It seems like a new real estate portal is announced almost daily. On top of that, everybody wants into the listings display game. Even a place that sells toasters -- Overstock.com -- wants your listings. Ok, bring it on.

The internet is famous, you might have heard, for having a long tail. What the heck is that? It means that distribution far and wide can net you traffic here and there, and altogether it adds up. Instead of betting it all on one or two big dogs, like Realtor.com and Homes.com, you spread your bet to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of sites. It all adds up. That's the long tail (or lots of little tails).

And the long tail is yelping in your front yard. Ever heard of Vast.com? I doubt it. But they want your listings. So does a hundred other sites. Forget Zillow, Trulia and the other big and near big dogs. The little dogs running around yelping for your listings will fill your front and back yard. They are the long tail.

Should you? Why not. The problem is, it's a lot of work. Hand-entering listings into a dozen or a hundred sites is too much for agents who want to be face-to-face with buyers and sellers, not a computer monitor.

Get yourself a listings distribution partner. They should send your listings far and wide. They should be adding sites all the time. Ideally, it should be straight out of the back end of your website: One click and out your listings go.

Your listings distribution partner should distribute at minimum nightly. And any updates you make should go out at minimum nightly, too.

The cost? It depends on the breadth of the distribution. More sites are better.

More importantly, the cost depends on the quality of placement you get for your listings: A good partner gets your listings to appear above others.

Nowadays, with everybody sending listings everywhere, the chances of your listing coming to the top (or even being seen) are not good. A powerful partner can make a difference. They can negotiate priority, members-only, enhanced, featured, branded and other levels of placement. Expect to pay for this.

A weak partner can send listings but get no traction. Just because they sent your listings doesn’t mean the site on the other end is listening. Reports of, "I can’t find my listing where you said you sent it," are common place. Beware.

Bottom line? Long tail is good. Get your listings out there. Make sure you have a powerful listings distribution partner. Measure this partner based upon how many sites they send your listings to, and more importantly, on how much advantage they get your listings over the others.

Published: October 27, 2008

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