Since purchasing Move, Inc. two years ago, News Corp. has put some serious dough into enhancing its Realtor.com listing portal – and more enhancements are on the way. How will they affect your online real estate selling practices?
An “Advantage” over “Showcase Listings”
“Showcase Listings,” Realtor.com’s previous listing ad product, is being replaced with “Advantage,” said to offer more flexible branding, lead-capture features, and marketing insight for agents.
So what’s changing?
- Price scheme
Pricing is said to be more flexible, and will be affected by local median prices, demand, and “other factors…” So your next listing could cost more, less, or the same.
- User experience
Photos have been supersized, property specs shrunk, and the yellow advertising bar topping listing results eighty-sixed in efforts to increase buyer engagement. Advertiser branding will now appear at both top and bottom, with a lead form following users as they scroll.
- Advertiser display options
Soon you will be able to display your branding with a variety of colors and a tagline. Brokers can choose to include up to 3 agents on a listing page, in addition to the listing agent. However, only agents working for the broker advertiser will be included, keeping leads in-house, unlike Trulia and Zillow. Lead-capture design for broker-advertisers, however, will now mimic the format of these rivals.
• Features
The introduction of dashboards for agents and brokers (not just advertisers) will help users track return-on-investment. New seller reports, generated through the site for clients, will offer information on interest/inquiries into a home and how it compares to similars. Advantage is also slated to include a “3-D Tour” tab on the listing’s photo gallery. However, this feature won’t be available at launch.
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