Tis the season to watch Google tra la la la

Recently Resource Techniques has covered three tantalising Google tweaks, properties on Google maps - a little bit of history repeating, and Google hides a little a gem showing that Google seems to have stepped up its recent releases and updates of its services.

Google even announced today, at the same time as Facebook, that they will be soon providing a URL or website address shortening service to compete against bit.ly. Goo.gl or fb.me have both been released on a limited basis, with goo.gl is only available via the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner and fb.me is reportedly only used via mobile.

Fear not bit.ly fans, the shortening service is still industry leading and has announced a 'Pro version' of the bit.ly service. Features include a custom URL service as well as a 'unique' real-time dashboard with even more information than before. The pro service is still in its beta stage and is available on request via this form.

Not only that but Google have advertised Chrome on the front and back page of the Metro which has a circulation of around 1.3 million. It seems that Google is now pushing Chrome to become the mainstream browser through tradition forms of advertising to reach the less tech savvy users.

Interested to know more about internet browsers? Contact Resource Techniques or send us a message via Facebook or Twitter!

You've heard of SEO, but what about YTO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is everywhere on the internet. Any agent looking at web design or a new website will have heard of SEO, but have you heard of YTO?

YTO does not stand for 'Your Total Overlord' or even 'You're Too Old', but YTO stands for 'YouTube Optimisation'.

'Why do estate agents need to optimise their YouTube Videos?' It boils down to the same reasons as to why websites are optimised; being found in search engines and within YouTube.

YouTube was established in February 2005 and by April of this year 5 Billion videos had been viewed in the UK alone. Worldwide, YouTube now streams a staggering 1 billion videos every day and an overwhelming 20 hours of video are uploaded every minute.

In recent news, YouTube has upgraded into HD whilst Google will also be adding speech recognition technology to every English speaking video by the end of the week, which is great news for people with hearing disabilities.

By next week every English YouTube video will have subtitles which will be used when indexing content.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'This could mean that a new wave of YTO will be ushered in. Estate agents must plan a deliberate script with intentional keywords so that it shown at the top of Search Engines and by YouTube's own search function.'

This script isn't the only way estate agents can optimise their YouTube videos.

Below Resource Techniques will take estate agents through the process of YTO.

Firstly estate agent agents need to organise the video files that they take. Excellent for personal organisation but also YouTube will automatically add the file name into the video title.

Changing the file as soon as estate agents load it onto their computer means that they will be able to keep track of the videos that they upload and they can evaluate their chosen video title when they upload it to YouTube. Putting themselves in the shoes of a property searcher, estate agents will be able to contemplate keywords such as the address, type of house as well as the word 'video'.

For example, estate agents can use '52 Web-Design Street, London NW4 4DD [Company name] estate agents viewing video'. Although this is full of keywords, it is not very user friendly. Why not try, 'House for sale 24 Design Street, London, Video by [Company name] estate agents/estates.' Estate agents must design the title for both the end user and search engines.

Next, fill in the description section with lots of keywords describing what the video is about such as; estate agent, property, viewing, one/two/three bedrooms, garden and the estate agent name. Widespread advice suggests that a link should be inserted at the start of the description linking to the property. This gives users a chance to view in-depth property details on your website.

Last thing on this page is to fill the tags section. Here estate agents need to insert individual keywords that have been used in the description of the video.

Once finished, estate agents should click on the link 'My Videos'. Estate agents will be able to overview, edit, delete and add captions to their video.

Once there, click on 'edit'. From here estate agents can edit broadcasting options. Ideally estate agents will want to edit the security settings so the video can be commented on, rated, have video responses and embedded as possible. This means that your video will be able to be shared, talked about, reviewed and embedded as much as possible.

The last thing for estate agents to consider is captions and annotations as they can also be used towards their YTO. Agents need to be aware that although they can provide useful links and extra information, many YouTube users find them annoying and in the way of the video. Overusing them will cause users to click away from your video.

Troy Stanley gives a final comment on how estate agents can improve their YTO even further, 'Any estate agent that is serious about uploading property videos to YouTube needs to use YouTube Insights which is available in 'My Videos.'

'This is an analytics feature that gives information that will help estate agents to optimise their videos. Areas such as location, discovery and daily views will help estate agents to become the leading YouTube estate agent in their area.' - Troy Stanley.

Do you use YouTube to market your properties online? Are you considering starting to market your properties through YouTube? Let us know via our Twitter or Facebook page.

Web design jobs to be taken by Google!

