Forget the Portal Wars

Why Agents Win When They Run Google & Facebook Ads for Their Own Website

By: Chris Morgan, VP of Sales at Real Geeks

There’s a noisy fight playing out in real estate right now — and it has nothing to do with your goals as an agent.

It’s Zillow vs. Realtor.com. Homes.com vs. everyone. National platforms battling it out over traffic, market share, and who gets to “own” the online home search experience.

But here’s the truth no one at those companies will say out loud:

That war isn’t about you. It’s about them.

And agents who keep waiting around for a better lead from a bigger portal are handing over control of their business to companies whose priority is shareholders — not your commission checks.

That’s why the smartest agents are turning down the noise and taking their marketing back into their own hands.

Here’s how they’re doing it — and why it works.

1. Why Compete for Portal Leads When You Can Own the Attention

When you run ads on Google and Facebook that drive traffic to your Real Geeks site, you’re not fighting for attention in a sea of agent faces or branded badges.

You’re not a name next to 12 others.

You're the only one in the room.

And when that lead opts in? They land directly in your CRM, on your drip campaigns, in your ecosystem. Not shared, not sold back to five other agents. Yours.

That’s what real marketing control looks like.

2. Portals Are Optimized for Themselves — Not for You

Let’s be honest: Zillow and the rest aren’t building better user experiences to help you close more deals.

They’re building better ad products — for themselves.

When a buyer lands on your Real Geeks website, there’s no portal branding. No links to competing agents. No “other homes you may like” that take your leads somewhere else.

Instead, your branding is front and center.

Your listings are promoted. Your lead capture is clean and effective.  And your follow-up systems go to work immediately.

That’s a buyer (or seller) interacting with you, not just browsing.

3. Google + Facebook = A Balanced Funnel You Actually Control

Running your own campaigns means you can stop reacting to market shifts and start engineering your own demand.

✔  Facebook Ads put your listings and services in front of passive buyers and sellers who didn’t even know they were ready yet — perfect for brand building and early-funnel lead gen.

✔  Google Ads capture high-intent consumers actively searching for homes or agents in your market — the ones ready to act now.

Put them together, and you’ve got a full-funnel marketing engine — powered by you, driven to your site, and tracked in your Real Geeks CRM.

No guessing. No middlemen. No noise.

4. Why Let a Portal Build a Brand When You Could Be Building Yours?

Every click on a Zillow ad reinforces their brand, not yours.

Every lead they generate gets reminded where it came from — and that they have other agents “ready to help.”

But when you run ads directly to your Real Geeks website:

✔  Your logo is front and center

✔  Your listings are tailored to your market

✔  Your follow-up is personal, not automated fluff

✔  And your brand equity grows with every visitor, every click, every lead

You’re not just generating leads — you’re growing recognition, trust, and long-term pipeline.

5. You Don’t Need to Be Loud. You Just Need to Be Smart.

Let the portals fight it out. Let them spend billions on advertising and corporate battles that don’t move your business forward.

Your job isn’t to win the portal war.

Your job is to show up locally, consistently, and personally — and convert attention into appointments.

When you run Google and Facebook ads directly to your Real Geeks website, you cut through the noise. You get high-quality traffic. You build your pipeline. And you keep your brand, and your business, front and center.

Ready to Take Back Control of Your Lead Gen?

You don’t have to wait for the portal dust to settle. You can start today.

Contact us to learn how Real Geeks helps agents run high-converting Google and Facebook ads directly to their Real Geeks websites — and start generating your own leads, on your terms.

And if you're new to the platform?
Ask us how to get started with bonus ad credits to kickstart your first campaigns.

Let the giants fight.
You’ve got homes to sell.

- Chris Morgan | VP of Sales, Real Geeks