Wishing for a website traffic jam

Designing estate agent websites for a
traffic

Traffic, in website terms, is the number of people accessing
your website. The more people on your estate agent website, the
more people there are viewing your properties and asking for
viewings, so everyone is trying to get the highest amount of
traffic possible onto their website. There are two ways to get
traffic onto your property website, paying for traffic and
performing Search engine optimisation or SEO.

Paying for traffic for your property
website

A few website designers turn to paying search engines to get
traffic. This can be through online banners, email or, more
popular, pay-per-click. Pay-per-click is way of paying search
engines to make sure that your website will be on the first page of
results associated with key words that you pay for. This comes at a
price.

The main problem with pay-per-click is the cost. Estate agents
firstly have to choose which keywords that they would like their
website to display under and keywords that are common are very
expensive. The term 'Estate agent' costs around £1.76
per click. You can set a daily budget, but can it be very
costly over a long time as internet users often browse properties
in their local area out of curiosity rather than a genuine interest
to buy.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

Search engine optimisation or SEO is a way of designing your
estate agent website so that it will appear at the top of search
engines without paying for each click. Although position one isn't
always possible, as estate agents are fighting against property
portal websites, 97% of our customers are on page one. This means
that your estate agent website can perform well without having to
pay the massive costs involved with pay-per-click.

For in-depth information on SEO and all SEO related topics, or
you feel that your website's SEO can be improved, contact Resource
Techniques on 0208 457 4777.

Make your estate agent website Google friendly

To concentrate on one search engine would be foolish, but with 90% of the UK search engine market share, Google is difficult to ignore. Below are some tips for estate agents that are considering website design and Search engine optimisation (SEO).

* Domain name registration - The older your domain name, the more trustworthy your website will be. The logic here is that the internet 'boom' created a lot of websites from people looking to make money and then many websites then folded and never returned. Therefore a young website domain name won't be deemed as being established.
* Content - Google says that "Content is King". Relevant current content is what Google is looking for. The best example of this is having a news section where estate agents can talk about local news and developments relating to your estate agent.
* Keywords - Google will look at the words that are used in your website and the more a word is repeated, the more it is considered as being relevant to your website or a 'keyword'. SEO experts will warn you that repeating 'estate agent' too much will flag your website as spam.
* Backlinks - This is a popularity contest. The more websites that are linking to your website, the more likely it will be deemed to be popular and therefore used by members of the public looking for estate agents or property.
* Blogs - People and Google alike both love blogs. This shows people whats happening behind the scenes and gives them an up-to-date feel for the businesses progress. Estate agents that blog tend to give local information. For example, road works affecting access to their office.

If you have any questions on SEO or would like to discuss modern approaches to estate agent website designs, give Resource Techniques a call on 0208 457 4777.

What is the key to a successful estate agent website?

Many estate agents and website designers do not realise that the ultimate goal is to create an enjoyable and user friendly interface for members of the public that are looking for property. To do this you need to understand the process that property searchers go through.

The first place many people will turn to is the internet, more specifically, a search engine. Google currently has around 91% of the search engine market in the UK, so it's fair to say that the majority of internet users start there. Once on Google, they will enter a logical search term that will get them to a website where they can complete their goal of looking for a property to buy or rent.

At this point there are two types of users. The first know exactly the estate agent's name that they want to visit, but not the website address. They type in the estate agent's name and straight away are given the estate agent's website and any associated social networking profiles.

These users are either brand loyal or have an awareness of the estate agent. Therefore we do not need to concentrate our search engine optimisation (SEO) on these users as no other estate agents will have your company name.

The second type of users are people who are searching for property but do not know an exact estate agent to search for. These are the type of users that SEO concentrates on. These users will tend to search for 'property in...' and their local area or 'Estate agents in...' By utilising these keywords for SEO, your website will attract users that would not have normally found your website.

Once on your website they will be looking for one thing. The 'property search' button. The better the website design, the easier the user will be able to find this button and start to search for properties that suit them.

