The True Cost of Unbranded Real Estate Websites

It sounds like a good idea – build an unbranded website that offers real estate information and services, and solicit leads through it from unsuspecting visitors. What most REALTORS® don’t realize, is that these sites often come with a cost much bigger than the price tag…

What are unbranded websites?

Unbranded websites are sites without obvious contact information for the website owner, that aren’t obviously associated with a particular REALTOR® or brokerage. These websites are often focused around:

• Neighborhood information
• Free real estate reports
• Real estate searching tools without any noticeable contact information except for a nondescript phone number or email

Basically if it looks like it’s a real estate website, but doesn’t have any easy-to-find contact information, chances are it’s an unbranded website.

Who uses unbranded websites?

In short, lots of people. There are even website companies out there that sell exclusively unbranded websites!

REALTORS® who use unbranded websites are attempting to target “unsuspecting” visitors who will fill in their information in exchange for a something (free report, etc). As far as I can tell, REALTORS® use these services for one of multiple of the following reasons:

• They think they’ll scare people off by disclosing that they’re REALTORS®.
• They’ve been sold by a good sales person into believing that visitors are more likely to enter their information into an unbranded website
• They believe that having multiple unbranded websites will increase their “catchment” area

The true cost of unbranded websites

The cost of running an unbranded website “campaign” is much more expensive than most REALTORS® realize, and here’s why:

• Companies selling unbranded websites usually try to sell more than one to a single REALTOR® – twice the websites = twice the cost.
• Effectively marketing more than one website is almost impossible (see article here: How Many Websites Should a REALTOR have?).
• Real estate boards and associations generally prohibit unbranded marketing material. In extreme cases an unbranded website can cost a REALTOR® his/her license.
• Not branding marketing material presents a shady image to prospective customers.

Conclusion

Branding is a huge part of being successful and I’ve always been confused by certain REALTORS® wanting to offer anonymous services. Unbranded websites are a waste of money and should only be used by risk-seeking REALTORS® wishing to start off business relationships doing damage control.