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www.1234yourstreet.com - What's the value of this service? Am I missing something??

Posted in Real Estate Marketing 2.0 By , Monday, March 17, 2008.

This morning I was in deep thought about the newer service available, which allows you to create an individual domain for each of your listings. As the domain name, you list the address of the home, then hang a sign rider at your listing with the website address: ex: www.1234yourstreet.com

In my own mind, it's all great and dandy for each of your listings to have their own "unique" web page, but, in reality, what does it provide that your web page doesn't already? Most agents provide a link to all of their listings from the regular web page already, but keeps them within the agents domain, rather than sending them to a different domain altogether.

I don't see the value in creating a "unique" listing address domain. One of my major concerns is: "Is it even going to show up when you try to Google 'real estate, Portland Oregon'"? The chances that your normal domain site shows up is much higher, it seems.

Don't you think it would be wise to keep all of your listings within your own domain, where consumers have access and exposure to all your other listings, as well as all of your personalized branding? Plus, consumers have the ability to bookmark your webpage, and return down the road should they become more serious about purchasing. If they try to return to the specified domain with an address and that listing has been deleted, they will come up with nothing, and forget your name altogether.

Maybe I'm missing the boat, have any of you tried this type of service before? If so, what are the true benefits?

Thanks for your input!

Erika

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Submitted by Thomas Townsend on March 17, 2008 - 3:05pm.

Erika,

Agents that work with only Luxury properties, do this already. It really is just another way to market your services.

Their are quite a few vendor (listing) services
that use this as a selling tool...ie, having the ability to set up a separate web page for each listing.

Actually anyone with a Blog page could add a sub page or sub domain to a static site and add the separate page.

To get the search engines to look at this though you will have to devote some time to Search Engine Optimization and Management of that site.

It's a lot of work for your average listing. The time to consider this is when you have a Multi-Million Dollar listing and you wanted to separate it from the crowd.

On the other hand...We have had great success with adding listings into a Blog Post. Then you add the right keywords, video, pictures and links...and I would put money on my listing getting to the top of the search engines much faster than a site devoted to a single listing would at half the time and cost to boot.

DISCLAIMER: I have not personally reviewed the site you mentioned. My comments are based on personal experience and what I know about how Search Engines like Google, and how they rate submitted data from Static sites and Blogs.

Visualize It! @ Virtual Interactive Systems http://www.visin.com

 
Submitted by Paul Eastwood on March 17, 2008 - 4:18pm.

Hi Erika - the value of any marketing tool depends on what problems you want to solve.

Single Property Sites offer two unique benefits to the Listing Agent:
1. Help to win more listings
2. Help to attract more Buyers to the listing by automating the marketing tasks, and getting it sold! Added-value marketing services that allow you to exploit your listing data, are being quickly added to these types of solutions.

'Winning more Listings' is a good reason for putting effort into a marketing approach like a single property site - it's a fabulous way to impress the socks of the Seller and then get the inquisitive neighbors to see what an amazing marketing god you really are!
See what I mean: http://www.1122MainStreet.com

The real point is that this is a marketing effort focussed on the HOME, not the Realtor (what an amazing concept) - as a consequence it can have a very positive effect on your potential sellers and neighbors, friends, family work colleagues etc.

Of course, all this opportunity has to be balanced by the cost and effort of doing it. So - you need to decide the cost benefits. But you can only do that if you understand the potential benefits.

Technology now makes these solutions very accessible to even the most technically and financially challenged. Systems and tools now permit anyone to create a very elegant site in just a few minutes, and the cost? - well cost can be as low as a few dollars per listing per month.

Now get Buyers to see your listing!

The benefits continue to mount. Single property sites services are now evolving into comprehensive listing marketing solutions - a part of which, is the creation of a 'single property site', but we now have the capability to take that data and spin it, push it and present it in multiple ways - all automatically!

Clearly we need to get the listing appropriately positioned in the marketplace. The marketplace, by definition, is where the buyers are!

Are Google, Yahoo! and MSN the Marketplace?
Well, I agree with your point - I am not sure its reasonable to expect that a single property site gets quickly ranked for a high-use search term like "real estate Portland Oregon" etc - many websites with longevity and lots of keyword-rich content will be able to more easily dominate the search engine results pages for those keywords. And, of course, its also not at all reasonable to suggest that consumers type in '1122 Mainstreet' as a search term either.

