Here on Active Rain, and pretty much everywhere REALTORS® congregate, the majority of them don't believe in paying for leads. I realize there are REALTORS® who actually do well with the online lead selling sites. I don't begrudge them for that. We all have different things that work for us.
But after what I just saw, I have to tell this story. At one time, I joined an online lead site that charged me for each lead I chose to accept. After paying for several garbage leads, I discovered that I was not the only agent being charged! When I accepted a lead and payed for it, other agents had also paid for the same lead. Then it was first come, first served. What a racket!
Anyway, I'm bringing this up now because as I was just reading another blogger's most recent post, I noticed it was surrounded by three ads that were deceptively misleading. I clicked on one of them that led me to a generic form where they wanted me to input my personal information. Since I'm not a fan of spam, I had no intention of doing that anyway. But of greater concern was the DIFFERENT company name on the bottom of the page. It was the shyster site I had joined many years ago.
Out of curiosity I clicked on one of the other ads. It was another site attempting to get REALTORS® to pay for online leads.
I'm not going to tell you how to run your business. I wouldn't be so dense as to presume that we will all think alike. But please be careful where you waste, errr I mean "spend" your hard-earned money. Times are tough enough as it is. And with all the advice there is here on Active Rain, from experts on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), paying for online leads is most likely going to be a waste of money.
I apologize if I offend anyone who finds these programs to be worth it. As I said, I don't begrudge you for that. Just make sure you have all the facts.
For more information on SEO, so you can do it yourself without feeling it necessary to pay someone else, try joining the "Blogging and SEO" group. As for particular users who offer a lot of help, Mary McKnight has a LOT of useful information, as does Laurie Manny, and many others.
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