Advertising your Listing Online and Off .... What has worked for you?

Hello, Lexa-  as a HUGE ebay fan (I love the vintage jewelry, and sell under gempanache occasionally) I would suggest that you NOT post listings there.  While one would think that the exposure is great, it isn't a go-to for something such as real estate.  If you look at the listings, there's not the normal presentation, it seems odd, and has demonstrated undocumented limited success.  It's great as a hobby area, but in this ebay users opinion, not appropriate for an "item" as expensive as a house.  Just opinion.

Forget about the traditional RE advertising model - local news, mag's etc. Those are for once in a while and when you do open houses. They are far too much money and don't give or get you enough bang for your buck. The way to go is to get involved in your own web site address and secure your domain for 5 years at a time. Learn about the correct content to get hits and start putting in (your website) onto every flyer, your business cards, your locat advertising when you do it and drive the business to it. We are an internet driven society and statistics say 80+% of people are looking on the internet 1st to do business. I believe that information is years old and it is now in the 90th percentile. GO BIG on marketing you on the WWW

Sincerely,

Michelle Haney

Realtor, Notary Public

Keller William Realty Yuba-Sutter

www.GotLandForYou.com

Welcome to the business Lexa!   I think you are off to a good start with vflyer etc.  I've never done the e-bay thing so can't contribute much to the discussion there.  The latest statistics say that a buyer is 400% more likely to find you on the internet than in print advertising.  I do a limited amount of print advertising but only to keep the seller happy. I'd love to drop it altogether.

I actually do pretty well on realtor.com with their enhanced listings.  Beware of their featured listings program though - it is not worth the money.

Congrats on the listing Lexa and welcome to the business!  I totally agree with Linda above.  She is dead on in reference to the print advertising is really just to please the seller.  I also utilize in reference to open houses too.  Vflyer's are great especially to add listings to Craigslist.  If you aren't familiar with that site...you should become so.  www.craigslist.com and search your state.  There is a real estate section for real estate sales and also a seperate section for services.  I post homes for sale in the sale section and I also post ads every now and again for business.  I see the hits to my website skyrocket each time I place an ad on this site and the best part is...it is FREE!  Realtor.com is also a great place to get a good bang for your buck.  The enhanced listings are a great way to spend money...well worth it.  When you are going on listing presentations and can show sellers the difference with how their house will look with just about every other agent and then what it would look like with you and enhanced listings...priceless. 

 Good luck to you and I am sure you are well on your way to becoming a top star in the field!  :-)

-Lisa Canavan

Lexa, I have been in the business almost 2 years and my advice is to try them all and see what works best in your area.  I agree that your website is best for marketing yourself and drawing in new out of town business.  In my area, the real estate section of the Sunday paper gets lots of attention, and for open houses too.  I was told to mail to my circle of influence at least 5 times.  I learned in Board training classes that your friends and acquaintences will not think of you first when looking for an agent.  You have to train them to think of you differently than they are used to.  After my 3rd mailout to friends, I received 2 of them as clients.  Don't forget to mail to your neighborhood or an area you would like to farm.  It takes a long time in a farm area, but I know an agent who gets most of her business from her farm area - it just took over a year of continual mailouts.

I received several calls from advertising in Homes and Land but no sale.  I have heard from many agents that they don't think the return on the dollar is worth it to advertise in Homes and Land.  I am going to place my first Real Estate Book ad soon, so I'm curious to see what kind of results I get from it!  I also send Just Listed postcards to the neighborhood.  Neighbor's friends who want to live in the area near them have called.  Mainly, it's another way to get name exposure to people you might not otherwise reach.

Just try them all, but give each a considerable chance to work for you.  I hope your market is strong and may you have loyal clients!

Hi Lexa,

The above posts help answered where to do your marketing. I'd like to share with you the 6 Rules of Marketing that will help get your listings sold and paychecks in your pocket. Apply these 6 rules and really stand out from the crowd. Feel free to contact me if you would like to talk about this in more detail.

Rule #1: Buying Brain Cells

How do we buy brain cells?

Brain cells are bought in many different ways, whether it be through uniqueness or eliciting emotion. For instance, when you see television commercials that are humorous or that arouse empathy or drama, all of the various emotions elicited by these works buy brain cells. What becomes even more important, however, is repetitiveness. After all, potential home buyers need to hear about your home in order to determine whether to buy it. Hopefully, they will do so again and again and in multiple ways.

Rule #2: Identifying The Need (Pain)

The second rule we need to focus on is identifying and then solving the need of the individuals who are most likely to buy your home. The analogy I like to use is that everyone out there, in some capacity, is in pain. And, if you can be the solver of that pain, if you can be the aspirin that cures their pain, then you're going to be very successful in your marketing strategies.

So, where is the pain of potential home buyers right now?

Well, the candidates who are most likely to purchase your home are first-time home buyers. First-time home buyers, and home buyers in general really, are in a lot of pain for two main reasons. They have two big fears that are weighing on their minds. The first is,'Am I buying at the wrong time? Am I buying at the height of the market, and have I made a mistake?' We'll get into that psychology in a few moments. But we'll need to be mindful in our marketing that the timeliness of this purchase is important to these potential buyers; and we'll need to address this pain to the best of our ability to make sure that they are not fearful.

