Show Buyers Your Home - PhotoCredit: Level3Logic.com
Competition in the housing industry is rough and tough. As a home builder, or as an agent, you’re competing with marketing gurus, seasoned home builders and veteran agents that have a head-start, tons of resources, lots of experience and in some cases, lots of cash. It’s hard to compete, and leveling the playing field can seem impossible.
Here’s a list of 31, err 32 things you can do to market a home – some free, some paid.
- Real Estate Portals -Zillow.com, Trulia.com, Move.com, GoogleBase, Yahoo! Real Estate, Homegain.com, CyberHomes.com, FrontDoor.com, HotPads.com, Homefinder.com, CLRsearch.com, Realestock
- New Home Portals – NewHomesSection.com, NewHomesDirectory.com, NewHomeGuide.com, NewHomeListings.com, NewHomesGuide.com, AmericanHomeGuides.com, NewHomeSource.com
- Social Sites – Facebook, ActiveRain, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, Propeller
- Real Estate Forums – RealEstateWebmasters.com, AgentOnline.net, RealEstateDiscuss.com, RealEstateForum.com
- Virtual Tour – YouTube.com, Personal Website
- Free Web Page/Website Portals – Squidoo, Yola, Hubpages, ZooLoo, Wordpress
- Single Property Website/Blog
- Personal/Company Website/Blog
- Postcard
- Flyer
- Front Yard Sign
- Grand Opening
- Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing
- Social Media Advertising – Facebook.com, MySpace
- Seminar
- Email Marketing – Personal/Company Database
- Email Marketing – Third Party Database
- Email Marketing – Co-broke Information to Agents
- Free Classified Ad Websites – Craigslist, Kijiji.com, Backpage.com, ClassifiedsforFree.com
- Television
- Radio
- Local Newspaper
- Local Magazine
- Mobile/Text Marketing – CellSigns.com, Cellularre.com
- Press Release
- Human Directional
- Listing(s) Widgets (located on Your Website/Blog)
- Ebay
- Business Networking Groups
- Referral bonuses
- On-site attention grabbers – balloons, signage, a-frame
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – thanks Bruce
Here’s a list of companies that can help you get started on some of the things mentioned above. They can all be done by you, but if you’re short on time and unsure of where to start, these companies are a great place to get help. Why email when you can reach these professionals on Twitter?
New Homes Section – @NewHomesSection | GraphicLanguage.net – @GraphicLanguage
VFlyers.com – @Vflyer | DoYouConvert.com – @MikeLyon | MRelevance.com – @mrelevance
Bailey Gardiner – @bgindra | Red Rocket Media Group – @RedRocketLA | RealEstateWebmasters – @Morgan_Carey
What do you do to market your homes and which of these techniques work best for you?
See Also:
Get Your Home Ready for a Tough Market
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wow !! “Awesome” These are super helpful
Thank you – There are a lot of great people listed here.
This is an excellent list, may I also recommend Realestock. A global real estate search engine which also allows you to list your home for free
Yeah that is some great info. The will have new agents and home sellers in general
Mike In Dallas´s last blog ..How to find a home quickly in Dallas Fort Worth Texas
Great list! I would also mention SEO. This is an awesome alternative to pay-for-click marketing.
One company you might want to check out is WestBridge Solutions http://www.westbridgesolutions.com They provide awesome service at fair prices. Check them out.
Bruce Dietz´s last blog ..Awesome 4 BR 3BA All Brick Rancher in Columbia County
Thanks for the great tips list1
Buenos Aires real estate´s last blog ..Punta del Este – Seaside Luxury Property
@Seth – thanks for letting us know; your recommendation is up
@Mike – yeah, that’s the goal – experienced agents may know all of this
@Bruce – I can’t agree with you more. It didn’t make the list originally because the tips were for marketing an individual listing, but it should be on the list. Thanks
Lots of info there to start! Problem is where and how to start. Add the experience of those who are already on the business so yes it is indeed a very tough competition. I think the things will matter are aggressiveness, amount of information, patience and perseverance.
Hi – Is it ok for us to repost this article on our blog – http://www.powersiteblog.com? We will clearly identify the source and will place links back to the orginial page.
Yeah, those are useful ways to let your property be visible with the client.I have been doing some of those technique just like Social media, social networking and more..
I can’t agree more with the using social sites advice. They used to be used primarily for personal use, but more and more are beginning to use them professionally.
Google maps mashups on your local area can be good for getting noticed. Best schools, restaurants, parks in area etc.
Also, sponsorship of local events, charities.
It is important in a difficult market to find as many cost-effective marketing channels as possible. A lot of agents cut back on their advertising entirely. But as you point out here, there are a lot of free and almost-free advertising media available, and a good agent will use them all.
San Diego Homes´s last blog ..MIA San Diego Foreclosure Properties
This is a very extensive list of opportunities. Most agents cannot tap all of the resources that are available but have found a few they would consider their sweet spots and have concentrated their efforts appropriately. Thanks for the comprehensive list. It can spark new ideas to ponder.
Chapel Hill Real Estate´s last blog ..New Chapel Hill Home for Sale in North Haven
The two other sources I use are Classified Flyer Ads and The Listing Widget. I encourage agents to used these sources. They are excellent on many different levels.
Chapel Hill Real Estate´s last blog ..New Chapel Hill Home for Sale in North Haven
Let me state the obvious, more than half of the methods listed in there are online methods. However, offline methods are not dead yet.
I agree with Chapel Hill that as you do this longer, you’ll soon see which method will get you the best results consistently and develop your favorites. For me, its social media sites.