National Internet Exposure Good for Buffalo Homes for Sale?
Back in January I wrote about this, and this morning I spoke with a potential seller that wanted to know about National Internet Exposure for their Williamsville home for sale. So I thought that I would republish it today…
What does a Buffalo home seller get with National Internet Exposure?
This article has been swirling around in my head for some time now, ever since I read this post by Eric Blackwell over at Bloodhound Blog. The folks over at Bloodhound have a way of stirring the pot and start people thinking. In his article, Eric pointed out why National Home Search Sites suck and he so simply stated the issues many home sellers don’t realize may be impeding their ability to sell their homes.
Read Also: I hate scum-sucking vendors
How many of you have had a presentation by a Realtor® about how much exposure you will get on the Internet if you list with them. They will post your listings on Realtor.com, Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and the countless other National Listing Websites to advertise your home for sale. Well let’s talk about the most popular search term in our area Buffalo NY. Put Buffalo as the city, you will get only homes with Buffalo in the IDX city field. Not problems if you are in Allentown, but what do you think if you are selling a home in: Williamsville, Clarence, N. Tonawanda, Orchard Park, Wheatfield, Cheektowaga, Amherst or Lewiston?
Did you catch the problems?
Problem 1 – The suburbs are being ignored because of a data field. They do not understand the local market, so they don’t take into account that folks that are relocating to Buffalo have no idea to search for Williamsville or Lewiston which might just have the perfect home for them.
Problem 2 – When the Realtor® is telling you the thousands of visitors that site receive each month, which is NATIONALLY, not locally. Since none of these sites share what the local numbers are, we need to make an assumption that these numbers are even across the 50 states.
Divide that number by 50 it isn’t so great is it? But wait, there are 42 MLS systems in the state of New York, divide again. Not so impressive is it? And that is not taking into consideration searches for the Metro New York City will draw more attention that Buffalo.
Does this mean the Internet is a bad advertising model?
No, hardly, but if your Realtor® is solely relying on the National Listing Websites to get your home sold, your home for sale may be missing opportunities. In today’s highly competitive Real Estate Market, the National Listing websites are one aspect of selling your home. People are starting their searches on the Internet, but they eventually choose a Realtor® to work with. They make that selection based on information they see regarding the many agents out there. Just like they are looking for reason to not buy a particular home when searching they are finding reasons to not work with specific agents. The agents that are findable on Google Searches of topics that home buyers are finding, are the most likely agents they will call.
I think it is important to have a strong Internet presence, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have my site www.BuffaloNiagaraRealEstateHomeSales.com. In fact, I felt so strongly about my Internet presence I did not put it in the hands of vendors – I took complete control and self-hosted it on WordPress. I am not dependent on vendors that have their hands in my pockets. Nor am I dependent on my excellent Broker site which leads are handed out to us. In addition I have another site that I am working on at www.BuffaloWNYhomes.com which is hosted by a vendor. I don’t wait for the leads to be handed to me, I go out and get them!
The Answers you seek
The Internet is not a magic bullet in getting your home sold. I want you to understand that while National Internet Exposure will not hurt your marketing efforts, it is only a small aspect. What you want when selling your home is a quick effortless sale at the highest price in the least amount of time. Each professional you meet has a different method of achieving that goal. What you the consumer have to figure out is the facts from the fiction.
If you are looking to sell your home and you are all excited about the Internet exposure your home will be given, I hope that this will explain to you that:
- Any exposure is good, but targeted exposure is even better, the national search sites should be one aspect of their Internet Advertising
- A company website is great, and the agent should leverage use of it, but the power is in an agent with their own website driving traffic to your listing where the interested buyer can call the listing agent directly
- Not only is it important to use the National Listing Websites, but creating slide shows, blogs and YouTube Videos to bring exposure to your home for sale in Buffalo.
- It is not a good idea to leave Internet advertising to those that do not have a personal website that you can find in Google searches on page one or two for terms buyers are using to search for homes for sale.
I am your Western New York Realtor®. I understand the power of the Internet and will leverage every aspect of it to give you the results you desire. Your home SOLD!
Call me today at (716) 650-0051 to find out more about my Internet Marketing.
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