The second fear of our potential buyers is the payment shock of a new mortgage compared to their rent payments. Let's face it, most loan originators do not do an adequate job of educating the consumer on the after-tax benefits of buying a home.

If we understand and address these pains of the potential buyer in our marketing, we're going to go a long way towards being successful.

Rule #3: Providing Exclusive Information

The third Rule of Marketing, or the third area we'll need to address in our marketing campaign, is the concept of exclusive information. Now, we all know that the psychology of American consumers is that we like to have exclusive access to something that's special. I'm sure there's been someone who has proudly told you about the spectacular interest rate they got when they refinanced their home; a deal that they got, which was way better than any of their friends or family members were able to get. If we can create this kind of exclusivity in our marketing strategy, we're going to be very successful.

Rule #4: Getting a Good Deal

The fourth Rule of Marketing is based on the idea that everyone likes to feel that he or she is getting a good deal. It's likely that you're going to set an initial price on your home and then you'll be negotiated down simply because the buyer needs to feel like he or she has won and gotten a deal that exceeded their expectations. Honestly, it doesn't even really matter how much money is associated with the deal. I'm sure that there have been many instances in your life where you've felt that you've gotten a good deal; and it didn't even matter whether it was on a $5 or $500 purchase, you still felt great about it. As a rule, we need to keep that in mind in our marketing efforts.

Rule #5: Call To Action

The fifth Rule of Marketing is one that we see every day, in every type of marketing: creating a call to action through the perception of scarcity. This is why limited time offers are so successful. Auto dealerships are the best at this. They always have those exclusive summer clearance deals in which special-lease financing rates are advertised. Of course, you have to buy the car by August 31^st  or else you don't get that special deal. Like the auto dealers, we also need to create a call to action to make sure that consumers act quickly and promptly when it comes to the purchase of your home.

Rule #6: Knowing The Buyers Mindset

Finally, the sixth Rule of Marketing - and this is the one that always gets overlooked even though it's probably the simplest and most basic of all the rules -  knowing the mindset of your prospective buyer. Who is this buyer? This, of course, goes back to the issue of identifying the need of the buyer and solving it - but do we really know who this person is in terms of their financial situation, what's going to ring true for them, or what's going to be important to them? We need to understand the mindset of the buyer going in. This will be essential to our success.

Lexa,

I would recommend getting a website.  You can do your own if you have some $$ or build a free website with someone like point2.

I have found listings I put on Craigslist show up quickly in search engine results.  Definitely a good deal since it is free.

I put a recent listing on active rain and it also showed up quickly in the search engines.

Once you get a website, remember to point all other online ads to the listing on your website.  Provide MORE information about the listing on your website (extra photos, etc.).  The links to your website will help your website to also rank in the search engines.

I am still pretty new at this as well but I am starting to see real results from what I am doing on Active Rain and some of the other things I mentioned.  I got a call from an agent today with a referral - he found my blog on here, liked it and decided to refer his client to me!

Rita 

Now that you have done some of the basics and have receive some helpful advice, also use

• http://www.emailflyerads.com/ Cost as low as $9.99 and can be sent to multiple cites in your state.
• Google Base - http://base.google.com/base
• http://www.livedeal.com/
• http://www.edgeio.com/
• http://www.myspace.com/
• http://www.msnspace.com/
• You own Blog or create a blog just for listings
• Enhance your Realtor.com site
• Create Just Listed Flyers and Post Cards
• Create a Single Property Site - $12.00 per month plus domain name
• Create property business cards and have it distributed by the sellers with a few attached to the flyers
• Send the new listing to past clients, family members, friends, and other professionals
• Create a property brochure highlighting the home features

Make sure your property marketing materials have a meaning and provide value. Involve the seller in the ad writing process. The seller knows more about the home than you do and can give a lot of valuable information about the features and best point about the home.

Also evaluate the pictures. Make sure it displays the right and best features of the home without the personalized gadgets the sellers often have all over the place.

Craig Smith has compiled a great list located at: http://activerain.com/blogsview/63302/Free-websites-to-post  There are additional ideas in the Comments.  Good Luck!

Lexa,

Congratulation on getting your first listing.

I was looking for a site to post commercial listings. I will try loopnet.

Lexa,  Good luck to you .

Hi Lexa.  I'm going to add my 2 cents - but I have to let you know that I have a different viewpoint - a creative real estate investor.  I've been taught by my mentors how to buy real estate creatively - lease-options, subject to, equity sharing, owner carry, and hybrids of all of these.  I know that these are not a fit for many sellers, but for those that have the option of waiting for all or part of their money, I think it could help them get their homes sold faster.

 Consider the changes in the lending industry:  Fewer people now can qualify for a loan, thinning the pool of qualified buyers.  First time homebuyers or those with less-than-perfect credit are having a very difficult time qualifying for a loan to buy a home.  It is possible that with a little time (1-5 years), their financial situation could change and they could then refinance to fully cash out the seller.  Now if you could sell a house using a lease-option to someone from this category, doesn't that widen your pool of buyers?

Anyhow, just a different perspective to think about.  BTW, congrats on the listing!