Sara Bonert

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Since you said it was a “debate” in your title, I will disagree with the concept of this blog post. You are comparing two totally different business models – a media company and a brokerage. One sells an audience and one sells the product of real estate. That would be like comparing Ford’s financials to NBC’s because they run ads on the network. I also think your supporting example of Expedia isn’t correct. First of all, travel can be viewed as a commodity. Real estate certainly is not. Furthermore, I am fiercely loyal to Delta and Hilton, have been for years. However, a majority of the time I start my search on travel aggregation sites, for shopping purposes, but ultimately drill down to end up either doing business with one of these two companies or funneling in directly to their sites. Their exposure level to me is heightened because of their participation in aggregation sites. “Edina clients benefit from this because in the end most buyers and sellers pick a Realtor based on how strong the Realtor is locally.” I do agree that people care about how strong their agent is locally, but I fail to see how your point is connected to Edina lowering their awareness level on the largest national real estate sites? You quote one agent who says they have a low conversion rate. I would like to counter that with the many more who think otherwise: http://www.zillow.com/advertising/Testimonials.htm and continue to renew their advertising every month because it works. Building a brand is certainly important in the real estate industry, no doubt about it. However, ignoring that these huge audiences exist online as ripe people to market your brand to is a huge mistake. I also believe Sellers would agree with this point. That is why I expect we’ll see pizza and beer ads running during the Superbowl in a few weeks. They have a product to sell and the TV station has an audience to help them do this. It is a great partnership. Sara from Zillow

From a shopping experience, yup, get it. :)

Hi Teresa, just wanted to mention the #1 ranked real estate app made specifically for the iPad (Zillow): http://www.zillow.com/ipad/ :) Shameless plug I know, but we do have the download numbers to back it up. I personally haven't taken the plunge to getting an iPad yet, but with each business trip that I haul my 50 pound computer around (at least that's what it feels like), I get closer and closer. I still think I'll wait for a few things to evolve on it, some of which you mention above. I can see how an iPad would be very handy on listing presentations. But I've also heard that the device itself can be distacting to the homeowner because they get more caught up in the technology than what one is actually saying. But I am sure that will go away as the novelity of it does. Love the Netflix app too!