So you want to have the best real estate site n your area? I am sure you understand the basics but here are some hints to get you there.
1. Information Everywhere:
Engage a service (or build your own) that controls all of your property data in one place and build a tool set that makes it easy for you distribute that data via XML data feeds. Any developer worthy of the name ‘developer’ could do this – however there aren’t as many who say they can do it that can actually do it. The second thing you need to do is join sites that you can distribute the data to. There are many that cost money, but there will be more and more that are free.
Here is a list of National sites for Australia and New Zealand:
Fee Based Services:
1. http://realestate.com.au (au)
2. http://domain.com.au (au)
3. http://realestate.co.nz (nz)
4. http://realenz.co.nz (nz)
5. http://allrealestate.co.nz (nz)
6. http://homehound.com (au) (FREE)
Here is a list of FREE worldwide classified services
7. http://base.google.com
8. http://expo.live.com (coming soon)
Be ready for more, I know of at least 5 new developments (including mapping systems) so have a system to store and distribute your data or you WILL be left behind. (or will spend all of your time updating all of the different sites)
Good agencies may pitch that they are on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au but when your competitor is on 6 or more sites you will find you will lose vendors, particularly once these sites gain popularity.
Remember, the reason all the big guys own all of the major realestate, jobs and car websites is because they want control of your advertising, so make sure you do not rely on one source. Control = bigger costs, so make sure you take control of your Internet marketing
2. Develop your site in a standards based environment.
If you use Macromedia Flash or Java get rid of it (or plan to), it is a waste of your money and a waste of your visitors time. The standard based environment will be imperative and you will see why when the new Internet Explorer comes out later in the year!
Features you will need……
3. RSS Feeds
This is now a revolution and it will not stop. Currently if you use Internet Explorer you probably don’t know about it, but with Internet Explorer 7 due out later in the year, this will change quickly. How it works is simple. Every time you update a page on your site any person who has subscribed to your site via the RSS feed icon will be notified in their browser/messenger program or RSS reader, whether they are at your site or not! This means people do not have to subscribe by their email address and can view new listings via their browser/reader/messenger program and decide whether or not they will visit your site and see more information, if they do, they will just simply click on the feed and this will take them directly to the page the listing is on at your website.
RSS feeds can include basic listings, videos (video casting) or audio (called podcasts) but at this stage the most popular form is just data. Make sure you prepare for this as it will be huge ( I know you have heard this before), but this will be because all of the control is with the user.
4. Mapping:
Over the next few months you will see at least 3 new national sites taking advantage of FREE mapping services from Google. I know at least one of these will be FREE for real estate agents to send their property data to. You should make sure you have a system that can take advantage of this.
Examples:
http://maps.google.com (zoom around globe to find Australia)
http://local.live.com/
Both these services are free and I will think it safe to assume that this will place pressure on http://www.whereis.com.au to open up their systems for free, which a company like Sensis would not enjoy doing.
5. Virtual Tours ( I mean real ones)
We will see the types of Virtual Tours available today become obsolete and replaced by actual video tours. This may take longer, but by 2010 movies/tvshows/listings will be beamed directly to consumers TV sets by companies like realestate.com.au and domain and you want to join in on this, all you will have to do is subscribe and your listings will be sent to their main servers and from there, depending on whether a consumer chooses listings from your area, this will be beamed to their TV set top boxes for viewing at their leisure…. Pretty cool hey!
6. The threat to the majors…
We will also see companies like Google, Yahoo and MSN getting into online realestate in the future as it is an area that has been a huge driver for property buyers and one of the major reasons for the Internet’s commercial success. Real estate was one of the first industries to go commercially online and will be a huge driver in the future.
Companies like realestate.com.au and domain.com.au will be placed under pricing pressure as their models for increasing pricing each year will hit a ‘tipping point’ (an over used phrase I know) that will make agents question the long term value. These sites will survive but will have to look elsewhere for revenue growth.
If you look at the pricing of today for a basic subscription to realestate.com.au which is $379.00 per month, at the current rate they increase subscriptions each year it will be $515.61 per month by 2010.
Although many may argue that it is relatively inexpensive ( and I do too) compared to traditional advertising, to me the Internet is not about that, many of these companies make allot of money out of the fact that agents list their properties and Google, Yahoo and Microsoft know this.
Google for one don’t care about making money from people contributing information – they want to make money from advertisers that want to be seen alongside this information.
I think it safe to assume that Google, Yahoo and Microsoft will offer FREE real estate listing services in the not too distant future and you can bet if one does it all of the others will follow.
In the short term this will not effect portal pricing, but in the long term that is another story.
