Realtors have two ways they can market themselves online - through a listing or through personal marketing. Online media companies want listings to draw consumers, but most agents don't have listings. That leaves a quandary for online marketing companies and their Realtor customers. How can online marketing companies make money at serving Realtors without relying on listings? How can Realtors be found without listings?

Since most consumers want to see listings first, and dialog with agents second, personal marketing on the Internet can be very limited for Realtors who don't have listings.

It's the vicious circle of online advertising. Here's what three companies are doing about it.

1. Best Image Marketing, Inc.

Among the first of the Website vendors to recognize that Realtors want to be found in addition to or apart from listings, was Best Image Marketing, Inc., developer of the Number1Expert marketing system.

Says Best Image COO Lawrence Schoeffler, "It is foolish to presume that listings are the only information consumers want. They want local market conditions, and to get that, they need the services of a Realtor sooner or later."

Back in 1997, when he was one of the few that thought showcasing Realtors was a good idea, Schoeffler received an e-mail from a consumer about his fledgling site called Number1.com. "He said, 'Why would I want to search for a Realtor? I can find one under any rock,' recalls Schoeffler. "That told me something - that we needed to find a way to present Realtors as something special - local market experts."

That's when he decided to limit selling Number1Expert Websites to top producers only, a risky decision considering that only half of brokers and agents have a Web site, according to the last known figures from the NAR. Realtors must qualify to become Number1Experts with production, experience and other criteria.

Before Realtors can be found online, they have to have a Web presence beyond e-mail. The Number1Expert marketing system promotes Realtors through customized Websites that are found through search engine optimization, premium pay-per-click and banner ads on sites like MSN.com, and last, but not least, through marketing of the agent's listings to a limited number of Websites including HarmonHomes and HomeSeekers. While listings aren't a problem for his customers, which average 14 listings apiece at any given time, pushing listings is only one of three marketing efforts the company does on behalf of Realtors.

Schoeffler has never looked back, and he's never again received an e-mail from a customer like the one above.

2. Realtor.com

Owned by the National Association of Realtors and operated through an agreement with Homestore, Realtor.com has borne much of the brunt of Realtors' disappointment in online marketing until now. Former management was particularly listings-centric, and ignored buyer's agents, the fastest growing segment of the real estate industry. Further, former management ignored a stunning reality that if agents purchased Websites that could only be found on their listings, then they would only be seen when they had a listing. As agents complained of lack of response by consumers, many stopped renewing their subscriptions, and no amount of loyalty to the Realtor brand could make them re-up.

Despite hundreds of thousands of sites sold or given away, Realtor.com was only able to hold on to a core of about 100,000 subscriptions.

Realtor.com had a lot going for it: its endorsement by the NAR, its paid-for traffic from traffic partners like AOL, and its exclusive agreements with 800 out of 850 MLSs to broadcast brokers' listings.

But being the heavyweight champion didn't translate into significant enough sales to real estate agents or brokers to suit investors. New management, which took over after previous Homestore management bailed out in the middle of a revenue-inflation scandal, knew it had two problems - convincing Realtors that Realtor.com is the best place for personal marketing as well as the marketing of listings, and then proving it. In short, new management decided to try to please customers first, and investors second.

Realtor.com is about to launch its new marketing programs for Realtors, which include substantial departures from the listings-centric marketing of the past. While it still plans to retain its number one position in terms of the number of listings a consumer can find online, the company is using the traffic generated by consumers to rev up personal marketing opportunities for Realtors so they can be found with or without listings.

"Realtor.com has had a well-deserved reputation for years as a good place for a Realtor with listings to be found, but a challenge for Realtors without listings," concedes Marty Frame, Realtor.com's vice president of strategy and development. "We know how many agents sought personal promotion services either in conjunction with listing promotion or to help build a new practice, so we now have five offerings:

• XLerator - farm and submit proposals to tens of millions of potential buyers searching on REALTOR.com anonymously
• Find a REALTOR(r) - promote yourself and your specialties in the world's largest REALTOR directory
• Realty Times Market Conditions Report(tm) - transform your skills into a service that attracts consumers by helping buyers and sellers get to know the market through your expert knowledge
• New Home Agent - get instant, lead generating inventory on your Web site by showing tens of thousands of builder properties in major markets nationwide
• The REALTOR.com Marketing System - Letters, templates, tips, and tools for building success on the Internet The listing office appears on every detailed property ad on REALTOR.com regardless of whether the company is a subscriber or not, as a function of either state licensing law or custom. Agents will be able to promote themselves by subscribing to REALTOR.com's standard or enhanced advertising products.

Editor's note: Homestore's operating agreement with the NAR prevents it from charging referral fees for agent or listing exposure. None of the above marketing solutions result in referral fees for Realtors to pay.

3. Realty Times

Because of its unique position as a leading real estate news service and content partner to leading real estate portals like Realtor.com, MSN House and Home Channel, Lycos, Yahoo!, Homes.com, HomeSeekers.com, and numerous others, Realty Times is able to showcase Realtors in a way that has never been done before - as local market experts attached to real estate news.

The brainchild of founder Jody Lane, a former Realtor and part of a Dallas real estate dynasty, Realty Times launched Market Conditions Reports(tm) (MCR), a feature of the daily newsfeed that posts local market information written by Realtors in communities all over the United States and Canada. Consumers click on their state or province, find the city or community of interest and read the various opinions posted there by local Realtors.

The genius of the MCR iMarketing plan is that it not only puts Realtors squarely in front of consumers, it doesn't compete with online marketing strategies created by other vendors. In fact, MCR helps Realtors push out marketing solutions like Websites and newsletters that they have already purchased. Because of its noncompetitive nature, Realty Times has been able to partner with companies such as Best Image, Realtor.com, Homes.com, HomeSeekers, Advanced Access, Myers Websuite, and numerous other top Website vendors to help their Realtors get found on leading portals, as an alternative to expensive search engine placement. A yearly subscription is less than what most Webmasters charge for much more competitive and less results-oriented search engine placement.

"Realty Times is the only company in the world that can get a Realtor and their Website found on Realtor.com, MSN, eBay, Lycos, Homes.com, HomeSeekers.com, and numerous other leading portals simultaneously," says Lane.

"We think Market Conditions Reports(tm) is very compatible with our offerings," says Schoeffler.

Published: April 16, 2003

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.