I have never found that making website visitors fill in a form to receive a "Free Report" for things like "7 Tips To Make Your Home Sell Faster" works at all. Anyone I know from previous years who offered these reports had no success and stopped. How about you?

Is anyone out there having any success whatsover offering this stuff now?

Has anyone offered Free Reports on their site, had no success, and removed them?

Please let me know of your experiences - maybe I am wrong and times have changed and people now line up for the darn things - I doubt it but would like to know

Doug I use classified ads as teasers which in turn drives local traffic to my web site e.g. Orangeville Home Owners
Don't Even Think About Buying Or Selling Real Estate Until Know Your Rights. Go To www.LivingInOrangeville.com
The idea is to market the reports to get people to your site, not the other way around. Hope this helps.

Thanks Michael,

I think you have hit the nail on the head. That is what I found in the past - that it is the conventional advertising of the reports that send folks to a site to retrieve the reports. I have never heard of anyone who offered Free Reports on their site, didn't advertise them in newspapers etc. and had any success with them. In my experience, visitors who "find" a Realtor's site on the internet (thru search engines etc.) have absolutely no interest in filling in a form to retrieve a Free Report. If they are looking for specifc info on the internet and arrive at a web site and that site will not provide the info without having to reveal who they are - they just move on to the next site that will.

There always seems to be website providers that "sell" Free Reports as a hot, must have item though.

Anyone else have any comments on Free Reports?

Nice topic! I wondered about the same thing myself. Can't wait to see if there's more input.

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Ruperto Elpusan Jr.
Bankers Realty
e-mail: Ruperto@FineHomesInLA.com
Beverly Hills-Malibu-Palos Verdes Real Estate
Torrance/South Bay Real Estate

Yes, guys - you are all so correct. When we all went "on the web" several
years ago, many folks thought they could stop advertising using conventional
means, only to find out no one made requests because no one knew how to "get
there from here". Working the web, even as wonderful as it is, simply added
to the list of expenses already incurred in the real estate business.
Without a "redirect" from another old-fashioned source that the public was
used to relying upon, agents blamed their web sites, and/or their web
master, for not making their web presence known. Hats off to Doug who has
gone above and beyond the call of duty for his clients, keeping them front
and center in all markets, as best as can be done. But it is still up to the
user to strategically "place the crumbs to create a pathway" back to their offerings on the web; to reports, newsletter requests or whatever else you offer. Carolyne
http://www.carolyne.com
http://www.mybackupbook.com

I can say for one as a client of Dougs and only having my site up for a week now he has gone way above his call of duty to help me get my site where it needs to be. He recieves around 10 + emails from me a day and never complains at all..when I know I have to be getting on his nerves.

I know a little about computers but NOT a Lot. He has given his advise and help protect me from making some bad choices.

I would recomend him to anyone I know..in fact I already have and I dont pass out recomendations freely.

As to advertising the web site the therory of build it and they will come is long gone you must promote your site with all forms of advertising that you do.Really everything in this business it all really boils down to follow up. 72% of people looking to buy and sell use the first person they come in contact with.

The web is a great way to be that first person.

We all must set goals for our business and try to reach them using whatever tools we need to to hit those figures

Another thing that you may want to consider is offering more than just FREE reports. For example I have an E-book guide for FSBO's with an affilaite link to the author's site. This does a number of things: allows me to put classifieds into the newspaper targeting FSBO's 2) addresses any seller that comes to my site that may be thinking about going FSBO 3) generates a small revenue 4) I offer a complete refund if they decide to list with me. Have a look at www.LivingInOrangeville.com Hope this helps...

IMHO, for the most part they are a waste of time and precious menu real estate. I have had several clients try them in numerous incarnations but never seen anything worthwhile.

I have seen several sites with the same reports and I suspect they are mostly purchased canned reports. Does anyone know who created and sells these reports?


Guide to your Hassle-Free home purchase
Finding the Best Agent for You
Get the home you have always wanted
14 Questions To Ask Your Realtor
When Selling a Home
What is a Real Estate Buyer's Agent?
97 Easy Ways To Make Your Home Sell Faster
10 Important Tips to Successful Real Estate Investing
29 Critical Things To Help A Home To Sell Quickly
A Few Points About Interest Rates
Showing Instructions for Sellers
What is the appraisal?
Seven Selling Mistakes You Don't Want to Make!
Moving Tips
5 Powerful Buying Strategies
Making the Move Easy on the Kids
How To Get Top Dollar In Any Market
Things You Should Know about Moving
Fixer Uppers How To Alleviate Stress in a New Environment
What is Your Credit Rating?
The 8 Deadly Mistakes to Avoid
What Is Your Credit Rating And What To Do About It!
How to Make Money in Real Estate Investing
How To Restore Your Credit Rating

Thanks,
Curt

[This message has been edited by Curt (edited 11-26-2004).]

Those seem Craig Proctor's work - did you see them on Consulnet Success websites?

Doug,
I did not find them on Craig's site. I have seen them referenced on several sites with no credit to the source. Here are a few sites I have seen them at.
http://www.clearwaterhomes.com/Common/FreeReports.htm
http://www.whatsmyhomeworth.com/FreeReports.htm

Thanks,
Curt

Sorry, I don't know where they got them but several years ago a client gave me a whole package of "Special Reports" that she had received at a seminar - appearently with no copyright restrictions on them. I am sure that lots of these reports were passed around the continent since then (that was 6 years ago!) I didn't want to use them because I really didn't believe the "no copyright" thing but perhaps others are using them.

About once or twice a month we will receive an email requesting reports. To date, no one of those leads ever panned out.

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Visit the most comprehensive Las Vegas Real Estate , Summerlin Real Estate and Henderson Real Estate website online. Or look at pictures of my Parrot

My experience has been that it can draw an individual past the first page in order to read the report on the website on a later page. This allows you more time to sell to them. But I haven't tested getting someone to sign-up for it. I don't like it myself.

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Real Estate Website Content | Calgary Mortgage Broker | Alberta Mortgage Broker | Real Estate Website Developers

I would be interested to find out what those who don't believe free reports work use to generate their leads. I cannot see how offering free reports via 800 number or even a little space on your website could hurt. HOw much do they cost? usually little to nothing. As opposed to sending out blind postcards and big ads that cost a fortune, I think I will continue to use the reports and and integrate them into my other methods of advertising.