[Plugin: Local Market Explorer] Page isn’t showing

I just looked at this page (https://greaterakronhomes.com/local/akron/oh/) and it loaded fine on my browser. What’s the issue?

I will not use any plug-ins which are offered by Zillow or Trulia. Agents… get with the program! This is the “wolf in sheep’s clothing”! All you do, as the agent that downloads their user friendly widgets is create one way links to THEIR site, giving your client an opportunity to leave your website and shop around on Zillow or Trulia; it’s a lose/win, and you end up the loser. Ask your self, how much free advertising and exposure do you want to give Trulia and Zillow? Why would you offer a widget which offers your customer the opportunity to leave your site? The more traffic you and other agents can direct to their site, the more they can charge YOU in advertising to get them back! “Hello” is anyone home???

I see frequent post from Drew Myers on numerous real estate websites. Drew Myers is not here to help your business, he is here to help his own (Zillow)… under the guise of “I am one of you”.

luckydog77-
For background, I was in charge of distribution of Zillow content out to other websites from 2007-January 2010, which is why you probably saw frequent posts from me regarding the topic of content for real estate websites. I’ve since moved on to other things. Regardless, I still feel using outside content is good advice and I have always talked about more than just Zillow content.

To your question of “Why would you offer a widget which offers your customer the opportunity to leave your site?”, there are two points I’d make:
1. Zillow offers data that consumers want and that you would otherwise have to pay to put on your site. So, either you use free data and link out, pay for the data and don’t link out, or produce your own custom data analysis and don’t link out (but have to continually update it). There aren’t many other options if you want market data on your site.

2. Your website should be about giving consumers what they are looking for, regardless of whether that data is on your site or elsewhere. No matter how much content and data you have on your site, you (or anyone else) will never have the best information on everything a buyer or seller or homeowner may be interested in. Linking out to other relevant sources of data is good, not bad and is the best way to build credibility and trust with your audience.

As to your sentence about me not being here to help agents with their businesses, I’ll let my track record speak for itself. People who know me know what I stand for.

Drew –

If you (and Zillow) really want to help real estate agents, then why do all your widgets have a Zillow logo which links back to Zillow’s website? Is it because:

A) To steal traffic off the RE site that displays the widget and direct them to Zillow’s, thus allowing Zillow to sell more advertising to agents because of increased traffic @ Zillow?
B)To get free advertising on thousands of unassuming real estate agents websites across the country?
C)To strengthen the Search engine optimization of Zillow through one way links from these real estate websites displaying your widgets? or…
D) All of the above?

Agents beware… Zillow widgets are a Trojan Horse. The only way Zillow can make a dime is through advertising, and they will gladly capture “Jane Doe’s” clients from “Jane Doe’s” website by offering “FREE” widgets to do it, and then sell them back to Jane Doe in the form of advertising. Absolutely brilliant Zillow! As an agent, I must ask Drew… why do all of Zillow’s widgets link back to Zillow’s site?

If I want data on my real estate website, I’ll call Altos Research https://www.altosresearch.com/ and pay for it upfront, versus getting the sheet pulled over my head and beat up in the alley by Zillow.

Don’t worry Drew, you won’t be out of a job anytime soon, there seems to be enough agents drinking the Kool-aid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown to keep the Zillow boat afloat.

“Beware the Ides of March,” the soothsayer urges Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Julius Caesar (act I, scene ii). Despite the forewarning, Caesar is stabbed in the back by his friend Marcus Brutus. Caesar falls and utters his famous last words, “Et tu, Brute?” (And you, Brutus?)

luckydog-
As I mentioned in my last post (did you read it?) – I have already moved on from Zillow (voluntarily).

And I already answered your question — whether you pay for it with links or dollars, quality data is not free. Altos is certainly an option if you want to pay for the market data and not link out. If you don’t want to pay for the data, you can use Zillow (but Zillow gets links out of it rather than $$). I’m not sure why you’d expect Zillow to give all that data to you (it costs a lot of money to maintain the data) and get nothing in return; that makes no business sense.

Drew –

I would probably put Zillow/Trulia type widgets on my own site, and give them free advertising in return (through the logo on the widget)- but it is the “traffic stealing” hot link back to Zillow on the widget itself that kills the deal for me.

Congratulations on your voluntary move from Zillow. Can we be friends now?

LuckyDog77

Drew,
I appreciate you help here. I do need some assstance. For some reason, the LME is not displaying correctly. My site is https://www.remaxchatham.com. Pick on the market reports and you will see what I mean.

With regards to Zillow stealing…if you have the widgets setup correctly, yes they do link back to Zillow. But in my case the Zillow site it goes to has my information banner all across the top and is “branded” for me, which all links right back to my site.

I for one think mashups like LME are the way to go. And like was stated earlier…give visitors what they want. And there are lots of guy out there, like the Phoenix RealEstate Guy who knows a lot more than me and most people about buildng a killer real-estate website and he loves and uses mashups that use Zillow.

I’m having an issue where it appears that I’ve set up LME correctly, but it’s just kind of floating on its own.

You can see it at https://www.pdxpropertyshop.com/local/portland/or/ but it’s not linked to my website which is https://www.pdxpropertyshop.com.

I’ve tried to change the permalinks and I’ve even called GoDaddy to see if it’s a hosting issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Sheryl

Problem resolved.

Thanks,

Sheryl