Why Do Home Buyers Use Zillow and Trulia?
This is a great post and so true. In Fairfield Glade TN there are so few agents who have their own websites that folks have to go to Zillow or Trulia to search for a home in Fairfield Glade. Now that we have RE/MAX offices in both Fairfield Glade and Crossville, they can go into any of our agents websites and also our company websites and search for homes in Fairfield Glade and Crossville via the IDX (Internet Data Exchange) and they'll find the most current and up-to-date listing information available in the Multiple Listing Service.
You can also search for property in Fairfield Glade on the RE/MAX International website and the RE/MAX Tennessee site too...Free & Fun!
Why Do Home Buyers Use Zillow and Trulia?
Have you ever stopped to think: why do home buyers use Zillow and Trulia?
What do home buyers want? They want to have access to listings. Buyers use sites like Zillow and Trulia because, they believe, they'll find the most accurate and up-to-date listing information available.
As real estate agents, we know the information isn't always accurate or up-to-date. We try to communicate this to buyers whenever we get the chance. Why then do they continue to use these sites? Did you ever stop to think that we may not be providing home buyers with what they need?
Do you have an IDX home search feature on your website? You'd be surprised to hear that many agents in this tech-savvy age don't have an IDX search on their site.
I was recently looking to add a website to my on-line arsenal. As part of my research, I visited a lot of real estate agent's websites. I was surprised at how many sites I visited did not have any home search feature at all. Really?
What do you think would happen if I went to Amazon to search for a book and there wasn't a search feature. Instead, I got a message to call a sales agent for assistance. Do you think Amazon would be the mega-seller they are today? I think not.
We are in the business of selling houses. Our product is the current inventory in our respective area.
If we don't have that product prominently displayed on our site, visitors are going to go elsewhere. That somewhere else is Zillow and Trulia.
By not providing home buyers with what they want, real estate agents are pushing them to use these other sites. Websites that don't always have the most accurate information.
If we want to prevent buyers from using these sites, then we need to provide them with what they most desire, a home search feature.
I have been closely monitoring a new website. It's only been up for about three weeks. I check Google Analytics daily to measure my traffic and keywords.
I was surprised to find that the feature receiving the most clicks is my home search. You might be surprised to learn that 32% of my visitors are using that feature. The advanced search feature is only being used by 3.1% of the visitors. That is incredible.
The home search feature is the most used feature on my entire website. I fully expect this number to rise as more visitors find my site through the Google SERPS.
Why do home buyers use Zillow and Trulia? Because real estate agents aren't providing buyers with what they want.
Are you going to be part of the problem? Or part of the solution?
************************************************************************************Tammie White, Realtor® in Franklin TNCell Phone: (615)495-0752This posting and the contents written here are the intellectual property and opinions of Tammie White of Benchmark Realty LLC.
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