Jumped into a conversation on Twitter on Sunday with Notorious R.O.B - like many things on Twitter I didn’t have the full context of the conversation around me – but that’s not really what’s important. Turns out the central question was this:
With co’s like roost, trulia, zillow innovating search, should brokers even try to compete with search based sites?
Well since I run an agent site- not even a broker site this is a question that needs to be considered. Of course the industry types and the big gun sites Zillow, Trulia, etc. point to the increase in their traffic as signs that they are winning the vertical and that all other players should just go home now. My argument is that local agents focused on local issues should be able to outplay the big industry sites all day long.
Local agents:
- Know the area – can create neighborhood searches based on how acutal buyers look at neighborhoods
- Can respond in more detail to buyers specific questions about neighborhoods
- If focused on internet marketing – can put more energy into individaul terms to draw specific traffic that converts into clients.
Notorious R.O.B writing about the Future of Broker Websites noted while real estate is local the internet is not. The majority of people searching for real estate are no longer typing in a small range of keywords – longtail searches account for the majority of my traffic – and probably always will. Local agents adding local content to their own web property can and should compete with the national sites – even for the more competitive “money” keywords. The missing link in my opinion on most local sites is a way to hook the consumer into the site beyond the IDX search – find and build community and that will also outperform the national sites.
Individual broker or agents sites may not have the “ultimate” in search capabilities – but with a decent search and compelling content then I see no reason why agents or brokerages should just give in and let the big industry sites take over.
Should brokers/agents compete with Zillow, Trulia, Roost, etc.? Definitely yes.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m not in the real estate industry, but as a future potential home buyer, I might use websites like Trulia and Zillow to help me get an understanding of the basics but after that I’ll go get help from someone local because of the points you list, and I’m more likely to find an agent through recommendations/word-of-mouth, not internet search.
In general, I agree with you. Just because someone’s performing better in the SERPs doesn’t mean they’re actually offering a better service and it definitely doesn’t mean you should roll over for them
Elle – you aren’t alone in thinking you would look for a recommendation to find an agent – personal referrals are still the #1 way most people find their agent. Putting that fact aside for a minute – since you aren’t an agent – what would make you look for property information on a Zillow or Trulia site before a local site like mine?
I think it’s part of a strategy. There are going to be some that go to Trulia, some that go to Zillow, some that go to brokers, and some that go hyperlocal.
One of the smartest things some agents could do right now is to create numerous hyperlocal websites with photos and videos, and put a search for real estate just in that area on there. That will get users.
But I have to say one thing, (Hopefully Rob Hahn ‘s research will back me up here) but from us paying attention to users, when they get to a real estate website, unless they are from out of town, all they really care about is search. Get them there with content, but search, search, search.
But the big reasons brokers should have websites….if they aren’t the dominant player in the market, then Trulia is not going to help them since those sites only send people back to the listing agent. Technology is the great equalizer, it can make the smallest broker big if they play their cards right.
Carolyn -
Honestly, a great post. Really love your take on it, which takes on greater weight because you operate the #2 SERPS site on Google for “Davis CA real estate”.
At the same time, I don’t think it’s as simple as you paint it.
For one thing, I’d love to know what you mean by “long tail search”. Because if there’s one thing that’s sort of been settled about the Long Tail, it is that only the aggregators win in Long Tail marketing.
For another, you mention that a local agent with local expertise could create neighborhood searches based on how buyers actually look at neighborhoods. Yet, I note that your own website (designed by an outside firm, because I imagine that like most agents, you’re not a web programmer or web designer) doesn’t offer a search like that. It offers the rather standard zip/bed/bath/price search circa 1996.
Your map-based search offers no search by neighborhood, nor offers any information about a neighborhood, any idea of where the restaurants are, where the dry cleaners might be, where the schools are, how good those schools are, and so on and so forth.
And that’s not a knock on your website, because as I said, those kinds of search features are expensive and time-consuming to build. Trulia and Zillow and big brokers (e.g., Coldwell Banker) do offer that kind of search.
