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A Look At The Top (and bottom) Performing Ads On Zillow

By Sara Bonert

Services for Real Estate Pros with Zillow

August 06, 2009 05:15 AM

Zillow makes money by selling ads on the site. To be a successful media company, you need to make sure your customers are making money from their ads. To help our customers do this, it is important to look at what the best performing ads look like, and the lowest performing, because ad content is crucial to performance. Actually, these findings can apply broadly to any advertising campaign, not just those on Zillow.

If you take one thing away from this, here it is - LISTING ADS PERFORM A LOT BETTER (in terms of click thrus) THAN AGENT HEADSHOT ADS.

Observations from the Top 50:

100% of the ads were of listings
45 of 50 of ads were an exterior home shot, 3 were interior, 2 were aerials
42 of the ad mentioned a specific area (neighborhood, city or addres)
8 central messages revolved around Short Sale, Foreclosure or price reduction
2 were Open Houses ads
0 photos were renderings, all were actual photos
0 ads promoted a specific person, business or brand
22 of the ads have a specific price in them
7 had a phone number on the ad
50 of the photos were taken on a sunny day

Observations from the Bottom 20

18 Of the ads were promoting an agent/broker/brand
1 had no photos (and no clicks)
1 had some type of call to action on the ad
To protect the innocent, I'll just type the more popular tag lines from these ads:
- Buying or Selling?
- Let's Make It Happen!
- Greater [City] Expert
- [State] Specialist (you specialize in the whole state?)
- Call For Results
- Buyer Rebate
- Luxury Living
- I'll Get Your Moving
- Need Perspective?
- Local [Large City] Expert (would be more effective if neighborhood name was used)
- 31 Yrs Selling Experience
- Certified Mtg Planner (does JoePublic know what Mtg is?)
- ..and the most common No tag line - Just company name

The Top 50 ads on the site this week:

In case you aren't familar with Zillow Showcase Ads, they are zip code targeted ads that can be updated at any time. Here is a page on Zillow to read more about Showcase Ads and get started. If you want to get an idea of cost, you can call 1-866-324-4005 and one of our marketing consultants will be glad to give you a local quote, as prices vary depending on much traffic your area recieves. The marketing consultants would also be happy to consult with you on creative, whether you are a new or existing client.

If you are a visual person, please watch this video with more information about how the ads work:

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John DL Arendsen

CREST "BACKYARD' HOMES, ON THE LEVEL General & Manufactured Home Contractor, TAG Real Estate Sales & Investments - Leucadia, CA

Crest Backyard Homes "ADU" dealer & RE Developer

I have often thought about advertising on Zillow, however, I only want to spend my advertising dollars on sites that allow me to post blogs about our niche which is mobilehome and manufactured home foundation inspections, installations, retrofitting and repairing and providing the required engineered certification, affidavit of affixture, 433a documentation that is required to get a manufactured home financed on private or resident owned land.

I have contributed to several of your discussions on the topic but they only allow a very scant amount f information. Active Rain allows, accepts and encourages very comprehensive posts which allow us to get our message across in detail. This topic is a very confusing topic to most RE and Mortgage agents and brokers so the more information you can provide the better. Is there a way that we can post comprehensive blogs with photo's and video? If so let's talk advertising because we offer our services nationwide and we certainly have the advertising dollars to spend.

Thanks,

John DL Arendsen

CEO: ON THE LEVEL Contractors

onthelevel@cox.net

800 909-1110

Cell: 760 419-3635

Aug 08, 2009 02:40 AM

Sara Bonert

Zillow - Atlanta, GA

Real Estate Internet Marketing

John- It is tough to compare ActiveRain to Zillow, because we aren't a blogging platform. We do have Zillow Answers. So I think your best bet is to find questions people have asked about your area of expertise and answer them. You can sign up to be alerted when there is a question on the site that matches your topical internet. Here is a video on how to best use Zillow Advice- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tbf3QnfEGk. Any advice you leave will link to your profile page, so make sure that is completely filled out. You can include all kinds of information and links (that are followed) in the marketing text. Finally, you could use the ads as a teaser with this information and link it over to where people can find more information. That may be your best bet.

Aug 08, 2009 02:52 AM

Catherine Chaudemanche - Edison & Central NJ

Metuchen Keller Williams Elite Realty / Middlesex County, NJ - Edison, NJ

Full Time, Informed and Involved- Results Driven

Hello Sara, I have a profile on Zillow and sometimes use the "start a discussion" feature. Unfortunately, I had very bad experiences. I find a lot of people commenting on Zillow (real estate pro and non-pro) to be very negative or plain insulting. It is my unfortunate experience and it is being shared by other colleagues at the office. Very low comments quality overall versus other sites such as Trulia. It reminds me of a free for all anonymous forums. Sorry about providing this feedback... Cathy Chaudemanche

Aug 08, 2009 04:48 AM

John DL Arendsen

CREST "BACKYARD' HOMES, ON THE LEVEL General & Manufactured Home Contractor, TAG Real Estate Sales & Investments - Leucadia, CA

Crest Backyard Homes "ADU" dealer & RE Developer

Admittedly I'm a blog and social-networking newbie let alone a computor guru. So many of the nuances and buzz words you folks toss about everyday is way over my head i.e. "teaser" "link over" "link back", etc. I will watch the Youtube link. Is that the proper way to refer to it? Not being facicious I really need a "neophite course" in all the nomenclature to be brought up to speed. I'm 64 years old today and all 5 of my grown children and even some of my grand children are way beyond me.