They will browse through each property having a look at the description and related images. Once they have found a desired property, they will then need contact details to get in touch with the estate agent. By keeping this process in mind, a website designer is able to fully cater to each customer. Our user experience is the best in the industry, why not have a look at our portfolio for the best estate agent websites.

For a free consultation on your estate agent website or your estate agent's SEO, Call Resource Techniques on 0208 457 4777

Social networking is full of people writing nonsense - sound familiar?

Twitter this and Facebook that. Social networking is constantly
in the news. Many estate agents still do not know how to fully
utilise social networking and say that it's full of people writing
nonsense about irrelevant things like making a sandwich or stepping
in something on the way to the shops.

This seems to be the general consensus with estate agents. They
understand that they have to be on Facebook but do not use it in
hopes that business will just materialise out of thin air, whereas
Twitter is either considered as too alien or not for business
purposes.

Social networking is about people interacting with each other,
which is why it's 'social' and many people forget this when
promoting their business. Estate agents that endlessly promote
properties won't get the interaction that the user is looking
for.

Try relating to them on a personal level. Letting the user know
that there are real honest people behind your business will provide
that extra interaction that a savvy internet user requires. Answer
their questions, discuss about how the latest local development
plans will affect the local area, and talk to them about their
hopes and the realities of their current situation.

Think about your target demographic. Some of the oldest
generations might not be using social networking websites now, but
daily more and more users are joining social networking websites
and integrating it into their everyday life. Even older generations
have started to add their children online as 'friends', which means
that it is no longer a playground for inebriated pictures. It is a
two-way flow of information that lets estate agents communicate to
customers and potential customers on a personal level.

Therefore estate agents that put in the foundations of their
online presence now will reap the benefits. Do not feel that you're
alone. Check out estate agent, Colin Bibra's Facebook page on
http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/Colin-Bibra-Estate-Agents/89200480762?sid=6612891809087feec4bbda8f9b11d362&ref=search

or call Resource Techniques on 0208 457 4777 for personal social
networking guide.

Shopping around for a new website? Consider this before you do...

Let's be honest here, websites aren't the cheapest investment
for your business but it is an important one. Resource Techniques
has compiled a quick guide on what to consider, look out for and
avoid when choosing a website designer.

Firstly define your Website's needs:

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail."

• Think about what your website needs and why you want a website.
  Estate agents will want users to firstly look at properties then be
  captivated enough by a property to contact them.


• Consider your company background. What is the company's
  underpinning values, beliefs and commitment?


• What is the overall aim of your estate agency? How do you
  differ from your competition?



• Who are you selling for? This is important to remember because
  websites should be for your customers and not just for you.


• What is your overall marketing strategy?

Ask the website designer if they can:

• Work with languages such as CSS.


• Produce a portfolio


• Create meta-tags and perform SEO.


• Perform White Hat SEO


• Create interactive content.



• Manually write HTML.


• Work with websites in a secure server environment.

Research Market Costs

Have a look around. Do NOT go for the first company you come
across. Website designers tend to charge large amounts, so shop
around. You would shop around for any other large purchases, so why
make websites any different?

Create a Short List

Do the website designers suit your estate agency? Creating a
short list enables you to think about the pros and cons of every
web design company and lets you overview all the possibilities
before you.

"72% of customers see you on the internet first"
(Rightmove.co.uk)

Take the plunge! An estate agent with a good online presence
will be able to see the benefits of embracing new technologies
rather than sticking their head in the sand.

You cannot leave it there though. A good website designer won't
take the money and leave; they should encourage relevant current
content so that the long term needs of the SEO are met. Beware of
designers that will charge you a one-off fee. Also they should keep
track of the website's performance through the latest methods such
as Google Analytics.

Resource Techniques are not only able to tick all of these boxes
but also provide a much larger service to estate agents. Give us a
call on 0208 457 4777 to see what you can provide
your customers.

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