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15
Zillow Newspaper advertising alliance - So What ?
Filed Under Economy, Helpful Information, Listings, Seller Tips, Technology
The press is a buzz with the news that Zillow has signed a deal with 11 major publishers that equates to 282 Newspapers.
With the new arrangement, real estate ads placed with these news papers will automatically get placement on Zillows web site.
I say so what ?
While this may be good for Zillow in raking in some cash from the Newspaper Publishing industry, Realtors can already do this from many different sources.
Savvy Realtors that have embraced Technological changes and are up to speed on Web 2.0, are doing this now. Any Realtor worth his or her salt knows that 80% of the buying market goes to the Internet first. Spending money on a dying medium like news papers is literally throwing money out the window. In the current Economic client and down turn in the market, I would put my money and expertise where it gets the best results. I am sorry but the statistics don’t-support the News Papers as a viable source for Residential Real Estate sales as they once did.
Which is interesting becuase in Zillows Press release they pretty much back up my comments above, but they stick to the story line that “to brokers and agents, the paper is a core marketing tool.”
“Reading the weekend real estate section is a ritual that many enjoy and to brokers and agents, the paper is a core marketing tool. Now, the process of real estate discovery will be further integrated into the online world. We are honored that this consortium of newspaper companies has chosen Zillow as the partner to fast-track their presence in the digital real estate world,” said Lloyd Frink, Zillow president. “Research shows that 80 percent of home buyers use the Internet in the home-buying process. That, combined with Zillow’s audience of engaged real estate enthusiasts, creates a huge opportunity for local brokerages looking to expand their reach online.”
How many buyers have told you that they found your listing from a News Paper advertisement or circular vs. other traditional methods and the Internet ?
While I am-sure their are some markets that will still support this model, it is a dying market segment. I think the News Paper Publishing Industry knows this and jumped at the opportunity. I would not put it past them to now raise their rates ?
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Comments
12 Responses to “Zillow Newspaper advertising alliance - So What ?”
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Digitize Your Old Photos
read the post on extreme service- the internet can and will only go so far
Of course they will raise rates, but does it matter? You are getting a better service. You get what you pay for and business is business…..makes perfect sense to me. Isn’t that the argument a full service realtor uses versus a discount broker? I know I have.
Great way to lay out the article, 100% on point and great summary.
I just called one of my clients and they need to see the listing from the Internet not a newspaper. You are right.
The internet is a a powreful tool as we all know, but I don’t think we can completely discount the amount of buyers that search the newspapers still these days. The paper in my market has an excellent real estate section every Sunday. I generate a lot of calls from classified ads so I know they are still reading. You have to keep things diversified.
I agree, all avenues need to be appearant and visible to obtain maximum exposure
Listing aggregators have been scraping listings from agent websites and begging agents for listings all along. The data on their websites today is still “for entertainment purposes only”, though I don’t see any warnings telling their visitors that their “listings” may be sold, expired, non-existent or that they may be missing a large number of current listings. If they were honest about their unreliable data, consumers would turn to the consumer facing site from the local MLS instead.
I don’t have anything against the people running the listing aggregators and I’ll admit that their sites are usually more attractive and easier to use than MLS sites, but the junk data renders them meaningless. The big bang of REALTOR 2.0 will be when one of these aggregators signs an agreement with a local or state Association to publish all of their listings in exchange for providing their members with a FREE MLS.
Brokers resent someone using their listings to steal eyeballs away from their sites and then sell those same eyeballs back to them for advertising dollars. Treat brokers’ listings as something of value and offer them something of value in return. The aggregator who gets that, instead of trying to generate hype, will be the one who emerges victorious.
Web 1.0 was about hype, and we saw where that led. Web 2.0 is about providing real value.
The Zillow-Newspaper announcement was hype. Agents were already able to publish free listings on Zillow.
Thanks!
Frank Jewett
I think that this is against the antitrust legislation. If the competition on the real estate market decreases we will face a bigger crisis, I think.
I think the only anti trust issues here would be the MLS itself as Realtor.com and NAR have a lock on it. That is one of the key reasons why NAR is being investigated by the DOJ. As for Zillow and newspaper’s, well only time will tell on the News industry. Papers are on the way out. I would say that within the next 5 to 10 years (most likely 5) y9ou won’t have a morning newspaper to read anymore. At least not of the paper type.
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