Editor's Note: This article was originally published in May of 2014. It was updated in July of 2015 for accuracy.

Lead generation remains a natural focal point for those seeking to develop new business opportunities as a realtor. But, it’s largely the degree to which you successfully engage with your incoming leads that determines whether or not you’re able to convert them into new clients at their moment of intent, and ultimately increase your closings.

In November of 2013, we announced our partnership with Zillow. In short, our mutual goal is to increase the value of your individual leads - by increasing the likelihood of converting each lead into a new business opportunity. And so, we built a specific set of product features to support realtor leads generated with Zillow.

Today, more leads are starting their home search on Zillow than any other site – and you know you should be taking advantage. You also know that advertising yourself as a Zillow Premier Agent could help you grow your real estate business - but you’re not convinced. 

This is a common position to be in as an agent in today’s marketplace; that is, one of uncertainty. Why? Because while you know that Zillow can expose you to leads and sell you as an agent, it’s up to you to maximize the benefit (or ROI) of that exposure. Stated more clearly, there are no guarantees!

Before you dive into the world of Zillow Premier Agent Advertising, you need to learn what you must do to effectively grow your business as a Premier Agent – and this post will teach you exactly that. 

New Product Announcement:

Zurple has launched a highly affordable and extremely effective conversion solution built specifically to work with your Zillow and Trulia leads. It's called Conversations by Zurple, and it's designed to help you turn more of your leads into real client opportunities.

Free Premium Content Downloads Now Available

Our Zurple Agent Success blog, which launched a few months back, is designed to serve as an educational hub for real estate agents around the country. Our content goal is simple: help agents succeed in today’s market.

“I have nothing interesting or valuable to say, so I’m going to waste your time.”

This is the underlying message conveyed to leads and clients on behalf of agents who use today’s real estate CRM systems for ‘automation’.