Many real estate agents in today’s housing market are simply not prepared to take on the task of Internet marketing. There are definitely ways for agents to efficiently and effectively market real estate on the web. It’s a fact that 85% of all buyers find homes online first before they ever actually physically see the home. That said it’s hugely important in today’s real estate marketplace to get exposure online. Are you looking to improve your Internet marketing and advertising program?
What Should I Do First to Market On The Internet?
So, you’ve decided that you’re ready to finally find out what Internet marketing of your listings is all about. First, I would examine your budget and determine how much you want to dedicate to Internet advertising. Remember, this is a huge piece to the success you will enjoy in today’s real estate marketing environment, so don’t be stingy.
One of the first places to reallocate your budget is with any newspaper ads you may be running. Unless you can absolutely without any doubt say that your newspaper ads are working, I’d pull them. In most cases, they’re hugely expensive for moderate results at best. Transfer this part of your budget to your new Internet campaign. Once you’ve determined a budget, then you’re ready to lay out your plan.
Initial marketing budgets can vary widely. I know of one company called PropertyNut.com who only charges $40/month or so for something like 25 property listing ads. That’s a steal for the results you get from their marketing. There are many others like Realtor.com that can charge into the $1000’s, and they too will yield results. But do you have that kind of budget? Your best bet is to start small and feel out what’s working as you go.
Free Home Ad Listing Sites - The Best Bang For Your Buck?
Once you’ve determined a budget, you’re ready to start laying out your plan. The first thing you should know is there are literally 1000’s of free real estate websites where you can post your home listing ads. These sites make their money in partnership with advertisers for other products and services that a home buyer might be interested in while they search through home listings.
While you get some exposure to your ads with these sites it is quite limited. Keep in mind, these sites are free and as such you really need to investigate what type of marketing are they doing on your behalf. You will have to upload and manage your own ads once they are entered into the system. If your ads get sent out from the free site to another 15 sites, you will have to manage and update those ads. This can be hugely time consuming just to manage the ads. If you do decide to use one of these sites you will have some trial and error to work through. This brings up the phrase “the best bang for your buck.” Could you spend your time elsewhere that would return more to you?
Paid Home Listing Ad Sites
For a very moderate amount of money you can find an advertising syndication website dedicated to marketing your properties. Let them do the work for you! Once you put an ad up on their site, they syndicate or repost that ad out onto 10-12 national high-traffic websites garnishing you maximum exposure to your property. Some of these sites are better than others. In some cases, they manage your ad once it is posted to other sites. Do you homework to see what kind of work is required by you for any of the sites you are considering.
I mentioned one site above which has an outstanding reputation for marketing at an incredible price. It’s called PropertyNut.com. This site reposts your ads on national high-traffic sites where buyers are looking to find homes. They also do the maintenance on your ads after they are posted to the other sites that they post to. Of course you will need to update PropertyNut.com based on changes you make to the to the home listing and they take it from there. There are others such as Zillow, Homescape, HouseValues, Trulia, Realtor.com that do good jobs for their customers too.
Pick The Ad Posting Site That Works Within Your Budget
For any of the sites that I have mentioned or that you are considering, pick the one that best suits your budget. If can afford multiple sites and services then you may give more than one a try. The more exposure the better! In addition to PropertyNut.com, a couple of the sites that I have mentioned have reasonable package deals for $40-$100 a month. This is a very reasonable price range to pay. You should also expect to pay that for at least 3-6 months in most market conditions.
When choosing a site to post your listings on, since a lot of the ones that I mentioned here are all relatively similar, consider all the features of each one and pick the one that best matches your needs. You may even look to see who provides exclusive lead generation in the marketing service of interested buyers for your listing. Probably your best bet for all of the sites are out there, is to choose one that does cost something. Then do your homework around what do they do for you and what do you have to do for yourself once your ads are posted.
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