What’s in a Name? Ask Avatar
Posted on February, 22, 2012 by Ivan Radford -When you hear the name “Avatar”, do you think of:
a. James Cameron’s 2009 movie?
b. The graphical representation of a computer user?
c. A leading comic book publisher featuring work from Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis and George RR Martin?
d. The Polk County homebuilder?
You didn’t pick d, did you?
That was the problem encountered by the Florida company, 76 years after they registered their company’s name. Now, with James Cameron’s movie dominating search engine results, the construction firm has had to rethink its name because it can’t compete with the SEO.
Vice President Carl Mulac told the Orlando Sentinal last week that it was “costing a lot” to maintain an online presence, announcing that Avatar would now be known as AV Homes Inc.
The unfortunate plight of the US builder reinforces the importance of choosing the right business name – not just for branding purposes, but for SEO. Any company name must form the basis of the company’s domain – and with good URLs come great traffic levels.
“At a time when 90 percent of potential customers begin their product searches on the Internet, competing for attention online with the highest-grossing movie of all time was difficult,” adds Mulac.
With businesses relying so heavily on SEO, picking the right name for your property portal – or real estate company – is more important than ever. But, as AV Homes Inc can testify, it’s also important to check regularly to make sure that you are still ranking highly on the SERPs for your company’s key phrases.
Should you focus on property locations in your domain name? Or a housing type? Or it it easier just to choose a company name with as little keyword competition as possible?
To help you name your organisation – or guide you in taking another look at your SEO – these two articles are worth a read:
“Not Having a Mobile Site is Like Closing a Site Down for One Day Each Week”
Posted on February, 21, 2012 by Ivan Radford -“Not having the appropriate mobile website is the equivalent of closing a website down for one day each week”, according to reports from Google. As a result, property portals without a significant mobile presence may be losing key clients.
Since February 2011, 15 per cent of all web traffic has been mobile-based, but a new survey from property industry tech firm Eurolink has found that 45 per cent of internet users now connect to the web via a mobile phone. It’s a wake-up call for some real estate sites, especially as 61 per cent of those smartphone users said they then phoned the company after visiting their mobile site.
“Statistics show that UK estate agents and letting agents could miss opportunities with half of their potential customer base, simply because they don’t have a mobile web site, or web app,” Eurolink’s director Richard Murray told Property Talk Live.
Eurolink is releasing these stats because they are holding a competition at the ARLA Conference next month, but their report also includes further pointers in the ongoing debate between native apps and web apps.
To sum them up briefly:
- The option to provide the app directly, without the need for a subscription or download
- Web applications are easier to update and amend than native apps. Any change made to a web app is done via a central server and rolled out to users uniformly; the update almost untraceable
- Web apps are web visible, which can boost SEO
If you’re now seriously considering the jump to mobile web, or you’re still not sure which path is the one to choose, this handy guide from Tech World, detailing how to develop a mobile strategy, should be your next point of call:
Why Should You Be Investing in Mobile Business? – Tech World
SEO and Sitemaps: Crawling in the Right Direction
Posted on February, 20, 2012 by Ivan Radford -Sitemaps are an established way for a website to direct users around a site – and, more importantly, a key tool to get search engine robots crawling in the right direction. After working their way through previously indexed URLs, spiders will then turn to an XML sitemap for signposts. But did you know that Bing will devalue your sitemap “if one per cent of the URLs result in an error”?
So how can you check if your sitemap is up to scratch?
Fortunately, there are several guidelines to follow depending on your search engine of choice. Google Webmaster Tools, of course, has an efficient dashboard, complete with error spotting and a list of clear limitations (e.g. no more than 50,000 URLs).
For more detailed tips on sitemap files, including how to troubleshoot a low indexation rate, read this full article:
Basic SEO Troubleshooting with XML Sitemaps – Search Engine Watch
International Real Estate News Round-Up: Week 7, 2012
Posted on February, 17, 2012 by Ivan Radford -A round-up of the week’s news, courtesy of the Lead Galaxy overseas property portal TheMoveChannel.com.
$25bn settlement divides America
The landmark $25 billion mortgage settlement, agreed last week between leading US lenders and 49 states, has split the country down the middle, as officials welcome help for the housing market and homeowners continue to battle with foreclosure.
Spanish property can “sell in a day”
A Spanish property expert has claimed that houses in Spain will sell in a day if sellers stop overpricing and reduce values by 40 per cent. “[They] have nothing but [their] own unrealistic expecations” if the property doesn’t sell, said the Managing Director of Noteges.
Russia plans new property tax
Russia is planning to tinroduce a new tax, based on the real market value. Property evaluations will take place throughout 2012 to determine the true worth of the country’s real estate, rather than basing the levy on the current low house prices. The tax will be introduced next year.
