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Having an accurate instant valuation tool can be the lynchpin to an estate agent’s inbound lead generation efforts – that’s why we regularly update and enhance our tool to ensure it offers the best user experience possible!

So, with that in mind, we have some great news for Webdadi customers – we’ve added some brand new features and functionality to our Instant Valuation Tool which has given it a striking visual refresh and also help differentiate you from your local competition.

What’s new?

The updated Webdadi Instant Valuation Tool allows you to now make visual changes to match it closely with your agency’s own brand. The new functionality includes:

• Add an image to the background of the item
• Add a video to the background of the item
• Add a background colour or transparent overlay to images and video
    

All of these new visual options can be controlled or edited in the VIA website CMS, meaning Webdadi customers can also control these settings themselves within the CMS.
 
This new functionality is a first for this type of tool because at present, no third party valuation tool allows you to customise the image after build (you can choose an image up front to use when you first buy it, but once implemented, it’s not customisable). Also, no third party instant valuation tools supports video, either. This means that Webdadi customers now have a real differentiator to stand them apart from rivals using other ‘off the shelf’ solutions.

Will Webdadi Customers Need To Take Any Action?

No – the new Instant Valuation Tool rolled out to all Atom users on the 21st July as part of the service our Atom customers receive from us. And, like all our regular site functionality updates, this is a completely free service.

Why is This Type of Website Functionality Important?

Our Instant Valuation Website Plugin does exactly what it says on the tin: allowing potential vendors and landlords to get an instant valuation of their property through your website – and better still, it gives more accurate comparison based on your own agency’s property portfolio, sales data and your local track record.
With the new visual updates, users of our Instant Valuation Tool can now also enjoy a more visually appealing user experience, whilst customers can also make the tool match their own brand and visual identity.

A property agent’s website has to make the business of capturing new business enquiries as easy and effortless as possible: this is why the Customer Success Team here at Webdadi are always looking for new and exciting features and updates that can be added to customers’ websites to enhance their effectiveness - meaning that their websites grow and evolve with their businesses and never need costly re-development.

This type of functionality upgrade is something we provide all our customers, and is all part of the service we provide.

Have any questions about the new Instant Valuation Tool? The Customer Success Team is ready and waiting to answer any questions you may have – just hit the link below to book a conversation with one of our team today.

Back in July 2020, the British Government introduced the much-publicised Stamp Duty Holiday to help support the housing market during the Coronavirus pandemic. This holiday removed stamp duty land tax on properties up to £500,000 excluding second homes and buy-to-let.

Fast forward over a year, and with the UK economy slowly bouncing back into life following its Covid hibernation, the stamp duty holiday is now in the process of being wound down and the stamp duty rates changing, we have now updated our very own Stamp Duty Calculator to reflect the latest rate changes.

In addition, we’ve also updated the LBTT (Scottish stamp duty equivalent) calculator for customers using this tool, as this a different calculation at present to the English counterpart.

Will Atom Customers Need To Take Any Action?

No – the new revised Stamp Duty Calculator rolled out to all Atom users on the 21st July as part of the service our Atom customers receive from us. And, like all our regular site functionality updates, this is a completely free service.

Why is This Type of Website Functionality Important?

The revised Stamp Duty Calculator feature will allow website users to quickly and easily get an accurate stamp duty cost based on the most recent Government guidelines. After all, more accurate data and cost predictions means no nasty surprises later down the line for potential vendors or buyers. A property agent’s website has to make the business of capturing new business enquiries as easy and effortless as possible: this is why the Customer Success Team here at Webdadi are always looking for new and exciting features and updates that can be added to customers’ websites to enhance their effectiveness - meaning that their websites grow and evolve with their businesses and never need costly re-development.

This type of functionality upgrade is something we provide all our customers, and is all part of the service we provide.

Have any questions about the new Stamp Duty Calculator? The Customer Success Team is ready and waiting to answer any questions you may have – just hit the link below to book a conversation with one of our team today.

Now we hate to break this to you; but a great website is never truly finished. Yup, alarm bells may now be ringing in your head, but by coming to terms with this, it’s actually the best thing for your property agency now and in the future.
 
It’s at this stage you may now be wondering: “how exactly is this a good thing?” Perhaps your website has created issues for your business in the past and the thought of having to look at it all over again gives you the shudders, but there are seven incredibly important and beneficial reasons why…

SEO Performance (How a site ranks on Google)

Firstly, one of the most valuable things you can take away from this blog, is that search engine optimisation and your website go hand-in-hand. How your website ranks on Google is fundamental to the success of your estate agency and for generating leads for your business.
 
However, it’s getting harder to climb up their search engine these days.

Google employs thousands of people to filter out search engine spam and their search spiders are constantly crawling websites to decide how far up they should rank. Their algorithms are continuously changing, and where you were ranked a few years ago (or even a few days ago for that matter) is almost certainly not where you’re ranked now.
 
So, whilst your estate agency may be number one for something very specific – is it on at least the first page of Google for estate agents in your local town or city for the search terms your customers are using? If it’s not, we’re hitting a problem because as you know, barely anyone goes to page two of Google...
 
That’s why you need to have an ever-evolving relationship with your website. It’s not just about updating your website every few years so that it looks slick or new; it’s about having an editable website platform that allows your website to grow and evolve. By regularly updating and refining your site, you’re giving your business the best chance of ranking strongly against your nearest competitors, and generate those all-important new leads.

