It is the form of marketing in which you target users who have previously visited your website with banner ads on display networks across the web

I encourage you to go over and read the post in full.

I’m guessing there aren’t many agents using this marketing strategy, but are there any brokers reading this that have tried it? If so, would love your feedback as to whether you’ve had any success with it.

What’s remarketing you ask – great, glad you did. According to Wikipedia, Retargeting (or Remarketing as Google calls it inside Adwords) is…

is a form of online targeted advertising by which online advertising is delivered to consumers based on previous Internet actions that did not in the past result in a conversion (in other words, the action intended by the site owner, typically making a purchase)

The reason I wanted to start a discussion on retargeting was to see..

1. Does it work?

and

2. Are you doing it? If so, with success?

Retargeting From the Consumer Side

Here’s my personal story with retargeting:

About a month ago, I was searching for a new car – specifically an Infiniti G37. I didn’t plan on buying one anytime soon, but I was just starting to research. I was on Google and since my search yielded a very targeted paid search ad right to the Infiniti site on the G37, I clicked it. I arrived on the Infiniti site to browse for a few minutes and research. Then, I left.

Well, since Infiniti wants to maximize all their paid clicks, they were able to leverage Google’s remarketing platform to notice that I had clicked the Infiniti PPC ad, but didn’t (in the eyes of whatever Infiniti wants me to do) convert.

Since then, for the past month, every site that I visit that’s showing Adsense, I see something like so:

Photo Credit: Google

You’ll notice that I was on a site about C++, nothing related to cars in this case at all. Typically, Adsense is site sensitive and will serve ads to visitors based on the site’s content, except in the case of remarketing.

You will see ads based on the premise that you previously visited a site from a PPC customer of Google (Infiniti in this case) that didn’t achieve their goal. They do this in hopes to get you (the customer) to convert. So will I convert and give Infiniti my information so they can sell me a new car?

If they keep this remarketing campaign up, I just might indeed. See how this applies to the customers you’re currently losing that don’t convert once they click your PPC ad?

Retargeting From the Advertiser Side

Google makes this super easy. Basically, you select your campaign and then tell the Adwords rule that you want target visitors on the Google Content network (ie. Adsense) that you want to see your ads that previously clicked your PPC ad but didn’t convert. It’s that simple.

Now it’s your turn to share… are you using Remarketing? Is it working? What types of conversion rates are you all seeing? I’d love to see what everyone thinks about remarketing/retargeting in general…

Cheers, Matthew

From those introductions, and subsequent emails and phone calls to David about all the glitches and issues I had with Zillow, I ended up being invited to Zillow headquarters to meet with a small group of agents, consumers (ok, just one consumer) and numerous Zillow staff (Zillow Blog article).

The topics for the meeting:

• How to make Zillow more useful for the consumer
• How to make Zillow more useful for the real estate professional

It boils down to this. Zillow is a media company and sells ads, both to companies and agents. What does Zillow need to do to get me to buy more ads?

I got my first sales call from Zillow the day before my meeting in Seattle. I got my second sales call from Zillow yesterday. I don’t envy someone who has to sell to salespeople and I certainly don’t envy them trying in this economy.

Some Ideas

• The sales folk tell me that my ad on Zillow is likely to get 2000 impressions a month. How many unique visitors is that? From what zipcodes? How long are these visitors staying on the site?
• I have two options for ads. I can advertise myself “Geordie Romer – Leavenworth WA real estate expert” or I can advertise the “world’s cheapest yet glamorous vacation home”. Which is likely to have a better click through rate? Which is going to make the phone ring? What kinds of agent ads work best? What kinds of properties make the phone ring? I’d love a white paper that tells me how to make the best of this opportunity.
• How and why do people go to Zillow? They certainly don’t find Zillow by searching “Leavenworth real estate” or “Leavenworth WA real estate” — nope, those visitors are going to my website or my competitors, but certainly not Zillow (or Trulia or Cyberhomes).
• If more consumers are using the Zillow iPhone app, how does this affect my ads? Are less people going to see it? Is there a way to make me easier to reach via i-Phone?
• Is the lack of consumer participation in my zipcodes on Zillow Advice and Make Me Move an indication of the kind of traffic I’ll get? Is there a correlation?
• It’s not about price. It’s about value. The cost per month is $30 or so. Less than $400 a year per zipcode. The cost is low – raising it to $50 or lowering it to $20 probably wouldn’t have much of an effect on me. I would spend $500 month if the return was there.