(However, keywords will get assigned in the META tags and TITLE that reflect the property address - the purpose is to cover this requirement, so that when sites are indexed, they at least stand a fighting chance in the mass of sites on Google etc!)

No, whats most important is to get your listing data pushed out to all the places your Buyers will be. This now re-enforces the benefits of solutions such as Single Property Sites because with the listing data now entered, you can automatically get your listing data everywhere you need it to be, with automated syndications, feeds, widgets, auto-posted craigslist flyers, virtual tour links and so on.

So, once listing data is entered, you can syndicate it all over the web (trulia, zillow etc) , create WIDGETS automatically and present this in your own websites, BLOGS, mySpace etc, this is now your virtual tour (with unlimited high-resolution images), connect it REALTOR.com, use it as an unbranded virtual tour, create and post elegant flyers to craigslist automatically, create quality print flyers and postcards - all using the data set you created for this listing.

On top of this, you could, possibly, get a street address domain name and sign-rider just in case you thought marketing yourself to the seller and the drive-by buyers had any importance...
(Notice here I am NOT advocating a 3rd level domain like "streetaddress.mydomain.com" - nor a BLOG - first, how cheap is that!.. you are avoiding a great marketing opportunity to save yourself 10 or so bucks!? secondly a third level domain is all about 'you' not the home, and thirdly, if you are worried about SEO, this won't help you a bean - a real domain name sitting out there with back-links to your main site is definitely going to help - well I can't think of many other SEO benefits that cost as little as $11.99 per year ...(and please note that with SPS, a 'SOLD' site stays live for free) )

Anyway - a bit of a long post, but I hope this gives you some solid ideas for you to consider! If you want to see more - see a real sample of what can get created in a few minutes and for just a few bucks at http://www.1122MainStreet.com

 
Submitted by Real Estate Marketing - Misty Lackie on March 17, 2008 - 5:14pm.

Paul's explanation is right on. If you setup a single property site well, your listing will gain all the advantages Paul discussed. Sub-domains are pointless and don't do well for SEO purposes. If you setup your single property site correctly or with a provider that syndicates the listing and optimizes the single property site based around that listing and its area, your listing well do much better in search engines.

 
Submitted by on March 17, 2008 - 6:29pm.

I've not seen a single property site do much in terms of ranking. Who is going to build links, add and change content and do all the things that need to be done to rank well for anything useful? I don't think the single property sites are useful. I'd buy the domain name for $8 and do a 301 redirect to the property page on my main site.

I'm open to hearing and seeing something that shows differently, but I don't think enough thought and time is put into the single property sites to make them rank well.

Joe

Austin TX area camping | Austin Texas Real Estate

 
Submitted by Real Estate Marketing - Misty Lackie on March 17, 2008 - 6:54pm.

See http://www.classifiedflyerads.com/search-engine-exposure.php for our latest single property sites that have ranked on page 1.

Having a domain name is just an added benefit that looks nice for the seller and easy to use on sign riders, etc. The actual domain name isn't going to make it rank well and many Agents don't even use the domain add-on. They just use the single property site (flyer) creation with the default url under our domain. They get the same exposure with or without a property address domain name.

Our single property sites (flyers) are syndicated to over 25 online directories so the link backs are automatically built.

Over 80% of our flyers rank on page 1 and many flyers receive hundreds of hits per week just from natural search engine searches. That's not including the traffic they receive from the directories they are syndicated to. Agents who paste the HTML to their ActiveRain blogs, Craigslist, Backpage receive even more traffic.

If a single property site is coded and setup correctly it can bring in lots of traffic. We suggest Agents add a link on the single property site that points to the actual listing page on their own website. This allows their own websites listing page to receive additional traffic and a link back too.

Try if for FREE with 2 listings (flyers) and see if it works for you.

 
Submitted by on March 17, 2008 - 7:14pm.

Hmm.. They do rank, but for semi-longtail keywords. With 5 words in a phrase it's much easier than something that will be widely or at least semi-often searched like "[subdivision] real estate". Can you post an example of a first page listing for a competitive area like Austin or NYC? I'd like to do some research on the meta tags, rankings, traffic estimates, CPC etc for the keywords/ keyphrases for which the listing ranks well.