Quite simply, the best websites are continuously edited and refined – meaning they’ll have a better chance of being number 1 on Google.

The next thing you may be thinking is, what kind of simple yet effective things can I do to my website design to ensure my SEO game is strong? Think blogs. Blogs are a great way to generate organic traffic to your site and with the best, most up to date key words, can boost your ranking considerably. They can do the heavy lifting for your site and you won’t need to worry about changing your main pages too drastically.
 
To guarantee that your blogs are most effective, make sure to do keyword research. The best key words change all the time and your competitors may latch onto the one’s you’ve been using, so make sure to look into the most recent key terms so you stay on top.
The needs / growth of your business

As mentioned, by continuously aiming for your site to have the best search engine ranking, your property agency will continue to stay visible to potential customers.

Websites in general though, are also there to support business growth and should be able to evolve with the needs of the business.
 
Let’s say your estate agency is expanding and you’re just about to open your second branch. You should consider modifying your website to ensure you can reach those new customers where your new branch is located.
 
It could also be about modernising your site and keeping up with web design trends (don’t worry, we’ll go further in depth shortly!) to appeal to younger customers. Alternatively, it may be about targeting new key words specific to your new target customers.
 
Either way, your website will propel your business immeasurably if it can be easily updated and adapted when needed – without costly re-developments.
 
Customer and internal feedback

The best websites actively look for feedback; whether that’s call-to-action feedback forms or emails sent to their customers, either way they always want to know the experience people have had with using their website.

The reason why the best websites do this, is because it can help identify any issues people may be encountering that’s hindering user experience. It can pinpoint any difficulties customers have had such as finding it hard to find a certain page or property, any errors on the site or whether the contact details were too low down on the page.
 
By understanding these issues, you can address them, make the necessary adjustments, and create a smoother user journey. Subsequently, it should bring down your bounce rate and increase your visitor retention rate and as already stated, create further leads for your business!

Changes in browsing behaviour

As you’ll know, website browsing is no longer restricted to desktop devices. Therefore, it’s vital that a property agent’s website design can accommodate for every screen size and still function correctly; otherwise known as mobile responsive web design.
 
However, one of the most vital screens your website should accommodate for, are mobile phones.
 
According to Statista, in 2021, 92% of people in the UK use a smartphone; a statistic that’s very hard to escape. And, when we now consider that over 50% of all global website traffic is now through a mobile device, if your website isn’t mobile responsive, you may be in trouble…

If you think about it, if you need to look up something quickly, most of the time you’ll grab your phone from your pocket and just search it up there and then. So, let’s say someone clicks on your property agency website, and they have to zoom into each and every property or the images are taking minutes to load, more often than not they’ll swiftly click back. Not ideal, right? People simply don’t have the time these days for outdated web design.

Conversely, by streamlining your website and transforming it into a mobile responsive site, you’ll start to notice that more people are staying on your site for longer increasing your visitor retention rate substantially. Which of course, leads to more customers and more properties sold!
 
TLDR: Having a mobile responsive site is the best thing for your business, and well designed, responsive sites, really do equate to more successful businesses!

Technology improvements & trends

The best websites also keep up-to-date with technology. Technology is ever evolving and what’s around now, may not have been around a few years ago and vice-versa.
 
Bearing this in mind, ask yourself: is your website based on the latest technology and able to accommodate new functionality? Also, does you have website have the technology potential customers need when looking for a property? This may include your site having online instant valuations, schools data and making sure it’s best suited for the most popular browsing platform.

By keeping up-to-date with the latest technology, your potential customers are less likely to jump to your competitors as the user journey on your site will be smooth and efficient.  

You may also want to consider having your own technology i.e. your own valuation tools. The reason being for this, is that even though third-party technology may keep your costs down, in the long-term it could lead to your site having poorer SEO and less quality data.

The need to test, evaluate and improve on its performance

You may be getting fewer visitors or a higher bounce rate and you’re not sure why, so the number one thing you can do is to test your site. You could consider making your property call to actions larger and higher up your screen, making those button colours brighter or shifting your contact information to the top of your site (easy to do with a flat design website!).
 
Either way, don’t be afraid to experiment; it could have a truly positive impact and could lead to more customers for your estate agency.

Conversely, if that’s not made a huge difference, you know the problem doesn’t lie in what you’ve altered. Or if it has, you know you only had to do some simple tweaks; a better, less costly alternative to a whole new site.
 
Long story short: the best websites are continuously tested. If your current website doesn’t allow you to make the types of changes we’ve mentioned easily, then you could need a new website a lot sooner than you think…
 
Your own company’s brand and identity

Finally, the best websites continuously alter their brand identity.

This may sound a little scary, but it could not be more important. As we’ve just mentioned, it’s important that you test and evaluate your site - and the same can be said for your brand identity.
 
Firstly, take a step back and try to be objective as possible. Ask yourself, is this how we want potential customers to see ourselves? If it’s not, then let’s go through what possible design ideas you may want to consider for your site.

The kind of things you may want to think about, is whether your colour palette is too bright (or perhaps not bright enough!), whether your typography is clear and even large enough to be read on screens (you don’t want people squinting at those property descriptions!) and finally, whether your logo is clear and crisp - not blurry.

