't know where those buyers are looking until they call us! --Sara
Well said, isn't it our job to get the listing sold? The more people that look at ot the better chances you have!
Hmm. I agree that we should do all we can to get as much exposure as possible for our listings. BUT, I don't like the fact that the "big dawgs" frequently have erroneous information due to the way they choose to pull our listing info. I'm sure you know that Realtor.com is constantly providing completely inaccurate data! And it reflects poorly on us. So I admit, I harbor so resentment toward them for all the times they've made my job more difficult, by doing whatever THEY want, with MY listing data. After all, I'm the one who has to answer to the client!
Great thoughts and I always post my listings myself or go to the sites you mentioned to make sure they are correct and presented the way I intended. Hope that helps Lisa above. Our website also syndicates our listings and I use RealBird as well to make sure they are correct!
Hi Midori. So many great ways to market these days, and so many new things going on at NAR with RPR, etc. Exciting times, and monumental changes in the works.
Very nice point ma'am, I have always thought that it was our job to get the sellers property sold and should promote it accordingly.
Midori - I agree with you ! We market our properties everywhere as well !! It is exciting. We have enhanced services at both Zillow and Trulia. However, cut back on the enhanced services at Realtor.com as the return was just not there over the years. Our favorite site is of course our own site, so yes a little vanity for www.thesomersteam.com .
I've been thinking of the shotgun v sniper rifle approach for a little while... Which is more effective? I think it depends on the target.
Great post Midori.....Thanks for allowing me to re-blog!
www.pamricherson.com
Lane, makes an excellent point - abou the target. This is a great blog, Midori.
You should so not care...if it was the nosey neighbor's sister in law, the blog, the Realtor.com, postlet, website...there is no such thing as "over exposure".....sales is a "the more the merrier" kind of activity...just do it !
Midori --- nice post with good information --- I don't see how there could ever be too much promotion of a listing.
