Month: June 2011

It’s more important than ever to be prepared as you embark on your journey into online marketing. You want to make sure you have a checklist that includes everything you will need to survive and stay comfortable, but you don’t want to overload yourself with unnecessary items that are just going to hold you back. So we’ve put together the ultimate online marketing survival checklist for builders. It’s got everything you need for a successful online marketing program. So let’s start packing… Click here for your Survival Checklist.

When builders list their new homes and communities on BDX, they showcase their homes on the two largest new home websites — www.NewHomeSource.com and Move New Homes. As vital as these two leading portals are to marketing success, builders who use The BDX Listing Bundle also have their new homes and communities distributed to hundreds of other leading websites.

Why do over 300 leading websites display BDX new home listings?

BDX provides the world’s largest, richest and most complete feed of new home information to websites that want to offer a comprehensive New Home Channel as part of the real estate section of their website. The unequalled breadth and depth of BDX new home listings make NewHomeSource and Move New Homes the ideal partner for real estate, newspaper and other websites that seek a complete, turn-key source for new home listings to share with their site visitors.

So what does this mean for you, the builder?

It means that when you list your homes with BDX, you’re reaching over 40 million unique users each month. Trulia, Yahoo! Real Estate, Zillow and 140+ major newspapers are just a few of the over 300 websites that display BDX listings.

BDX Partner Websites Fall into Three Categories – Exclusive, Preferred and SmartFeed.™ Here’s How These Categories Compare:

Exclusive: More than 30 BDX Partner Sites receive new home listings exclusively from BDX. (Agents who sell both resale and new homes can also send listings to some of these partner sites, but no other aggregator of new home listings can.) Builders who want to ensure that all of their new homes and communities are displayed on our Exclusive Partner sites–which include Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate, MSN, Move.com, Movoto and many other sites–do so via the BDX Listing Bundle.

Preferred: BDX invests in Preferred Listings on 15 sites including Trulia, CNNMoney, Oodle, Facebook, USA TODAY and more. BDX Listings rise to the top of search results on these sites. For example, BDX invests in Featured Listings on Trulia (and 14 other sites) at no additional cost to builders.  Your listing will display toward the top of search results, just by listing with BDX.

SmartFeed™: Every day, BDX sends a highly customized feed to many of our largest partner sites. First, we deeply analyze that partner site’s UI and navigation, to best display new home content within the overall structure of that site. Second, we lobby each partner site for greater prominence for new home listings and new home navigation in that site’s real estate section. Third, we extensively customize our feed to provide optimal display for your new home listings on these sites, thus maximizing your ROI.  Consumers will know it is your home, in your community.

 

The BDX List Once, Be Everywhere™ Listing Bundle Also Reaches More Than 1.1 Million Top Real Estate Agents Nationally.

Since the vast majority of home sales are assisted by a real estate agent, it’s also vital to provide these agents with the key information and encouragement they need to best share and promote new homes and communities with the homebuyers they assist—many of whom might otherwise buy a resale home.

As an integral part of The BDX Bundle, builders communicate vital information to top real estate professionals that includes: Spec and Quick Move-In Homes; Special Promotions/Incentives for Agents and the Buyers They Assist; Plans, Upgrades and Options; Community Amenities; Special Agent-Only Events, and much more.

With BDX, You’ve Got The Internet Covered.

Simply put, no one takes more care than BDX in distributing your vital new home info to millions of consumers and real estate agents.

  • Start with the two largest new home portals in the world.
  • Add more than 300 Partner websites that deliver more than 40 million unique users each month.
  • Maximize builder results and ROI via highly customized SmartFeeds™.
  • Provide 1.1 million top real estate agents with the vital info they need to best sell new homes.

That’s what the BDX Listing Bundle means to builders.

Almost every day I receive a phone call from a potential home buyer looking for information on a new home they found while shopping on Realtor.com.

This morning it was a man looking for a home in Wesley Chapel, FL. Yesterday it was a woman interested in a home outside of Philadelphia. I find this surprising because the only way the consumer can find my phone number is by leaving the listing and selecting the Contact link for corporate information.  I know they’d prefer to call the broker but they can’t find the broker’s phone number, email address or website. These potential home buyers are forced to find another solution and I can hear the frustration in their voice when they finally end up talking to me.
Working in an industry that is always trying to maximize site conversion and improve lead performance, I find this surprising. How many customers do you know who will take the extra steps to find an office phone number?  Most will simply leave and move on to another home that’s more accessible.  Those who continue to search and ultimately call the wrong place are probably the very consumers that the builder/broker really wants to reach. Clearly, they’re motivated and looking for information.  It makes me think of all the homes that don’t get sold because we make it hard for the consumer to connect with us.

Realtor.com offers builders and brokers a product to remedy this. Their Company Showcase listing is the easiest way for a builder to enhance their listing and drive more meaningful activity to their onsite sales agents. It’s an essential and affordable solution for anyone listing a home on the MLS.

Listings that are “Showcased” have a number of benefits over standard listings. Most notable is Contact Information above the fold and prominently displayed. With a Showcase listed property, consumers can call, email, visit a builder’s website or complete the lead form.

Other features include the ability to display up to 25 photos per listing– 4X the number of photos displayed on a standard listing.  Showcase listings also allow builders to include links to their social media sites and include a Rider Sign on the Search Result Listing Pages.

The Rider Sign allows builders to brand their listings on Search Result pages by prominently featuring a logo and headline on each listing. Since Realtor.com is the largest real estate website in the world and endorsed by the National Association of Realtors this feature alone provides tremendous value. It means your listing and business will be seen by more home shoppers than anywhere else.

I know many builders are always launching new sales promotions and offering discounts to entice buyers.  Could the solution really be as simple as including your phone number and email and making it easy for the consumer to call you?  After all, they were already on the world’s largest real estate website shopping for homes in your market and price point.

If you have questions about marketing strategies or advertising with BDX contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager for the BDX Network.