I use craigslist, ebay, elevate, p2a, my own website, AR, topix, and a couple of others.  The only ones that seem to produce leads (in order) are craigslist, ebay, my own and AR

Monica - your experience matches the industry norm these days for print marketing.  Just think how many more web leads you could generate with the reallocation of dollars from print advertising

We always ask where our leads come from - but now started writing them down and most DO come from the Internet.  We are trying homes.com, condocompany.com, coldwellbanker.com & floridamove.com (these are exclusive CB sites), yahoo real estate classifieds, craigslist, trulia, our own website.  We are finding most lead coming from our own site as well as Realtor.com

I have actually generated quite a few leads that have turned into closed loans by looking for free advertising sites.

I agree fully!  Internet leads is where it is at!  Friends don't let friends drink and do print ads! LOL! As far as other sites, I only used my site and perhaps Realty.com.  Since IDX and broker reciprocity, that is the lions share of marketing a listing on the Internet.  There is a major caveat to placing listings on the Internet.  I know this is the latest thing to do in real estate, but just because everyone is doing it means it is smart.

I beleive there was a case in Ohio several years ago where a home was sold via the Internet.  Yet even after the home was sold and closed and the new owners moved in...people were showing up at the door to buy it.  To make a long story short...The new owner tried to stop this - I am assuming with the real estate commission with a fine - the new owner sued criminally and won!  So instead of a nominal real estate commission fine, the agents / broker were prosecuted and convicted of knowingly keeping listings on the web that were closed for purposes of attracting new buyers...and of course not caring how it affected the new homeowner.  It is my understanding the damages was in the millions.  BTW E & O Insurance does not cover fraud. 

So that is why I the only place I post sites are through IDX, Realtor.com

That is my story and I am sticking to it!

Jim Crawford

Jim Crawford

I've seen some of our hosted listings get 2x the traffic from realtor.com as an MLS board site. A good portion of the traffic comes from craigslist, too.

I just wanted to say THANKS to all who replied on this Topic. I have been a bit under the Weather for a couple days and normally I would address each comment personally but I am pooped for lack of a better word..LOL

Moni C

Hope you feel better Monica.

Internet leads are the number one source for us. Prudential our company site and Prudential via the Yahoo portal attracts a lot and I have used Craigslist and was surprised how well that has worked. Our number two top lead generator is sign calls. More people driving around than ever before. So go out and get those listings.. make sure they are priced right and they will sell.

Internet, pressing the flesh, prospecting fsbo's, and sign calls.

I have gotten many very expensive leads from print ads too.  

Ww get a good portion of our business from the Internet. We have a FSBO website that generates a lot of business, we post on Craigslist and have many websites.

Monica, I just emailed you a referral for your area! Make sure you add it to your list :)

Shannon Moore

What publication are you advertising in? Maybe you should try The Digest of Homes. Do you have a website? Maybe you should do an ad that also drives traffic to your website. Just a suggestion.

 My clients tell me that they get great response from their advertising in The Digest of Homes. I have lots of testimonials!

Also, it's important to remember that buyer calls are only one of the reasons to advertise in print.  You also want to advertise to satify your Sellers, to get new listings and most importantly to get name and face recognition.  In such a competitive profession you want to stand out to be "above the crowd". Right?

Besides that you probably have old friends and acquaintances who might not even know you are in real estate until they see you in an ad!  ;0)

Besides that you probably have old friends and acquaintances who might not even know you are in real estate until they see you in an ad!  ;0)

<Giggle> Thanks for reminding me Heather!

EVERYONE, Thanks so much for the replies! They are much appreciated!!

I thought you would like that!! :0)