Rightmove updates mobile website

Back at the start of the year, I blogged that this year, estate agents could afford to ignore the mobile internet - largely because it was better to leave it to the portals to fight it out.

And there's certainly been quite a bit of that, with Rightmove, Zoopla and Primelocation falling over themselves to release tools for the iPhone and iPad.

All the while, the growing numbers of users of Blackberry, Google Android and Windows Mobile based phones (that's everyone with an HTC phone - possibly the biggest competitor to Apple - including me) have largely been left on the sidelines.

This morning Rightmove have announced an update to their mobile website, aiming to put that right and bring us back into the fold. It's not as pretty as the screenshot above, or not on my phone at least, and inevitably not as slick as an app, but it's certainly very usable.

We had posted the link here, but Rightmove have asked us to take it down temporarily.

According to a recent Ofcom report, around 23% of us now use the internet on our mobiles. So, looking forward a bit to 2011, for agents that are interested in the mobile world, it's a cheaper and safer (albeit less flashy) bet to offer a mobile-friendly version of your website than to develop a platform specific app.

But why stop at offering access to property details, if anything there's more to gain by providing mobile access to vendor, landlord and tenant related information.

Something we at PropertyADD can help you with already!

Better estate agency window displays

A great little idea this, from Marc on the 1000watt blog - adding local market stats to your window displays.

How many of you are just displaying properties?

You might want to try simpler, easier to read graphs, but there are plenty of other options too:

• Vendor/landlord tip of the week (easily re-purposed from a blog or newsletter).
• An 'open surgery' offer which invites people to open the door and start a conversation with you, help without the hard sell.
• Testimonials.
• Your social media contact points.

So much the better if you can use a digital screen and do all of the above in one!

I'd be interested to hear what else you're using your windows for.

Opinion based marketing

I think most web-savvy estate agents (and hopefully all of the readers of this blog!) are coming to understand the importance of social media in estate agency. And I'm not talking about Facebook or Twitter, but the real essence of social media - opinions.

Opinion based marketing, the word of mouth of old, is becoming a big deal on the internet. Review websites are cropping up all over the place and sooner or later they're going to have an impact on how much business you do online - potentially even your search rankings.

The latest site to come to my attention is Referenceline, "where reputations count". How does your company do? And, what's more, what are you going to do about it?

Rightmove profits are up

So, Rightmove have announced that profits are up almost 40% on last year.. With the way they've been squeezing your subscription rates up, I'm sure you're all delighted to see it!

At the same time, I think it's fair to say that they've really pulled their finger out on new innovations this year. The iPhone app, Rightmove Desktop, the option to 'draw' a search area and most recently their price comparison reports.

It'll be interesting to see what happens if Zoopla achieves a significant increase in brand recognition from their excellent TV advert. Either way, I'd still like Rightmove to introduce a lower cost start-up friendly package.

Another free directory to get listed on

After the series we ran a couple of weeks ago, I hope that you're all still setting aside a little time on a regular basis to promote your business on directory websites?

Even if it's just 5 minutes a week, you'll reap the benefits over time.

As a nudge in the right direction, please take a look at Brownbook - a free directory for the UK, US, Australia and Canada.

If you compare creating a listing to the time and effort you spend each week on putting together newspaper adverts, etc. it quickly starts to make sense!

Zoopla are coming to get you Rightmove!

Great advert this, from a portal we have a lot of time for. I couldn't help but share it!

Successful door knocking for estate agents

Over the past couple of weeks, an interesting thread has been running on the 4Networking forum about how estate agents can be successful at knocking doors.

Canvassing on the doorstep is an important part of raising your profile, particularly for start-up agents with limited stock. But it's also very easy to get wrong and become disheartened with unless you have a thick skin. The thing is, most people lead busy lives and don't like being sold to or researched on their own time.

There are of course two sets of prospects involved here: those that are already on the market and those that aren't (and probably have no current interest in being). And that calls for two very different approaches.

For those that are on the market, you are in a position to be more direct about your services, how you differ from their current agent and therefore how you can help. Perhaps take an "always be leaving" approach which gives prospects an easy and face-saving get out clause and prevents you wasting time on people who just aren't interested.

For all of the other doors, you are much better off looking at it as a brand building exercise. And perhaps this is only relevant to start-ups and new offices.

The chance of any of these doors being about to market their property is very slim, so you'll risk alienating most of them if you take too salesy an approach. Instead, your goal is simply to encourage them to remember you when the time comes - and for the right reasons.

The 4Networking thread throws up several good tips for this:

1. Be considerate about the time you go.
2. Pre-qualify the visit with a card through the door a week before you knock.
3. Offer them something. Knock the door with a branded factsheet, local market report, advice leaflet or event invitation and simply say you wanted to pass the details over personally - a simple and non-pushy, "hello, we hope this is useful".
4. People like to help others - ask if they'd like more copies in case they know anyone who might be interested in an introduction.

Just remember that it's all about helping them, not yourself!