Foreign buyers go back to Budapest
Foreign buyers are going back to Budapest’s property market, according to one Hungary newspaper. Overseas investment used to account for one-tenth of all property purchases in the capital, but after the housing crisis, investors are beginning to return.
Read the full story
Dubai 2011 almost rivals boom levels
Dubai’s figures for 2011 show that against all expectations, the market almost matched levels last seen during the country’s real estate boom. Transactions were up by 20 per cent compared to 2010, just 9.5 per cent below the total value of AED158 billion in 2009.
London developments double in size
London developments are doubling in size, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Developers are increasing the capacity of their projects to try and accommodate “inexhaustible demand” for property in the city centre.
Foreclosures rise in Florida
Foreclosures increased “for the first time in more than a year” in Florida, a RealtyTrac report revealed. The Sunshine State, severely affected by the housing crash, saw the number of foreclosure filings rise by 14 per cent in January, as the market struggles to clear its inventory of repossessed property.
Kuwait recovery on the cards?
A recovery in the property market is on the cards, predicts the National Bank of Kuwait. The total value of real estate transactions in 2011 reached KD2.7 billion, according to the bank’s latest report, marking an increase of 53 per cent from investors.
Malaysia good for long-term investment
Malaysia has been highlighted for its long-term investment prospects by the Malaysia Institute of Estate Agents. The MIEA commented that the market is “one of the cheapest in the region” and that over the coming decade, property values will rise considerably.
Barbados prices may rise this year
Barbados property has seen a rise in demand, according to a new Knight Frank report, which could see house prices rise again after a fall of 5 per cent in 2011.
Ireland prices bottoming as buyers pour back in
Ireland’s property appears to be bottoming out as US and Russian investors flood back into the market following a drop in values of “at least 55 per cent”.
Romanian real estate generates interest
Romanian property is generating increasing interest from investors, Global Property Guide has reported. 28 per cent more enquiries were made in 2011 than the year before, as low prices attracted attention from overseas buyers.
Read the full story
Property sales in New Zealand hit record high
The number of residential property transactions in New Zealand hit a four-year high in January. Prices have increased by 1.1 per cent over the past three months, Quotable Value’s data shows, but remain far below the boom levels of 2007.
London rents continue to skyrocket
London rental rates continue to skyrocket, according to a new report from Colliers International. Residential property values have returned to pre-crisis levels, reveals the report, but rents are “regularly exceeding £1,000-plus per week”.
Wuhu scraps week-old housing policy
The Chinese city of Wuhu cancelled a housing policy just seven days after it had been introduced. The policy, which would have given subsidies to new homeowners and excluded buyers from paying deed tax, was swiftly scrapped by the Wuhu government as China continues to insist on the cooling of the country’s property market.
How Not to Sell Your House – Part 2
Posted on February, 16, 2012 by Ivan Radford -After our previous examinations of successful property listings, it only seems natural to look at the stumbling blocks people encounter when advertising their house on a property portal.
And so, hot on the heels of Redfin’s use of Twitter to reveal the embarrassing side of selling property in-person, here is How Not to Sell Your House Online:
Include terrible pictures
This is by far and away the most common – and most effective – way to not sell your home. The most crucial part of a property listing is the image. It creates a first impression for the buyer and can expose your house’s flaws as much as its strengths.
So if your home contains a topless man, inappropriate political propaganda, sleeping people or rubbish, make sure you include them in your listing:
(All of the above are photos from genuine property listings.)
Give misleading information
Whether it’s the property’s condition, the number of rooms or its location (e.g. next to a nuclear power station), make sure that you never tell the truth. If you can leave out an important piece of information, then do so. It will help you avoid buyers who are looking for property in a specific region or with a particular feature.
Photo credit: Poppet with a Camera (Flickr)
Ignore the good bits
If your home has an interesting past, a former celebrity owner or an interesting angle to highlight, don’t tell anyone about it. Don’t sign up to our private seller Premium Service, which can provide you with an advertorial feature to promote your property.
Write incomplete sentences
The best way to convince people that you’re not a person to buy property from? Do not check your listing for correct grammar or spelling – and never, ever finish your
Make sure the price is wrong
As one agent declared this week, Spanish property prices are overpriced by an average of 40 per cent, which is hindering market activity. An incorrect price is a fast ticket to Reject-ville, so be sure to keep your price extortionately high or suspiciously low to discourage any attention from investors.
Don’t use Lead Galaxy
Don’t take advantage of our client-focussed qualified lead generation service and experienced email marketing campaigns. Don’t visit this page. And don’t speak to a member of our helpful team, who will help you successfully market your property.