You may want to consider that your colour palette may not be working as you much as you desired. Perhaps that orange and that blue may not be attracting as many people as you thought it would. It could also just be about toning down your colours or using a little less of that orange.

Overall, by recognising that some of your brand identity assets need some tweaking, in the long-run you can lead more visitors to your site and down the line, generate more leads for your estate agency.

To conclude, we’ll end this blog with the very sentence we started with - a great website is never truly finished. Having a growth driven website is honestly the best thing for the growth and needs of your property agency and will ensure it’s successful in all aspects.  

In this technology-driven era, it is a given these days that a company must be on social media and the same can be said for estate agents, too. 

Even though this may sound daunting, it’s certainly not the case! Social media can be an enjoyable, exciting, and an effective way to engage with potential customers that can help generate more leads for your company. Considering this, here are some simple yet impressive ways to help your estate agency to utilise social media marketing in the best way possible.
 
1. Create A Human Connection 

First and foremost, think ‘human connection’. A term always thrown about when it comes to social media marketing, but for a very important reason.
 
According to The Negotiator, “social media is about engaging with your followers as people rather than targets for your next campaign”. This pretty much means seeing people for people! The journey for finding a property is full of different emotions, whether that’s excitement or stress, it can be a difficult journey for sure. By understanding this, you can centre your social posts to reflect the help and assurance you can provide people with for this journey and seeing them as people, not targets for your next campaign.
 
So, how can you engage with people on a personal level despite everything being on a screen? Social posts for estate agents may include talking about company culture, staff shout outs, charity work your staff have undertaken and the connections your estate agency has with local businesses in your area.
 
Fundamentally, it’s about showing who your estate agency is, what it stands for and connecting with people on a much more intrinsic level. Quite simply, don’t overthink it; posts should be natural and should reflect your agency’s brand and identity.

 
2. Tell A Story

Storytelling should be a part of any social media campaign; it helps draw people in and to connect with them on a deeper, more emotional level helping create that human connection.
 
To help build that connection with your audience, you may want to describe the fascinating history of a property, any quirky features it may have, the neighbourhood and what it is like to live there. Once you have established your story, make sure to also align beautiful photos of the property. You may even want to include some short videos which will further help the story telling process. By crafting this compelling story, you will emotionally connect with your customers and spark their interest in the property.

The next question you may be thinking is, which platform is best to tell a story?
 
Instagram is by far an excellent option as it is already a very visual platform, but Facebook and Twitter are also great options, too. However, make sure you have your call to action in the post so that customers can find out more information about their potential dream home and to ensure further lead generations. And wherever possible, always lead the viewers back to your own website where you can capture those leads effectively.

3. Post Relevant Content On Fewer Channels

You may feel the pressure to be on every single social media channel, but it does not necessarily mean it is best to be on them all!

It’s far more effective to be on a select few, perhaps Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but to post regular and relevant content to these platforms. You’ll end up having a much more active social media presence and a larger follower count rather than succumbing to the pressure of being on many platforms with potentially less relevant content and fewer followers.
 
In terms of relevant content then, think to yourself: “why I am posting this?” Think clearly as to why this post will be beneficial - will it boost your brand presence, or will it lead to more traffic to the site? It’s better to post less often but with more purpose. With that being said, make sure you post frequently to build an active social media presence and also drive traffic to your website, too.

4. A Happy, Healthy Social Media Mix

Make sure to mix it up a bit! Have some fun! It’s important to have a variety of different social media posts to keep your customers engaged and not to post the same content every day. One day you may be responding to industry news and insights, another day a staff shout out. Either way, create a feed of social posts that include a variety of topics to keep your customers hooked and wanting more.
 
Also, consider being as visual as possible whether that is using photography, videography, animated infographics or simply using gifs on Twitter.
 
Arguably, visuals are much more captivating and can be an effective asset to a social feed. You may want to use GIFs in response to industry news perhaps (show some personality!), have some fun with boomerangs on Instagram or upload video testimonials to Facebook. Overall, create a feed that is captivating and animated with many different elements to it.
 
5. Use Video!

As just stated, it is important to be visual on social media and video is by far one of the easiest ways for estate agents to engage with customers. It‘s arguably one of the most exciting and upcoming forms of media and offers many opportunities. They have also been proven to generate more leads as according to Animoto, 93% of marketers gained a new customer thanks to a video on social media!

So, the next thing we need to consider is, what kind of videos and platforms should your estate agency use? Here’s a quick list answering these very questions:

• Live videos. Instagram Live and Facebook Live are superb platforms to use. You can showcase the amazing properties you have on offer in real time as well as respond to any questions and queries by customers watching you. You can also use them as the chance to do a Q&A session which will help you to understand your customers better, to build a community and for customers to see you as a leader! Again, this helps form that human connection and to build a strong relationship with potential clients.
  
  
• Video testimonials. Video testimonials of previous customers are vital, and these can be across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. They help potential customers to understand the previous journey’s customers have had with your agency, to help them to gain your trust and decide whether they should pick you as their number one choice. As mentioned previously, storytelling is critical and so video testimonials are a great way to tell a story as well creating that human connection.
  