As for creating compelling local content… I address that here and here in greater depth. My position is that realtors are singularly ill-placed to create compelling local content for a variety of reasons, and will not actually create a substantial “local community” when blogging as a realtor.
But even if blogs are a goldmine for realtors, it does not then follow that realtors should have a SEARCH-based website. In other words, why not just farm out the SEARCH to guys like TruZilloGain, and focus your time and energy on the blogging, the answering of questions, and the like. (I’m not suggesting folks do this — I’m just wondering what the pros & cons are of this.)
Very stimulating post all around — kudos to you, and thanks again for engaging with me!
-rsh
Rob- Yeah, it’s going back and forth for #1 spot-it will stick there someday soon.
The majority of my traffic is longtail searches-my site competes head to head with the agreggators for longtail traffic.
The navigation of my site is very simplistic (my choice) so it’s not really obvious if someone lands on my home page that there are a ton of searches available. However, if someone is looking for something specific, Wild Wings real estate (a subdivision) Daivs open houses – they tend to land on the correct page – or at least that is the intent.
I actually have a lot of neighborhood searches for Davis – homes broken down by areas the way Davis buyers look at the area – I will concede the map search does not have anything but the homes for sale – but that really is my choice – in looking at my analytics- I don’t have a lot of users looking at that data – most want to look at inventory – is it something I could add on – maybe – I have another site in development (regional for Sacramento vs. local Davis) and might be something to consider.
Yes I’m not a programmer so not my design – the site is by Real Estate Webmasters – a great company in Canada – this is one of their basic sites – they do semi-custom and custom sites as well -but they are really only limited by the client’s ideas and budget.
Conceding search to the big players is just not going to happen-that’s the lead generation piece. I’m not a blogger – I’m a lead generator.
Creating community on a real estate site for the community and not agents looks to be a challenge – but one I’m willing to explore. I’ll take a look at the posts you listed – this is a very interesting topic and really one I’ve been thinking about for a while.
Eric -Totally agree that the only agents who win with Trulia et. al are the listing agents- I also agree that the majority of visitors care about search – but questioning if they care about it to the extent that the big players think they care about it.
This is a really interesting question and one that I’m definitely going to think about more – I really do care about the user experience on my site – and also know that search engines care about that also.
I look forward to your thoughts on those external posts.
And we should chat again soon — I think most sites that have data do a poor job of integration and implementation.
-rsh
Carolyn, not having done a ton of research, I think I’d be more comfortable doing initial overview research on a site like Trulia, getting a feel for what types of properties were available and general prices in a region. Then I’d have a better idea of what to talk to an agent about when I got serious about buying a home, and I’d have better questions to ask. But I don’t think I’d use a large site like that to find my “dream home”; I’d more likely seek out a local agent for help.
Everyone talking about “Location – Location – Location” of the properties. We talking about Local – Local – Local. We are talking about knowing the people in the petrol station, supermarket, school’s, ect. Be a member in the local golf clubs, fishing clubs, footballs club, ect. The seller know us, they come to us when they want to sell because they feel trust and confidence. Also do over 70% of our sales come from word-of-mouth recommendations. We don’t advertise or any other publicity. The new clients comes from internet, there is the market for found buyer who want to move to our area.
If I were househunting today, I’d spend some time on the biggies (trulia, zillow) to learn about particular areas/nabes, but i’d focus most of my efforts on finding a quality local real estate agent (I had a bad experience before, can you tell?).
While search functions would be nice, I’d be more interested in reading the agent’s blog to find out about them — do they seem like a good person, someone who cares about their clients, etc. — but more importantly, do they know their local community like the back of their hand? Can they give me some flavor of it in their posts to demonstrate that expertise? And maybe most importantly — are they INVOLVED in their community?
I agree with the longtail keywords. I think too many agent sites rely on short keywords which was probably ok back in the day. I’ll have to do some more research though but I feel that longtail is definately the way. I have a site and most of my leads are generated through longer tail