In this post, I want to share some knowledge with you, and explain why having good data is very important. I think good data comes in three forms, quantity, quality and accuracy. Often times people ask us how they can maximize their exposure and get more leads? What websites are we uploading listings to? Why can’t they find their listings? I hope to answer some of these questions here.
YGL automatically sync your listings to multiple websites, such as Hotpads, Google Real Estate and Oodle. We also run our own renter’s website PerfectUnits.com. These websites receive hundreds of thousands of listings from different sources daily, which often contain large amounts of duplications. The following rules are commonly required:
- Listings must have titles and descriptions. Listings with no title nor description are rejected.
- Photos help you rank higher. Each website has their internal ranking system to filter out duplications and low quality listings. Listings with good title / description and photos are displayed more prominently.
- Duplications are bad. Each website has mechanisms to filter out the large quantities of duplicated listings they receive. If listings have the same photos, title and descriptions, they’ll be automatically filtered out. So it is important that each unit has their unique photos and description.In our case. We notice that many users keep only building photos and building descriptions. While this is a very effective way to make the Craigslist ads look decent with very little efforts, this practice is detrimental when it comes to other websites. For example, if you have 10 units in a building that has only a building description but no unique unit description, all 10 units will be rejected / filtered, because they have identical information which are considered duplications.
- Accurate & Mappable Address. Some of the websites are map based, such as Hotpads. They require listings to have accurate address that can be located on a map. To you, this means to make sure the listing address you enter is complete and accurate. Do not use abbreviations such as Comm vs. Commonwealth. Spell out the street name completely and include the “St.”, “Rd.” at the end. Make sure the zip code is entered or generated correctly. If you cannot map your listing on Google Maps, chances are neither can they.
In the newspaper advertising days, people do not expect up to date information from the ads. But in the Internet age, information is cheap and abundant. Young renters grow up with easy access to lots and lots of good information on the web. They demand good and accurate data. Almost all modern advertising platforms and efforts are built on the foundation of data.
One good way to check how your data rank among other agencies and brokers, look no further than our very own PerfectUnits.com. Do some simple searches, do you find your listings on there? Do your listings appear at the beginning of the search results? If not, it is because your listings are out ranked by others who have better information.
Keeping good data is a long term commitment, it will most certainly pay off in the long run. In the next blog post, I want to mention some YGL tricks to help you gather good data faster.
