"Distribution vs Destination"
"It's in the MLS, right?"
That was the number one question from Indianapolis area sellers - in 1990! Just like today's seller, they wanted to ensure that their listing was visible to every potential buyer, and the local MLS was the single place that published listing information. Every month the book was printed and distributed to real estate agents. If your home was on the market it was "in there". If not, it was nearly invisible to everyone.
But it's 2009 and the MLS is no longer published in a book -- it's progressed to the internet. Yet many seller's still ask "I'll be in the MLS -- right?" Isn't that still the all important destination for listings?
Think about it. Is the local MLS site the only property search on the internet? Is it the only one that potential buyers visit? Absolutely not! That's why it's so important to not only post listings to the local Indianapolis area MLS, but also more than 65 other websites that online visitors may frequent. We find that distribution of your listing to many sites on the web trumps leaving it on a single destination that an online looker may or may not visit. Nearly 90% of buyers begin their search on the internet. You want them to find your home, wherever they're looking!
Is 65 enough? No! We are constantly on the lookout for other internet avenues where we can market our seller's properties. We find that the more venues we use to find buyers, the better the results. Here is a sampling of the sites we distribute to today. Some of them will be familiar, others you may have never heard of, -- but buyers out there are using all of them!
Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors' property search website and although the search capabilities may not be as technologically advanced as many other sites, MIBOR.com is a beginning search point for many buyers when they enter the local market and they'll find all of our listing. As they continue their home search, many move onto other sites with more features and ease of use such as those below.
Craigslist is a local classified website with a worldwide reach, currently in 700 cities spread throughout 70 countries. They are ranked 7th highest in the world for number of page views with 50 million users in the US alone. People may start looking for a used sofa, but next thing you know, they're checking out real estate too! We realize significant clicks back to our website with each new listing posted on Craigslist.
Realtor.com is the world's largest real estate database of homes for sale and the official site of the National Association of REALTORS. It's a Buyer favorite for ease of use and the sheer number of listings -- over 3 million properties from all over the US, pulled from nearly every Multiple Listing Service in the country.
Homefinder has 2.5 million listings on their home search site through relationships with over 140 online newspapers including the Indianapolis Star, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and Newsday Long Island, just to name a few! Participating agents can choose to advertise at different levels. All of our listings are upgraded to the "Enhanced Platinum Package" which means they contain special features like unlimited pictures, virtual tours and are posted at the top of each page of search results.
Active Rain is a social network and marketing platform for real estate professionals. It allows us to develop business relationships with agents around the country sharing the latest industry updates in addition to connecting with consumers through blogging. We regularly post articles on a variety of real estate topics plus local area content and of course feature all of our listings. Active rain ranks very high in the search engines, sending "goggle juice" to our website -- providing more exposure for your property.
Localism is an online blogging platform where neighbors and local real estate professionals connect to talk about what is happening in their communities. It's part of the Active Rain Community in which we are members and proudly participate. We post listings, price adjustments, open houses and other local area news on a site your neighbors frequent.
PerfectPlaceForYou is our team website which provides real estate information for both buyers and sellers and features the best real estate search technology we've seen -- and we've done a lot of research on this! Investing in this state of the art search brings more buyers to our site and keeps them there! It also allows us the added control to place our listings at the top of every search results page, providing higher visibility and more "on-line showings".
IndyChats is our team blog. We author articles about local community events, real estate news and provide extra exposure for our clients by including blogs about new listings, price adjustments, open houses and other interesting information. This blog drives traffic back to our website ensuring more exposure for our listings.
Facebook is one of the most popular and fastest growing social networks. All of our listings are posted on our new Hoagland Group Real Estate Consulting Business Page and we network with many clients, prospects and other agents through our personal pages as well. Send us a friend invitation!
Twitter is an engaging micro-blogging services that allows users to send out short messages known as "tweets". All of our blogs, including new listings, open houses, etc. are posted on twitter.
CallCarpenter is the home website of our brokerage firm, CallCarpenter.com offers quick and easy searches for homes throughout Central Indiana. All Carpenter listings received the enhanced Guided Tour feature.
Backpage.com is a group of local community classified sites operated by various local media outlets including newspapers, radio stations, and television stations.
Trulia is a well known site and a popular place for many buyers to begin their real estate search. They offer a content rich, intuitive experience that directs viewers back to our website for more details on the listings we post there.
Topix is the world's largest community news website and has a proven record of high Google rankings. You can search for news on national or local town level. Topix also monitors and ranks 25,000 blogs and we are excited to have recently been selected to add ours to the list!
RELOHomeSearch is an exclusive service of the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, the #1 family relocation network in the country, of which Carpenter, and more than 600 other top local companies around the world participate. Together, these local firms produce more than any national franchise and all of our listings are included on their excellent Real Estate search and community research website. That means more out-of-town buyers for your home.
HomesAndLand.com combined with Homes & Land magazine reaches a large, qualified home buying audience with more than 1.48 monthly unique visitors.
Homes.com is one of the nation's top online destinations for real estate listings, with a database of nearly one-million homes for sale.
Point2Agent is a neighborhood based search which is provided through our website hosting company, Point2, designed to generate traffic and leads back to us. Our listings are also populated to other Point2 agent's personal websites putting your property in front of more buyers.
Check out other marketing solutions the Hoagland Team uses to "Capture the Eyes of Buyers"!
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