[HomeGain Blog] Building the Pipeline with HomeGain’s BuyerLink

Since the publication of linda’s post I...

Louis Cammarosano — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:05:57 -0500

Since the publication of linda’s post I’ve received a lot of requests as to how to buy buyerlink. Its simple you can do it on line- check availability and order directly. http://blog.homegain.com/category/buyerlink

Hi Carole

Thanks for stopping by.
...

Louis Cammarosano — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:31:27 -0500

Hi Carole

Thanks for stopping by.

I checked out your blog.(nice Obama widget!)

Looks like you are fallen back in love with Cleveland!

Would you like to do a regional report on Cleveland that we can post here?

We recently started a regional series with updates from around the country.

Please take a look and let me know if you are interested.

http://blog.homegain.com/category/regional

The proof is in the pudding, good for you. I hav...

Missy Caulk — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 06:08:39 -0500

The proof is in the pudding, good for you. I have closed a number of homes with homegain, sellers mainly. I have honestly never looked at the Buyers Link side.

Is an Obama supporter allowed here :0) Linda, tg...

Carole Cohen — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:30:17 -0600

Is an Obama supporter allowed here :0) Linda, tg for you, with your ability to consistently point out that stereotypical (knee jerk?) reactions don’t always hold true. Good info and thank you!

Linda I guess that makes two of my friends who w...

Kristal Kraft — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:00:10 -0600

Linda I guess that makes two of my friends who wear both a belt in suspenders…

Nice to read you hear and have you share your secrets of success! kk

“Many agents feel that sites like HomeGain...

Louis Cammarosano — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:00:15 -0600

“Many agents feel that sites like HomeGain use an agent’s listings to attract buyers and then refers those same buyers back to the agent for a fee.” Hi Linda Thanks for your post. Unlike other sites that display realtor listings (Yahoo, Frontdoor, google base, Trulia, Homescape, Zillow, Vast, Roost etc.), HomeGain does not use listings to attract consumers. We do not display listings. Under the Buyerlink program HomeGain drives visitors to YOUR site where YOU the Realtor display the listings, not HomeGain. We drive visitors to your site through a vast array of partners (over three hundred), a multimillion dollar SEM spend, traffic directly to HomeGain.com and SEO. I like to think of HomeGain as a large co-op for agents and brokers who can tap in to our collective marketing reach to get a great deal of exposure for a decent price.

I agree with Jay Thompson. Do what works for you...

joseph ferrara — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:35:29 -0600

I agree with Jay Thompson. Do what works for you. For an agent new to the industry or new to a market, a program that sends them potential clients is worth trying, especially if you can control the budget. But the point of the post is very important. Consumers expect a quick response. SO, regardless of how you attract clients, you will lose the ones that come by if you don’t get back to them quickly. That is a function of consumer expectation and not middlemanism (is that a word?)

Mike the biggest advantages that Buyerlink has o...

Louis Cammarosano — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:33:59 -0600

Mike the biggest advantages that Buyerlink has over google are that -you don’t have to select key words and manage your key word campaigns, we do that for you. -the visitors are delivered to you evenly over the course of the month-no massive spikes or dips -you preset what you want to pay and you pay only for what you get -we have our system check every night to make sure your website is up so we are not sending visitors to a dead site and notify you if we find a problem -Our price is often lower than Google or Yahoo -our customers tell us our traffic converts higher -we give away a free landing page that we KNOW based on hundreds of other customers converts 13-15% http://www.homegain.com./buyerlink/index_html?ht=landing_bl

Yes, I started out with abut 10% conversion with...

Mike Farmer — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:53:53 -0600

Yes, I started out with abut 10% conversion with adwords until I sent the clicks directly to a call to action page and then it went up to about 15-20%. I did have to spend a lot of time with it to get the right combination that worked.

I don’t use it anymore so the CPC might have gone up.

Thanks for the information.

Thanks for the nice words! I’m delighted t...

Linda Davis — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:51:47 -0600

Thanks for the nice words! I’m delighted that some of my very favorite people are here and at least one other member of the VRWC.

Mike,

I have done a lot with both Goog...

Mitch Ribak — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:42:34 -0600

Mike,

I have done a lot with both Google and Yahoo. The difference to me was the conversion from click to lead. I went from 7-8% conversion with Google to 18-20% with Homegain. Not to mention it has kept my pricing stable, better quality leads and I don’t spend a minute of time managing my keywords. For all those reasons I find it better than Google and Yahoo. I hope that helps.

Linda! Fancy seeing you here. And Brian, always...

Jay Thompson — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:10:41 -0600

Linda! Fancy seeing you here. And Brian, always with the suspenders… ;)

The “little guys” have to be able to compete. It may be oversimplifying things, but the bottom line is do whatever it takes (within legal and ethical bounds of course!).

I have preached the “lead aggregators are evil!” mantra in the past. And while I personally do not use them (at this point in time) to ignore them if I do need them would be foolish.

Hey, if door knocking works for you, do it. If blogging works for you, go for it. If you find success putting listings on Craig’s List, then do it. And if HG’s BuyerLink works for you, fabulous!

Well said Linda! It’s always great to see...

Mitch Ribak — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:06:45 -0600

Well said Linda! It’s always great to see others that feel the way that I feel. Our overwhelming success with Buyer Link tells everyone that if you know what you are doing and are willing to invest the time and money, it’s a great program.

I agree totally that the negative responses are usually from an Agent that does not understand Internet lead conversion or might have bought $250 worth of traffic for one month and wasn’t successful. Marketing is an investment and converting leads is a science. Keep on rocking!

Would you say that is better or worse than Goog...

Mike Farmer — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:01:29 -0600

Would you say that is better or worse than Google adwords. I found when I was using Adwords, once I experimented with times of usage and ad content I could get clicks for around fifty cents.

Who let the VRWC in he...

Brian Brady — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:30:45 -0600

Who let the VRWC in here?

Linda,

A few issues:

1- You’re a giant and a pioneer in online marketing, always.

2- In this market, one should use every arrow in their quiver. We should pay heed to things that drive convertible traffic.

3- Your final paragraph was in keeping with my summary in New York. The big guys will never roll over and play dead just because the little guy found out how to be more nimble. They’ll be slower than you or me but they will catch on.

Weblogging and PPC (which the HG service is; a very targeted PPC) is a way to wear a belt AND suspenders.

Sage advice, Linda. You are a giant