Mark Eibner: Hello my name is Mark Eibner, welcome to Broker IPTV, another production of IPTV voice media and today once again we are with Ed Kohler and he is with "Haystack In A Needle" and also the author of Technology Evangelist and Ed welcome to the show.
Ed Kohler: Hi Mark how are you doing today?
Mark Eibner: I am doing great. As usual with our Friday afternoon talk, we are kind of bring up a brief subject for our viewers out there, trying to keep our subject matter under three minutes. Today we are going to talk about or you wanted to talk about syndicating listings to sites like Trulia, Craig's list etcetera, do you think that's a good idea Ed?
Ed Kohler: Well I think its something that lot of people are trying to figure out how to navigate these waters where I think it's a, it's a way to get some free traffic to your site, but there maybe some hidden costs or some that people need to at least understand you know as far what's the playing field of syndication today.
Mark Eibner: What do you mean by hidden costs?
Ed Kohler: Well for example if you know just to make sure what we understand what a syndication is first is where if you are an agent or a broker, you can push your inventory to sites like Trulia or Zillow, Craig's list in some ways. If you do that, one of the costs can be lot of these sites have what its called a fremium service where they have a free level but then they, from there have a lot of step up levels where if you want to have your logo up here or there or exactly how the information is presented on the site some of those are, involves monthly fees to the site, so you know you have to think about that stuff before you push your content out there.
Mark Eibner: Yeah you are telling, ListHub would be, Point2 or ListHub are two products I can think do the syndication out of MLS systems?
Ed Kohler: Yeah those are two very popular ones along the line of programs like that another consideration is if your listing is pushed out to Trulia or some sites like that...
Mark Eibner: Right.
Ed Kohler: If people click back to the original site, which site is it that they go back to, are they going to a Point2 version of your listing or are they going back to ListHub version of listing, maybe your board has a website and people end up there or you have your own website, do people end up there, there is a lot of different places where say Trulia could send people, so you know in most cases I think an agent or a broker is going to have the best chance of eventually closing that lead or that you know turning that visitor into a lead, if they get to them to their own website. So its, its worth understanding how these programs are you know designed so that you are getting what you are expecting to get.
Mark Eibner: So I think good lesson here is people should trace all their listings through these different syndication portals?
Ed Kohler: Yeah I understand that you know if they are giving you something for free there is possibly a reason why you know there is value in them having access to your data and being able to push that data out. So in a lot of cases they know that just a large enough percentage and doesn't even have to be very large percentage but a large enough percentage of people will be willing to upgrade to some sort of a premium service. So if you don't upgrade of course when your listing appears in some of these other websites you may not look as good as some of your competitors you know, so you are kind of in a position where if you are going to be in Trulia or if you are going to be on Zillow you may as well look well you know because what happens if your seller goes and looks at their listing on all these websites and your listings in comparison don't look that good.
Mark Eibner: It's a dog, no photos and the links going over to some RE/MAX office.
Ed Kohler: Right yeah.
Mark Eibner: What do you think the sellers expect this or sellers are even cognizant of this, syndication?
Ed Kohler: Yeah I think its still pretty early for a lot of this stuff I think sellers do understand Craig's List today and lot of sellers will actually take their own listing and create an ad even you know without the knowledge of their agent over ran Craig's list, but Trulia and Zillow while they have been around for a while and of course very well known among real estate professionals, you know when I talk to people about sites like Trulia and Zillow who are in the industry its still a foreign concept to them, so.
Mark Eibner: So interesting ones, I have noticed Zillow, to me Zillow is kind of dropped off the map I don't even hear about them any more.
Ed Kohler: They don't have the buzz they had before, but they are still doing quite well I think.
Mark Eibner: Yeah what about where do realtor listings really belong then Ed?
Ed Kohler: Well I think you know every broker; every real estate agent needs to make up their own mind about where the listings go, everyone has their own strategies for marketing their, their businesses. So my advice is to wherever you can put your listings make sure you look good, so be professional in whatever it is that you do, don't bite off more than you can chew.
Mark Eibner: Yeah right keep your personal and company brand up. Hey Ed it had been great talking with you again, syndication of listings very critical I think to any broker's success in the future appreciate your being with us today.
Ed Kohler: Thanks Mark.
Mark Eibner: And we will see you next Friday and for more great information make sure to keep your browser on Broker IPTV.
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