  
• Tips and tricks. Short videos of tips and tricks discussing the property finding process by employees can be posted across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This will help create that human connection and as The Negotiator states, it will ensure you do not just see people on social media as the next target for your campaign. The videos will let people know that you are a knowledgeable leader and that you truly want the best experience for your customers.
  
  
• Use subtitles. Often when a person is on social media, they may just be on the train or standing outside the bus stop. That is why it is so crucial to use subtitles in your videos so that you grasp your user’s attention and stand out amongst the many videos they may see on their feeds whilst scrolling. 

6. Set Goals

Whilst all of this may seem very exciting, remember to set goals as part of your social media management. This is so that you stay focused and keep to the task at hand.
 
Set a timeline for when you would like your goal to be completed by; for example, in three months’ time, you aim to have gained 100 followers on Instagram. Another example may be to post one social post on Facebook every three days for three months; this could be more effective and realistic as you will not feel the pressure to post every day and the content posted will be more relevant.

Once your timeline is up, make sure to review what has gone right and what has gone wrong. This will help your social media strategies to grow and evolve, and you will not end up making the same mistake twice! But most importantly, you can see how far you have come and the great progress you have made.
Overall, social media is a truly effective way to build a brand presence and to help generate more leads for your estate agency. The opportunities are limitless, ever evolving and a lot of fun too!
 
Have a question about this blog? Or perhaps your property agency is looking to generate more quality inbound leads? The Webdadi team is on hand to help – just hit the link below to contact us today.

We talk a lot about the importance of a good website design here at Webdadi; and this mainly comes from our virtually-daily conversations with property agents who have websites that simply aren’t doing the job they need them to do.

The main jobs of an estate agent’s website design is to inform, encourage and entice vendors to give an agency an instruction to sell their property, and for buyers to find the new property of their dreams; but in truth, that remit is only half the story. Along with supporting successful lead generation, a property agent’s website also has to make an agent’s life as easy as possible, too. After all: who wants to be constantly trying to manage a website when you’ve got a busy agency to run?

A property agent’s website should make the business of both generating and managing online leads as effortless as possible; however in our experience, there are a number of core issues which prevent this for happening – meaning that instead of a website being a critical asset, it’s actually more of a critical waste.

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you may have a website that is working hard against you, rather than working hard for you…

• Your Website is a Generic DIY Build

There’s no denying that the rise of DIY websites has been great for small businesses looking for a new website on the cheap; however, many of the website templates on the market today are extremely generic and not designed for the specific needs of a property agent.

DIY websites – whilst initially cheap and easy to create - will have limited technological and design capabilities. It’s also often the case that generic DIY website platform builds are unable to easily integrate with plugins or tools outside of the website’s platform; meaning that should your property agency undergo a growth spurt or need additional user functionality, you’ll find it very difficult to do this easily without having to pay a web developer to make it happen.

Many of the generic DIY websites will also only have limited or cheap website hosting packages; meaning that whilst it’ll undoubtedly be cheap as chips, you’ll have to deal with slow website loading times, shared hosting and very little in the way of support or customer service. Cheap hosting packages may get you online for a low cost, but there are plenty of downsides to consider, too…

• You’re Reliant on 3rd-Party Software Integrations

Another way new website owners can look to reduce the cost of web development is by using website software plugins that offer vital user functionality. For example, some of the most popular software plugins for estate agents include property valuation tools, schools data and property data import.

It’s easy to understand why software plugins are so popular; they offer the type of user functionality that would often take a lot of time and additional cost to create from scratch, and are generally extremely easy to ‘plug in’ to a website. However, whilst the positives are obvious, there are some very large and not-so-immediately obvious downsides; these include:

• Generic Results – It’s common for 3rd-party plugins to give results based on a shared data source. Take many instant valuation tools that are currently on the market for example; these often rely on general data taken from the UK Land Registry Office; meaning that regardless of the agency or area you use, if they’re using the same plugin, they’ll often give the same results! This isn’t just frustrating for the vendor, it’s also harmful to an agent’s own USP…
   
• Software Conflicts – The more 3rd party plugins you bolt onto a website, the greater the risk of software conflicts that can prevent a website working correctly, or even breaking it all together! Remember,  many DIY platforms are built to serve just an immediate purpose, so often won’t be built to run large numbers of plugins.
   
• Increased Vulnerability – Using non-native plugins on your site can also offer an opportunity for hackers to attack your site. As you have no control over the code or security of these 3rd-party integrations, any vulnerabilities they may have will give nefarious individuals another potential route of attack into your own website.
  
  

• It’s Always A Challenge To Update Content

One of the founding principles of good SEO (search engine optimisation) is to have a site that has good quality content updated on a regular basis. However, if you find it difficult to update your site’s content, or perhaps can only update a limited number of pages, then you could be harming your website’s organic search performance.

For estate agents, having a website where you can update content quickly and effectively is truly a must-have – and this is especially true when it comes to your property listings. If you can only change a limited number of items on your site or, worse still, have to pay a third-party supplier to update your website, just how is the website making things easier for you as a business?

• Your Website Struggles to Rank Well on Google

Finally, a key warning sign that your site could be a critical waste of time and money is how it performs on Google search listings. A poor Google rank is perhaps one of the key indications of something being majorly wrong with your website, and after all, what’s the point in having a great looking website if no one can find the thing in the first place?