How it could pan out.
First Step: Agents – Imagine if Google offered a FREE global real estate listing service and just about all agents joined this service (as I suspect most would)
Second Step: Consumers – Their is no secret to Internet success, you need the content and then you need the eyeballs. Once Google had the content, they have proved they have no problems getting the eyeballs. There are a number of obvious reasons for this, but one I like to point to – to Google’s advantage is that just about everything they do is not obtrusive to the user. That means you don’t have advertising in your face, pop ups, banner ads (Ninemsn is getting so annoying) . That is the one of the major reason’s for their success (Google), time and time again they develop something that is a joy to use and they think of the user. Established media players who buy into Internet space make the same mistake time and time again by thinking of advertising dollars first and consumers second and consumers will depart them given a choice.
So I have no doubt Google, Yahoo or MSN would develop something that would be well received by the consumer. If this is done correctly major portals would have no choice, either reducing costs for agents or offering it as a free service.
So you can decide to either site back and just wait for new trends or take control of your destiny now. Next time you develop or re develop your site, think of the future and engage your users!
5 Comments
paul
Nice article Peter. I’m looking forward to the day Google becomes a force to be reckoned with in the real estate portal battle and it will happen. The problem with the portals is that they are becoming far too cluttered with advertising. Realestate.com.au is so annoying now to me as an end user it’s also painfully slow. I don’t like domain.com.au really so don’t really use it but i believe they are going the same way. Google Real Estate will be a refreshing change.
Peter
Thanks Paul. I dont think anyopne will be a threat to the majors in the short term but if Google got into it, you can bet all others (Yahoo and MSN) will also.
The only time it will make a difference is when the consumer demands they be on Google Real Estate (or one of the others) and agents get a similar response (email enquiries) from these types of sites. So maybe 2010 may be a little too soon, but it will happen.
scott hampson
As you have pointed out many times, peter, the popularity of sites such as realestate.com.au and domain.com.au is directly related to the website users. Competition can only be a good thing at the end of the day, and if sites such as google enter the market, then so be it.
I just look forward to the day when I see postings complaining about how Google owns everything.
If the feeling in australia is thet Fairfax and News Ltd are too monopolistic, then be vary wary of Google type enterprises. Sites such as Google and Yahoo have massive online presences now, and could easily control the internet if they really wanted to, right away.
They will either be the “coke” and “pepsi” of the online arena, or they will diversify their focus so much that smaller operators will flourish.
Still, the bottom line is that both users and advertisers will use what works.
Being in marketing myself, I hear a lot of people focus on what it costs to advertise, rather than asking the impotant questions – are they advertising effectively and are they using what works?
If it works for your business, then it is money well spent.
(Usually, just a few sales will pay for an offices marketing online.)
If this is not the case for your office, then rather than whinge about it, why not take a good hard look at where you advertise and how you do it?
Once again, portals are popular as they work.
When they are not popular, they stop working and others take thier place.
The equation is pretty simple.
Peter
Scott, thak you for your comments. The comment about Google may be valid, but I write this blog for the sake of agents not portals. Google, Yahoo and now Microsoft are competing for the future of web users and their Internet philosophy has been shaped by Google. Google works on the simple equation that if they have the content they can then make money from people who want to advertise next to this information.
The current portals charge agents for placing content on their portals and then charges advertisers to advertise alongside this informaton.
If Google enters the market then they will NOT charge agents for advertising their listings and you can be sure that Yahoo and MSN (NineMSN – PBL) will also enter the market.
I have no doubt that Agents make money from the two major real estate portals in Australia – however I do fear for my agents when all their eggs are in the one basket.
Advertising for agents falls into one of 3 main categories.
1. Branding & Awareness – Newspapers, Letterdrops etc
2. Sales Marketing – Internet
3. Community Donations – Community Groups, Local Guides
Monopolies lead to only one thing and that is extremely high prices and Australia and New Zealand already have too many monopolies (airports, telephony, gaming, banks, supermarkets, roads)
Again – Thank you for your opinion Scott.
Andy Del Vecchio
Hey Peter,
Have you re visited this article?
It’s interesting see about your Google prediction here, which is correct
However…
I still think we still havent seen what they can do even now in 2010. They are still are yet to even advertise to consumers about their service. I bet most buyers don’t even know you can search for Real Estate on Google Maps. I know I wouldn’t know if I wasn’t in the industry.
and this…
1. Information Everywhere:
Engage a service (or build your own) that controls all of your property data in one place and build a tool set that makes it easy for you distribute that data via XML data feeds. Any developer worthy of the name