My job is to sell houses. If Zillow can help me do that more efficiently, I’m happy to pay my share. If Trulia or Cyberhomes can do it better, I’m happy to give them a try too.

I’m actually surprised there aren’t more listings up there, but maybe it’s just that only a handful of people know about it. If you have a bunch of photos from a listing — or any other collection of photos — I encourage you to visit the site and give it a shot. You may want to read “Synthing to sell: using Photosynth to help sell a house“and “Synthing tips: How to synth a room” before you get started.

Once you’ve got one you’re proud of, show it off by linking to it in a comment below. It seems to me that this would be a pretty nifty way to make a pitch to potential clients to try to pick up their listing.

The Google Affiliate Network as part of the integration of DoubleClick, the DoubleClick Performics Affiliate Network, will now operate as the Google Affiliate Network for advertisers targeting users located in the United States.

The AdSense Referrals program enables publishers to apply for advertiser programs and get paid based on advertiser-defined actions instead of clicks or impressions. For further details, please visit: www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork.

AdSense for content ads *NOTE: If you have less than three AdSense for content ad units on a page, you may wish to replace the referral ad units with standard AFC ad units. If you currently use referral ads, either to promote Google products or offerings from AdWords advertisers, AdSense Referrals code will no longer display ads beginning the last week of August. Google is encouraging you to take the following steps before the product is retired:

1. Remove the referral code from your site(s): Remove all referral code from your sites before the last week of August, so you can continue to effectively monetize your ad space.

2. Run and save all referrals reports on your desktop: Create and save all reports related to the referrals program on your desktop, so you continue to have access to your valuable campaign information.

…..

Why is this happening?

We are constantly looking for ways to improve AdSense by developing and supporting features which drive the best monetization results for our publishers. Sometimes, this requires retiring existing features so we can focus our efforts on the ones that will be most effective in the long term. For this reason, we will be retiring the AdSense Referrals program. If you have any additional questions, contact the Help Center.
The Google AdSense Team”

So could this effect what you earn from your referrals? You might want to check your AdSense Account and make the necessary changes as announced by Google.

Source: Google

]]> http://www.geekestateblog.com/google-says-bye-bye-to-adsense/feed/ 5 http://www.geekestateblog.com/a-word-of-advise-to-real-estate-agents-who-blog-the-power-of-social-networking-can-be-a-%e2%80%9cdouble-edged-sword%e2%80%9d/ http://www.geekestateblog.com/a-word-of-advise-to-real-estate-agents-who-blog-the-power-of-social-networking-can-be-a-%e2%80%9cdouble-edged-sword%e2%80%9d/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:59:58 +0000 TheRECoach http://www.geekestateblog.com/a-word-of-advise-to-real-estate-agents-who-blog-the-power-of-social-networking-can-be-a-%e2%80%9cdouble-edged-sword%e2%80%9d/ Read More »]]> In what can only be described as an amazing commentary on the true power of Social Networking, one incredibly ignorant RedFin representative, Carol Hian, wrote a scathing Blog post on her RedFin Blog about a fellow “Twitterer” and Facebook friend, Kris Berg and her husband Steve. In which she not only referes to them as “Barbie & Ken”, but oversteps the bounds of Blogging and good taste, by utilizing her privilege to complete a personal agenda of bashing through jealousy.

Miss Hian certainly found out the power of social networking and the closeness of a Social Networking community in which the Berg’s and many others belong. Within hours, nary minutes, of the Blog post becoming known to the Twitter and Facebook families the Bergs belong to, the post had 25+ comments scolding Miss Hian for her miss-use of the medium. It was truly amazing to see, and warmed my heart that even a consumer, who had read the blog post because he was researching RedFin to possibly use their services, chimed in with this diddy…

Jon said:

I am not a real estate agent, as most commenters here appear to be. I’m just a soon to be homeowner interested in real estate in San Diego.

