Using Zillow.com In Your Real Estate Marketing Plan

10 Ways You Can Use Zillow To Make Money

By Sara Bonert, Industry Relations, Zillow.com

Article written by Sara Bonert, Industry Relations for Zillow.com.

Zillow has created 70+ million Web pages - one for most every home in America. These pages include Zestimates, satellite and overhead photos, valuation information, and details about the home's sale history. In addition, listing agents and homeowners can further contribute to these pages by uploading their own pictures, planting virtual ‘for sale' signs in their virtual front yards, posting their ‘Make Me Move' price, adding in home improvement information and writing what they love about their home, all for free! If you would like additional exposure for yourself or your listings, check out our EZ Ad product where you can target your advertising by zip code for as little as a penny each time the ad is viewed.

Zillow is a media site. This means revenue is generated by selling advertising around site content. We do not charge to post listings to the site, nor do we sell leads or get involved in the transaction.

Quick Stats

4 million+ unique users in February 2007; one of the most-visited real estate Web sites in the country

3rd-5th most visited real estate website

Half of all 70 million homes on Zillow have been viewed at least once (more than 80% of all homes in some areas of California, Washington and Mass)

86% of Zillow's audience are homeowners and more than half of those are actively buying or selling a home

Half a million homes on Zillow have been claimed by their owner and had their facts updated since the feature launched last fall

Look up the home you are selling on Zillow.

Know the Zestimate so you can be prepared if buyers want to discuss this number with you.
Try: To find out more about how accurate Zillow is in your county, visit our accuracy chart at http://www.zillow.com/howto/DataCoverageZestimateAccuracy.htm.

Edit the home’s facts.

Was there recently do a kitchen remodel? Do public records say that it is a three bedroom house, when really there are four bedrooms? Edit the home’s facts to arrive at your own Zestimate which will be published next to Zillow’s automated estimate.
Try: Owner can start this process by clicking on http://www.zillow.com/learnmore/WhyUseZillowOwners.htm. Agents can also display updated information when they post the home for sale online.

Post your listings for sale for FREE.

When a home’s status changes to “for sale” on Zillow, traffic for that home increases over 200%. Post your listings (and as many photos as you’d like) for free on Zillow.
Try: Get started now at http://www.zillow.com/learnmore/WhyUseZillowAgents.htm.

Create a personal profile for FREE.

This is your persona on Zillow—when you post a listing for sale, report a home for sale, ask a question or post an answer, or edit a Wiki page,. On your profile page, you can add a photo, self-description, contact information, web site address, company name and location. Any contact the Zillow community makes with you through this page is free.
Try: Upload your photo/logo and all of your contact information at http://www.zillow.com/learnmore/WhyUseZillowAgents.htm.

Report homes for sale.

Zillow is opening up the site to the entire community to tell us which homes are for sale and for how much. This is a great way to appear as an expert in a particular area of town. This is an espicially useful tool for Buyer's Agents, who don't have listings to post online to generate traffic.
Try: Start by creating a profile at http://www.zillow.com/learnmore/WhyUseZillowAgents.htm and then you are free to report properties that are for sale.

Ask and answer Questions on home detail pages.

On every home detail page users can “ask a question,” or, if a question is already posed, you can “write an answer.” To do this, you must just be registered with Zillow. All questions and answers link to your profile page. Home Q&A is about enabling real estate conversations online where they are useful and helpful for everyone, and lets you have an opportunity to showcase your knowledge and experience. If you’re a listing agent and post your listing on Zillow, you will be automatically updated each time there’s a new question or answer on one of your listings.
Try: Again, it is first necessary to create a profile at http://www.zillow.com/learnmore/WhyUseZillowAgents.htm, so that any questions you ask or answer will display a link to your contact information.

Contribute to the Real Estate Wiki.

The wiki is a place to find up-to-date and relevant information on home buying, selling and financing, written for and by Zillow’s community of users. Any registered Zillow user can add, edit, remove and change the content in the wiki, and you’ll receive links back to your profile.
Try: Get started here http://www.zillow.com/wiki/RealEstateWiki.htm.

Look up For Sale By Owner listings and Make Me Moves (MMM) prices.

Agents should spend time on the site to learn about the “Make Me Move” market that is available to them, whether their intentions are to prospect or expand the pool of homes a client could consider for sale. In competitive markets Make Me Move homes can be an alternative stream of available homes for clients.
Try: Do a search right from our homepage at www.zillow.com.

Incorporate Zillow into your listing presentation.

While a private home owner can post their own home for sale, there is value in an agent doing it for them and maintaining the copy, photos, and public inquiries. Show the home owner that you know how to maximize Zillow’s marketing tools and that you will handle the process for them.
Try: You can log on to My Zillow, http://www.zillow.com/myzillow/Favorites.htm, to quickly view the homes and their traffic numbers, that you have posted online.

Buy an EZ Ad.

Want even more exposure on Zillow? EZ Ads are a low-cost, self-service way for real estate professionals to reach local buyers and sellers on Zillow. EZ Ads will show up throughout Zillow, on our map and home details pages, in the particular zip codes the advertiser chooses. Advertisers are able to promote themselves, their company or a specific home in a specific zip code. You can see the performance of your ad in real time, including the number of times it has been clicked on and the number of times it has have been shown.
Try: Getting started is EZ! Simply click here, www.zillow.com/ezads/GetStarted.htm?s_cid=ez-emm-slb1.