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to estate and lettings agencies, but consider this: many are apps which are built using 3rd party data (such as outdated land registry information) or with predictive pricing algorithms using general market averages as a starting point.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

Regardless of how buoyant the property market might be, marketing will not only play a critical role in not only the growth of your company; but also the development of relationships with your audience and customers. 

In fact, it could be argued that customer relationship management is even more important than the day-to-day selling activities your agency undertakes. This is because if you get the marketing of your property agency right, you have a better chance of developing loyal customers who’ll not only come back to you again and again; but they’ll possibly become that Holy Grail of loyal customer – a brand advocate!

It should be said however, that marketing is – as much as it pains me to say it – not exactly an easy thing to get a handle on; especially if you’re also running a busy property agency. An estate agency’s marketing will encompass a huge range of activities including its’ web design, social media activities, lead generation and brand development – all of which have the ability to create and maintain demand for your agency, build reputation, outsmart your competition and lots more besides!

With so much riding on good marketing, there’s some very good reasons why you should consider outsourcing the activities of your property agency marketing…

1. The Added Expertise and Support You’ll Get

We’ve worked with many property agents both large and small; but the one thing that’s constant in all our dealings with estate and lettings agents is the lack of time they all seem to have! It’s understandable though, as the business of selling and letting property can be extremely time-sensitive and also time consuming – so it’s no surprise to learn that as a result, many property agents simply don’t have the time or internal resources to become clued up on effective marketing activities.

By outsourcing your marketing requirements to an experienced agency, you’ll be able to tap in and utilise the experience, tools and techniques that come with being dedicated marketing professionals. Since the marketing of businesses will be an agency’s sole purpose, they will not only have a better grasp of what will and won’t work for your business; they’ll also be more up-to-speed with market trends, technologies and platforms that could help drive up audience exposure and developing the right type of marketing campaigns that’ll attract the right type of leads to your business, too.

Look at it this way: all of the tasks involved in successful property agency marketing require certain skills and expertise to be carried out effectively. To run a successful marketing campaign, you’ll ideally need a copywriter, graphic designer, social media marketer, website developer, marketing consultant and possibly more depending on your goals! Outsourcing your marketing will give you all these resources, and dedicated support at the same time.



2. You’ll Likely Save Both Time and Money

Handing over your marketing requirements can - on the surface at least - seem both daunting and potentially expensive; however, consider this: implementing marketing campaigns isn’t a clear-cut exercise in success or failure. They often require a degree of trial and error to see what messages work or don’t work; plus, for if you’re an inexperienced marketer, you can fall into the trap of spending a lot of money on adverts, website developments or activities that won’t give much in the way of a tangible return on investment.

To give a real world example of this, I once worked for a marketing agency that began working with a business that was using Google PPC adverts and spending a not-so-insignificant sum on a weekly basis. Whilst they were targeting search terms they believed were the most relevant for their business, they were often spending £25-30 just to get a click on their ads! They also hadn’t considered where the ads were sending users, the advert copy, alternative keywords, ad quality score, target audiences, keyword exemptions… basically, all the stuff you need to be doing to make best use of the platform.

When I spoke to them about their account and carried out a review and successful optimisation (we got their average PPC spend down from £35 to just over £9 a click), their response was – unsurprisingly – that they simply didn’t have the time or resources to optimise their activities. They were too busy involved in the day-to-day running their own business to learn all the skills required to make it a truly effective lead gen tool.

3. You’ll Get A Fresh Perspective On Things

If you’ve been working in the property industry for a long time, there’s no doubt you’ll know it inside-out. This can obviously be a huge asset when it comes to running your property agency effectively or perhaps even setting up your own agency; however, the downside to this is that it’s also possible to become too close to your own industry and begin to lose perspective on outside influences and trends.

Choosing to outsource your agency’s marketing activities can bring a wealth of new ideas and also a fresh perspective on your business. When you employ a great marketing agency to assist your business, they’ll often ask a host of questions and conduct a great deal of analysis in order to generate fresh perspective on your activities and new, innovative ideas – and these are often all the types of activity I’m sure a property agency would love to be doing themselves… if they had the time!

This outsider perspective can also help refine aspects of your business to make them more effective; this could include your estate agent’s website design, the creation of more targeted marketing campaigns that set you apart from your competitors, or even how to manage your customer lead funnel more effectively.

4. You’ll Get To Learn From The Experts

The one thing to consider when outsourcing your estate agency marketing is that it shouldn’t just be a case of handing over all the duties and tasks to a third party. A good marketing agency will often work in partnership with their client and essentially act as their own in-house marketing team. This means that whilst you can sit back and let the experts run your marketing campaigns, you can also benefit from the ‘trickle-down’ effect of knowledge and experience this brings.

