A Realtor's Guide to Farming on Zillow

On April 4, 2007, Zillow released some new features that include a social networking aspect that allows homeowners, neighbors, lenders, and Realtors to directly interface with the consumer.

READ: Zillow.com New Features: "Ask Questions, Share Answers"

Many real estate professionals felt Zillow would compete with the real estate brokerage community, but it is now clear Zillow is embracing its earlier stated goal of becoming a highly specialized media company fueled by advertising.

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Reversal of opinion --  You, the professional Realtor, have an extraordinary opportunity to dominate the online presence of your "farm" by "leaving your tracks" all over a zip code and becoming the expert authority for real estate opinion in that zip code. 

Here's how you do it: Expose yourself and your business -- for free -- on Zillow. With each of these features, your photo and a link to your profile will appear:

• Get involved in Home Q&A in your area: http://www.zillow.com/comments/property/RecentHomeQnA.htm

• Add photos, or start conversations on a neighborhood level (You must navigate to your city in the page breadcrumbs, but you can get the idea of the myriad ways to contribute through this link): http://www.zillow.com/real-estate/WA-Seattle

• Get involved in the forums through Zillow Discussions. (Note: There is also a section on the Real Estate Guide where you can discuss the wiki and how it works): http://www.zillow.com/forum/site/Index.htm
• Suggest a Zillow Poll: https://www.zillow.com/polls/PollCreate.htm
• Report Homes for sale: http://www.zillow.com/learnmore/ReportForSale.htm

Each of these options will help you "leave tracks" in your neighborhood.

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Now, let's see how the professional Realtor might use EZ ads as an additional tool to compete for the consumer's mind against his competition and against the mortgage originators.  I see four practical applications for a Realtor using the inexpensive EZ Ads feature:

1- Brand advertising in a zip code to promote your weblog and/or website.

2- Open House advertising, promoted over a short time span (3-5 days before the open house)

3- "Just Listed" promotions as a tool to show your success as well as promote your new listing

4- "Meet the new neighbors" advertised over a 2-4 week time frame to show that you represented a buyer in that zip code.

5- Listing presentations:  show your online prowess to a potential seller when you highlight your dominance of the zip code.

Online advertising is about eyeballs.  Zillow is establishing itself as the destination of choice for BOTH buyers and sellers with these new features; you need to get in their view.