Thanks
Joe

Falconhead Texas Real Estate | Steiner Ranch Homes

 
Submitted by Real Estate Marketing - Misty Lackie on March 18, 2008 - 7:56am.

Our flyers are optimized based around the property type and location and generally rank for 3 to 5 word search phrases. Don't have any Austin TX flyers ranked as of now but we do have a "Las Vegas NV Property" flyer that received a ton of traffic that is currently ranked on page 2. It was ranked on page 1 for almost a week.

It's important that your pages are optimized specifically to what you are advertising. So if you are advertising a condo for sale in Austin TX then ideally your page should be optimized for things like...

Austin TX Condos
Austin TX Condos for sale
Condos for sale Austin TX

These are the types of searches people would use if they were searching for a condo in Austin TX. Too often people try to rank for searches that are **not specific** to what they are advertising on that page and that's their 1st mistake. We currently have over 550 flyers ranked on page 1 for searches that are related to what is being advertised on the flyers. We have over 6800 members and our top customers create multiple flyers per week because they have seen the benefit from the flyers rankings and the traffic they receive. One of our clients recently told us since he started creating flyers he no longer uses pay per click advertising and he has saved hundreds of dollars per month on what he used to spend on pay per click. Of course results vary from area to area and based on what is being advertised but we have lots of happy customers that keep coming back so we know it works.

Plus we see the high amount of views many flyers receive, which is another indication that this form of advertising does work. For example…

http://www.classifiedflyerads.com/ad/19472/ = has received 932 views

http://www.classifiedflyerads.com/ad/13120/ = has received 994 views

http://www.classifiedflyerads.com/ad/17053/ = has received 826 views

http://www.classifiedflyerads.com/ad/15695/ = has received 985 views

Following is a list of some of the other search phrases that our flyers currently come up under within the top 20 search results.

Bonsall CA property
Prescott Valley AZ property
South Euclid OH house rental
Lillestown PA homes
Santa Clara CA property
Fort Gibson TX land for sale
Fort Gibson TX land
land for sale Fort Gibson TX
Oak Forest IL property
Rutland MA property
Oldsmar Fl property
Denver NC lot
Denver NC property
Yuma multifamily property
multifamily property Yuma AZ
Yuma AZ multifamily property
Yucaipa CA property
lot for sale Statesville NC
Statesville lot for sale
Statesville NC lot
Burbank CA property
Fort Gibson TX property
Statesville NC lot for sale
Braintree MA property
Kathleen GA house
Sunny Isles Beach FL condos
Illinois Mortgage Advice
vacation rental East Sandwich MA
East Sandwich MA vacation rental
house rental South Euclid OH
Midlothian IL property
Plumbing Companies in San Francisco CA

Note: the above results are as of the time I made this comment and may change or drop off in the future

 
Submitted by Fred Carver on March 20, 2008 - 8:43pm.

Hi... Here's something we did, we had a condo listed, so we Blogged with the street address "306-949 Cloverdale Ave Top Floor two bedroom Condo Victoria BC", as the heading. As expected we were at the top of the page on Google for the street address, neat for the seller to look at, maybe someone looking for the address, not what you plan you internet marketing around...except remember the title was a long title, known as a long tail key words. We did a search the following day also for "top floor two bedroom condo victoria"..there we were at the top of the page on Google. Now that's a good search term, now we're going to use a new sign topper "Google This Address". I'm rethinking address in marketing by Blogging the address in the start of my long tail key word rich heading. Try it it works everytime!

 
Submitted by on March 25, 2008 - 10:22am.

Thanks everyone for all of your great points on using the url listing address services! Overall, it looks like the service provides a lot of great benefits as far as photos, flyer creation, etc. Obviously, I think if agents had time to sit and really SEO their listings with this service, it would probably do them a great deal of additional exposure, especially for high end listings. I'm interested to see if anyone else has benefited from using this service and their experience.
Thanks again!!

 
Submitted by Mott Marvin Kornicki on March 26, 2008 - 9:35am.

We have been using ClassifiedFlyerAds with much success! I recently discovered RealBird.com and several other social networks. It seems that individual, property specific marketing works best for us.

Mott Marvin Kornicki, Broker

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