Marketing your listing online | Part 2
Hello everyone,
Last post I talked about how important it is to make sure your property is correctly inserted into your local MLS system because it is syndicated to other national MLS’ within days and that sets the foundation for a successful online marketing plan.
This post I want to take it a step further and talk about where else you can post your listings and what you should do after your MLS syndicates your listings world wide.
Most large national and even world wide listing Websites such as Real Seekr, Trulia and Zillow will allow you to do what is called “claiming your listings.” Claiming your listings will allow you to receive up-to-date statistics on views and clicks, market yourself through those sites and let you edit any information they may have incorrect about your listing. The only way to know if a site allows you to claim your listings is by visiting the site and reading some of the Q&A sections about how and if it’s done.
Once you claim your listings you need to add any additional photos, descriptions etc to them to make sure they are correct and in order so when they are viewed the information is correct. Also, make sure to add information about yourself, a picture and links to your Website and blog so visitors can visit your local site.
As for where else to put your listing on the web I’m going to leave most of that to the comments on this post. I’ll tell you a few that I like and if you have one that you’ve had success with lately post it up so everyone can use it.
External Listing Sites:
RealSeekr.com
Trulia.com
Zillow.com
Craigslist.com
Backpage.com
Ok, so now that you’ve listed your property on MLS correctly and claimed your properties through external listing Websites, it’s time to go around the web and add your listings to other sites that aren’t syndicated to automatically.
PS - Sorry if this post was a little “off”– I’m currently sitting at a Christmas festival and there are elves running around singing songs by the Jackson 5. HAHA.
Have a great day,
Matt Rains
Real Estate Technology Online
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I also like the free Realbird.com. The appearance of the listing is nice & RealBird syndicates your listing. The widget code it provides also allows you to add your listing to other sites manually.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:23 am -
Postlets is a service that I like to use and it provides real estate listing feeds to several other high traffic sites. The Postlets widgets option is nice because you can use it to embed your listings into other websites. The service ranges from FREE to a deluxe listing single property website that costs as much as $5.00 per listings (as cheap as $2.00 per listing when bought in bulk).
December 8th, 2008 at 4:24 am -
Hey Matt,
Don’t forget Cyberhomes on this list.
We make syndicating listings easy for the professional. I would urge any interested real estate agents, not already involved, to have their Broker apply. The email is ConnectMe[at]Cyberhomes.com.We’ll then partner with the MLS to gather related listings. This ends up being a much better solution for the agents, and we can verify the listing details from the original source. It’s also important to note that Cyberhomes is the exclusive provider of real estate listings and neighborhood information to AOL. We can also push listings to Google and Yahoo for increased exposure!
December 15th, 2008 at 10:07 pm -
Hi Matt,
Have you tried Homescape? Also, what do you think about realtor.com
Thanks,
Gia
January 6th, 2009 at 1:27 pm -
I haven’t tried Homescape i’ll have to check it out. Realtor.com has never impressed me solely because they “automatically” have a HUGE base of clients and their product has never excelled further than others I have seen such as RealSeeker.com. I think that with the resources Realtor.com has they could do better for the agents.
I don’t know? Realtor.com is a double edged sword I just think there are better options that are free for you.
-Matt
January 6th, 2009 at 8:02 pm -
Hi Matt,
It’s me again..
From what I’ve heard from other realtors is that Realtor.com is well known (maybe because they are part of movein.com) and the unique visitors makes them the most visited website for real estate.
When you say that there are better options for me, what exactly do you mean?
I’ don’t mind paying for a service if at the end the ROI makes me happy. Also, what is there for me placing my listings for free and what sort (numbers and quality of traffic) are my listitng being exposed through the websites that you recommend?
Also, Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge!
Gia
January 8th, 2009 at 4:03 pm -
Hello again Gia,
First off I want to say that I am a Realtor and I guess I just feel with Realtor.com that I shouldn’t have to pay for a “premium” upgrade just to have certain things work. I feel that if I have paid my Realtor dues and I am a “Realtor” that I should have full access to everything their website offers and is available for me to market me listings.
Saying that I think that the other (free) options like Real Seeker, Cyber Homes, Trulia and Zillow do plenty in terms of exposure. Normally when I list a property and I place it everywhere I get the biggest responses from my local marketing pages like backpage or craigslist while the sites I mentioned above can show 800-900 hits per months just from those few. Their are so many good places to put listings that don’t cost agents anything I just don’t know why Realtor feels like they can charge? I do agree with you that if the ROI makes you happy then I don’t mind paying either but I do mind when i’ve already paid Realtor $300-$400 and now they want more just so I can have a “premium” listing.
The easiest ways to find what websites you should be marketing on is by going to google, yahoo and other search engine and searching for terms like “homes for sale in your area” or “real estate agents in your area” . The websites that come up for you in your area are the websites you should be listing on.
I know where I live all key terms always go to Trulia and Real Seeker so I know that’s where I have to put my listings and the exposure if great!
Thanks for the read and great comments.
Matt Rains
http://www.RETechSeminars.comJanuary 8th, 2009 at 4:25 pm -
Thanks so much for your reply! I just have one more question for you (4 now).. hope you don’t mind..
From your experience, what should I look in a website, as far as their resources and what they can do for me as an agent?
Thanks
Gia
January 8th, 2009 at 4:37 pm -
I have found that exposure is king (of course) but you shouldn’t have to pay for it in this day and age (that’s what sponsors are for). Since exposure is king you need a way of tracking how well your listings are doing on each of the sites you have put them. To do this it takes a little extra time but the effort will finally show you what sites are working and what sites aren’t.
Go to http://www.RELNK.us it’s our link tracking tool from http://www.RETechSeminars.com once you’re there choose a username (any name) and then put in the URL you would like to track such as a link to your listing, let’s say http://www.186MainStreet.com or whatever it could even be your website.
Once you have the URL in the second box type in a new “description” into the third box. Your description should be something like “Link to 186 Main Street for Real Seeker” and press “get Tracking URL”. When you click the get URL button and new link will appear. Use that link on the Real Seekr website for your listing. Then you can go back to RELNK.us and under “Track you URL’s” just type in the username you used earlier and it will show you how many times it got clicked on. Repeat the steps using the same user name for all the sites you put your listings such as Realtor, Zillow, Trualia etc. so now when you “Track You URL’s” you can see in real time what sites had the most clicks.
It’s a great way of finding out what marketing is working and what marketing is not working.
It is kind of confusing so if you need any help just let me know.
Have a great day,
Matt Rains
http://www.RETechSeminars.comJanuary 8th, 2009 at 4:52 pm