Real estate listing syndication technology has been around for a little while, but now Agents and Brokers are becoming aware of how to leverage this fabulous technology for their internet advertising campaigns. Even if you’ve heard of real estate listing syndication, you probably don’t know all of the reasons to use the free service.
As I uncovered in my book, "Internet Real Estate Agent - A Guide to Dominating Internet Real Estate Leads and Marketing" www.AgentWisdom.com, real estate listing syndication technology is a huge benefit to an agent's marketing arsenal.
Listing syndication will:
1. Save you time, a ton of time.
2. It's free.
3. Allows for many photos and full property detail.
4. Allows you to add links back to your main websites.
5. Easily post to your blog.
6. Can help with search engine optimization if you write your ad correctly.
7. Can drive qualified leads right to you, not to your company's phone number or someone else....exclusive leads!
8. One lesser known secret fact is that the number one real estate site, Realtor.com, does NOT display income property. So if you're listing 2 or more units, you must use real estate listing syndication along with Loopnet. That's a fact you won't read about on any site or get from an old traditional real estate trainer.
As I continue to look for new companies and technology to help agents achieve profitable success, there are two syndication companies I've used for a while, Postlets and Vflyer.
You say "toe-may-toh" I say "toe-mah-toh", right? Wrong!
Not all syndication technology is created equal. Postlets was first started without a revenue model, but has now added Google Adsense ads and a few up-sell features. I respect that all companies need to make a profit and the way Postlets has added Adsense ads to the site, doesn't detract from a good user experience. Postlets makes it easy to set up an account and also offers unlimited flyer ads.
Vflyer offers a similar technology and seems to have started the company with a revenue model in place which offers many up-sell options. There are restrictions on how many free ads Vflyer offers, currently they offer 5 active flyer ads before you have to upgrade $$. Vflyer does have several other technology offerings, but this article is about listing syndication.
Here's a short blurb on Postlets taken from my book.
Postlets.com is a new site I discovered recently. It’s such a good idea and a huge time saver. On my first visit to the site, I immediately input one of my listings. I quickly saw the power of Postlets’ technology saving me tons of time and ability to drive high quality leads to me via e-mail and my cell phone.
On Postlets you make one classified listing and get mass distribution with a few clicks. Now that’s working smarter!
Here are the main director sites you'll get distribution to: backpage.com, craigslist, Google Base, HotPads, Kijiji, LiveDeal, Oodle, Trulia, Vast, Zillow and more...
You essentially get many classified ads with photos when you use Postlets. You build your ad just once using Postlets, and they automatically submit the listing to several classifieds search engines to maximize your reach across the Internet. You have to cut and paste the html code for Craigslist, but it’s still a super time saver when submitting to Craigslist.
By presenting lists of standard features in dropdown menus and checkboxes and stepping you through the process, Postlets makes it fast and easy for just about anyone to create a classified ad like a pro.
Showcase your listings: But wait, there's more! We now give you a custom branded Web page so you can showcase all of your listings. You'll be able to customize your personal Gallery with a company logo and an "about me" page where you can describe your services and upload a personal photo. It's FREE!
That's right. You get all this for the low, low price of—zero. Zip, Zilch, Nada.
This is a “no-brainer” for all your listings, especially income property. Remember income property is not displayed on Realtor.com.
If you know of any other property syndication company, please let me know. My next reports will be covering real estate blog and if they really do drive traffic and leads. I'm also contemplating an article on Realtor.com and why it's not working for agents and technically we own it...right?
Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.
To your online success.
Scott Thompson
www.AgentWisdom.com
info@AgentWisdom.com
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Real Estate Listing Syndication
Friday, January 4, 2008
2008 Internet Real Estate Agent
Happy New Year! Here’s to 2008 being the year for taking your business and personal life to their highest level. The need for people to connect and exchange goods and services has been one of civilization’s ongoing themes. Now, the need for people to get on the internet and search for real estate information is going to increase exponentially. The big question is, not how technology will advance the real estate industry, but rather how will you use it.
How are you spending your education dollars and time? Now is the time to take action.
Search engine optimization and online lead generation is a competitive game, and it is growing more competitive by the day. You’ve read the articles, watched it on the news and read all the press releases. The biggest companies in real estate are investing the lion share of their resources to the internet. No more old traditional training, old school marketing or ideas. Major corporations are dumping money into their internet business in order to compete in the networked society we live in. What are you doing now to further your education and online real estate lead generation business? That’s your challenge in 2008 and beyond.
As I’ve stated before, you can still create a very successful online real estate lead-generation business. However, these days are numbered.
The Web is big, but it's a finite resource. Well, more accurately said, cyberspace is infinite, but people will only dig so deep. Real estate Web sites that capture the top spots in the search engines are garnering high quality leads and massive lists of interested buyers and sellers. But, as more and more big-brand companies compete and figure out how to grab high ranking search engine positions, they will slowly but surely elbow out the little guy. It's the nature of an industry to be “open” to early adopters at the beginning and then slowly close to only those that can afford the great investment of time and money needed to stay competitive. As more and more buyers and sellers use the Internet for real estate research, the “evening and weekend traditional real estate agent marketing model” is fast becoming extinct.
