Ubertor Will Pay You to Blog
Ubertor, the real estate web site provider launched a new “Light” version of their software to encourage more Realtors to jump onto the Internet.
At $9.99 a month, it’s significantly cheaper than their other packages which range from $37 to $77 a month. They’ve even put in place a plan to build technological literacy amongst Realtors by rewarding those who purchase their own domain, set up Google Analytics and Feedburner or write their first blog post. If you complete all the tasks on the list you’ll get 10 months of Ubertor Light free or credits towards other Ubertor services.
In the mean time, your monthly ten spot gets you all the functionality of the full Ubertor backend but unfortunately, Ubertor Light doesn’t allow you to add any listings, in order to do that, you’ll have to upgrade to one of the other tiers.
Nevertheless, I like this program as it feels like a genuine attempt to educate Realtors on the proper ways to use the Internet in their business and reward them in the process.
Still $9.99 a month seems a bit much for a basic web site - especially when you put in context with their competitor Point2’s entry point; free.
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Steve Jagger | Jan 22, 2007 | Reply
Hi Joel,
Thanks for the post on our new offering. It has been a success so far and we look forward to the opportunity of working with more agents that are eager to learn more about the internet and what can be done with a website.
With regards to our competitors entry level offerings, one difference is that our sites do not have banner advertising on them.
Thanks again for the coverage.
Steve
JeffX | Jan 22, 2007 | Reply
Always appreciate the timely news Joel, your posts contain the epitome of current RE Tech relevance…
Great to meet you at Inman too…
Michael Price | Jan 23, 2007 | Reply
Having been involved with the world of Template based real estate sites in the past, I feel a non-branded version of a good template site is a bargain at $10 per month. Tech-support and customer service can burn through that in one call or a few e-mail exchanges easily.
Having said that, I have not compared the 2 side by side. I’ll have to carve out the time to do that soon.
Another great post Joel.
MP
Christoph Schweiger | Jan 23, 2007 | Reply
The $10 bucks are definitely worth to spend because Ubertor’s templates are one of the best looking.
Visual Appeal SEO Friendliness = Ubertor.
Not to mention the fresh approach of marketing Internet services to real estate agents.
Jay Thompson | Jan 27, 2007 | Reply
“With regards to our competitors entry level offerings, one difference is that our sites do not have banner advertising on them.”
The single banner on a Standard (free) level Point 2 site is small, and at the bottom of the page. It’s not like it’s blazed across the top or a column of Adsense stuff..
I guess it boils down to if you want to pay $10/month for no banner, and no listings, or pay nothing/month and be able to have listings on your site with a small banner at the bottom.
Of course if all you want to do is display listings on thousands of Point 2 sites, and Point2Homes.com, then why not sign up for the Point2 NLS? It’s free too. Listings but no website.
I’m not saying which one of the two is better. I like Ubertor’s stuff and I haven’t explored their cheaper product. But the ‘banner ad argument” is weak, at best.
Steve Jagger | Jan 29, 2007 | Reply
No listings means that they can’t load their own listings into their site. This plan is working for us as the agents it is targeting are rookies and have no listings anyways. Depending on the city they are in will dictate what mls listings will be in their site but there are many different ways to showcase their office listings, mls listings, country listings, etc. So their website does show listings, it just does not allow them to load their own.
As for $10/month… the idea is that is costs the rookie nothing. They do pay a fee but if they do what we suggest to their website we will refund their $$ or provide them with Ubertor credits. The idea is to encourage new agents to get involved with their website, register a domain name, put the domain name on their business cards, signup for feedburner.com, etc. You can see all of the tasks here - http://www.ubertor.com/light
Ideally their first year is completely free!