New agent - to Zillow or not to Zillow?
Real Estate Agent · Saint Clair, MI · Member since 2015 · 34 posts · 6 votes
New agent - to Zillow or not to Zillow?
Most Popular Reply
Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2014 · 24 posts · 10 votes
10yIn my opinion you could probably get more leads by spending the money you would use on Zillow into funneling traffic to your personal website. If you don't have a website yet, I would suggest investing some time and money into making one. Scour the internet for ideas on what works with other agents. Google "top realtor websites" and see what comes up. If you are part of the NAR, you could utilize your own .realtor domain name, for example, www.KellyChoate.realtor and you will stand out from everyone else (.realtor information). NAR also has a partnership with Placester to give NAR members a hefty discount on there services (last time I checked it was 50% off), I'll go more in-depth more later. I'll list a few examples below to give you a general idea of what to do.
- Create a Blog:
Setting up a good real estate blog that you can contribute relevant buyer/seller information at least once a week. Writing all of these blogs/articles may seem particularly tedious but by doing this you're giving your website plenty of content (keywords). The more content the website has, the better chance someone will stumble upon it when search Google.
- Resources:
Since you're new and don't have much experience it may be hard to write your own blogs. Start gathering well-written articles/guides from around the internet. Once you collect a few you like, you can post these articles on your website (so long as you give the author his/her due credit). This will also help your SEO ranking within Google.
Create a new menu option on the website for both buyers and sellers, you can label them "Helpful Resources" or something similar in nature. This does two things, it keeps potential clients on your website longer and having a collection of well written articles helps them not spend countless hours scouring the internet to find good real estate advice.
- Use Pinterest:
In my opinion, Pinterest is an invaluable asset to marketing your website (you can also use it to find great articles). The main concept to using Pinterest is to drive foot traffic to your website. If you publish anything, you can "Pin It" to one of your boards. Once pinned, it has the potential to be viewed by millions of people, some of them within your area and some not even close. But in order for them to read whatever it is that you published, they have to visit your website.
Also when you publish anything on your website you should always have those wonderful social media share buttons somewhere near the end of the article. So if others read your content and find it helpful hopefully they share it with everyone they know, creating a snowball effect of traffic to your site.
- Using Facebook Correctly:
Facebook is still the largest social media outlet people use, thus, using it to promote yourself and your website is extremely beneficial. I won't get into the pros and cons of using a Facebook business page vs your personal profile because I haven't done enough research on it. But, if you want my opinion I would do a little bit of both.
1. Personal Profile
Sharing helpful articles/resources that find from time to time on your personal page is great. It spreads awareness to everyone on your friends lists that you are indeed, a real estate agent. The key thing to remember is to not "blow up" peoples news feeds with real estate information. The hard truth is that not everyone is will be interested in your posts or wants to keep seeing six variations of "10 easy steps to buying a home" you keep posting every hour. The main goal for your personal profile is to generate fundamental awareness that you're an agent.
2. Business Page
This is a much more versatile platform when it comes to marketing. The business page is your meat and potatoes, everyone that likes your page will obviously have at least some interest to the content you post. The options your business page offers is endless. You can create/add customs tabs for things like reviews, your Agent Profile, IDX integration so people can view your listings, or even have integrated forms to offer free CMAs. Business pages even have a call-to-action button near your name which can be used to redirect people to your website, setup appointments, download an app you may have created, or simply just send you a message.
- Business Card Marketing:
You should always include your website on the front or back of your business card, along with a good non-generic call to action. Notice how I said non-generic? This is just my 2 cents, but the agents that use generic slogans/phrases on all of there marketing material remind me of a used car salesman. They put zero effort into branding themselves as a professional agent and every person who sees it will think the same thing. They will either pass them up for blending in with the crowd or come to the conclusion that if he/she puts this little effort into promoting themselves, how much effort will they put into helping me? This may be a tad extreme but that is the way I perceive it.
- Graphic Design:
Using graphics to promote yourself, articles, your website is key to attracting the attention of others. When promoting your website/articles on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest having a good lead picture stands out from the rest of the clutter. You don't need to be a savvy graphic designer either, web-based graphic studios like Canva and Pixlr make it extremely easy to make all of your own marketing material, and the best part is they are both free to use. Another good option for beginning/intermediate designers is Paint.net. It's a free program very similar to Photoshop but it doesn't have pre-made layouts like the other two I mentioned.
