The newspaper industry may be having trouble making their online divisions work, but one home magazine company says it would like the industry to look at its company a little differently. Blair Schmidt-Fellner, CEO of Homes & Land Affiliates, LLC says his company's success is all about direct contact and relationships with real estate agents listing higher-end properties.

"We have an interesting story. With 1,400,000 unique visitors a month, you could look at the metrics and say we're an also-ran, but of our 400,000 listings, we found the average price was $470,000."

According to Hitwise demographics, says Schmidt-Fellner, of people who make $150,000 or more, Homes & Land is number one for all real estate sites. "Forty-one percent of our traffic," says Schmidt-Fellner. "That's 468,000 people."

Homes & Land magazines are concentrated in high-end markets such as Malibu, but that finding encouraged the magazine franchisor to take a hard look at how magazines and online presentations are different.

A study using eBay found that automobiles with six pictures sell three times as often as those without, says Schmidt-Fellner. So if the Internet provides an environment where robust visuals such as multiple photos, virtual tours and videos work better in marketing than in the inch and page -conscious print media, how does a print magazine sell services to property agents?

"We first went with full motion video and failed," says Schmidt-Fellner. "We couldn't get enough videographers to do it fast enough, so we did the easy-to-use video tours."

The franchise's 342 publishers sell their services to local real estate agents and can price the video tours as they wish. According to Schmidt-Fellner, about one-third of Homes & Land have virtual or video tours, and in the 30 markets that publish tours such as Realtor.com and Trulia, the next highest site only has seven percent.

"Fifty percent of our listings have multiple photos, and the next sized site is Harmon Homes at 18 percent," says Schmidt-Fellner.

The reason the homes magazines are ahead of publicly held or IPO-bound sites is that the latter rely on feeds, rather than relationships with individual agents.

"We're trying to move some homes," says Schmidt-Fellner. "Online requires a separate strategy from the magazine. The magazine points people to the Internet."

Published: April 21, 2008

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. 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 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. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.