Publisher FAQs
This document covers the most frequently asked questions about Placester's publisher platform that spans the following:
Listings
Why can’t I scroll past 100 listings? Our platform is meant to maximize a user’s ability to search through listing data. By setting a maximum of 100 listings for any one search query we can guarantee an exceptionally fast search experience. If a user wants to see more results they simply need to be more specific in their search by adding more terms (price, amenity, beds, baths, etc.).
Why do the search results say 100+ listings and not all of the listings? Our platform is meant to maximize a user’s ability to search through listing data. By setting a maximum of 100 listings for any one search query we can guarantee an exceptionally fast search experience. If a user wants to see more results they simply need to be more specific in their search by adding more terms (price, amenity, beds, baths, etc.).
How are the listings sorted? By default, Listings are sorted by whether they are “Sponsored”, “Featured” or not. Sponsored and Featured search listings are paid-for ads. They can also be sorted by the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, the price, the year the home was built, the date the home was listed and the number of images. Search results can also be sorted by Ascending or Descending in relation to the other values.
Can classifieds listings be intermixed with the MLS listings? Yes. The only instance where we cannot mix classified listings with MLS listings is if the MLS requires compliance rules that disallows this practice.
Why aren’t rentals and for sale listings mixed? We believe that users searching for rentals vs. listings for sale are looking for a specific experience. We want them to be able to search within one specific data set. However, users can easily toggle between for sale and for rent with one click on the menu.
Can we display open houses on our site? Yes. You can either send Placester a feed of open house data or, if it is available, we can display MLS open house data.
How does open house information get to Placester? You can either send Placester a feed of open house data or, if it is available, we can display MLS open house data.
I can’t find a classified that we submitted in our system yesterday, what should I do? Email support-publishers@placester.com explaining the situation. Include pertinent details including the type of listing (for sale or for rent), the listing ID, the listing address and the time that listing was made available to Placester.
We have a partnership with a third party data provider that provides us apartment complex/new home construction/senior living data - can Placester handle that data? Placester maintains data templates for third party data providers. Placester also makes apartments, new construction and senior living data available at no cost to our partners.
Menus
How many top-level menu items can I have? We recommend four top-level menu items to fit best with your logo and for optimal responsive performance.
How many dropdown menu items can I have? In theory, as many as you like. However, too many won’t display very well on responsive versions of the site. We recommend 8-10 as a maximum.
What kind of menu items can I link to? The menu items can link to any page or search within the site.
How big should our logo be? Your logo should be 150px by 30px
How do we make adjustments to our menus? Email support-publishers@placester.com with the details of the change you would like to make.
How many footer rows can we have? There are 4 footer menu rows available.
What kind of footer items can we link to? Any pages within the real estate site, but several publications choose to include links to the parent publication.
How do we make adjustments to our footer menus? Email support-publishers@placester.com with the details of the change you would like to make.
Community Pages
How do we add a new community page for our site? Email prepared content to support-publishers@placester.com.
What do we need to provide Placester to add a new community page? Refer to the community page guide here
What ads are available on the community pages? The community pages support three different ad units including the hero ad at the top, multiple 300x250s and a featured agent on the bottom.
What is the size of the hero ad on the community page? The hero ad should be uploaded at 1600x475 pixels.
What is the size of the logo on the community page? The office logo can be 60 pixels high at maximum and have any width. The agent’s headshot (an option) must be 45x60 pixels.
Display Ads
What display (banner) ads are available to us to serve on the Placester platform? Placester can support multiple banner sizes including 300x250s and 728x90s. Reach out to your account manager to confirm which display positions are available on your Placester section.
What ad serving platform do we need to use? Placester can integrate with all commonly used ad serving platforms. The most common platforms that we integrate with are DFP and OpenX
Does Placester sell any display ads on our section? No. Placester does not sell ads on your section. All inventory is reserved for you to sell.
Our ads are not displaying, what should we do? Reach out to support-publishers@placester.com to report the issue.
Can we do push-down or peel-back ads on the the Placester section? Placester does not support these types of ad positions, however these can still be enacted on the real estate home page if hosted by the publisher.
Native Ads
What are native ads? Native ads are directly integrated into the user experience on the Placester section; they include ads like featured listings and agents.
What are all the native ads that are available to me as a publisher? Featured Agent, Featured Multi Agent, Spotlight Listing, Search Listing (Featured and Sponsored), Featured Office and Slideshow ads are available.
What’s the difference between a sponsored listing and a featured listing? There are only two (2) Sponsored Listing slots for any search result page (SRP), which always show as the first two (2) listings. A Featured Listing will come after Sponsored Listings (if there are any on that SRP) and above regular listings. There is no limit on Featured listings.
Can an open house listing also be featured or sponsored? Yes, it can.
How long does it take for search ad (Sponsored and Featured Listings)to appear on my site? Sponsored and Featured Listings will populate on your site after the next programmatic listing database refresh. This refresh makes your search ads searchable for site visitors.
Where can I display featured listings on your platform? You can upsell listings in three main places on Placester-powered sites: the search result pages (Featured and Sponsored listings), the right rail and in widgets (Spotlight listings). Widgets can appear on Placester-powered pages, or external pages (i.e. anywhere on the publication’s website). For the latter option, Placester will supply you with javascript code to be placed on the pages you choose. You can find this at: nameofpublisher.placester.net/widget-maker/ or nameofpublisher.placester.net/widget-generator/
Why does a sponsored listing appear next to an organic search listing that is the same property? The behavior you are seeing on the search results is expected. The Sponsored listing is technically not a listing but an ad that sits on top of the search results. This is the reason why you are seeing the listing twice, one is the sponsored ad and one is the listing itself. The behavior is similar to Google when it puts sponsored search results at the top of its search results pages (See example of a search for VW in SF).
