The beautiful thing about advertising is that you’re free to choose which venues work for you. Some people complain that newspaper advertising is dead and costly, so they quit years ago. Others complain that Yellow Pages are dead and costly, so they quit that too. Many brokers are in a fight to get their website ranked as highly as possible to avoid paying advertising. SW Florida Real Estate Brokers Find Buyers in new ways.
We believe getting your website ranked highly is fantastic, and we’ve strived for that for years with good results. In fact, we’re changing over our website right now in hopes it will achieve even higher rankings. Mostly we want it to work for the consumer. You can check on the progress at www.Topagent.com
While getting ranked is important, search engines are adding more paid content to their front page, effectively squeezing out the free search results. There are fewer and fewer spots left on front pages eaten up by paid advertising.
For those that believe newspaper advertising is dead, we can look no further than 2 weeks ago. I wrote an article entitled “Thinking of Selling” That weekend we had over 130 sellers sign in to our website to find out the value of their home. That’s quite a response.
People believe we’re foolish to take out full page ads in the Yellow Pages. Yet each week we receive calls from buyers and sellers from the Yellow Pages. Some are visiting in hotel rooms. Others still use it at home. The real advantage may be the online component of Yellow Pages. Dex is a large advertiser that gets ranked on the first page of Google and Bing. If you’re an advertiser in print, you’re an advertiser online.
The same goes with the Newspaper. You’re not just advertising here locally as Gannett covers many papers across the US.
Our advertising philosophy can best be described as “Cornering the Market.” We use print, TV, Internet, radio, mail outs, etc.
The Ellis Team advertises our listings online in sites like USA Today, CNN, Trulia, New York Times, Fox News, and many more. Relying on search engines is great if you’re looking to pick up a few buyers here and there on the cheap, but if you really want to market your seller’s property it’s worth spending money to reach buyers everywhere.
Advertising isn’t expensive if it works. The newspaper still works. It costs money, but if you’re consistent and don’t try to cram too much into a small ad it’s effective. Yellow Pages work. Radio, TV, Internet; they all work. The trick is learning what’s effective. Certain ads work. You can’t blame the advertising medium if you post a crappy ad and nobody calls.
So when you hear an agent say they don’t advertise in the newspaper, or Yellow Pages, or whatever because it costs too much, ask yourself this question “If I buy a cheap cup of coffee and it tastes bad, did I really save anything by buying cheap coffee?”
When you’re interviewing real estate agents you have to ask pointed questions about where your home will be advertised and how often. It’s not rude. It’s your home and you’re paying the commission. If the commission includes advertising it pays to find out how much exposure your home will have versus other brokers. Many sellers assume all agents are the same when in reality brokers advertise differently. The brokers who advertise more may be better negotiators too because they’re spending more money on your home and they need to be.
If you have a home you’re considering selling in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Ft Myers Beach or anywhere in Lee County Florida, give us a call. 239-489-4042 or visit our website www.Topagent.com
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