- Placester:
If you're a current member of the NAR, Placester offers a substantial discount to any of its members. Using them does have many advantages for agents who use their website designs. They have a few pre-made designs that you can customize and tweak to your liking. Not everyone knows how to build a website from scratch, nor do I wish anyone to go out and try. I do consider myself a mild perfectionist and from my personal experience, it took me forever to make something and in the end, it wasn't even remotely acceptable to even consider promoting it.
To give you an idea of what they provide, the NAR plan includes IDX integration, a compatible mobile ready version of your site, a personal blog, lead capture, custom branding, and advanced MLS search are just a few of the features they have. Placester does cost money, but for a solid, easy to create website that looks professional i'm willing to spend the money. Everything you put your name on should be blatantly transparent, and imply that you're a real estate professional. Put just as much thought and effort into making your website as you did your business cards.
- Conclusion:
As with everything on the internet, these are just my opinions so take it with a grain of salt. I apologize for the length of this post I know some will have difficulty reading it entirely. I just wanted to share this information with you so you can keep it in the back of your head. If you need any help or have any other questions please feel free to email me or send me a message. Good luck!
17 Replies
- Investor Agent · Burke, VA · Member since 2014 · 243 posts · 12 votes10y
I've seen on other threads here that the conversion rate for those are really low and not worth all the money. I think you can find leads other ways more cost effectively.
- Pacific Northwest · Member since 2015 · 20 posts · 6 votes10y
Hi Kelly, I've looked into Zillow numerous times. The "bottom line" on buying leads from Zillow/Trulia is you need to spend a fair amount of money to see any gains. Like $1000 or more. And of course you need to respond within 5 minutes to really capture the leads. If you have a nice sized marketing budget and a top notch lead capture system it might be worth your time to take a look. I have the lead capture but not the budget at this time. I'll likely go that route next year. Good Luck to you!
- Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes10y
I think having a zillow profile and adding your past sales and getting reviews is important but paying for premier status is not. The leads are typically not the best and you need to respond very quickly. I don't think any new agent should spend their money on this as it will make it harder to survive in the first year of being an agent. Once you are very established and have a large marketing budget go ahead and try it. I went with a $0 marketing budget in 2015 and sold 28 houses. Contrary to popular belief you don't need to spend money to make money in this business. Just pick up the phone, meet people and network.
- Real Estate Agent · Saint Clair, MI · Member since 2015 · 34 posts · 6 votes10y
My gut was telling me basically what you all said. Thank you!
- Real Estate Agent · Saint Clair, MI · Member since 2015 · 34 posts · 6 votes10y
And wow, @Jake Thomas, a $0 marketing budget....can you expand upon that at all? Did you do anything, like Facebook ads, or mailing, etc. Does that have to do with Grand Rapids being a pretty great market?
- Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes10y
GR is a very competitive market. Yes, houses sell fast but there are many more agents that there were 5 years ago and about 1/3 of the listings. I didn't advertise on any sort of media. I literally spend $0. I called FSBO's, worked with investors and networked. I don't even have my own website. I wanted to try and prove that no new agents need all the extra crap the big brokers push on them and get them to do to be successful. I am still going with the $0 on advertising method in 2016 and at 8 houses so far this year. If you are a good agent you will find listings and buyers to work with.
Good luck.
- Residential Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2008 · 579 posts · 225 votes10y
All the leads we got from Zillow (that were not form our own listings) were junk leads.
You're better off spending your money on other marketing ventures.
- Real Estate Agent · Saint Clair, MI · Member since 2015 · 34 posts · 6 votes10y
I have to tell you, @Jake Thomas, you are an inspiration!
- Real Estate Agent · Greenbrae, CA · Member since 2016 · 1 post · 0 votes10y
Adding to the chorus... same experience here -- spent thousands on Zillow marketing and received only junk leads. Marketing dollars are better spent elsewhere. I also agree with the comment that you should set up your Zillow profile and listings (free).
- Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2014 · 24 posts · 10 votes10y
In my opinion you could probably get more leads by spending the money you would use on Zillow into funneling traffic to your personal website. If you don't have a website yet, I would suggest investing some time and money into making one. Scour the internet for ideas on what works with other agents. Google "top realtor websites" and see what comes up. If you are part of the NAR, you could utilize your own .realtor domain name, for example, www.KellyChoate.realtor and you will stand out from everyone else (.realtor information). NAR also has a partnership with Placester to give NAR members a hefty discount on there services (last time I checked it was 50% off), I'll go more in-depth more later. I'll list a few examples below to give you a general idea of what to do.
- Create a Blog:
Setting up a good real estate blog that you can contribute relevant buyer/seller information at least once a week. Writing all of these blogs/articles may seem particularly tedious but by doing this you're giving your website plenty of content (keywords). The more content the website has, the better chance someone will stumble upon it when search Google.
- Resources:
Since you're new and don't have much experience it may be hard to write your own blogs. Start gathering well-written articles/guides from around the internet. Once you collect a few you like, you can post these articles on your website (so long as you give the author his/her due credit). This will also help your SEO ranking within Google.
Create a new menu option on the website for both buyers and sellers, you can label them "Helpful Resources" or something similar in nature. This does two things, it keeps potential clients on your website longer and having a collection of well written articles helps them not spend countless hours scouring the internet to find good real estate advice.
- Use Pinterest:
In my opinion, Pinterest is an invaluable asset to marketing your website (you can also use it to find great articles). The main concept to using Pinterest is to drive foot traffic to your website. If you publish anything, you can "Pin It" to one of your boards. Once pinned, it has the potential to be viewed by millions of people, some of them within your area and some not even close. But in order for them to read whatever it is that you published, they have to visit your website.
Also when you publish anything on your website you should always have those wonderful social media share buttons somewhere near the end of the article. So if others read your content and find it helpful hopefully they share it with everyone they know, creating a snowball effect of traffic to your site.
- Using Facebook Correctly:
Facebook is still the largest social media outlet people use, thus, using it to promote yourself and your website is extremely beneficial. I won't get into the pros and cons of using a Facebook business page vs your personal profile because I haven't done enough research on it. But, if you want my opinion I would do a little bit of both.
1. Personal ProfileSharing helpful articles/resources that find from time to time on your personal page is great. It spreads awareness to everyone on your friends lists that you are indeed, a real estate agent. The key thing to remember is to not "blow up" peoples news feeds with real estate information. The hard truth is that not everyone is will be interested in your posts or wants to keep seeing six variations of "10 easy steps to buying a home" you keep posting every hour. The main goal for your personal profile is to generate fundamental awareness that you're an agent.
2. Business PageThis is a much more versatile platform when it comes to marketing. The business page is your meat and potatoes, everyone that likes your page will obviously have at least some interest to the content you post. The options your business page offers is endless. You can create/add customs tabs for things like reviews, your Agent Profile, IDX integration so people can view your listings, or even have integrated forms to offer free CMAs. Business pages even have a call-to-action button near your name which can be used to redirect people to your website, setup appointments, download an app you may have created, or simply just send you a message.
- Business Card Marketing:
You should always include your website on the front or back of your business card, along with a good non-generic call to action. Notice how I said non-generic? This is just my 2 cents, but the agents that use generic slogans/phrases on all of there marketing material remind me of a used car salesman. They put zero effort into branding themselves as a professional agent and every person who sees it will think the same thing. They will either pass them up for blending in with the crowd or come to the conclusion that if he/she puts this little effort into promoting themselves, how much effort will they put into helping me? This may be a tad extreme but that is the way I perceive it.
- Graphic Design:
Using graphics to promote yourself, articles, your website is key to attracting the attention of others. When promoting your website/articles on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest having a good lead picture stands out from the rest of the clutter. You don't need to be a savvy graphic designer either, web-based graphic studios like Canva and Pixlr make it extremely easy to make all of your own marketing material, and the best part is they are both free to use. Another good option for beginning/intermediate designers is Paint.net. It's a free program very similar to Photoshop but it doesn't have pre-made layouts like the other two I mentioned.
- Placester:
If you're a current member of the NAR, Placester offers a substantial discount to any of its members. Using them does have many advantages for agents who use their website designs. They have a few pre-made designs that you can customize and tweak to your liking. Not everyone knows how to build a website from scratch, nor do I wish anyone to go out and try. I do consider myself a mild perfectionist and from my personal experience, it took me forever to make something and in the end, it wasn't even remotely acceptable to even consider promoting it.
