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Are "Showcase Ads" on Zillow Worth The Money?

Lately, I've received a ton of emails like the one below from Zillow which is promoting their "Showcase Ad" that Realtors (or other professionals in the real estate industry) can purchase.

More of out of curiosity than anything else, I decided to click on the link and create my "ad" to determine what the monthly cost would be...

Creating the ad was pretty simple and it turned out like the one in the example below. So far, so good.

Now that you have a profile on Zillow®, you should know about a creative and highly visible marketing tool called Showcase Ads.

Showcase Ads are:

Targeted - Your ad appears in searches only for ZIP codes you choose
Highly visible - Dominate a ZIP code by choosing a percentage of ad view appearances
Easy to create - You choose your own image, copy and links
Flexible - Cost is based on ZIP code location and percentage of ad views

Create Your Zillow Showcase Ad

Find out more about Showcase Ads

Sample Showcase Ad:

The next step was to identify which zip code (or codes) I wanted to market to and how much exposure I wanted (25%, 50%, 75% or 100%).

Because I live and work in Lake Mary, Florida, I opted to market to the 32746 zip code in Lake Mary.

Based on Zillow's stats, if I wanted just 25% exposure (which equates to 6,000 impressions), it is $97.00 per month.

And so now, I have a few questions

...How many agents can attribute business to having a "Showcase Ad" on Zillow?

...Do Buyers actually search for an agent on Zillow or do they search for homes and the agent is the beneficiary as a result of them having a listing that a Buyer would like to see?

...Would you pay $97.00 per month to reach 6,000 people?

As you might tell, I am sitting on the fence with this one.

I advertise my listings in MLS, REALTOR.com, Zillow, Craig's List, Active Rain, and at least 20 other sites...but the key is, in order to advertise listings, you have to have listings and I'm not so sure that Buyers are going to Zillow to find an agent, but rather, to find a home (or see if the listing price of that home is on target with what the Zestimate says or not)...

Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

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If you are a Buyer who is interested in knowing more about a Seminole County city such as Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Fern Park, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Longwood, Sanford or Winter Springs, contact LaShawn Norden, PA, REALTOR, ALHS at (321) 377-0157 or at LaShawn@LaShawnNorden.com.

If you are a Seller who has a home to sell in Seminole County and values having a marketing specialist with Real Estate license on your side,
LaShawn Norden, PA, REALTOR, ALHS is the expert for you!

LaShawn Norden is the Only Central Florida Native You'll Need!

Posted by LaShawn Norden, REALTOR, (321) 377-0157 Your Real Estate Advocate in Florida on 10/08/2008 05:49 PM

Comments (27)

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27 Comments on Are "Showcase Ads" on Zillow Worth The Money?

OCT

2008

LaShawn, I think it would depend on your market activity. I am a frequent on Zillow and we have sparadic activity - thus, not cost effective for us.

Based on web activity, make sure you are putting your money on Realtor.com first.

Compete.com comparison of zillow trulia and realtor.com

Realtor.com is red

Zillow and Trulia are about the same.

I agree with the previous posts!! I am pleased with having Realtor.com Showcase Listings (for a monthly fee), then I post YouTube videos (free and it helps on search rankings), do the ActiveRain thing (also free and you can post listings which also appear on searches), do some Craigslist (also free and usually appear in the search rankings).

Realtor.com is more widely known than the others. But the decision is yours to make.

La$hawn... I was wondering about this myself. I'm parking here to find out what other members have to say.

Hi, it's David G from Zillow,

La Shawn,

Buyers search for both homes and agents on Zillow but I'll try to give you a few tips for optimizing showcase ads. The ads with the greatest click-throughs are most often the ads that feature homes and the ones that perform the best have either great photos or great offers (or both.) And if you're trying to attract listings, "just sold" ads featuring recently sold listings seem to work very well on Zillow. Ads for Realtors can also perform well but you have to do a good job of differentiating your expertise i.e. "short sale specialist" is a great tag line for your ad but "top 5 Seattle agent" is not going to impress anyone. The important thing to remember is that ad performance will vary greatly according to the ad's design - so plan to tweak your ads as you go and measure the impact (in clicks) of the changes you make. Good luck!

Sandra -

Remember that when it comes to buying advertising it's immaterial how much traffic the site gets - all that matters is how much exposure your ad will get and the quality of that traffic. A featured listing (on any site - including Zillow.com and R.com) does not get anywhere near the exposure that these Showcase ads on Zillow do. The difference is that Showcase ads show up on every page on Zillow in your targeted ZIP code - not just in search results. You cannot buy a similar ad on Realtor.com.

You can get showcase listings on Realtor.com for a lot less money--please check it our.

