Marshal McLuhan said "The Media is the Message." His grandson might well say "Google is the Message." We've gone from "You are what you eat" to "You are what you find" to "You are what you search." Over 75% of all Internet uses start with a search. Almost 75% of all home searches start with the Internet. Google defines our search expectations in every way: what we search for, what we find, how we find it, how we use it and what you pay for it. But Google has problems. General search can only be so specific. Google's algorithm scales big well, but so far has not scaled small well. Google's good news may be 3 million links in a second, but its bad news is 3 million links in a second, too. Much of the Web, like most Real Estate listings, is hidden from Google and is part of the Invisible Web.
Google's media business model has driven the Internet portals of AOL, Yahoo! and MSN to abandon their subscription models and adapt the ad-sale model. But Google hasn't driven Real Estate Search much, until now. Zillow is the first major test of the ad-sale model to Real Estate. Google has proven the model for general search, but it remains to be seen if the model will work in Vertical search.
Google drove traffic first. Zillow is driving traffic first. Google provides valuable free data and sells ads around the results. Zillow provides valuable information to home buyers and sellers and sells ads around the results. Google doesn't have to advertise. Zillow doesn't have to advertise.
Google has taught us what to expect in a Real Estate Search Engine: where to look, how to look, what we'll find, what it will cost. Will home buyers and sellers settle for a clunky, limited Web site? Will they tolerate a hard sell? Will they give their names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses to an unknown Realtor when they can get the same information for free?
What if Zillow provides Realtors with a free upload and ad pages on their site? What if, with one click, we could send our listings to Zillow (hence to all the search engines), to our MLS and to Realtor.com? The MLZ is free, the MLS isn't. We'll have to advertise on Zillow, just as we advertise in print media now. The Internet is 24/7, interactive, has 100% of the homes for sale and allows you to target your ads down to the individual home.
My broker told us to tell prospective sellers that their homes would be advertised on at least 10 Internet sites: my site, my brokers site, the firms regional site, our national site, the local MLS site, Realtor.com, TheRealEstateBook.com, HarmonHomes.com, and the local broker sites carrying the MLS listings. But what if I could tell the prospective seller, "Your home will be advertised on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask and Zillow?"
Google (v.t.) changed forever the way we searched for information. Zillow (v.t.) will change forever the way we search for home buying and selling information.
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