When you employ a marketing agency, they’ll help bridge that knowledge gap between successful sales and marketing. Instead of you having to invest your own time in figuring out how to conduct successful marketing activities, a good marketing agency will help bridge the gaps in your own knowledge, whilst implementing the activities you need in order to grow and scale your business.

Not only that, outsourcing your marketing can also help you to understand your own customers better; and this can include the creation of dedicated marketing funnels, messaging and personas that can help you reach the people you really want as your customers. And the best part? You can pick up this marketing knowledge yourself as your relationship with an agency grows!

5. You Stand A Better Chance Of Generating More New and Repeat Business

Finally, the bottom line is that utilising the skills and experience of a marketing agency can help improve your own company’s bottom line! Outsourcing your marketing efforts – if done correctly of course – can offer a fantastic return on investment both in the immediate and longer terms through winning more leads, and developing those all-important brand advocates.

Whilst employing a third-party agency can seem like an initial expense, the long-term rewards can include:

• Improved lead generation
• Increased productivity and focus
• Less wasted time and budgets
• Flexibility of service when you need it

The key thing to remember here is that utilising a marketing agency removes that unknown risk and burden of doing everything yourself. Instead of making the best of that you can find on the web or through speaking to likeminded colleagues, an agency’s sole purpose is to generate effective marketing strategies that drive new business for businesses – and after all, isn’t that what any property agency wants?

If any of the scenarios we’ve talked about in this blog seem familiar, it might time to consider outsourcing your marketing activities!

Find out how Wedadi’s Websites for Estate Agents are helping property agencies across the country make and save money – just hit the link below to find out more and talk to one of our experts.

If you’re taking your first steps of starting your own business, top of your to-do list will most likely be to get a web design built that’ll ‘do the job’ and won’t cost very much – this is where the temptation to resort to a cheap website development will be at its strongest… especially if you need something ASAP!

The thing is though, is that whilst a cheap website may seem like a quick, easy and cost-effective solution when you’re just getting started, they’re often not the long-term answer a business really needs. In fact, they can be something of a false economy…

1. Low Cost, Low Functionality

OK, first things first: with a cheap website, you’ll get something that will simply do a job; but what do we mean by that?

If you’ve been looking for a cheap website solution, you’ll undoubtedly be aware of the multitude of online platforms that allow you to build a website based on a variety of templates and layouts. These solutions will often be available for as little as £100-£200 and, for anyone just needing a simple virtual ‘shop front’, they’re perfectly serviceable and reasonable options to consider.

If you’re spending less than £1,000 on a website build on one of these types of sites, you can probably expect it to have a homepage, 1-5 responsive pages and a contact page – not to mention a hosting package of some sort. If that’s all you need, great – crack on! But here’s the rub: for any business looking to attract new customers, there’s a whole load of functionality you’ll need a website to have in order for it to be an effective lead generator – and with your typical cheap websites, you simply won’t get the specific functionality you really need.


2. They Don’t Grow With a Business

Many of the cheap website templates currently don’t offer anything more than a solution that’s right for a specific moment in time. Sure, you may only need 1-10 pages now and you’re happy with your brand identity, messaging and functionality; but what about when your business begins to grow or you need the website to be more than just a virtual shop front?

To be a truly effective lead generator, websites need to do more than just look good - and this is especially true for businesses such as estate agents and those in financial services. Take estate agents, for example: Remember, that prospective buyers will want to know more than just the basics of a home; they’ll want to know information about schools or possibly the nearest travel links if they’re going to be needing to commute.
 
For vendors, they’ll want to understand what prices are like in the area they’re selling in order to get an accurate valuation. Many off-the-shelf cheap website templates simply don’t support this specific property market-focused functionality, or have to rely on 3rd party plugins that require potentially-expensive development time to function correctly. Which leads nicely onto…

3. Plugins that Steal Your Website Traffic

With many of the current crop of cheap online websites, they will offer tools or enhancements that will give your site an enhanced user experience; but these are often third-party integrations, rather than native programmes that work with the website and its own CMS.

To give an example of this, many start-up property agents will use software plugins from 3rd party property portals or suppliers that give much needed functionality; like instant property valuations or property listings. Whilst this may give the site that extra bit of added value when it comes to the user experience, it’s often the case that the plugins will lead users away from the site it’s hosted on – meaning that not only are you losing websites users and potentially harming your own website SEO in the process, you’re also paying a 3rd party supplier for the privilege!

4. Limited Help or Assistance

The last thing you want to be doing when you’re trying to a busy property agency or small business is spending large amounts of time in trying to get a website to work in the way you want it to. And besides, not all of us our web developers or have a ton of experience in managing websites successfully!