Tim & Pam~Thank you for the opinion..It's great to have one from someone who is using Zillow more than I am. I do post my listings there...but I have not yet paid for a "Showcase Ad." Do you market your listings there? If so, what has the response been?

Sandra~Love the graph...it really puts things in perspective. Thank you!

Sergio~I have the "Enhanced Membership Package" at Realtor.com...at a little more than $100 per month based on the number of listings I have...it's paid for itself every year I've had it (except this year) and was just wondering whether anyone has had any success with paying for a "Showcase Ad" on Zillow or not, since I am now considering that site as an additional advertising (mining) tool. Thank you for commenting!

Angelia~Yes, Realtor.com has a track record of having the greatest exposure, but unfortunately, this year has not resulted in leads from their site even though I post scrolling text, have virtual tours, write my own description and have "featured" listings...Again, I am just wondering if anyone is gaining business from having a "Showcase Ad" on Zillow...are you a Zillow member?

Debbie~I'm with you. With so many places to advertise (and spend money), I just want to get the highest return on my investment as possible. If Zillow offered a trial for one month, I'd do it...make me a believer, rather than let me spend money without seeing the benefit...gosh, if we were to ask for upfront fees to market someone's home, we'd all be out of business...and yet other companies who sell "advertising" are willing to take our money with no proof that what they are selling is worth what we are paying...some things have to change in this system in order for it to work for me.

David~How about a FREE month for me to try it out rather than charging me upfront? I often wonder how it is that REALTORs offer their service without upfront compensation, but are so willing to give up their own money to "see" if something works. I like the idea of "trial" memberships. It can truly be a "mutually beneficially relationship" if what you are selling actually produces results rather than you just taking my money for one month and me being irritated at the end of the 30 days with no prospects to show for my time and financial investment.

I'll be your guinnea pig. Give me a month (or three) for FREE and I'll be your greatest advocate if what you offer actually results in business. Call me...we can chat about making this a win-win for us both!

Thanks to all for commenting. It's refreshing to see the interaction. For the record, I am happy to spend money to make money, but am not willing to spend money to prove to myself that I am doing "something."

We ALL need to be responsible with our marketing dollars and require our vendors to SHOW US how they can help us to grow our businesses. The key to what I've said is creating "MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL" relationships and I believe that our vendors need to step up and show us that they are committed to what they say by offering to let us "test drive" their service or product before putting our hard-earned money at risk.

HI LaSHAWN!!

With all the freebies that are out there, does it make sense to pay anything. Especially now, when money is a huge factor, doesn't it makes sense to utilize all the freebies? And yes, how many buyers are looking for agents on zillow? Makes sense!

Hi La Shawn, David from Zillow again,

Ha - great negotiating! So, if I buy your ad for you, will you split your commission with me? (I am, of course, joking.)

Unlike the vendors that lock you into long-term contracts, Zillow has made it easy for pros to do a one-month test to figure out if Showcase ads works for them. I know that Showcase Ads work. What I don't know is if they will work for your listings and with your marketing pitch. And I'm not a sales guy so I won't make you any sweeeping promises but I will offer you a deal; if you test Showcase ads anytime in the next month let me know and I will extend the duration of your ad for an additional 15 days at no charge. I hope you take me up on it!

Yvette -

You're totally right. Realtors should take advantage of all the good freebies (but not waste time on the bad ones) before they spend money on marketing. That said, with the market as competitive as it is right now and with struggling pro's cutting their marketing budget, now is exactly the right time to use advertising to differentiate your listings and your services.

Linda -

Please read my previous comment - you cannot begin to compare featured listings on Realtor.com (or on Zillow for that matter) to this Showcase ad product. Featured listings do not appear on every page in a ZIP code like these ads do. You can also buy a Hyundai for much less than a BMW but it's no BMW.

OCT

2008

Lashawn I have run the ads from time to time and although I have never had a call that said I would like to do business with you because I saw your add on Zillow, I thinjk David makes a good point that it is about exposure and people remembering you. If they see your name in enough places you may get a call.

LaShawn - Interesting comment from David. He'd give you free trial if you split commission. Isn't that indicative of the perception of us?

I have used the ads before - never received a call from them. Doesn't mean that I won't do them from time to time but I have found other avenues more useful for me.

Realtor.com has the brand name. The others always have to get in from of the consumers and draw them in. Realtor.com gets them first.

Richard

I have run an add on Zillow for several months but can't say I have received any sales from it as of yet. I'm a big believer in using my marketing dollars on things that generate sales. Currently I spend almost all my marketing dollars using the Homegain BuyerLink program. I capture leads at a rate of around 14% and I convert those leads to sales at just about 5%. This year we are doing around 250 transactions which most came as a result of traffic from Homegain. With that said, prior to doing any program, you need to be sure your website is set up to actually capture traffic and turn them into leads. I would be glad to take a look at your site and give you my feedback. I do that all the time for my members of The eHomes Realty Network. Most of the time I find that their sites are not ready to capture leads. Once I get finished with them, and get them set up with the proper tools, Homegain's BuyerLink is the next step!