Back to Basics: Converting Leads into Clients
Posted on February, 15, 2012 by Ivan Radford -Leads are great. Everyone wants leads. But the one thing better than a lead? A client. You can generate as many leads as you like, but if you can’t qualify that lead and develop a sale (and a client relationship) out of it, all the perfectly written email campaigns in the world won’t help you.
So how do you turn leads into real estate clients?
A recent seminar at Real Estate Connect took property professionals back to basics and covered the essential groundwork:
Customer service
“Think about your interactions with your consumers as if you were in the consumer’s shoes,” said Austin Allison, CEO of real estate tech company DotLoop.
“[Agents] are too focused on the big picture of the process rather than really servicing the client,” Cypress Residential Group’s Nick Ratliff told Inman News.
Website design
An enquiry form by itself can be a handy call to action. Keeping that form quick and simple will give you more submissions, but more fields will qualify the lead in finer detail. The important thing is to get the balance between an efficient, intuitive site layout and generating a carefully targeted lead that can easily be converted.
“Even if you have a few hundred visitors coming to your site every week, that’s still enough to make some inferences from testing,” Frederick Townes, chief technology officer of Mashable, suggests.”Make one change at a time.”
Qualifying web leads
“The most successful agents … have two-week-long scripts. Make sure your agents are learning the scripts,” advises software company BoomTown’s CEO Grier Allen.
Ratcliff adds (and this is perhaps our favourite cautionary tale) that in his past experience, it’s all about asking the right questions: “The agents would try to find all the details on a property rather than asking what (consumers) want to know.”
For more nuggets of wisdom, read the full write-up of the panel’s tips:
How to turn leads into real estate clients – Inman News
With Great Technology Comes Great Responsibility
Posted on February, 14, 2012 by Ivan Radford -Earthcomber has filed lawsuits again 12 different real estate companies for allegedly infringing their patent of matching mobile searchers with geographical preferences.
The lawsuit includes large real estate parent companies, such as Trulia, Zillow and the National Association of Realtors, so the accusations could cause problems for a lot of property portals.
Earthcomber, a mobile app developer in Chicago, has filed two separate lawsuits concerning two different patents, both of which are related to the “system and method for locating and notifying a user of a person, place or thing having attributes matching the user’s stated preferences.”
The complaints read: “These patents also claim methods for converting resource information into digital information and providing that information to users.”
The specific methods that Earthcomber mention apparently refer to their technology that uses ZIP codes and other information to match users with locations, as opposed to solely relying upon GPS.
USA Today adds that following several previous lawsuits, “Earthcomber’s litigiousness has earned it a reputation in some circles as a patent troll”. The company argues that it is “a small business trying to protect its intellectual property from larger and deeper-pocketed companies”.
Whether the allegations are true or not, the lawsuit is a reminder of the importance of both innovation and caution when developing new technology for real estate marketing.
For a sobering demonstration of the extent to which it matters, the full list of named companies (complete with court documentation) is on AG Beat.
How Not to Sell a House – Part 1
Posted on February, 13, 2012 by Ivan Radford -Last week, we debated the question posed by a private vendor on Property Talk Live – namely, whether anyone could recommend a way to sell his house offline because portals restricted house hunting to location searches.
But there are always opportunities for in-person sales for real estate advertising to go horribly wrong. And real estate group Redfin have started lifting the lid on them:
“Woman let us in, said she was there alone & we were free to wander. Then we walked in on people having sex. Not sure who was more surprised!” reads one tweet from @REConfidential.
Remove names and identifying information from its stories, the Twitter account promises to “let the public in on the strange and sometimes inexplicable things our agents encounter”.
We mention it because it’s a great use of Twitter.
Why? It’s a string of personal anecdotes, which is exactly what people expect from a social media account – things don’t get more informal and engaging than that.
It also adds a new element to the company’s profile, allowing for humour. Laughs = retweets. Retweets = a wider audience.
It manages to divulge confidential information without offending anyone as well, thus maintaining the company’s online reputation while also letting them join in the instant-feedback activity on the web.
Interaction is encouraged too, requesting stories from users of the site – again, adding another dimension to their relationship with their audience.
Finally, it gives property sellers – potential clients – advice and examples of how not to sell their home.
Combining all of those into one Twitter account? Nice one, Redfin.
Our challenge to the rest of you: Can you come up with something better?
International Real Estate News Round-Up: Week 6, 2012
Posted on February, 10, 2012 by Ivan Radford -A round-up of the week’s news, courtesy of the Lead Galaxy overseas property portal TheMoveChannel.com.
Germany residential investment surges
Sales of residential portfolios in Germany surged by 44 per cent in 2011, according to research from CBRE. Transactions reached a total value of €6.12 billion euros, with Berlin attracting the most demand.
First-time buyers skyrocket at start of year
Estate agent haart are reporting a skyrocketing number of first-time buyers interested in purchasing property at the start of 2012, as buyers rush to complete transactions before the Stamp Duty holiday is abolished in March.
