How Our Advertising Is Helping You

I often have to remind people that I'm not a realtor. I don't sell homes. Instead, I advertise them fsbo using the Internet. The homeowners who list their homes on my website are doing the selling with the help of their own real estate attorneys.

So what's my job? My job is to get potential buyers to come to my website, http://www.northiowahobo.com/, and see those homes. I do this in a couple of different ways.


First, every month I spend a set amount of money on advertising. Keep in mind I'm a start-up business and funds are limited. So, I've focused on one main venue- the local television station and its website, http://www.kimt.com/. I have to admit, I'm extremely pleased with the results. During the months of February and March of 2008, my website has had more than 1.5 million ad views and more than 1500 clickthroughs from kimt.com.

I also am an active member/volunteer with the Mason City Chamber of Commerce. It's a wonderful organization with great ideas for growing the city and region. When people from out of town are relocating they often 'check out' this area by visiting the chamber's website, http://www.masoncityia.com/. I average 30 to 50 clickthroughs from the chamber's relocation section of its website every month.

Thirdly, word of mouth is extremely invaluable. I recently signed up a woman's home in Clear Lake and asked how she found out about http://www.northiowahobo.com/. She said her brother sold his home in Fertile using the website last fall. Now she's giving it a try. Wow! Now that's the best advertising I can get!