Since you’re reading this you know we’re committed to being on-line.
We Blog, we twitter (follow me @billLublin or this blog @c21agvoices), we maintain the “normal” websites for people to look for properties, we publish our listings to century21.com, and we syndicate our listings to over a dozen other websites. And we have to be on REALTOR.COM
I was never a big fan of REALTOR.COM, but you sort of have to be there to make sellers happy. We monitor the sources of inquiries, and people don’t visit us as frequently from there as the do from c21ag.com or c21ag.net, or century21.com or any of the dozen other sites we post our listings to. And, since its the single most expensive internet site we participate in, I imagine you can understand why I felt the way I felt about the program. Most people in our industry who are tech savvy aren’t big fans of REALTOR.COM, but as part of a local Century 21 Broker Council Initiative, we decided to participate by increasing our presence on the site by showcasing our listings.
Surprise, surprise, consumers started responding through REALTOR.COM more frequently as soon as our listing became showcase listings. Possibly the addition of our company logo on the search pages makes it easier for them to click through to our company site. Maybe the additional pictures on each listing is more attractive to them. Or perhaps they like all of the neighborhood information they can find on the site about schools , crime, age of inhabitants, etc.
Whatever the reason, our showcased listings have been embraced by potential purchasers, which obviously is of benefit to our sellers, who want their properties to be seen by the widest possible audience. With the National Association of REALTORS latest Internet Survey showing that 90% of the buyers looking for property are searching the Internet, begin showcased seems to be the right way to be on REALTOR.COM