Originally there were only 3 pages that customers focused on when accessing property websites. These were; Home Page, Listings Page and a detailed property page. Now technology has moved on and users require that little bit extra from online estate agents.
Firstly the Search Results Page was added. Although this does not seem like a big change now, it has changed the long page of listings to a narrowed property search on the user's preferences. In fact it has been integrated so much into our daily use that we now take it for granted. Shockingly there are still some property websites that still do not have a search feature!
Technology has now moved on. Users are becoming increasingly snobby about property websites that they access and the property websites that only have basic functionality will be looked down upon. This is because users are becoming increasingly experienced with property websites. Estate agents that let their website stagnate could be losing out on a lot potential business.
Users now have the option to either use the traditional method of search design or use a more interactive map that has every house plotted on a map with local amenities. This interactivity seems to be the next step in online property. People are able to see exactly where on the map their potential house and also see what restaurants to go out to or even plot their childs route to school.
This means that as an estate agent, you also need to require more from your website. Do not put up with a second grade website that has terrible SEO and has features that the next generation will look down upon. Contact Resource techniques on 0208 457 4777 for a free web review.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Did you know that Websites can bounce ?
Unfortunately this is not about a website physically bouncing but this is relating to 'bounce rate'. Bounce rate is given as a percentage and is the number internet users that leave your website without clicking onto another page, so they literally 'bounce' off.
Estate agents and website designers do not want people to bounce on their website. Ideally you will want every person to stay and view properties but this is not necessarily possible. Below are the top 5 factors of why your website will have a bounce rate.
* Keyword selection - Choosing keywords that are relevant to your website is paramount and getting this wrong will lead the wrong people onto your website. For example, if an estate agent has keywords targeted towards 'country estates' but they sell flats in London, they will receive traffic only people typing in 'country estates' into search engines.
* Design garish and unorganised will put people off your website. Web users have become increasingly suspicious about websites that have even the slightest mistake or design flaw.
* Content - Write for online, keep it relevant and interesting. The homepage needs to be enticing for the properties that are held within.
* Navigation - Online estate agents need to provide a clear, user-friendly navigational structure. Every single user will need to look at the website and instantly know how to navigate around the website.
* Accidental clicks - These are people who accidentally click onto a property website without realising.
All the checks above will help towards lowering a bounce rate, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to completely get rid of your website's bounce rate. For further information on bounce rates, contact Resource Techniques on 0208 457 4777 for more information.
Estate agents and website designers do not want people to bounce on their website. Ideally you will want every person to stay and view properties but this is not necessarily possible. Below are the top 5 factors of why your website will have a bounce rate.
* Keyword selection - Choosing keywords that are relevant to your website is paramount and getting this wrong will lead the wrong people onto your website. For example, if an estate agent has keywords targeted towards 'country estates' but they sell flats in London, they will receive traffic only people typing in 'country estates' into search engines.
* Design garish and unorganised will put people off your website. Web users have become increasingly suspicious about websites that have even the slightest mistake or design flaw.
* Content - Write for online, keep it relevant and interesting. The homepage needs to be enticing for the properties that are held within.
* Navigation - Online estate agents need to provide a clear, user-friendly navigational structure. Every single user will need to look at the website and instantly know how to navigate around the website.
* Accidental clicks - These are people who accidentally click onto a property website without realising.
All the checks above will help towards lowering a bounce rate, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to completely get rid of your website's bounce rate. For further information on bounce rates, contact Resource Techniques on 0208 457 4777 for more information.
Writing Online Content
Writing online content? - You may have forgotten these simple techniques
At the present climate, we are all stretched for time and resources. Estate agents are no exception, but not regularly updating your online content will harm your online presence and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which in turn, will harm your business. A quick self-check will save you the expense of hiring someone and the techniques will vastly improve your online content!
1. Write it, and then leave it!
This is a trick that many forget. Give your mind time to reset itself. This will enable you to take a step back and consider any mistakes in spelling, grammar or content. By planning the content you write in advance, the quality of content will be vastly improved.
