Winning Real Estate Websites?

Dollinger would prefer to use Zillow or Trulia over Realtor.com because of their enhanced listings, the website design and the way they attract consumers.

“It’s not that I have something against Realtor.com, they simply haven’t focused as much on growth and consumer engagement as the other two,” he said. “Even though Realtor.com has the most comprehensive and timely coverage of listings, the consumer is choosing to visit Trulia and Zillow because of their design, user generated content, mobile applications, etc.”

Macken and Brosda don’t favor a particular site – they recommend all of the syndication sites because of the way they easily attract consumers. Just be careful not to only advertise on real estate websites, Brosda says. This is a “personal relationship oriented business” that works based on personal networking contacts and referrals, and a lot of opportunities and knowledge cannot be found on these websites.

“There are people who can buy a badge online and be featured for all the listings as ‘the Realtor to turn to,’ in a zip code or subdivision,” she said. “This may have worked for a few years and agents and brokerages paid a lot of money to be featured, including us. But I think many buyers and sellers realized the badge someone decorated him/herself with online was not necessarily a guarantee for market knowledge and competence. We realized quickly we don’t want to compete in this and changed our strategies.”

This does not mean to avoid online exposure all together. Brosda recommends keeping a blog, writing great articles about the industry once or twice a week. Macken uses YouTube, VHT Real Estate Photography, Point2 and more, in addition to real estate websites, to promote listings.

“The higher position or profile an agent takes online, the higher the benefit,” Macken said. “In light of the fact that in today’s world, not only do buyers surf the net, sellers do. They want to see their listings highly marketed. You don’t want to just advertise in the Sunday paper anymore. The Internet has become more effective than any community newspaper could be.”