Alerts are a great way for you to stay up-to-date on things you care about. We will email you a list of the new items that match your criteria at a time of your choosing.
I am going to work on getting a couple on different pages and see what occurs.
Sincerely,
Terry
[content removed by moderator for being self promotional]
I used the one posted on the showcase forum. Here's how it looks like:
http://www.mydwelling.com/page/instant-home-valuation-1
I'm not sure I want to promote Zillow on my sites. I'm not a big fan of pushing my traffic to places I don't control or have a business relationship with.
Zillow widgets are fine, Trulia on the other hand is looking to make a hostile take-over of your marketing efforts....read this:
http://www.ericbramlett.com/blog/trulia-awareness/
Everyone I asked said Zillow is fine, but to keep Trulia off your page at all costs. The article is very interesting.
Isn't that what all websites do? Build a badge or a widget application and then have people put them on their websites to build SEO? If Trulia is bad - then wouldn't Zillow be just as bad? Or what about ActiveRain?
I have a much different opinion on this subject matter. I think that adding badges adds to your own searchability. If using a badge or widget gets you on the first page of google what's the harm in that?
That's the whole point- did you read the article? Trulia is set up differently from Zillow in that it works against you. If you put there widgets on your page it helps Trulia come up before you in search engine results. So basically, if someone types in your property they are sent to Trulia instead of to your site. If it was a matter of people coming to your site then having the choice to check out your profile on Trulia from your site links no problem but that's not the case.
Ahh - I read the article to quickly the first go around with a teething puppy on my lap. Would the same result happen if you put your links on Trulia going back to your own page and not have them on yours?
No. The problem only seems to occur when you install their widgets on your home page. if someone finds your link on trulia.com and goes to your page that is exactly what you want to happen. It's the idea of sending a prospect over to Trulia who started at your page who then types in one of your listings into a search engine, sees Trulia.com pop up first and never returns to your site- that's what you need to avoid.
BloodhoundBlog did alot to detail the whole Trulia non-follow widgets. Basically they want you to add to their site without any benefit in return. The Trulia badge makes for internet beacons pointing back to Trulia and Trulia only, your agent info is scrubbed by the non-follow. Not very agent friendly considering we're the ones providing their content with listings & commentary. Also Trulia is not easy to claim listings like here on Zillow.
O it's easy enough, just sign up for a fee and then...
Trulia is a great site for reposting blogs from your site and for $39 a month they actually are giving me about 50,000 impressions a month in areas I work heavily- and I've actually picked up 3 clients in 3 months. Beyond that, Medford is exactly right. They're stealing your info and taking credit for it- not very nice!! I am actually surprised there hasn't been more of an uproar over this. I did actually start an email campaign to IL realtors warning them and I know 5,000 agents saw it but I have no way to trac how many removed the widgets. All the more reason to keep your tech knowledge up to daet.
Since October 2009
scottnewman325 -- I've definitely banned any Trulia widgets on my sites, but I do repost my blogs on Trulia. I was hesitant about spending the $39 per month, but it sounds like it is working well for you!
Per Scott's message, here is the 1st BloodHound Blog post on the subject.
The $39 is steep but hold off for a bit longer until Trulia gives you more detailed feedback on the effectiveness of your advertising. They are also offering more services along the lines of realtor.com in the near future- many of which will become part of that monthly fee- so it'll be interesting to see how well it is received. Activerain and trulia are good for blogging and I then make sure to post my blogs on digg and twitter in addition to my facebook and linked in profiles. Icontact.com is email blasting software that you can actually get to work with your trulia blog. It will upload your blog and send it out to your email lists automatically which is kinda a cool feature.
Here is a very typical breakdown for what it might cost for someone in my area to pull 1-2 closings a month off the internet.
1) Facebook - about $300 a month
2) Trulia- about $40 a month
3) Zillow- about $100
4) Google Ad-Words- same as Facebook roughly
5) Realtor.com - $500
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Are You Using Zillow Widgets on Your Website?
Michael Del Rosario, "LongBeachBankRepo"
Ceritos, California
Real Estate Agent
Contributions: 120
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Are you using any zillow widgets on your site? Which one do you use? Did it make your site visitors stay longer?
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