Portuguese investors turn to alternative funding methods
Investors in Portuguese property are responding to the limited bank finance available by arranging loans directly with developers, one agent has reported, as the recovering market tries to side-step obstacles to meet demand from overseas buyers.
FSA shuts down sale and rent back
The sale and rent back market has been shut down by the Financial Services Authority. The scheme, which allowed struggling homeowners to sell their property to a company and rent it back with interest, was declared unsuitable by the organisation, who said that most of the houses concerned “should never have been sold”.
A Place in the Sun returns to TV screens
After four years, A Place in the Sun has returned to UK TV screens with a new presenter and a new, recession-hit market to navigate.
Bank of England gets new mortgage powers
The Bank of England will receive the power to regulate mortgages in the UK by setting limits on loan-to-value ratios. The move, announced by Chancellor George Osborne this week, is designed to prevent another housing bubble.
Cyprus property sales double
Domestic sales of property in Cyprus almost doubled in January, as local investors surged back to the country’s troubled real estate market. Overseas transactions remain low, despite an increase of international sales in Paphos by 23 per cent.
Robots being prepared for open house events
Robots are being prepared by a team at M.I.T. that may be used at open house events to replace estate agents. The “highly expressive humanoids” will be able to interact with humans and answer questions about property.
Approach to rents in 2012 “must be realistic”
The Belvoir Lettings Index has advised the market to be “realistic” about rental rates in 2012 following the boom in values last year in an increasingly profitable buy-to-let market.
French Alps sales boosted by snow
The weak euro and strong snowfall are boosting sales of homes in the French Alps. The improving exchange rate between the UK and single currency is encouraging British demand for ski resort properties, according to MGM French Properties, who have seen investor interest snowball.
UK asking price discounts break new record
One-third of all properties on the UK market have had their asking price discounted, according to a survey by Zoopla. The average reduction in price has now reached £19,580, growing by £1,000 in the last 12 months to hit an all-time high.
Central London prices up by 12 per cent
Property prices in the centre of London have risen by 12 per cent in the past year, according to the Land Registry, as international investors continue to flock to the capital.
Buy-to-let properties up by 84,000
The number of buy-to-let mortgages used to buy property in 2011 increased by 84,000 in 2011, revealed the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The sector continues to recover from its low-point in 2009 to account for “nearly 13 per cent of the total outstanding value of mortgages” in the UK.
BBC takes over council flats for Olympics
The BBC has taken over the top five floors of a council flat black in Stratford, East London, to report on the Olympics. Tenants fear being evicted as the demand for property near the Olympic village continues to increase.
Beijing rents rival New York
Beijing office rents have grown by 75 per cent in the last 12 months, announced Cushman & Wakefield, and are now more expensive than New York.
Our Portals in the Press: January 2012 – Lookin’ Good
Posted on February, 09, 2012 by Ivan Radford -If January is a month for fresh starts and renewed enthusiasm, TheMoveChannel.com was certainly looking good at the start of 2012.
A lot of that came down to our first ever infographic, which took the statistics for the previous year and turned it into a handy overview of the French property market.
Published on Thursday 12th January, the picture swiftly caught the eye of eager property sites around the world, from A Place in the Sun to Property Wire…
New property search analysis shows South of France is most popular – Property Wire
France’s most popular destinations named – A Place in the Sun
Southern France Favored By Property Buyers – NuWire Investor
South of France Is Most Popular According To Property Search – NovRealty
New property search analysis shows South of France is most popular – Housing Today
Infographic Illustrates Revealing Information about French Real Estate – Realty Biz News
It also made the jump to developer websites, with France’s Terresens Properties featuring the infographic on their company blog:
New property search analysis shows South of France is most popular – Terresens
From there, it jumped to their Facebook page and, eventually, wound up on the personal website of one Diarmaid Condon, an independent overseas property consultant.
Most popular areas in France 2011 – Diarmaid Condon
With this new monthly report well-received by the media, property professionals and individuals alike, January 2012 was looking very good indeed.
The month’s appearance continued to improve with the typically wide circle of onlookers surrounding the monthly Top of the Props report. Once again, different property markets chose to zoom in on different stats, with Cyprus and Bulgarian media outlets in particular taking a close look at the implications for their own country’s property:
The popularity of Cyprus as a destination for overseas property investors slipped five places in the December – Balkans.com
Cyprus slips to number 14 in Top of the Props chart – Cyprus Property News
Bulgaria still in top ten on Britons’ property map – Novinite.com
With enquiries flooding in from Trinity Mirror and the infographic finding new admirers each week, we spent the end of January planning our next chart, taking a glance at Spain.
If in two weeks’ time February looks half as good as last month did, 2012 is set to be a very colourful year…