Thane Tennison

As part of BDX, builders have access to display ads on Realtor.com, the largest real estate website online today. This represents a great opportunity for homebuilders to reach consumers shopping for homes in their market but who may not be considering a new home.

Realtor.com sells display ads on a 10% Share of Voice (SOV) in highly defined MSAs. Builders can purchase a Leader board, Skyscraper or Companion positioning (Leader board & Skyscraper) for 3, 6 and 12month terms. The banners show on search result pages within the MSA on a 1-10 basis. Considering the average consumer spends more than 9 minutes on Realtor.com, display ads are a great way to increase brand exposure and drive traffic to your website.

When considering Display Ads on Realtor.com home builders can take advantage of a few strategies to increase their value and drive more traffic back to their website.

1. Creative is still the most important factor for success.

Similar to banners on NewHomeSource & MoveNewHomes, the ad should draw consumers in and help them refine their search. Promoting a range of communities, locations and price is the most effective formula for driving clicks.

2. Don’t Box Yourself into one MSA.

Realtor.com subdivides many traditional markets into highly segmented ‘MSAs’. In Austin, TX the market is divided into 3 unique MSA, in larger cities like Chicago you could target up to 8 different MSA’s. This is a great strategy for Realtors, who typically focus their expertise to one area of a city. However, builder’s with multiple communities across a market should evaluate each MSA to determine which area best meets their needs. Pricing and impressions can vary by MSA and it can behoove a builder to advertise in a neighboring more affordable market while directing consumers back to their communities.A banner promoting a range of communities still provides the consumer with choices.

3.Maximize Your Share of Voice

A typical buy is for 10% SOV however, homebuilder’s are NOT limited to one position in a market. On RDC advertisers can buy up 30% SOV for each position. Another strategy to consider is purchasing a leader board and skyscraper banner outside of the companion placement. Both positions would run in random rotation creating an effective 20% SOV in a market and greater exposure to your consumers.

4. Run multiple ads to create a brand story.

Advertisers can run up to 3 different ads per position on Realtor.com. Multiple ads allow for multiple messages. This is a far more effective strategy than trying to convey all of your selling points in one ad. Similar to the BDX advertisers will soon find which ads are driving the best action while appealing to a variety of consumers with different triggers.

5. Buy 2 get 1 FREE

When an advertiser purchases a companion placement they receive the ‘Sky2’ placement free. The Sky2 is the second skyscraper position at the bottom of the search result page. Many advertisers would consider this a less desirable position however; the banner is located near the pagination control which consumers use as they click thru pages of listings. It’s a great added value for those advertisers who want to ‘own the page’.

When available I’d always recommend advertising on NewHomeSource or MoveNewHomes first. The sites are the most contextually relevant for NewHome Shoppers and performance is second to none. However, it’s difficult to compete with the size and breadth of consumers who visit Realtor.com and it’s a great opportunity to convert home shoppers into NewHome buyers.

For more information about Display Marketing Strategies contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager for the BDX, or contact your local sales rep for Realtor.com pricing and availability in your market.

Oftentimes, we receive request from builders wanting to advertise “above the fold” for their banner campaign only. The fold is what’s visible first when the web page loads before a user scrolls down for more information. The belief is that the banner is the first thing consumers will see and that will increase the likelihood of action. Similar to running an ad on the inside cover or back page of magazine. It’s an understandable request and natural that advertisers would want the best position.

However, instead of worrying about placement, consider the actions users take when shopping listings. They’re scrolling through potentially hundreds of homes and communities, gathering information. As a result we’ve found that the content and offer of the ad by far outweighs the placement. Unlike, traditional media which interrupts a consumer’s experience with online banners, consumers are actively searching for information about a builder’s product. We’ve found that the banners closely embedded within the content perform best. It’s one reason we believe we see so much action with banners supporting a builder’s listing. It’s also a reason I’m a strong supporter of complementary creative, using each position to advertise a different aspect of the business.

On NewHomeSource banners perform relatively the same for each position in terms of CTR. It’s the creative and offer that will set you apart.

For more information on how you can take advantage of Display Advertising, contact Thane Tennison, Ad Operations Manager for NewHomeSource at 866-651-8866 or at ttennison@builderhomesite.com. You can also follow Thane on Twitter at @t_tennison

This is a great article from Adweek on the use and value of analytics to measure and evaluate campaign effectiveness. It’s poignant to show how analytics can be used to set benchmarks and measure against predefined goals but not to drive all marketing decisions.

At BDX we’re continually monitoring our most effective display campaigns, measuring consumer engagement, frequency and messaging strategies to drive the most value for our advertisers.  As a result, we’ve seen a continual lift in our sites effective CTR and have helped many advertisers reduce their eCPC and drive meaningful traffic back to their site.  Unfortunately, we only have insight into one side of the story. What the consumer does beyond the click is left to the trusted hands of the builders’ marketing team.

Working with a national builder, I was alarmed when I saw a drop in click traffic when a new campaign was launched. But after talking with the builder they showed a greater lift in back-end action and stronger lead conversion.  The banner and analytics justified their assumptions and didn’t just direct their marketing decisions.

We’re always looking for new ways to improve campaign performance and are happy to work with builders for A/B testing and creative review. Have you run a campaign where analytics provided insight that you would have never considered?

For more information about Display Marketing Strategies contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager for the BDX.

Many Homebuilders who advertise on NewHomeSource see a click-through rate (CTR) 5X to 10X the industry average for display advertising. Learn common characteristics of the best performing campaigns and get new ideas on how to use banners to further your marketing goals. For a review of your current banner campaigns contact Thane Tennison, Ad Ops Manager for NewHomeSource.

Online Advertising for Home Builders

In my role I work with hundreds of builders and agencies each month to manage and optimize their display campaigns across NewHomeSource.com and our network of websites.

I’ve seen all types of creative and promotional offers from builders big and small. Some Advertisers are very savvy, carefully scrutinizing performance by position, time of day, cycle of the moon, etc. Others understand the need to advertise on the most highly targeted and qualified new home listing website but fall short in their tracking and analytics.

One easy way to add tracking capabilities is to append your click thru URL with a tracking token that will allow you to measure the consumer action after the click. This is a vital and simple step to understanding the full value of your advertising dollars. Appending the click thru URL allows builders to isolate their display campaign on NewHomeSource.com and see how it compares to other marketing efforts. Important questions such as bounce rate, time on site, number of page views and of course leads can all be measured with a tracking URL.

Tracking and managing campaigns isn’t just important to Display Ads on NewHomeSource.com, but is also essential to successfully managing all types of online marketing ranging from Paid Search to Email campaigns. Unlike traditional media like billboards and radio, tracking allows markets to qualify their results and optimize against business goals. As a result you may find that one campaign with a high Click Thru Rate (CTR) also has a high bounce rate, while others at a more expensive rate or lower volume consistently deliver qualified consumers who are more likely to purchase a home.

Within our own marketing efforts we’re always working to optimize cost against quality to ensure that the consumers who visit NewHomeSource.com are highly qualified and will drive significant value to our builders. Creative positioning, landing pages, and other factors are important but can’t be fully understood without a proper system of analytics in place.

For questions about targeting or online creative strategies contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager for the BDX.