Monthly Archives: February, 2010
floorplanner.com Upgrades for Agents
Floor plans are often the missing piece of the puzzle for listings. Great photos and an informative description are covered by a lot of agents, but not all are in the habit of adding a floor plan to the mix.
This is a shame because a floor plan is an important part of maximising the number of leads you receive from property portals. In fact, research from Dutch company Heliview found 53 percent of house hunters were more likely to spend time looking at a listing if a floor plan was included. (For an in-depth look at how to maximise your portal leads, check out Simon Baker’s articles here.)
UK Agents Plan to Move Online
It seems the UK’s financial downturn has some real estate agents reassessing their spending priorities. A survey by property specialists movewithus found that at least 20 percent see a move from their high street premises to a home office as possible or likely over the next ten years.
66 percent of the agents surveyed said they would be likely to focus on their web offering over the next decade, with a further 28 percent seeing it as a possibility. If you’re also considering this move, but aren’t sure where to start, be sure to check out our guest post from Ryan Hinricher: “4 Essential Building Blocks for Agents New to Online”.
Are FSBO Sites Taking Over?
Over the last twelve months, we’ve seen a swathe of new for sale by owner (FSBO) property websites come online, from owner-direct.eu in Europe to buymyplace.com.au in Australia. The UK market seems to be particularly flooded with FSBO offerings - hablib.com, tepilo.com, bethemiddleman.com, notestateagents.com, and auctionmove.co.uk are just a few examples.
So what effect are these websites actually having? Are they drawing traffic away from traditional property portals? Are they attracting business from owners keen to bypass real estate agents?
Google’s Tools: Will You Use Them?
As you’ve probably read by now, Google Maps has just launched a big marketing push in Australia and New Zealand, along with a new website targeting real estate agents: maps.google.com.au/realestateagents. While this is an Australia and New Zealand-based push, the tools Google promotes here could be used by agents anywhere. What we want to know is, will agents get on board?
Effective Banner Advertising - Part 2
Banner advertising is a really effective means of promoting estate agent’s services, especially when used on portal websites. “Advertise where the people are looking” is exactly what’s at play in this scenario. The ad becomes even more effective when placed at a granular rather than generic level such as the home page.
Placing banners on the search results pages of neighbourhoods where you operate is a key way to attract potential buyers and sellers in your market. Your message should speak directly to the people looking for property in your area and should resonate loudly with those looking to sell. So how do you get your ads up there?
Google Reveals Real Estate “Vision”
Since Google first began adding real estate listings to Google Maps in mid-2009, the world of online real estate has been monitoring the company’s every move. Each upgrade brought more speculation on how Google was planning to change things for property portals, real estate agents, and property hunters.
Now, we have a clearer idea of where Google is headed.
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