Just wondering if anybody has used Google Base to promote their listings and what their overall opinion of it is?

I tried it with a couple of listings, but I haven't noticed any response from doing it.

Yes I did. I try to get as much exposure for my client listings as possible, thats my job. Some people dont want to use these types of sites. But lets get real.

The other day I was checking out the Google serps for a whole bunch of market areas - through a proxy server rather than my own connection. I was astonished to find that the serps all had Google Base real estate listings in the number one spot - which I do not see if I search Google through my regular internet connection.

This leads me to believe that perhaps more people are seeing the Google Base listings than I previously thought. (It also could be siphoning off search engine traffic that would account for a reduction in clicks for sites in the serps even if positioned in the top 10.)

If the listings are in the number #1 spot it is probably worthwhile having your listings included.

Exactly. Some people are so fixated on Google rankings that they refuse to invest time into any online marketing that doesn't directly result in higher rankings. My goal is to increase visibility; Google Base is a piece of that bigger picture.

I have been sending all my listings to g base and about 10 other similar sites for a couple of years now and I have not seen any results.

I get notices that someone checked out one of my listings here or there but they would have found the property on any local agent's IDX just the same.

I am beginning to rethink my advertising.

My recent success story with a web 2.0 site. I had one of my listings on Zillow and the market is slow not to many showings. But then one day I get a call asking me to see the home. As it turns out it was a neighbor from a couple blocks away. He was researching the value of his home he was about to list and saw my listing on the map near his house. He bought the home and I got to keep both sides of the commission. Yeeaaah! Tnx 2 Zillow.

Zillow is an interesting site. I would imagine that Realtors would have a love/hate relationship with Zillow as it has the potential to undervalue a vendor's property. The Make Me Move option is a good leads generator I guess. Bigtoe, I imagine its a lot of work to upload to whole range of different sites, are there bulk uploading services to save time or is it a cut and paste exercise?

Postlets.com will allow you to create one ad and it automatically uploads it to sites like Google Base, Hotpads, etc and you can manage (edit, delete) the postings right from Postlets.com and it will automatically upload for you. Awesome, fantastic site!!!

Thats what people are looking for isnt it, bulk uploading capability. They must use XML. Agents dont want to be spending their day looking at mutiple websites when they could look at just one. From what I can gather from some agents I talk to, Google Base has not lived up to expectations, and Zillow under"zestimates" property value. Regionalized listing services are really a pain. The US does not seem to have one dominate service, except for Realtor.com, which is really hard to use in my opinion.

For bulk uploading capabilities you can try Froogle instead.