2. Ask a friend
You can check, recheck and check again but sometimes you will miss the mistakes that are right under your nose. The best way to finally filter out any final mistakes is to use a colleague. They will be able to view your content completely afresh and will notice mistakes that you have missed out. This can be perfect for proof reading property listings!
3. Consider your keywords
This is the best time to check that you have used the right amount of keywords in your content. Using too many will flag your content as 'spam', too little keywords and your content won't be picked up. Keyword density is an effective way to see that you haven't repeated too many words. Count the how many times the word appears in the content and divide by the number of words, times this number by 100 and you'll get a percentage. The debate on keyword density ranges from 1% to 8%. We suggest your repeated keywords are between 2-3%.
4. Are you selling the benefits?
Sales 101: Write about the benefits of the product or service and not the feature. People are interested in how a particular product/service will benefit them and not the features of it.
5. Stuck for ideas?
Look at other estate agents and their online content. Do not plagiarise but use the topics that they are talking about and write them in your own words.
6. A picture paints a thousand words
A picture can capture the eye and give a lot of information on what the article has in store. Make sure that the picture in with the theme of the content. Putting a picture of an animal when the content talking about the latest problems affecting estate agents in the UK, will not only confuse readers and lower the professionalism of your website.
At the present climate, we are all stretched for time and resources. Estate agents are no exception, but not regularly updating your online content will harm your online presence and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which in turn, will harm your business. A quick self-check will save you the expense of hiring someone and the techniques will vastly improve your online content!
1. Write it, and then leave it!
This is a trick that many forget. Give your mind time to reset itself. This will enable you to take a step back and consider any mistakes in spelling, grammar or content. By planning the content you write in advance, the quality of content will be vastly improved.
2. Ask a friend
You can check, recheck and check again but sometimes you will miss the mistakes that are right under your nose. The best way to finally filter out any final mistakes is to use a colleague. They will be able to view your content completely afresh and will notice mistakes that you have missed out. This can be perfect for proof reading property listings!
3. Consider your keywords
This is the best time to check that you have used the right amount of keywords in your content. Using too many will flag your content as 'spam', too little keywords and your content won't be picked up. Keyword density is an effective way to see that you haven't repeated too many words. Count the how many times the word appears in the content and divide by the number of words, times this number by 100 and you'll get a percentage. The debate on keyword density ranges from 1% to 8%. We suggest your repeated keywords are between 2-3%.
4. Are you selling the benefits?
Sales 101: Write about the benefits of the product or service and not the feature. People are interested in how a particular product/service will benefit them and not the features of it.
5. Stuck for ideas?
Look at other estate agents and their online content. Do not plagiarise but use the topics that they are talking about and write them in your own words.
6. A picture paints a thousand words
A picture can capture the eye and give a lot of information on what the article has in store. Make sure that the picture in with the theme of the content. Putting a picture of an animal when the content talking about the latest problems affecting estate agents in the UK, will not only confuse readers and lower the professionalism of your website.
Shopping around for a new website
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.
Estate agents, Generation Z are slowly growing up
Generation Z are the children of the youngest baby boomers that are born between the mid 1990s and through to the 2000s. They are the first generation to have had access to the internet the whole of their lives and have been defined by Marc Prensky as being "digital natives".
There have been a few predictions on how this generation will turn out but the general views seem to be:
* They will be highly connected.
* They will be more liberal than previous generations.
* Equality will be commonplace.
* Their English will be sub-standard but will be versed in internet slang such as 'lol' (Laugh Out Loud) which is an expression of finding something humorous.
* They will be altruistic and will have a strong work ethic.
* Their internet usage will be higher than any other generation.
How does this affect estate agents?
Even though these are generalisations, estate agents must realise that this next generation will be growing up within the next 10 to 20 years and will be considering buying their first home. Even though it's not possible to accurately predict the economic climate of the next 10 to 20 years, it is certain that this generation will want a house that is 'green' and may even look towards the use of renewable energy as a daily part of their lives.
They will prefer to do business with companies that also have a strong work ethic. Estate agents that are viewed as being aware of their carbon footprint and are taking proactive steps towards reducing it will be viewed favourably, whereas estate agents that are viewed as having no corporate social responsibility will be avoided like the plague.