There are a ton of ways to generate business on the Internet. The first question you should ask anyone when they pitch you is, give me someone that has made sales with your product. Usually when I ask that question they have a reason they don't disclose their customers. If they dont' have proof, I don't spend the money. Of course if they want to give me the product for free and let me prove it works, I'm always glad to do that...no takers so far!

I am trimming back pay for month services here there an every where and putting one main focus on one site that syndicates me. If you want buyers they want to know you. If you are talking about listings then that's another story. Buyers dont click on someone and say hmm she looks pretty or smart lets work with her, they want to read about you, get to know what you know then they make their decision based on that. Hope that helps.

Yvette~I agree...lots of freebie's out there. I'm trying to be more aware of where my properties are posted and what benefits come from being there...both for my sellers and for me personally. I've not ruled out the Zillow showcase ad, just not sold on it either.

David~Your offer sounds like a fair one...do you find that certain "tag lines" or campaigns are more successful than others right now? You mentioned "short sale specialist," which I would imagine would get tons of hits...I would think that's a good one in any marketplace, but before doing that, I guess I should be prepared to deal with the mess that's associated with that "market" as well.

Bill~I agree. Exposure is good. I just wish I could track it and it would have a proven ROI.

Leesa~ I agree. What other avenues are you finding to be more successful.

Richard~As I mentioned, I am a member on Realtor.com also and pay for the enchanced marketing package...just curious to see if anyone has had success with the Zillow ads.

EHomes~250 transactions this year...damn. Yes, I'd like you to check out my website and tell me how I can get just 100 transactions this year.

Heather~Yes, now is a time when we are all being more conscious of how we are spending our marketing dollars. Since you have sponsored Lake Mary with A|R, do you find that it's been worth that fee also?

Hey LaShawn! I'll take a look at your site and send you an email and a few questions to help me help you a little. I'm sure we can get you going and generating a good revenue stream from your site. I do it every day! Talk to you shortly!

the good thing about slim times is that is encourages us to be more vigilant with our dollars. I knwo i am =0)

chris the implementer

Thanks for bringing up this topic. I too have been curious but with a tight marketing budget it may be difficult to commit to $97 mth.

I've been posting/enhancing/contributing to zillow.com with my listings since the beginning of the year. To date, I have not yet received any inquiries off any of them. I got leads from Realtor.com even when I wasn't a featured realtor. I've been a featured agent on Realtor.com for 3 years and feel it's been the best ROI for my money.

OCT

2008

They all say they can bring the world to your doorstep LaShawn but the truth is we need to be out there anyway we can. Our rankings on search engines will get us there with the AR stuff and other free services. I agree that Realtor.com might be worth the bucks but all the others not so much IMHO.

I have ran the ads in Zillow for 3 months...did not get any deals out of it but got hits to my website. Which I think is due to my listing. The impression cost so very cheap. Not sure what the going rate are.

OCT

2008

7000 people doesn't equal 7000 potential buyers. I'd find other options. Cheaper options.

OCT

2008

Oooh ... love the compete.com graph ... that is awesome! pippa

OCT

2008

I have placed an ad with Zillow before, and it is cheap advertisement (per ad) that will give you name recognition. Name recognition is important and gives you credibility. If you are branding yourself in one particular area, that may be worth it to you.

However, if you are trying to generate leads or sell listings, you should probably put the money to more direct advertising as opposed to blanket advertising. I have placed ads from 12x7 in the mall food court to the little ads on Zillow, and have found that tapping into your sphere is more cost effective and more results have come of it. Have you thought about or are you already doing a monthly mailing program? Brian Buffini has a great one. And it is a little more than what you are spending (about $115/mo) but in my opinion worth every penny. Check out www.buffiniandcompany.com for more info on it. Hope this helps!

OCT

2008

I did the realtor.com zip code campaign for a year and got nothing from it. I would think the zillow would be comparable. Buyers don't search by zip code and when they land on you it is mostly accidental as opposed to them wanting to be in a particular zip code.

NOV

I use the Zillow showcase ads.. i have 3 zip codes going.. they gave me a special price of $99 per month for the 3 zip codes...it is hard to say what you get from them, since when someone clicks on your ad it goes to your website.. zillow does show you how many people have "clicked" through to you though.. i seem to get quite a few... i change my ads about once every 2 weeks or so.. i also do Trulia pro and have gotten several leads from that also. I agree with some other here that it is important to have a website that captures leads for you.. it does no good to get buyers or sellers to your site if you don't capture them.. I average between all my stuff about 60 leads per month.. Hope this helps...

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