Estate agents, is your online brand image fading fast?

Web sites are regularly compared to houses, which is perfect when you're a web designer specialising in websites for estate agents! Now imagine you are trying to sell a house that hasn't been lived in or touched for 50 years. The disrepair, vines and cobwebs will be instantly recognisable and could easily put off anyone considering living in it. Sadly the exact same process can happen to your website but within a shorter space of time.

Try not to cry too much. Your neighbourhood friendly website designer is here to help. So how do estate agents keep their online brand image fresh?

Although websites do not grow vines or cobwebs, there are clear indications that clearly show that the website has been left to decay in the World Wide Web. Below are the top 5 ways Estate Agents can easily keep their online brand image fresh without breaking a sweat.

• Examine your keywords - Look back at previous search terms on Google Analytics to show you the various terms property searchers use to access your Estate Agent website. Re-evaluating your keywords maximises traffic from changing attitudes.
• Replace old text - Search engines love new content. Checking your website's text and changing it will spark search engine interest and cause them to scan your website more often.
• Role-play - pretend that you are a first time buyer or an elderly couple looking for a house to either buy or rent in your area. Testing your own website design in this way enables you to visualise the process that your buyers go through.
• Fix broken links - Usability is only noticeable when something goes wrong, but not when everything works as it should. Make sure you pass on any broken links to your web designer.
• Change the main image - Seasonal images only work if the image fits the current season so a Christmas image will only work at Christmas. A new image can give a breath of fresh air to your website.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'Website designs need to be kept fresh and up-to-date and a little spring cleaning will make your website look as good as new. Contact your web design team and I'm sure that they will be more than happy to help.'

YouTube gets an upgrade!

YouTube is an internet phenomenon. People upload a range of videos from hilarious accidents, clips of their favourite pet, how-to guides to video blogging. In fact it is so popular that every minute, 20 hours of video are uploaded which means that even if you dedicate your entire life to watching as many YouTube videos as possible, you won't even scratch the surface.

Since December of last year, YouTube lets users start uploading and watching their videos in 720p or 'High Definition'. Users with HD screens only have to look out for the small red 'HD' button between the volume button and the full screen option and with HD monitor prices lower than ever, HD is becoming increasingly popular.

Now YouTube has increased its capacity to hold 'true' HD videos. This means that instead of the 720p format, YouTube can now hold 1080p. For those that do not know the difference between 720p and 1080p, it means that instead of 720 vertical lines on the video, there are 1080 lines meaning that the quality of the picture has increased.

YouTube have also announced that they will automatically upgrade videos that have been already uploaded in the 1080p format. Perfect for users who regularly upload HD video to YouTube!

Many estate agents are now gasping a hold of video and using it as a fantastic way to market properties on their website. Integrating it into their website design, embedded videos enable estate agents to add a personal feel to each and every property.

Robert Oulsnam and Company is an estate agent in Birmingham that has just started using video on their website. Designed to inform, the two videos cover the profile of the estate agent and testimonials of their customers. This gives an extra dimension to the company and shows loyal and potential customers that they are an estate agent that is committed to keeping up with technological advances.

Are you an estate agent interested in integrating video into your web design? Give us a call on 0208 457 4777, visit our Twitter profile, Facebook fan page or our contact us page.

Estate agents, 'me too' positioning won't cut it with social networking

Many businesses in history have taken the 'me too' position. A 'me-too' brand is one that positions itself to offer exactly what the original brand offers. It can work it some industries and with some products or services but not with social networking.

Firstly estate agents have to realise that only having a social networking profile is not good enough. Users want to see evidence that estate agents are using social networking to its full potential, not a stale profile where the only evidence of activity is a post that occurred a few months ago. Users want estate agents to share the most up-to-date properties, local news, videos, the latest developments, useful links, advice on avoiding housing disaster, and many more. The great thing about online marketing is that it is only bound to the imagination of the user.

Estate agents that copy another estate agent's social networking activities will find a lack of leads. Estate agents need to try and come up with original ideas that will entice the user to visit their website. The website should then prompt the user to make a property search, view the listings then contact the estate agent regarding a property that they are interested in.

As social networking is used by increasing numbers and by a larger audience, it is only logical that these users will start using social networking as part of their online property search. Estate agents must start experimenting with social networking now before a rival estate agent gets there first. With that, estate agents must keep working hard at creating an experience that will push users onto their website.

For examples of social networking profiles, visit our or our Twitter page.

An estate agent website specialist, Search Engine Optimisation for estate agents and estate agent software specialist, Resource Techniques provides free consultations to all our customers on social networking. We guide estate agents through the sometimes tricky online world to help them generate online leads. To see what Resource Techniques can do for you, visit our portfolio or contact us.