When we consider that the property market can be reaching new heights one minute, to dramatically dipping the next, it’s essential that property agents have a steady and consistent brand presence. This is where ranking well on search engines such as Google comes in. However, if your site doesn’t rank well organically on search engines, you’ll undoubtedly find it increasingly difficult to attract the people you want to do business with, or even generate meaningful inbound customer leads.

If any of the above scenarios sound familiar, maybe it’s time you thought about building a website that really works for you? Book a 15-minute chat with our expert consultants today to see how a Webdadi website can remove the obstacles to successful sales and marketing for your business.

We’ve got some more good news for users of our Atom Website Platform, as we’ve just rolled out some brand new website functionality!

All Webdadi customers using our superb Atom Website Platform will now have access to a brand new piece of website functionality that has been built to support lead generation for property agents, and enhance the overall website user experience.

Introducing the new Property Alerts Sign Up Form

The functionality is a new item template within Atom’s VIA content management system that can be added to any CMS page. The item template is called “Property Alerts Sign Up Form”, which allows users to add a form to their website whereby the end user can sign up for property alerts.

The form allows the user to enter their name, contact details (phone & email), what areas they’re interested in (this list corresponds to the areas listed in the VIA CMS) and whether they’re interested in Sales or Lettings.

Once the form is submitted by a user, the estate or lettings agent will receive an email alert letting them know that a new applicant has signed up for property alerts. The contact is also saved within VIA, with the necessary criteria automatically stored against the record including:

• Name
• Email
• Phone
• Contact automatically marked as an applicant with:
  • The area(s) they are interested in
  • Whether they are a sales or lettings applicant
  • They are automatically ticked to receive auto email alerts
  • They are automatically ticked to receive email correspondence

In addition, the VIA CMS also records when these specific forms are completed, so you can report on their success within VIA (through either the contacts tab to show all applicants who have filled out this form over a given period, or in the Reports > Management > Enquiries report).

This Sounds Great! Can We See It In Action?

You sure can! You can see the new “Sign Up To Property Alerts” functionality on our customer’s website, Featherstone Leigh – where we’ve also helped create a brand new page to host the form, too. Visitors to the website can access the page by clicking an advertising banner they have added to their search results pages, which you can view here.

Will Atom Customers Need To Take Any Action?

Yes and No – the new website functionality was rolled out to all Atom users on Wednesday 23rd June 2021 and is all ready for you to start using.
However, this new item won’t automatically appear on your website. You’ll need to create the item and add it to any existing pages or build a new page to host your new form using VIA. If you want us to do this all for you, please contact your account manager at accountmanagers@webdadi.com

Once I’ve added the form to my website, will those signing up automatically start receiving email property alerts?

Yes. If you’re a VIA Website & CRM Edition customer or VIA Lead Manager Edition customer that has auto emails activated on your account, then as soon as someone signs up for property alerts on your website they’ll start being sent property alerts. The applicant record will also be automatically saved in your VIA software for you to access whenever you need.

If you are  a VIA Website Edition-only customer, you’ll need to transfer the details of the applicant to your third party software (eg: Vebra, Reapit etc.) that you use to send property alerts.

If you're not sure what VIA software edition you are on, you can contact the customer success team at helpdesk@webdadi.com

Why is This Type of Website Functionality Important?

The new “Sign Up To Property Alerts” feature will allow website users to quickly and easily sign up to property alerts without having to use the Account/Login feature – enhancing the user experience and enhancing website lead generation.

For CRM customers, those customers will automatically be added to VIA and be marked to receive alerts, so they will start receiving them immediately without the agent having to do a thing! *

A property agent’s website has to make the business of capturing new business enquiries as easy and effortless as possible: this is why the Customer Success Team here at Webdadi are always looking for new and exciting features that can be added to customers’ websites to enhance their effectiveness - meaning that their websites grow and evolve with their businesses and never need costly re-development.

This type of functionality upgrade is something we provide all our customers, and is all part of the service we provide.

Have any questions about the new Sign Up To Property Alerts function? The Customer Success Team is ready and waiting to answer any questions you may have – just hit the link below to book a conversation with one of our team today.
* For customers on Website Edition only, they will still need to export these contacts to their third-party CRM in order to send property alerts to them.

The humble instant valuation tool is perhaps one of the most vital bits of a kit a property agent can have in their armoury. When installed on a website, it gives vital usability for visitors to help validate their decision to sell a property, and be at the right place to do exactly that.

A good instant valuation tool isn’t just good for the user, though. Instant online property valuation tools offer a fantastic opportunity to convert website traffic into new vendor leads for property agencies – meaning potentially more customers, more new business, and bigger successes!

However, given that they are such a hugely popular and relied-upon bit of technology, why are so many of the 3rd party offerings currently on the market fundamentally flawed?

Drilling Down Into Data

When it comes to winning new instructions, your customers want to know they’re getting the best price possible for their property – so, giving them accurate property valuations right off the bat is critical to building that critical first touchpoint engagement and building vital trust, too.

There are of course many instant valuation tools on the market available to estate and lettings agencies, but consider this: many are apps which are built using 3rd party data (such as outdated land registry information) or with predictive pricing algorithms using general market averages as a starting point.

Whilst these types of instant valuation tools tend to give an average ballpark price figure for a property, they’re simply nowhere near accurate enough to give a genuine and realistic sale price for their unique property and can actually contribute towards vendors having unrealistic expectations about their property’s worth. This is because their data is essentially ‘static’ and too market general to offer real pricing accuracy.