Aug 08, 2009 06:03 AM

Sara Bonert

Zillow - Atlanta, GA

Real Estate Internet Marketing

Catherine- When professionals get spammy, you're right the community can turn on the poster. When professionals answer questions in a helpful way, the community can be very thankful.

ActiveRain and Trulia both have blogging platforms, which is essentially a way to broadcast any information you choose. The Zillow Advice is a question and forum platform where people ask questions in hopes of getting helpful answers. When they are helped, they are likely to take the relationship offline, at least that is what we hope happens.

I took a look at what you are doing in Zillow Advice. It seems most of your contributions are broadcasts of information. For example, asking the question "how to get the best price in NJ" and then answering your own question. Basically cutting and pasting a blog post isn't how a forum is typically used, and users can backlash against this.

I would encourage you to find questions that people are asking in your area, and answer those with same type of information that you are broadcasting. Because the information you are sharing is really good, it just can be percieved as a bit spammy since you are basically answering your own questions.

Aug 08, 2009 07:15 AM

Sara Bonert

Zillow - Atlanta, GA

Real Estate Internet Marketing

John and Janis- Well, if you want to learn, you've come to the right place. Active Rain will help you out tremedously! My advise is to just take is slow. Don't try to learn everything about every social media site at once. Pick one a week, get your head around it, and then move on to another one the next week.

Really, the idea around social media and internet isn't too different from concepts you have used in your every day life and with tranditional media. You should still treat people the same as you would in person. Just the technology has evolved with how you do this. Good luck!

Aug 08, 2009 07:19 AM

Brian Madigan

RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage (Toronto) - Toronto, ON

LL.B., Broker

It is interesting to see how well the simple straightforward ads do, particularly compared to sel-promotion ads.

Brian

Aug 08, 2009 07:51 AM

Lanre-"THE REAL ESTATE FARMER" Folayan

Samson Properties - Bowie, MD

I don't make promises.I deliver results.SOLD HOMES

Sara you gave me some great suggestions that will help me when I upgrade my Zillow profile. Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend. Great post.

Aug 08, 2009 08:04 AM

Trent Cluley

Jasper, GA

Now there's news I can use! I love data. Most of it's pretty logical, Marketing 101 stuff, but we somehow seem to forget those lessons. ;-p

Your comment responses are pretty enlightening too . . . thanks.

Aug 08, 2009 08:37 AM

Bruce Brockmeier

Internet Marketing Consultant to REALTORS® - Yorba Linda, CA

Coached By Crouch

50 of the photos were taken on a sunny day

Thanks Sara,

Fascinating information!

P.S. With your sunny day observation, I must ask you one question. Were any of your Top 50 ads from Seattle? :)

Aug 08, 2009 12:10 PM

David Henke

Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc - Newtown Square, PA

Realtor, Homes Just West of Philadelphia PA

Great info. I always wondered what would work best here. Thanks

Aug 08, 2009 12:27 PM

Robert T. Boyer

FHA Loan, VA Loan, Jumbo Loan,FHA Loans,VA Loans,Jumbo Loans - La Jolla, CA

San Diego Real Estate & Mortgage Loans, Ph.D. | VA Home Loan

This is an excellent break down. Thank you. So, how about that Sunshine in Seattle question?

Aug 08, 2009 01:28 PM

Roland Woodworth

Blue Cord Realty - Clarksville, TN

Blue Cord Realty

Sarah: This is pretty interesting.. I bookmarked this for further review.

Aug 08, 2009 04:09 PM

Patty Luther

RE/MAX Rock-n-Roll Realty - Lewiston, ID

Lewiston ID Real Estate, Idaho-Washington

good information and thanks for all of the ideas and information! and the nice smile Sara! PattyLuther

Aug 08, 2009 04:10 PM

Christine Donovan

Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA

Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

I hear over and over again that consumers are searching houses not agents, so the numbers make sense.

Aug 08, 2009 04:25 PM

Sara Bonert

Zillow - Atlanta, GA

Real Estate Internet Marketing

With regard to the sunshine... not sure of the geographic location of these? Maybe I should look into that...

I heard Seattle hasn't had a shortage of sunshine lately and in fact many are longing for some rainy days right now!

Aug 08, 2009 04:43 PM

Anonymous

Benito

Hi, could it be possible to get a break of states clicking? Thank you. Benito.

Sep 17, 2009 04:06 PM

#23

Anonymous

Benito

I mean States, such as california, arizona, etc, etc, etc.

Sep 17, 2009 04:07 PM

#24

Sara Bonert

Zillow - Atlanta, GA

Real Estate Internet Marketing

Benito- The content of the ad will determine click thru rate more than the location. But it is important to know the click potential, when is dependant on how much traffic the area is getting. Click on this link to visit the self serve advertising section of Zillow- http://www.zillow.com/advertising/Agent.htm . When you go thru the ad buying process, we are clear about the traffic in the area, because this determines how much the ad costs.

Sep 17, 2009 11:33 PM

Todd & Devona Garrigus

Garrigus Real Estate - Beaumont, CA

Broker / REALTORS®

I'm going to try a listing add in 2010. Gotta know how well, or not so well, it works!

Dec 18, 2009 01:53 PM