Web designers have become slightly nervous over Google's swelling templates for Google Sites. They are very professional, clean and just slightly pretty which can easily be created by users using a simple step-by-step guide. Just have a gander at the screenshots below:





Although very pretty, these websites do not cater for the needs of an estate agent that is serious about their estate agent website. Firstly let's take the design. The designs above may be bright and colourful, but they may not necessarily be the right image for your brand. Matching your website design to your branding is very important as new customers that find you online will instantly judge your company on design of its website.

Have a look at the image below, or for greater detail, visit the Julian Reid website. The website is clean and gives off an image of professionalism with a hint of the types of properties that they cater for.



Secondly these templates do not support the types of functionality that every estate agent should demand to have on their website. Estate agents need the whole range of features that are all bedded into their website design. One clear favourite is enhanced Google maps. The image below shows all the properties from a search on Google Maps alongside various local amenities such as schools, doctors, dentists, transport, restaurants etc.



The next feature has become more than a prerequisite. High resolution pictures are easily accessible these days but the way estate agent websites display them can make it difficult for the user.

One way is to display all the high res photos in a pop-up. This directs the user's attention away from the website while modern pop-up blockers can confuse and block users from viewing the photographs.

Another way is to embed photos directly onto the website, which can make the photos grainy and small. Due to website size restrictions, this can impair the ability for users to fully view available photographs otherwise users will find themselves scrolling endlessly down the page.

Instead Resource Techniques uses the latest viewer technology that is used by large companies such as the BBC and Sony. When users click on a picture, they are presented with a 'viewer' with a high resolution photograph that overlaps the website. From here they can flick between photographs without being directed away from the website. All the user has to do is click away from the viewer or the 'x close' button and they return back to the property that they were originally inspecting.



The viewer can cater for more than just photographs. Estate agents are able to display floorplans, EPCs, HIPS, and print-friendly property particulars that are completely editable by the estate agent.



Resource Techniques is a web design company specialising in property websites for estate agents. Our services include web design, Search Engine Optimisation, software for estate agents and social networking consultations. For more information, call Resource Techniques on 0208 457 4777, visit our Twitter profile, Facebook Fan page or our contact us page.

Visit this page and fill in the form for a free web review.

B.I.N.G (Bing Is Not Google); Google respond

It's not like Google to stand by and watch as a possible competitor was about to enter the search engine market, possibly taking a larger market percentage than any company would be comfortable with. Bing, Microsoft's replacement search engine for Window's Live search and MSN search, was launched on the 3rd of June 2009. With an advertisement budget of $100 million, they weren't planning on creating a small wave.

It was widely believed that Google will have to respond alike and that increased competitiveness for the search engine market can only benefit the end users in the long run, but nothing happened straight away. Finally there have been rumours of Google using code name 'caffeine' and until now, people weren't sure what Google was up to.

Code name 'Caffeine' has apparently been in the pipeline for several months now. This secret project has been revealed as 'the next generation' of online search. It has been hailed as the next-generation of search. In other words, the face of Google will still look completely the same but the software under the hood will be upgraded. This could suggest that even though Bing is a new search engine, Google is updating to an even better search engine than before!

Troy Stanley, CTO of resource Techniques, is excited about the change: "Google, the most popular UK search engine, is basically giving a better basic search facility. This is the primary reason why people started using Google in the first place."

"The upgrade will have enhanced search whilst crawling and indexing the internet at a much faster rate. This allows them to narrow the real-time search gap to provide one of the best up-to-date search results."

So how does this affect estate agents?

Troy Stanley continued, "Currently Google is used by 90.55% of people in the UK whereas Bing has a 2.71% market share. With that in mind it is easy to think that Bing can be dismissed or ignored, but still almost 1 out of every 37 people in the UK use Bing. With a population of 61 million people in the UK, roughly 1.6 million people in the UK use Bing (give or take a few, as not every single person in the UK has the internet)."

"This million or so will be, at one point or another, using Bing to search for their local estate agents to search for property. Estate agents with an estate agent website should be asking their website designers or website providers what they are doing to make sure they capture this amount of people. Ignoring any search engine, even one with a smaller market share, can cost estate agents business." - Troy Stanley.

To try out the new version of Google, go to www2.sandbox.google.com and see how your estate agent website performs.

We at Resource Techniques, regularly cross checks search engines, to guarantee that estate agents that we supply for have Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) that they can be proud of. SEO, for those that are unsure, is the process moving each individual estate agent website is as high as possible on a particular search engine. SEO is important part of every website design for estate agents.

Resource Techniques is dedicated to staying on top of any industry changes regarding SEOest or website design for estate agents. Click to read more on 'website design for estate agents and SEO' or 'estate agents, SEO services are not just for Christmas'. To see how we can help your estate agent website design, ensure that you are getting as many people accessing your website and searching for property on your estate agent website by contact us.