In addition, when choosing an instant valuation tool, why choose the tool everyone else is using that relies upon the exact same data? Think about it: if you’re using the exact same tool as your competitors, how are you differentiating from your competitors on your valuation if it’s exactly the same?

By using tools that your competitors are also using that give identical valuations to visitor – who’ve probably looked at least two other property agents in their area who may be using an algorithm-based tool – what’s your valuation USP exactly? And, if you have one, why are you using a tool that shows the vendor nothing new? Do you think they’ll be genuinely interested, or rather nonplussed and disappointed?

Gauging the Market Accurately
 
There’s also another fundamental problem with the pricing estimates many of the current run-of-the-mill instant valuation tools give – and that’s taking into account current market conditions.

The large majority of estate and property agents in the UK use Comps as a way to value property accurately – and it makes sense. A local agent with experience of the area, similar properties and recent sales will be able to give a much more accurate a fairer valuation than a generic algorithm. So, why is it that so many agents choose to use a solution that doesn’t match the way they’ve been traditionally and successfully been garnering new business through valuations?

Also, let’s say there’s a huge surge in demand for properties in specific areas; but the 3 months before that house prices and sales were in a slump? Current valuation tools simply can’t deal with those type of fluctuations in the market!

If you use tools that uses Land Registry data, which is most of the 3rd party Instant Valuation tools that we know of do, you’ll be given a valuation based on the Land Registry properties sold prices that are over 3 months old. This is because there’s no real time Land Registry data, so those valuation tools’ data are already way out of date, and are not keeping up with potential house price trends which could be very different in areas across the UK.

Right now we’re in a 1 in 300 year property market phenomenon, and no algorithm-based property valuation tool has accounted for this type of anomaly and others before it; and that’s just one reason why many of the current crop of instant valuation tools are simply not doing their jobs effectively.

Stealing Website Traffic

There’s one more thing which makes many off-the-shelf instant valuation tools potentially more harmful than helpful, and that’s the fact that many of them are third-party plugins which lead users away from their host website.

Now, when a property agency invests in a website, it should enhance every aspect of their online presence – including their SEO. If users are finding a website through Google, then instantly being led off it by a third-party instant valuation tool, this can potentially be damaging a website’s Google rankings. This is because Google’s search algorithms will see a short visit (indicating the site didn’t have what the user expected) and the user instead going to another site instead. So, not only do you lose vital website traffic, you’ll also be paying for the privilege, too – it’s madness, really!

So, What’s The Alternative?

Here at Webdadi, we’ve been looking at how we can remove the barriers to successful sales and marketing for property agents for over a decade. When we saw that many of the instant valuation tools on the market were simply not doing the job they need to do – both for vendors and agents – we looked at how we could reinvent the tool altogether!

The Webdadi Instant Price Comparison Tool redefines how vendors receive instant property valuations. Instead of relying on traditional generic algorithmic-based calculations or out-of-date land registry data, the Instant Price Comparison Tool uses a property agent’s own Comp information and property sold data to give property valuations that are not only more accurate, but unique to that vendor.

By using an agent’s own data, vendors get a property price estimate based on real-world factors; including the local area, similar property types that have sold, and market conditions. In addition, the Webdadi Instant Price Comparison Tool is native to the agent’s website; not a 3rd part integration – meaning they benefit from improved website user engagement and enhanced SEO performance.

With so many instant valuation tools relying on generic, outdated data to provide their valuations, the Webdadi Instant Price Comparison Tool really is a game changer. Not only does it offer a supremely better customer experience, but it also enhances agents lead gen activities by offering tailored, accurate property sale price information that is unmatched by the majority of instant valuation tools currently on the market.

Don't be a tool when it comes to your instant valuations! Learn more about Webdadi's Instant Price Comparison Tool by hitting the link below.

It’s genuinely not an understatement when we say that a property agent’s branding is one of its most critical assets. And when we say ‘branding’, we don’t just mean the big name, snappy slogan or jazzy logo on your shopfront or website: it’s how you present every aspect of your agency’s identity to your customers and employees.

A property agent’s branding and brand identity is essentially that first big ‘elevator pitch’ to everyone in your agency’s orbit. It sets out your positioning within your industry and territory, and should aim to deeply resonate with your clients, customers and even employees. It’s the cornerstone of who you are and, like any big pitch, you only get one shot to make the amazing first impression. It should just do more than just look good; it has to convey how your agency is the only choice in a sea of competition.

No pressure, then…

So, what does your agency’s branding really say about you as a business? Is it encouraging the customers you really want to attract? Is it advocated by your own employees? Or, is it just ‘doing a job’? Let’s take a look at some core elements that can help you to determine whether it’s working hard for you, or working hard against you…
Let’s be honest: we all make snap judgements about anything we see for the first time. Be it a person, a car, a building, your dinner… and it’s exactly the same for the branding of a property agency.

We’re all taught from a young age that making a positive first impression is crucial to success, and your branding has to make a dazzling first impression if it’s going to work for you. First impressions are made extremely quickly – with some studies finding that humans make a judgement on what they see within literal milliseconds!
 
