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Real Estate Marketing on Craigslist?

By Karisma Olson

Real Estate Agent with Reece & Nichols

March 09, 2008 12:28 PM

What's everyone thinking about promoting their business, services and homes for sale on Craigslist?

Recently I was talking with William a virtual tour provider with Market Media, LLC and somehow the topic of marketing on Craigslist came up. After some debate and more information, I did a little research in my area as to who was using it for real estate and just how they were doing it. Since I am a Realtor and a virtual tour provider, I talked to a top producer in my office that I work closely with and create all her tours and asked her how she felt about it and if it would be ok if I used some of her listings to try it out. She was very excited about it and said that she had tried it before but that it was just too time consuming for her to keep up with. She also stated that she didn't know how to link her tour to it and wanted to know what I would charge her to do this for all of her listings. Hmmm.... does that mean there's possibly another avenue of an untapped market?! Things that make you go hmmmm.

Anyway, after a little effort and a few mistakes- my first ad I unintentionally posted in "real estate services" versus "real estate for sale;" I finally figured it out, placed my first ad and have been very happy with the results! Which is another great thing about being powered by Real Tour Vision- Tour Track 2.0. It has updated tracking technology that can report not only the number of hits your virtual tour is getting but where it's coming from and when! I just posted my ad yesterday afternoon and in less than 24 hours the tour had already gotten 29 hits, with 28 of them coming from Craigslist. That's almost 50% of the hits that I've had in the past 10 weeks, in one day alone! If that's not exposure, I don't know what is! See the results for yourself.

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William McCauley

marketmedia,llc - Lawrence, KS

Told ya so..... As for my high end clients, they use postlets to send their ads to there and a few other like minded sites, so I don't have to do the work, other wise I would charge a fair amount for my time, like 75.00 an hour type fair amount. ;)

P.S. your up to 35 hits now...:)

Mar 09, 2008 02:05 PM

Karisma Olson

Reece & Nichols - Kansas City, MO

Thanks for the advice, the blog subject and the comment- not to mention the update. See- isn't that great?! Plus, I haven't seen any other form of tracking that comes close. I can't wait to share this with all my vt clients and prospects.

And as an FYI- since posting, I've also received an email inquiry that saw the ad wanting more information....

Mar 09, 2008 02:25 PM

Max Douge

Exit Realty Enterprises - Frederick, MD

Karisma... I'm a big fan of CL also. There are so many people who use CL that you really have a great chance of being seen, and that's evident from your results. Check out the group, Marketing Using Craigslist, and share your information. Thanks.

Mar 10, 2008 03:44 AM

Melanie Powers

Powerhouse Tours - Shelbyville, KY

Powerhouse Tours

I just posted my first listing in Craigs List last week. I am also a realtor and tour provider so I am constantly looking for other ways to market a property. Mine got a flurry of hits on the first day or two. The seller was thrilled. I need to find what to do to refresh my listing to get it to the top. I have tried simple updates but with no success. If anyone knows how to do this I would like the info. Thanks for the topic Karisma.

Mar 10, 2008 08:06 AM

Melanie,

As far as I can tell you have to relist it every couple days, however I plan to visit the group Max Douge was kind enough to link in his reply with the hopes of learning more people who use the CL. There might just be the info we both seek in that group.

Mar 10, 2008 02:20 PM

Lori Reece

L. Reece Photography - Denver, CO

Denver Virtual Tours & Photography

When I am using CL for listings, I save the html code that I use (too highlight, bold, etc) certain items and just cut it paste it in. I delete every seven days and reload a ad the same day. I have had two listings sell from the CL ad--folks saw it online doing search for the neighborhood name that they saw and I have had one of my buyers find her home on CL and ask me to see it. I always use the four picture option and have the nice graphic that says (see tour here) to link to the virtual tour.

Although it can sometimes sell the house, I think the real value is in having the agents info out there for every listing he/she has. There are many prospective sellers out there looking at all the options and to have them see your name, number, etc repeatedly has value!

Mar 19, 2008 05:28 PM

Ben Nunes ~ Photography & Virtual Tours

New Tour Era, Inc - Atlanta, GA

I just find it absolutely amazing the amount of traffic my tours have been getting the past month. Trumping Realtor.com and MLS/FMLS here in my market area. It's too bad you can't cross-post to different cities. I tried to do that with this $2million listing, to attract out-of-towners, but with no luck. Seems Craigslist looks down upon that sort of thing :-(

Mar 22, 2008 02:58 AM

I'm not sure about posting in multiple cities, but that would definitely be helpful! Especially with such a nice listing! Imagine, people might be coming from outside that particular city?! Let us know if you find anyway around that.

Mar 25, 2008 10:29 AM

Paul Jones

Kansas City Regional Homes - Olathe, KS

PIC Properties - Kansas & Missouri

Very interesting post. I just thought about putting my listing on CL. I also am going to try to post my open houses on CL.

Jul 28, 2008 02:38 PM

Real Estate Marketing on Craigslist?

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