To give you an idea of what they provide, the NAR plan includes IDX integration, a compatible mobile ready version of your site, a personal blog, lead capture, custom branding, and advanced MLS search are just a few of the features they have. Placester does cost money, but for a solid, easy to create website that looks professional i'm willing to spend the money. Everything you put your name on should be blatantly transparent, and imply that you're a real estate professional. Put just as much thought and effort into making your website as you did your business cards.- Conclusion:
As with everything on the internet, these are just my opinions so take it with a grain of salt. I apologize for the length of this post I know some will have difficulty reading it entirely. I just wanted to share this information with you so you can keep it in the back of your head. If you need any help or have any other questions please feel free to email me or send me a message. Good luck!
- 10yZach SikesBusiness MemberResidential Real Estate Broker · Edmond, OK · Member since 2011 · 452 posts · 183 votes
Online advertising through the portal site, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc have a -32% ROI across the industry. You decide.....
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Homestead & Co4.9172 Reviews - Realtor · Lafayette, LA · Member since 2011 · 297 posts · 175 votes10y
I know everyone is bashing Zillow in the thread but I've had huge success with it. I spend about $1,000 ($600 is covered by a lender) and make about $5,000 a month. I do have a ton of reviews and recent sales on my profile. I pay $25/m for fivestreet which automatically responds to online leads so I don't always have to be by the phone. Hope this gives a different perspective.
- Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 531 posts · 266 votes10y
I have had success with Zillow in the past, before they merged with Trulia (which is absolute junk if you ask me). I invested $5k with Zillow in 2013 and made over $30k that same year from leads I closed. Also I would have to check but I'm sure at least one of those clients referred business to me in 2014 or 2015.
I don't think the premier agent status did anything for me, but that seems like a marketing piece that is hard to get a real ROI # from. You do need a strong online presence which it helped me to start. Even if you meet someone through a connection or at an open house you better believe they are going to go back home and google you.
- Developer · Laurel, MS · Member since 2015 · 8 posts · 0 votes10y
I am a Zillow Premier agent and have sold more than enough from the leads provided to WAAAY more than pay for what I have spent with Zillow. For me, it is well worth the money.
But to also partially agree with the others, I get more quality leads from other sources. Word of mouth referral is and will always be king IMO. Don't neglect Facebook (especially groups!), don't neglect FSBOs, don't neglect Expireds... the list goes on. Zillow is only ONE avenue of marketing for you. If you expect it to be the be-all-end-all of your marketing efforts, you will be disappointed. Have multiple ways of generating leads from varying sources and nurture each one accordingly not neglecting any of them.
One more point --- if you think that paying for leads from any source means that you will not have to work like a mad dog to nurture them along to completion, you are sadly mistaken (this goes for ANY lead source, paid or not). Average time from first contact to signed contract on ANY online lead is going to be about 6 months, so be patient.
- Real Estate Agent · Sacramento, CA · Member since 2015 · 338 posts · 135 votes10y
As a new agent you can do sweat equity or check equity. Aka spend $0 and do open houses, door knock, call, network or spend money to buy leads. There are people on both ends of the spectrum for Zillow/Trulia. Some agents spent the money and it didn't work out for them while others spent the same amount of money and are doing great. Which ever method you choose remember that the key is in the follow-up. Most clients when starting a home search sign up for multiple websites and in turn have multiple agents reaching out to them. What are you going to do to stand out from the crowd?
- Berkeley, CA · Member since 2014 · 19 posts · 2 votes10y
I've seen it go both ways as well. My thought is that it really depends on the area and how shoppers are buying in that area. Here in L.A. Zillow leads on the Westside are amazing...everyone's looking quickly and electronically. However, just over "the hill" in the San Fernando Valley the leads I've seen fellow agents get are indeed junk.
One last thing. Until you have a great profile on Zillow meaning lots of reviews and a full bio etc I think it makes no sense to be a premier agent. You may get your face in front of the public but once they click on your name if there's nothing there they're going to move on.
- Real Estate Broker · Windsor, CT · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 268 votes10y
I agree with @Tracy Maddox build your profile and presence first before investing in Zillow. Sweat Equity to help promote your self as an agent is definitely the best route.
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