Whenever I look at real estate (a few times a month) I always find myself looking for a website that offers something different that the others. What I tend to find a lot of is sites requiring me to signup in order to view any homes. These sites must have forgot about the fact that they require a signup before allowing you to view anything.
Whenever I encounter a site like this, I quickly hit the back button, no questions asked. Sometimes I click an ad, sometimes an organic result, but either way, the outcome is the same, the back button.
If you are in a competitive market, are you doing the same thing as these real estate sites? Do you make an offer that doesn't materialize?
When crafting your ad, think about these two things:
1. What do users want?
2. What do you give them?
2. What do you give them?
For me, a real estate searcher, I want listings. I would prefer to see the MLS listings, but I would even go for featured listings from a particular agent. However, what I usually get is far from that.
If you can figure out what your users are looking for, then the battle is half over. All you need to do now if find out how to give it to them, and still make a profit. I understand that some sites only want an email address, that is their profit model. Other sites are looking for home buyers. Others sell advertising to loan officers and brokers.
Whatever your profit model, it is definitely possible to find a way to make money while giving users what they want!