But I do find this post not only childish, but insulting.

“Everyone ends up with a bad taste, longing for a barf bag and mouthwash.”

You’re right. That describes me to a T after reading this drivel.

I am considering using Redfin as my agency, but I wouldn’t ever consider using Ms. Hian as my agent.

“Biting back” at Ms. Berg is one thing, but you bit back at everyone that contributed to that food drive. How is that appropriate?”

Every comment was of the same ilk, except one, from Glenn Kelman President & CEO of Redfin, he wrote…

Glenn Kelman said:

This post makes me physically ill. It is not consistent with how those of us at Redfin who have met Kris Berg feel about her or her charitable activity. Kris is a wonderful human being and a credit to our profession.

We have a clear policy that the contractors who contribute local posts about the real estate market should focus only on the real estate market, not on competitors. We are clear with everyone with whom we work that Redfin works as a partner with other real estate brokers, not as an antagonist.

Had we known that Ms. Hian felt this way about Realtors, we would not have commissioned her to write for Redfin at all.

As much as we would like to, we cannot take the post down because it would be sneaky to do so. But we will take steps to ensure something like this never happens again.

I apologize on behalf of Redfin for this post, both to Kris Berg and to the real estate profession.
Regards, Glenn”

Kudos to Glenn, not only for his quick response in defense of Kris & Steve, but also for his eloquently stated apology. I am now a Glenn Kelman fan!

Be careful with this medium Bloggers, we should all be proud of what we do, not embarrassed by it.

The Coach

]]> http://www.geekestateblog.com/a-word-of-advise-to-real-estate-agents-who-blog-the-power-of-social-networking-can-be-a-%e2%80%9cdouble-edged-sword%e2%80%9d/feed/ 4 http://www.geekestateblog.com/trulia-adds-featured-listings/ http://www.geekestateblog.com/trulia-adds-featured-listings/#comments Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:34:54 +0000 Jay Thompson http://www.geekestateblog.com/trulia-adds-featured-listings/ Read More »]]> Trulia has introduced “Trulia Agent Featured Listings“.

Here’s the highlights:

Features:

Photo & contact info. featured on your Trulia listings, as well as a new email tool enabling consumers to email property inquiries directly to your mailbox

Totally new, enhanced property detail page embedded with useful neighborhood stats (see attached mock)

Listings featured in top three search results (based on search relevancy)

Weekly traffic reporting details the number of times a listing is viewed on site and visitors sent to your Web site from Trulia

Highlight up to 10 listings for a monthly subscription fee of $50

Why?

Agents who participated in a two-month Agent Featured Listing beta test received 4x more traffic to featured listings, on average, than to non-featured listings (in many cases, traffic increased 7x!)

Agent Featured Listings are one of many steps Trulia is taking to help agents connect with Trulia’s serious home buyers – 81% of who are looking to purchase a home within 12 months

How?

Agents must have listings on Trulia to participate – here’s a great “how to” video: http://www.trulia.com/agent_featured_listings.html

Sign up at: http://www.trulia.com/agents/feature

Future Enhancements – we’re already on it!

Ability to reroute property links from your broker’s site to your own site (if this is not your default traffic route)

Additional tools for agents who want to promote more than 10 listings at one time

More behaviorially targeted advertising

I’ve been beta testing Featured Listings for several weeks, and can attest that listing views and click-throughs from those views are up significantly (tends to happen when your listing is at the top of a long list. Look no further than Craig’s List to see what being at the top of a list can do. Heck, look at a blog with its chronological posts — the latest, i.e. top post, is almost always the most viewed).

Creating a featured listing is a snap. You just have to enter the address of an existing listing and check a box. In the beta period, it took half a day or so for your listing to become featured. I have no idea if that will continue now that it is live, though I suspect it won’t take too long.

Is it worth $50/month? Dunno. It’s relatively cheap, though $50/month in Pay Per Click for the right term with the right landing page may be a better use of your money. It’s certainly cheap enough to experiment a little with. I “featured” 6 – 8 listings during the beta period. Some did very well with respect to views. Others not so much. Featuring outlying land parcels was a waste of time. That is likely due to the low volume of searches in general for outlying properties, not a result of Trulia’s featured listing.

