Trulia Local Ads, ActiveRain, Realtor Showcase, Top Producer... (agents, monthly fee, realty)

[cobble]

I know that in general Realtors poo-poo "lead generators" as being a waste of money. The general mindset seems to be "don't feed these dogs!" I was just wondering if anyone is actually happy with services such as Trulia Local Ads, ActiveRain, Realtor Showcase, Top Producer?

I have my own personal blog and it has really only generated one listing and one buyer prospect. Some of my Buyers like reading my blog but for the most part it's a ghost town on there - despite linking it to every site I can think of. I have YouTube videos tour and link it to my company Facebook and Twitter and blog - all that crazy Web 2.0 stuff. It really doesn't seem to be paying off. All this Web 2.0 thing is starting to make me feel like a dog chasing my own tail! Has anyone found a lead generator that they find worthwhile?

[Brandon Hoffman]

The only thing I've paid for is Realtor Showcase...save your money. There is no better form of lead generation than your sphere of influence. Spend your money on them!

[FalconheadWest]

I have a Trulia Pro account which is a mere $39 a month. I've closed a handful of buyers. ActiveRain isn't a "lead generator". You need to blog and potentially pay for Hit Router if you want that. I've closed hundreds of thousands of dollars (income) from being a part of AR. I've never wasted money on Realtor Showcase or Top Producer. I WASTED thousands on Zillow and never got a single thing except a call asking me to renew and they were cinco-fying my amount. That means x5. I laughed at them and gave them an earful.

Activerain is money well spent, and $39 for Trulia isn't bad either. Let me know if you want a promocode for a discount for AR Rainmaker status. It would only be $5 and you can test-drive it.

[MrRational]

As an (actual) buyer...
Trulia is the only service that is meaningful.

That doesn't men that the others don't or can't also have utility...
just the position that most buyers will appreciate their (unregistered) user format the most.

imo: It is head and shoulders superior to ALL the others.
Publish (your listings there) or perish.

[AngelBy]

I like Trulia an Ziprealty

[Laurie Matthias]

Concentrating on your SOI, past and current clients is definitely the #1 way to get results. I read recently about a study that showed when consistently reaching out and asking for the referral resulted in approximately 60% more business for agents. The Buffini system is excellent in showcasing this method and IMO well worth any level you choose.

That being said, check out Boomtown (very expensive) and Movoto.com (no monthly fee). Movoto.com will charge you a hefty 30% referral fee on each closing but they scrub the leads to the point where clients are actually expecting a call from you. As a matter of fact, if you don't call within 4 hours (and they prefer you to call w/in 15 minutes!), they will refer the lead out to someone else. Boomtown requires a monthly fee that can be exorbitant, so it's best to team up with other agents and lenders. You'll get many leads and again consistent follow up is the key.

[cobble]

Whoops I meant this for the professionals board. Thank you everyone. I work in a vacation home market so most Buyers are outside the area so I need to reach them before they come up for vacation.
FalconHead - does Hit Router just push your results above other bloggers in your area? I would love a promocode! I think I am going to try being a Rainmaker.
Mr Rational - I agree every listing needs to be on Trulia. I was trying to decide if I should sign up for a ProAccount and Local Ads.
Laurie Matthias- I will definitely look into your suggests. I haven't heard of any of them. Thanks!

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by cobble

Whoops I meant this for the professionals board. Thank you everyone. I work in a vacation home market so most Buyers are outside the area so I need to reach them before they come up for vacation.
FalconHead - does Hit Router just push your results above other bloggers in your area? I would love a promocode! I think I am going to try being a Rainmaker.
Mr Rational - I agree every listing needs to be on Trulia. I was trying to decide if I should sign up for a ProAccount and Local Ads.
Laurie Matthias- I will definitely look into your suggests. I haven't heard of any of them. Thanks!

I suggest you at minimum join ActiveRain for free, although that will let you post only to AR Members. But you can read all the blogs, learn a LOT, and form a strategy.
When you are a paid-up Rainmaker, you can use AR to play with other agent/members, to reach consumers with hyper-local content, or to post listings. They all can get traffic from professionals and consumers.
Post some blogs, and see how it feels.

If you like AR, take on the Rainmaker account. You can then convert your blogs from freebie "Members Only" to public blogs.
And when you get to 600,000 points, AR will allow you free Rainmaker status. That could be fairly quickly if you want to invest the time in point gathering. You would get credit for points amassed while in the free account that is readable by "Members Only."

Preferably, for good search results to your site, duplicate your own blogs from your current blogsite onto AR after GOOG indexes them on your site. It only takes seconds for GOOG to find your posts on your site once they know you are providing regular content.
You will benefit from AR SEO, but GOOG will report your WP blog in search results, if you posted it there first and it was indexed there first.

WordPress.org is a VERY powerful platform, quite affordable, and wonderfully easy to blog on.
And some consumers will like just seeing something you have created, without all the monetization crap on commercial sites.

[cobble]

Mike one of these days it will let me rate one of your post positively again! Until then, thanks for the consistently awesome advice!

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by cobble

Mike one of these days it will let me rate one of your post positively again! Until then, thanks for the consistently awesome advice!

We don't compliment MikeJ...it goes to his head.