Does anyone know of any decent online lead generation companies, like Homegain, etc. that somewhat works?

I am in the Detroit market in case you don't want to give away any pearls to someone local.

Thanks guys!
Mike

All lead generation companies want the same thing: your money.

You would be better off spending money investing in a good real estate blog (such as the Real Estate Tomato) that is professional and search engine optimized.

http://realestatetomato.com/ They will build you a beautiful blog from scratch and help you learn how to blog effectively.

Another good one is RSS Pieces.. http://www.rsspieces.com/

Get terrific advice and tips for free at http://www.activerain.com Basic membership is free, and that's all you need to learn how to blog for business - join and read from the "masters." Then start your own free blog at Wordpress.com

I for one learned how to do it on my own, for free - but a lot of agents are unwilling to take the time (if they're not selling real estate what ARE they doing with their time?) to learn.

I would go to my grave swearing that if you do it right, blogging will bring you more business for less money than any lead generation scam company.

Combine blogging with IDX links to listings and you're set. I get compliments all the time from my customers about my blog and website - how simple and easy it is to use. And the proof is in the pudding - I've outsold many of the folks who have been in the business longer than I've been an adult..LOL

That is some great advice Perky, I would stick with creating your own blog and getting some great content up. That will attract links and your site look better and fresher in the eyes of Google.

I would suggest maybe looking at getting a Wordpress blog. They are extremely easy to set up and with most hosting companies you can set it up very easily from the cpanel. If you have any questions about this please let me know.

I would invest in a quality wordpress theme for real estate agents, there only like $80, and you can turn these sites into gold mines if you put the work in. Like Perky said, you can either throw your money away at some lead generation company, or you can invest it in something that actually works.

Here are some theme sites that are really good looking:

http://realestatethemes.com/themes/
http://gorillathemes.com/themes/
http://www.wpzoom.com/wordpress-themes-sets/10-wordpress-themes-for-real-estate-agents/

Try [url=http://realtyclients.net]Realty Clients[/url] realtyclients.net
Not in Canada yet but if you use IDX we can be.
30 days free
Set up fee
No long term contract.

I would agree - a wordpress blog and about 30 mins a day will get you leads

Setting up a wordpress blog with a keyword rich domain name and filled with quality useful content is a great way to generate leads. Be sure to submit your RSS feeds and launch some link building campaigns, to get your website positioned higher in search engines, since search engines are a big source of online traffic.

I agree with the other posters in here but some people just aren't "bloggers" and they need someone to help them out.

I have someone write articles for me then syndicate them to various directories. I then have the articles linked to a website that's a contact form that Buyers can fill out telling me what they're looking for.

I tried blogging but just find it takes me wayyyyyy too long... I may end up trying it again though as they are a great way to get links to your website and also to get a strong presence onlin.

All the best!

Jeff