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Makin' Realtor.com Work For YOU

With the advent of Internet marketing & the prevalence of searches that begin online: how do you to grab attention amidst the crowd?

According to HitWise, below is a list of the top ten most popular real estate websites:

realtor.com
realtytrac.com
homegain.com
rent.com
remax.com
realestate.yahoo.com
zillow.com
apartments.com
ziprealty.com
move.com

Realtor.com leads the pack with a 8.8% share while the second place site, realtytrac.com (a site that deals exclusively with foreclosures) only has 3.7%.

Realtor.com's supremacy is no secret – a cursory google search reveals that sellers are well aware of this and many demand realtor.com exposure (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080705091014AALGGtf)

What makes Realtor.com especially attractive (and overwhelmingly popular) to online viewers is that they don’t have to sign up to look at the listing details. This feature also makes it tougher for you to track & capture the leads that your listing on Realtor.com has garnered – so, how do you overcome that?

Give the viewers what they want – Information.

You can do that by several different ways:

-A “Showcase” account which can be pricy (depending on which brokerage you’re working with) but allows for 25 photos and additional verbiage.

-Or for a $20 fee you can post a link in the virtual tour field – this gives you a practically unlimited canvas to grab the viewer’s eye.

Many realtor.com viewers filter their searches to include only those listings with Virtual Tours or additional photos. It’s important that the attention you attract is positive since some forms of exposure (http://www.visualtour.com/applets/flashviewer2/viewer.asp?t=1349114&sk=16) repel viewers instead of attract them.

The newest version of PicturePlans addresses this issue by including a custom text description (200 character limit) for every one of the unlimited photographs that’s included with each package.

How do you use Realtor.com to attract attention to your listings? What tools are the most effective on Realtor.com? Or, if you hate realtor.com, which websites have you found to be more useful?

Til nex time,

-E. Kim

Posted by Max Eydelman on 08/04/2008 08:45 PM

Comments (9)

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9 Comments on Makin' Realtor.com Work For YOU

AUG

2008

My brokerage has all associates signed up for showcase listings; I never receive calls on my listings. I don't know why. What I like about the feature is that I can send my clients a report showing how many 'hits' the listing has had.

Kim, I have my listings enhanced on Realtor.com and I like that I can post all my open houses on their. I don't like that I can't tell where or if any leads are coming from there. I do get a monthly report on my listings of the number of views and thats it. Thanks for your input.

So, can anyone here tell me why that when I list on the MLS and it goes to Realtor.com that all my lead's go back to my broker and not to me? I have changed everything I can on the MLS to reply to me...Is this right???It frustrates me, why, if we are independant contractor's do all the lead's generated go back from Realtor.com to the broker. We are all independent contractors...is this fair or even legal?

Karen, I hope that's not true...Now you're making me wonder. I'm going to have to test it now. do you have a premium profile with your picture in the column next to your listings?

AUG

2008

We have been using the showcase listings feature for several years. It is a great listing presentation tool. We use all of the features, at least 20 photos for each listing, virtual tours, scrolling marquee, Heading, open house.

Dalia - Do you usually ask new prospects how they'd heard of you? Maybe some of the people to whom you'd sold your listings first learned of them on realtor.com, and than contacted you through other means. Also, this may be realted to how your listing looks compared to other listings on realtor.com - what kind of marketing do you usually do?

Kevin - glad to hear the open house feature works for you. What do you typically use that "hits" report for?

Karen - it may be because your broker's branding, and not yours, that's prevalent on your listing. Do you have your contact info in the property description? (though this may be illegal in some MLSs)

Bartley Group - I think you're right, the more info you put on realtor.com, the more results you reap.

-E. Kim

OCT

2008

Good info! Realtor.com is a great place to spend your money to market your listings I believe. HomeGain - I don't know but it seems like we are getting fewer and fewer leads these days.

I don't know if it's a result of trraffic patterns but surprisingly we get far more traffic by having our listings at Craigslist than realtor.com

JUN

A Form ARS regarding Move, Inc. has been filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. To view this filing, please click here

5 of those websites belong to realtor.com/move,home gain,rent.com,apartments.com.move.com

wake up and smell the coffee

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