Top 6 most important property portal networks

Getting good coverage across a wide range of property portals is critical for good estate agents. Despite this, a recent estate agent advertising report by Home.co.uk suggests that the average agent advertises on just 3 of the major portals. 1 in 5 advertise on just one of the major portals and almost 1 in 15 on none of them!

Unsurprisingly, their analysis also suggests that the fewer portals your properties are listed on, the longer your average time on market becomes.

This got me thinking - just what coverage do the major portals get you? After some research, here is a breakdown for the reach for what I consider the top 6 property portal networks.

Rightmove - Still the most popular with agents and the public, but only the one website.

The Digital Property Group - FindaProperty.com, PrimeLocation.com, HomesandProperty.co.uk (Edit: as of 18 Jan 2010, HomesandProperty is now powered by the Homeflow Network), the 'thisis' network of websites from Northcliffe Media such as ThisisLondon.co.uk - the Evening Standard website - and ThisisCrawley.co.uk, FindaNewHome.com, DailyMail.co.uk and MailonSunday.co.uk. (Edit: as of 21 Jan 2010, TDPG have bought a 50% stake in Globrix.com - see below) (Edit: as of 1 Feb 2010, TDPG have announced the aquisitions of DotHomes.co.uk and Extate.co.uk, which will both be redirected to the FindaProperty.com website).

Zoopla - Their recently announced super portal extends far and wide to: PropertyFinder.com, HotProperty.co.uk, ThinkProperty.com, UKPropertyShop.co.uk, MSN, Yahoo!, Guardian, Tiscali, UpMyStreet and Virgin Media.

Globrix - TimesOnline.co.uk, TheSun.co.uk and TheScottishSun.co.uk. Previously announced as powering UKVillages.co.uk in Jan 09, but that site is now powered by Oodle.co.uk (confirmed by Poppy Dinsey at Globrix).

Nestoria - Telegraph.co.uk, AOL, Channel4 4Homes, EstateAngels.co.uk, Daily Express and Independent.

Trinity Mirror Digital Property - SmartNewHomes.com, Email4Property.co.uk, HomesOverseas.co.uk, Zoomf.com and a number of local property websites listed under the first link.

So there we have it, listing your properties on these six gives you some serious coverage. I'll come back to the myriad of other property portals another time - perhaps with a particular focus on free to list options.

Needless to say, a good estate agency management software package will automatically feed your properties to all of the portals so that you can increase your marketing reach without increasing your admin efforts!