If you want to stay competitive in the period ahead, you will need to grab a piece of the Internet action, and now is the time to establish your foothold. You CAN still create a successful real estate online lead-generating business. You CAN still get top spots in the search engines. It's not too late, but I guarantee if you wait, it soon will be.
More and more, I get calls from companies selling real estate leads. They notice I’m everywhere on the internet. My sites rank very high organically for specific real estate search terms and cpc. I also own the right spots on other real estate portals that drive targeted traffic to my listings, my sites and yes…..generate high quality, exclusive leads.
I just received a call from a company selling real estate leads. As published in my book, Internet Real Estate Agent: A Guide To Dominating Internet Real Estate Leads and Marketing, there are specific questions you must ask to avoid wasting money and time. After going back and forth with the skilled sales rep., I was able to hone down the basics of how the program works.
Here’s how their lead program works:
- A person is watching television, listening to the radio or sees a banner ad online. The add is asking the person to call a phone number to learn about a real estate tax advantage and commission rebate back to them if they buy or sell real estate.
- Pay $60 a month for a zip code.
- Pay 19% referral fee at closing (this gets split between the “lead company” and the customer at closing).
- Here’s the kicker….the leads are given to 7 other agents as well.
This real estate sales lead business model isn’t new and many companies have a slight variation to it. Personally, I would never buy leads from this business model. I prefer to create my own exclusive lead systems.
Here’s some of the pitfalls with the real estate lead business model you’re being sold.
- Leads coming from TV, Print, radio or the internet that rely on some form of incentive offer are usually very low quality leads. One of the incentive offers is a “commission rebate program”. Need I say more?
- Why pay a monthly fee so you can compete for the lead? Why not get EXCLUSIVE leads that are not incentive leads. You can’t do every lead program on earth, so pick and chose how you spend your money and time.
- I have a hard time paying a referral fee to someone when I’m competing with other agents, given a low quality lead and there’s no personal relationship. That’s not a referral, it’s a lead. No relationship, no history and no commitment from the potential customer to use me. I like paying referral fees to agents that have personal relationships with their real clients. When I get a referral call from another agent, they know the person being referred to me and I get the client. That’s a real referral and qualifies for that big referral fee.
- There are so many ways to generate leads. You should pick and chose the best ways to spend your time and money.
After reading Internet Real Estate Agent (www.AgentWisdom.com), you won’t fall prey to poor Internet business models. You may make a mistake or two--I do from time to time when trying something new--but, these mistakes are quickly remedied. You will understand exactly how to improve your real estate website, what to know before buying a real estate website, advanced concepts for Google AdWords, how to market your listings online for more leads, the changing Broker/Agent model and much more. Discover how to set up your own internet real estate lead generation machine. Don’t be dependant on any one company for leads. Get educated and become independent!
The book will guide you through a tremendous amount of information and facts, not hype, regarding Internet real estate lead generation and Internet marketing. It’s the lowest cost real estate training and education you will ever spend. It’s all about internet real estate lead and marketing. Keep this book by your side and use it as a trusted reference guide. Start working on your Web site, and then move onto the other areas of online lead generation and Internet marketing. Once you have your online real estate lead-generation business set up, it really will run 24 X 7, by putting the right message in front of the right people, at the right time.
Agents and Brokers already know they need to market to past clients and their sphere, but it only gets you so far. They also know the urgent need to embrace the internet. The value of traditional farming techniques is diminishing. The fact is, everyone is mailing something; everyone is doing longer open houses; and everyone is getting into the real estate business. But, hardly anyone is doing online advertising. Even fewer are doing it right. In fact, most agents and brokers attempting to do online lead generation and property marketing are doing it totally wrong. Don’t waste money and time by buying leads from a company that sells false dreams of Internet riches. Take control of your business lead systems and start implementing your plan today.
Here’s a short sample from the book:
Marketing Your Listings for Leads
The majority of this book has been on creating a real business Web site, driving quality traffic to your Web site, and converting that traffic into leads. Now let’s focus on how to create more business by marketing your listing online. You’ve worked long and hard to get the listing, now let’s leverage that listing to create more business. For most of the homes I’ve sold, the buyers began by viewing the pictures and details online and then contacted me about a private showing. If you market the property correctly, you will get leads. Using the list of marketing resources below, I average over 2,500 targeted property views for each listing. I get highly qualified internet buyer and seller leads when marketing a property online. Think about that for a second. Online, people are searching for a specific home, in a specific area, in a specific school district, in a certain price range, etc….and my listings are showing up. That’s a ton of quality traffic almost all of it was free.
I just read the other day about a Director of Technology who serves on a major MLS board who said the traditional business model of getting leads from holding open houses is almost dead. People are using the Internet for research, and they are contacting an agent long before they enter the house. Based on my personal experience, I agree with this assessment. Having spent many Sunday’s working at open houses, I find it very rare for someone to walk through the door and say “I don’t have an agent.”
The following list of ideas will put you in a position to actually make more money from each listing you have. If you don’t have any listings or are new to real estate, I suggest approaching an agent in your office that has a listing and ask if you can do some Internet advertising for him or her. Just be sure to abide by any local MLS rules you have…
So here’s to 2008 and enriching your level of internet real estate education and business income.
Happy New Year, Cheers!
Scott Thompson, Realtor
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