I ran across this article... I think on Twitter... and it got me thinking (always dangerous).
Now, I am NOT thinking that I should charge for my content, and frankly, I'm not really concerned with what the newspapers choose to do on their website. But, I think there is still an application.
Registration...
Some agents require registration for consumers to view listings. I don't, but there are some valid reasons to do so... and one giant reason NOT to have a registration required search. Critics point out that only a small percentage of consumers will complete the registration, and a smaller percentage will complete that registration with real information. But, in gross numbers, more registrations will happen with a forced registration site than will happen with an open site not requiring any registration.
The big problem (or the flip side...) is that there are plenty of search options that don't require registration, so it will likely chase people off of the site. So, unless you are offering a search that obviously blows the doors off of any other search site, it WILL chase away consumers.
But...
The Unique Selling Proposition is what is called for. In order to have a forced registration search, the search would need to be above and beyond other searches... But what about content... specifically the other thing that consumers are looking for... the thing that there IS room for the average agent to build that is above and beyond the competition up the street?
Market Reports...
I look at a lot of market reports, and there are some GREAT reports out there that folks put together. There are also a LOT of market reports that just flat out suck. There is no way around it... They have a little template and the report fits into the template and unless one reads the last 15 months of them at one sitting and builds a spreadsheet, they have NO good information. There are a load of reports out there that have no insight and no perspective. They recite how many homes sold in the previous week or month, but not the week or month before or the same period a year before.
So...
What if we built market reports that consumers WANTED to get? And then what if we required registration to access those reports for the first month or two? They would drop from behind the curtain after the first month, but for that first month only "members" would be able to access them. Consumers could sample the reports for 'free'.. without registration, unless they wanted the most current info. That would be a trade...
What do you think?
The technology would require a few upgrades... but it is workable. Let's assume that implementation would not be an issue and focus on the idea...
I'd love to hear from consumers, agents and anyone else with an opinion.
Unless otherwise noted, all content of this blog is the property of Lane Bailey, ©2012 Lane Bailey.
I'd love to hear from you...