Campaign Manager
How do I get to the Campaign Manager? Navigate to pan.placester.com in your browser.
What is my login? Your login would have been provided by your account manager. If you need to receive those details again email support-publishers@placester.com.
How do I get a new login? Placester will supply you with a login and password. If you have forgotten your username or password email support-publishers@placester.com.
How do I set up a featured listing campaign? We have created this document that explains the steps required to create a featured listing campaign.
How do I set up a sponsored listing campaign? We have created this document that explains the steps required to create a featured listing campaign.
How do I set up a spotlight listing campaign? We have created this document that explains the steps required to create a sponsored listing campaign.
How do I set up a featured agent campaign? We have created this document that explains the steps required to create a featured listing campaign.
How do I set up a featured office campaign? We have created a document that explains the steps required to create a featured listing campaign.
What are the advantages of CPM vs Share of Voice pricing in my campaigns? CPM pricing allows for a large number of displays within the targeted area of the site. Share of Voice provides you the opportunity to purchase a percentage of the ads displayed in a targeted area; for example, you could have your name or office show in all ads for a certain neighborhood or city. Placester highly recommends the use of CPM as it requires little maintenance. Share of Voice can be used but specific business rules must be set to keep the continual updating of SOV percentages to a minimum.
How do I set up a listing campaign that automatically pulls in new listings to feature, sponsor or spotlight? Placester calls these campaigns “Autogens”. Instructions on how to create an autogen campaign can be found here.
Reporting
What reporting is available to me on the Placester Platform? Reporting is available for Brokers and Agents in three time frames: This Month, Last Month, Last 3 Months. There is also a Custom reporting tool providing more options.
Where can I see the reporting? Navigate to reporting.placester.com in your browser.
What is my login to see the reporting? Your login would have been provided by your account manager. If you need to receive those details again email support-publishers@placester.com.
How do I get a new login? Placester will supply you with a login and password. If you have forgotten your username or password email support-publishers@placester.com.
What time frame is being displayed by default on the tabs at reporting.placester.com? - The last 30 days.
How do I see what leads have been generated on my site? You will need to create a custom report. Lead reports can be created for Agents, Brokers or all advertising accounts. Detailed instructions for custom reporting can be found here.
How do I know what areas people are searching on my site? You can create a custom report in the reporting tool. You can create a report using cities, neighborhoods, zip codes or states. Detailed instructions can be found here.
If my company uses Google Analytics or Adobe Omniture for analytics can Placester incorporate our analytics on our site? Yes, during the implementation phase we will ask you for code snippets to embed on our pages so your analytics software can trace
Why is the report only showing organic impressions and no ad traffic/click data? When creating an advertiser in Campaign Manager, you must associate 'the advertiser' with an Agent or Broker ID.
Launching your site
What is the typical timeline for launching a site? Six - eight weeks from the time Placester receives required inputs from the Publisher team.
What deliverables are required from a publisher so Placester can build out our site? Refer to our implementation guide here
When do we start getting billed? You will begin receiving invoices for your licensing fee the month that Placester hands off your site to your team. Any fees will be prorated based on the date of the month the site is handed off.
What options do we have for getting users into the Placester section? Placester has two options for a publisher real estate section homepage. Our homepage, which we host and design (See example: cthousehunter.com) or we can provide your team a JavaScript widget generator which allows you to generate custom widgets that you can embed on your pages.
What are the startup costs? There are no startup or build fees associated with the section. We only begin billing when you have a fully functional site.
If our site is powered by Placester, do we have exclusivity in our market? Exclusivity is not something we can offer as we operate across the country with many different brands. Your account manager will ensure that your site is designed and configured in a way that best suits your market.
Can we make changes to our site after we launch? Absolutely. Reach out to support-publishers@placester.com with questions.
Does Placester provide listing data? Placester has partnerships with third party data providers that focus on apartments, new construction and senior living. In terms of local listing data, we will work with your team to secure the best data possible - either by carrying forward your current feeds or working directly with you and the local MLS or brokers to secure feeds.
Is there a limit to how many sources of listing data we have? No. Placester supports an unlimited amount of data sources.
Will Placester charge us for adding new feeds to the site? There maybe fees for additional feeds. Please contact your Account Manager or support-publishers@placester.com for more information.
How do we make sure to retain the SEO that we already have on our existing section? As part of the implementation guide, we request the top 50 real estate URLs from your current site. We will set up 301 redirects to maintain any SEO juice you currently have.
What should we do with our mobile version of our current site? If your current real estate provider requires a mobile site, please redirect the mobile url (e.g. m.realestate.newspaper.com) to your agreed upon Placester URL.
What’s the best domain for our section to live at? Your account manager can work with you to determine the best URL for your section.
Feeds
What type of feeds does Placester accept to populate my site? Placester accepts feeds via FTP or RETS for listings.
What time do feeds need to be updated to make sure the site is updated the next day? Feeds must be received by 10pm ET to guarantee that they are on the site the next day.
How often is an MLS feed updated on my site? Every day at 6am.