Unfortunately, if your branding isn’t making the perfect first impression, those few first milliseconds can be extremely difficult to undo. If a customer feels your agency’s branding is perhaps cheap, inconsistent or generic - even if you’ve spent a considerable amount of money on creating it - then it can be incredibly hard to turn that opinion round.

2. What Perception Do People Have of Your Property Agency’s Brand?

Leading on nicely from that first impression, what perception does your property agency give to customers and employees? Basically, your brand perception is what customers believe your agency represents, as opposed to what it actually does or how good its’ logo design looks.

For estate and property agencies, brand perception comes from customer and employee experiences, industry reputation, quality of service and word of mouth recommendations – so, is your brand perceived positively, or is it perhaps holding you back?

This element of an estate agent’s brand identity is perhaps the hardest to measure and control – after all, it’s people’s perceptions of your business! You can however look to control your agency’s brand perception by developing a brand identity and personality that represents your property agency’s vision, mission and company culture, and connects with the types of customer and employees you want to attract.

3. Does it Convey Who You Are?

A successful brand should easily convey who you are as a business, and what your USPs are, too. And make no mistake: this isn’t just done through a slick logo or unique colour scheme. It’s done through all aspects of how your business interacts with its clients and staff; from those crucial first website visits, to property transaction updates to customers and even internal emails!

All of these aspects of your branding are covered by your brand’s personality – essentially, the more human characteristics of your property agency’s brand. Think of your brand personality as a person: How does it greet someone? How does it act with customers? What does your brand talk about, and even what does it wear? What does it share on its social platforms? When you can answer these questions, you can start to define just what your brand is actually about, and if your current branding is really doing the job it should be…

4. Does It Make Your Agency Unique Amongst Your Competitors?

Spoiler alert: property agents are ten a penny these days; and it’s easy to understand why given the phenomenal rate of property transactions right now! People are eager to cash in on ever-increasing property prices, and they’ll be looking to do this with a property agency then can trust.

With the general public having an absolute plethora of options to choose from when looking to instruct an agency – not to mention the ‘do it yourself’ platforms that are making waves – what makes you the agency of choice? What makes you special? What makes you BETTER than all the other options out there right now?

Whilst branding for estate agents won’t be able to cover all these aspects in one hit, it should set you apart from everyone else who’ll be offering the exact same services as you, and targeting the people that you want as customers. If your branding is just following the rest of the heard, just what exactly makes you the best choice?

5. Does It Speak In A Language Your Target Audience Understands?

We’ve briefly touched on it already, but your brand is more than just a nice visual; it’s also how you talk and engage with your customers and employees – and this is where a brand needs a consistent and well-structured tone of voice.

The language you use in your branding should be consistent not only to your brand identity, but also match who you and what you are as a business. For example, Virgin have always been exceptionally good at crafting unique and consistent brands across all their many sub-brands – and a huge part of this is how they talk with their audiences using a consistent and carefully-crafted tone of voice.
 
The way they speak to their audiences works across all levels of their brand as it matches their brand identity and personality; from their top-level marketing campaigns, to their social media posts and customer communications. By doing this, their audience knows virtually from the get-go who they’re speaking with and can instantly engage with the brand on a much deeper level.

6. Is It Memorable For All the Right Reasons?

Lastly, when you ask people or previous customers about your brand, what do they say about it? Can they instantly recall your agency’s identity, or do they just give a non-committal shrug of the shoulders? In an industry jam-packed full of property agents, having a memorable brand is a key part to not only generating new sale instructions; but generating brand advocates who’ll do that all-important self-generating marketing for you!

To quote Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, "Branding is what people say about you when you're not in the room." So, you’ll need your property agency to leave a memorable impression not only on your customers long after you've made that property sale; but also on the people who work for you and work with you, too.

If it’s not, then you’ll have to work twice as hard to make your brand work for you…

Webdadi have been helping property agents across the UK develop uniquely successful branding to not only help them stand out from the crowd, but build vital audience engagement. To learn more about our services, just hit the link below.

An estate agent’s web design has a hell of a lot riding on it. Not only does it have to encourage people to either make probably the largest investment of their lives, but it also needs to build vital audience engagement to instil trust in people to give agents those all-important new sale instructions, too.

Of course, property will always be in demand and people will always need somewhere to live; be it rented or purchased. But, when it comes to a property agent’s website, having a good selection of properties for your visitors to choose from is only a tiny part of what will draw people to your business…

Your Virtual Shop Front

It’s a fact that the most successful property agents always take huge pride in the appearance of their brand. If your offices or general appearance appears scruffy, worn out or unapproachable, this will affect people's perception of your service. The same is absolutely true of your agency’s website! In fact, with the past year seeing many retail businesses shifting their services to online platforms thanks to rolling lockdowns, you could argue that an estate agent’s web design is now more important than ever – it’s vital it does everything you need it to in order to generate new instructions and customer leads.

So, what are the key front-end aspects of a great estate agent web design that will not only build essential audience engagement, but also generate good quality customer leads?


A Design That Reflects Your Brand

First and foremost, your website really has to look the part. We bet that if you visit a website that’s not responsive on mobile devices, looks outdated or doesn’t match your user expectations, you’ll probably click back to your Google search pretty quickly!