Generation Z will be using the internet more than any other generation. This means that it is vital that estate agents have an online presence through search engine optimisation (SEO) and contribute regularly to social networking. Generation Z will also be using the internet for all their informational needs. Instead of opening their yellow pages or walking into an estate agent on their high street, they will more likely search for the contact details and property of their local estate agent online. They will expect a website that not only has the latest technology but will also have a high usability and user experience.
There have been a few predictions on how this generation will turn out but the general views seem to be:
* They will be highly connected.
* They will be more liberal than previous generations.
* Equality will be commonplace.
* Their English will be sub-standard but will be versed in internet slang such as 'lol' (Laugh Out Loud) which is an expression of finding something humorous.
* They will be altruistic and will have a strong work ethic.
* Their internet usage will be higher than any other generation.
How does this affect estate agents?
Even though these are generalisations, estate agents must realise that this next generation will be growing up within the next 10 to 20 years and will be considering buying their first home. Even though it's not possible to accurately predict the economic climate of the next 10 to 20 years, it is certain that this generation will want a house that is 'green' and may even look towards the use of renewable energy as a daily part of their lives.
They will prefer to do business with companies that also have a strong work ethic. Estate agents that are viewed as being aware of their carbon footprint and are taking proactive steps towards reducing it will be viewed favourably, whereas estate agents that are viewed as having no corporate social responsibility will be avoided like the plague.
Generation Z will be using the internet more than any other generation. This means that it is vital that estate agents have an online presence through search engine optimisation (SEO) and contribute regularly to social networking. Generation Z will also be using the internet for all their informational needs. Instead of opening their yellow pages or walking into an estate agent on their high street, they will more likely search for the contact details and property of their local estate agent online. They will expect a website that not only has the latest technology but will also have a high usability and user experience.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Estate Agents: Search Engine Optimisation or SEO, is it worth it?
Countless searches are performed every day and what they search for is extremely diverse. Internet users search for why their dog keeps barking to local cinema listings. In fact these searches can be defined into three main groups. These are:
Navigational - The user is looking for a particular website and will type in the brand name or web address e.g. 3seconds2impress.co.uk
Informational - The user will be looking particular information. This tends to be varied, from typing in illnesses to finding local estate agents.
Transactional - This is where the user is searching to buy something e.g. 'iPhone'.
Estate agents must consider how they design the structure of the keywords within their website. Think about what the public will be searching for when they want to access your website. Resource Techniques has experienced two areas where estate agents should concentrate.
The first group will be making navigational searches. This will be because they are already aware of your company from reputation. These are the users that you do not need to concentrate on as they will be searching for your company name. Your website will already be designed for this.
The second group will be making informational searches and this is where you need to focus on. These users are either not brand loyal or they do not have a particular estate agent in mind, and these users are the reason why you need to be top of search engines. They will be typing in a variation of search terms to find estate agents. The main one will be 'estate agents in' and then the local area. Designing your website so that you capture these business opportunities will determine the success or downfall of your website.
SEO is essential because people only tend to access the websites that are at the top of the results page. This is known as the "Golden Google Triangle". Designing for position one isn't always achievable but creating a website with the best SEO is a primary goal for modern estate agents.
The latest integration of property media - will this affect estate agents in the UK?
Two property websites in the US have designed their websites to include Facebook. The first website to do this was frontdoor.com and now Hotpads.com has joined the social networking bandwagon. Users can either log into the website or log into their Facebook account without having to leave the website. Users can get alerts straight to their Facebook account and share properties with their friends on Facebook.
Hotpads.com has gone one step further and has even created an application on Facebook that allows users to access the information straight from Facebook. Users are able to look for roommates within their network and even share rentals and sales with their friends. This gives property search a social aspect to it. Users will be able to find properties to rent through friends and friends of friends, possibly making it safer and more reliable.
Hotpads describe housing as being 'inherently social and therefore ideal for social networks. Could this be the next step in social networking? Currently this is only available within the U.S. but it won't be long till the U.K. catches on. Only time will tell.
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