Note to Trulia: Posted at 6:33am to honor your self-imposed, self-broken embargo.

]]> http://www.geekestateblog.com/trulia-adds-featured-listings/feed/ 6 http://www.geekestateblog.com/tips-to-an-effective-landing-page/ http://www.geekestateblog.com/tips-to-an-effective-landing-page/#comments Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:57:46 +0000 Drew Meyers http://www.geekestateblog.com/tips-to-an-effective-landing-page/ Read More »]]> Whether it be Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Zillow (my employer), Facebook, or somewhere else — I think it’s safe to say many real estate professionals are actively advertising online. For those who do advertise online, you should be giving some thought to the “landing page” that consumers are directed to once they click on your ad. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to start. An effective landing page is the single best way to increase your conversion rate for gathering leads from your online advertising campaigns. I sat down with a member of Zillow’s ad sales team, Scott Huber, and spent 5 minutes gathering his thoughts on effective landing pages –

Do:

• Capture as little as possible (while still being able to follow up)
• Educate potential customers about your offerings
• Include your FULL contact information
• Be consistent in your messaging — your ad and your landing page should have a strong relation
• Recognize landing pages are an extension of your brand

Don’t:

• Expect people to fill out a long form
• Use long-winded messages
• Use gimicks, give-aways, or free services as a reason to fill out your form

The missing “Do” that really annoys me is when someone does not include their FULL contact information — often I don’t want to fill in a form to talk to someone at their convenience; I want to call them at my convenience.

If anyone else has any tips to add or some great examples of effective landing pages you’ve seen, please feel free to leave a comment.

]]> http://www.geekestateblog.com/tips-to-an-effective-landing-page/feed/ 8 http://www.geekestateblog.com/smart-advertising-interactive-ads/ http://www.geekestateblog.com/smart-advertising-interactive-ads/#comments Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:34:49 +0000 Drew Meyers http://www.geekestateblog.com/smart-advertising-interactive-ads/ Read More »]]> While browsing Zillow Discussions yesterday, one ad just popped out at me. Upon seeing it, I was immediately compelled to click on it. Why? The ad was interactive; it allowed me to control the ad. Here’s the ad that I am referring to — browse over the icons at the bottom of the ad and you’ll see what I mean (sorry for all the white space around the ad – I haven’t figured out this kimili flash embed program yet).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a larger version of the ad

In my book, this is a superb example of an effective online advertisement. When advertising online, the focus should be to make your ad interesting and relevant to your target audience. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the beach, so the background image interested me enough to click this ad.

Whoever is doing the creative (graphic design) for Redfin — well done!

Update: The sales team here at Zillow has informed me that Adready, a local Seattle ad technology start-up, designed this ad on behalf of Redfin.

]]> http://www.geekestateblog.com/smart-advertising-interactive-ads/feed/ 3 http://www.geekestateblog.com/animoto-rocks/ http://www.geekestateblog.com/animoto-rocks/#comments Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:15:08 +0000 Jay Thompson http://www.geekestateblog.com/animoto-rocks/ Read More »]]>

Thanks to the Men of Sellsius, I jumped into Animoto to see what the buzz was about.

This site is slick. You can quickly make “videos” of pictures you supply, sync’ed to music with spiffy transitions. Here is one I put together for a listing.

The service is free, but that limits you to creating 30 second clips. Unlimited use for longer videos is only $30/year.

There are some limitations with Animoto that may annoy those who want complete control. It decides the transitions and timing (though you can “spotlight” photos — making them stay on-screen longer). You chose the photos of course, and can order and rotate them. You also select the music — either titles supplied by Animoto, or MP3s you upload.

Embedding in a WordPress blog can be tedious enough to drive one crazy– that’s the fault of the WordPress visual editor, not Animoto. Dave Smith has some tips to help, but for the life of me I couldn’t get it to embed on GeekEstate. I couldn’t even iframe it. (note to Drew, installing the Vipers’ Video Quicktags plugin may help)

It’s very easy to create these Animoto things. Marketing potential is huge. Give it a whirl!

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