Making that fantastic first impression in the virtual space is just as important as when it happens in-person. A great looking property website that matches your own brand, offers a great user experience and makes it easy for people to find what they’re looking for will mean visitors will more likely  stay on your site for longer. This helps increase engagement, build web traffic, improve search rankings and, most importantly, increase the likelihood of visitors becoming good quality leads.

Look at it this way: would you feel confident in listing  your property with an estate agent who’s website looks cheap, doesn’t work well on mobile devices and feels like it was built by a student in their bedroom? Probably not…

Tools and Resources That Enhance the User Experience

As well as looking fab-u-lous, an effective estate agent web design also has to offer an intuitive and useful user experience for people searching for their ideal property. This is where your website needs to have tools and resources that not only allow visitors to make an informed decision about buying a property through you, but also maximising the time they spend on your site, too.

For estate agents, a successful website design must have core functionality and resources that includes:

• Property Search: This really is an absolute must-have, because if visitors to your website can’t easily browse the properties you offer, they’ll likely leave to somewhere they can! Having this this type of website functionality can help buyers or renters find the property they really want; but for potential vendors, also demonstrate the type of properties you sell and their potential worth.
  
  
• Regularly Updated Property Listings: Along with having good property search functionality, it’s also critical to ensure you’re able to update and add properties quickly and efficiently. The last thing you want to be receiving are good quality enquiries for properties that are no longer available! So, having a site that allows easy importing of property data is an absolute must. In addition, when a property is sold or no longer available, don’t just list a 404 page or message saying property is no longer available: recycle the URL to either display suitable alternatives based on that same criteria, or re-direct the user back to a search bar to continue their search.
  
  
• Instant Valuations: Offering potential vendors the opportunity to see what their property is worth is a fantastic first touchpoint for first-time visitors; so an instant valuation tool can be a fantastic lead generator for estate agents. However, it’s important to offer instant property valuations that are accurate and based on your own area data; not generic and out-dated land registry information.
  
  
• Added Value Information: The recent spate of lockdowns has had a big effect on what people are looking for in a property; with 31% of all property searches now focusing on access to green spaces such as parks and recreational facilities. With this in mind, it’s prudent to include as much added value information about the properties you sell as possible. The inclusion of a map with your property listings that lists local amenities can give users all the added value information they need to make an informed decision, all in one place.
   

Clear Calls to Action and Simple Navigation
 
When creating a web design for an estate agent, it’s important to make the actions you want a visitor to take as easy and intuitive as possible. This means you have a clear site navigation that labels where users need to go that will help to keep them on your site, and include clear calls to action that encourages visitors to take the actions you want them to take – such as completing a contact form, asking for a more information about a property or making a direct call to your agency.

A simple example of this can be adding a ‘read more’ button to your property listings. This way, a user can easily find out all they need to know about a property and know the action they need to do it. Going further, on your ‘read more’ listing, you could then include a CTA that encourages people to complete a form to contact your agency about the property they’re viewing.

Now, it might sound deceptively simple, but call to actions like this really do work! They create a ‘path of least resistance’ for users to follow in taking the actions that lead to results you want a website to produce: mainly, contacting you directly!

When all these elements are present on an estate agent’s web design, it’s often the case that they’ll perform better on Google search rankings, win more new instructions and drive more effective user engagement than those that don’t. Remember: like in real life, your website can only make a good first impression once; so ensure it has every opportunity to do just that!

If your website isn't making the best first impression with your target audiences, talk to the experts at Webdadi - you can get in touch with us via the link below.

The team here at Webdadi is always looking for ways to enhance the user experience and functionality of our customers’ websites; and with this in mind, we’re pleased to announce that on Tuesday 8th June 2021, all customers using our Atom platform will receive a brand new feature for their websites!

Introducing the Make an Offer Button

With property transactions at an all-time high, we’ve thought about how we can streamline the initial touchpoints users have with our customers websites. So, our development team has built the new ‘Make an Offer’ Button, which will be added automatically to all our customers who currently use our Atom website platform.

The new Make an Offer Button will be placed near the ‘Arrange a Viewing’ section of Webdadi customer websites that use the Atom platform. Once this new button is clicked it, it will open a form in a iframe/modal window where the user can submit an offer to purchase the property they’re viewing – cutting down property transaction times and enhancing the lead generation effectiveness of the website.

How Does it Work?

The button consists of a simple data capture form that includes fields for name, email address, phone number and offer. Once the user submits an offer, it is immediately sent to both the user and property agent and includes the details of the property being bid on. This makes the business of collecting customer data effortless and also makes the user experience brilliantly easy, too.

The form will be in-keeping with customers’ current web design aesthetic, with all functionality pre-loaded and ready to go.

Will Customers Need To Take Any Action?

No – the new website functionality will be rolled out to all Atom users automatically on Tuesday 8th June as part of the service our customers receive from us. And the best part? It’s completely free of charge!

Why is This Type of Website Functionality Important?

One of the biggest barriers any business faces is ensuring their websites remain technologically up-to-date, but also encourages meaningful lead generation to grow their customer bases. With Webdadi, customers who use our solutions receive regular website updates and upgrades; meaning that their websites grow and evolve with their businesses and never need costly re-development.

This type of functionality upgrade is something we provide all our customers, and is all part of the service we provide.

Have any questions about the new Make an Offer Button? The Customer Success Team is on hand to answer any questions you may have – just hit the link below to book a conversation with one of our team today.