Real Estate Websites - Zillow, Trulia, or Realtor?

There are so many online marketing options available to realtors. How do you know which to use?

I’m sure you’ve heard of Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Realtor.com. These are the three worth talking about in the current market. Let’s start with a little info about each one.

Realtor.com: The original online housing search website. Works in conjunction with MLS and with an upgraded account, can offer a more detailed listing with plenty of property images.

Zillow.com: A twist on Realtor.com, its primary difference is that it gives information on home sales and also includes home valuation.

Trulia.com: Not much different then the previous two except in the fact that it includes additional data and a blogging feature.

The good things about these sites

* Mobile Apps: All three offer their own app for ipads and smartphones. This is HUGE in the current market. According to Inman News, visitors who come to Realtor.com from their iPad devices are 160 percent more likely to call real estate agents, while those who come from iPhones are 300 percent more likely to do so.

* Current News: All three offer news that is current to the real estate market. It’s helpful for buyers to have a “one-stop-shop” where they can search properties and also learn a little bit about house buying/selling at the same time.

* Featured/Upgraded Listings: All three offer upgraded packages for a Realtor’s listings. This is a personal decision for the Realtor, but having Featured Listings on each site does more to ensure that your specific properties are seen.

The “iffy” things about these sites

* Quality of Leads: Many people search for houses using these sites with no intention of immediately selling or buying. Many times they are comparison shopping, thinking of buying or selling, or just checking out the value of their neighborhood. The key to online leads is time and patience. Somebody may request information but not be ready to move forward for months. A Realtor depending on these sites needs to have a good follow-up plan.

* Quality of Information: In this aspect, Realtor.com is the clear winner. They pull their data from MLS and it’s updated every 15 minutes. Both Zillow and Trulia are much slower, and many real estate agents have complained of having to tell a potential client that the house they found on either site has already sold; the site just hasn’t updated it yet. However, it must be noted that many end-users (clients) feel that Zillow is by far the easiest to navigate. Ease of use is very important to consumers.

* Confusion on how to Manage Time: It can be overwhelming to figure out which site to use and how much time and money should be devoted to it. While each site has their own niche, using all three in conjunction is the smartest idea. Look at your marketing budget. Figure out how much you can spend in online advertising each month/quarter/year and then put a portion of that budget split equally between these three sites. Spend three months with an upgraded account on each and figure out which site brings you the most traffic. If it’s a comparable and decent amount, your answer is to spend your online advertising budget in exactly this way!

If you don’t have a budget for online advertising, you can certainly use the free features of each site. Try them out, again for a few months and with an equal amount of time and effort spent on each (whether that be an hour a day or an hour a week). Once you have done your due diligence, perhaps you will decide that coming up with an online advertising budget is important.

As far as which site to use? Well, many realtors these days are finding value in diversifying their time and efforts between the three. Each has something different, and slightly unique, to offer consumers. This means that leaving one out may cut the Realtor off from a potential market in their area.

Real Estate Websites - Zillow, Trulia, or Realtor?