A big problem faced by businesses who buy a cheap website is that there’s very little in the way of dedicated help or support when you need it. Sure, many online website builders will have resources you can refer to or forums you can visit, but who wants to be spending countless hours trying to figure out a problem a web developer could have sorted in a matter of minutes?

The support element is perhaps the biggest false economy of cheap websites. Yes, they may be cheap to buy and get running; but they don’t take into account the personal time you need to invest to keep it updated and managed effectively. And, whilst there are cheap website providers out there who’ll provide help, updates and assistance, it’ll often come at a cost…

5. Poor Quality Hosting

In our experience, website hosting is often something of an afterthought when it comes to getting a new website built; but the fact of the matter is, your website hosting is perhaps one of the most important parts of a website build. If you’re looking to implement a website on a budget, then the hosting packages provided will often reflect this – and cheap does definitely not mean cheerful!
 
Cheap website hosting packages are generally cheap for a reason. They’ll often rely on shared hosting platforms that – as the name suggests – use shared diskspace, CPUs and memory. This means that if that provider has a huge volume of sites hosted on that shared server, it’s highly likely your site’s own performance will be impacted if the other websites experience high volumes of web traffic.

In addition, the shared resources used by cheap website hosting providers have a greater risk attached to them in the form of hacking or security leaks. Essentially, if you share a hosting provider with any number of other sites, it can be the case if one site is hacked, then all the sites on that server can also be accessed and hacked, too. For property agents, this can be especially harmful given the importance and sensitivity of their customer’s personal data…

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Cheap Websites

Of course, we do understand that sometimes, a cheap website may be the only option open to a business – and this is especially true of businesses such as property agents or financial advisors who may just be starting out. So, if you really do need a website on a budget, then you can avoid the pitfalls we’ve highlighted by asking yourself these simple questions before you take the plunge:

• Can the website be scaled up and grow with my business?
• Does it offer bolt-on, bolt-off functionality whenever I need it?
• Is there a good level of support included?
• How safe, secure and reliable is the hosting?
• Can I update the site’s content, imagery and pages easily?

And finally, always remember that whilst a cheap website in the short term may get you something that fits your immediate needs, think about the needs of your business in 6, 12 and 18 months’ time. Will they be exactly the same as they are now, or do you plan to grow and expand your offerings and client base?

Answering these questions before you commit to a build should ensure you’re not having to shell out more precious cash further down the line.

Needing a new website on a budget? Then why not take a look at our Website-as-a-Service solutions made especially for property agencies, financial service providers and small businesses? No Setup Fee, 24 hour delivery and simple monthly subscription options that can be scaled as your business grows. Just hit the link below to learn more…

Back in April, we held a fantastically popular webinar all about how you could improve your website's own lead generation and win more new instructions.

We had some great feedback from the event and attendees were able to gain some valuable insights into changes they can make to their website and marketing activities that will improve their lead gen activities. So, with those comments in mind, we're very happy to share with all Webdadi visitors the webinar in full - you can either watch it online here on this page, or just hit this link to head over to Vimeo and download the video to watch later.

Here's a recap of what we cover in the webinar:

• How to identify the key challenges facing your website
• How you can generate more leads from sellers and buyers
• How you can increase your website visitor conversion rates
• A look at real-world online marketing strategies and successful examples
• Tips, tricks and insights into enhancing digital marketing activities to support successful lead gen.

So, grab a tea or coffee, settle back and discover how you can turn your website into a lean, mean lead generating machine!

Of all the questions the team here at Webdadi get asked, the one that we get most often is ‘How can I improve my website’s organic search visibility?’

It’s a question almost as old of the internet itself, too! Since the dawn of search engines, virtually anyone with a website has been looking to get their site onto the hallowed #1 spot. But when virtually everyone and their dog is jostling for that all-important top ranking on Google, what can companies do to give their site every chance of being found through organic search results, and generate the right kind of traffic they need?

Luckily, the answers as not as complex, or as mysterious as you might think! So, without further ado, let’s take a look at some really simple tips that you can implement to get your estate agent web design site ranking better on search engines.

Always Remember That Good Quality Content is King

When thinking about how to improve your website’s SEO, always keep in mind that content really is king. If you have a website with little in the way of content (other than your property listings), then it’s time to think about adding good quality content.

A simple and easy way to do this is by adding a blog feature onto your website. Having a blog that is regularly updated and features interesting and industry-specific content can not only help educate and inform your audience; but it will also give your company its own voice and, to an extent, a personality – and for start-ups entering a crowded market place, this can be really important.

For small agencies or businesses looking to make their mark, it can be incredibly difficult going from nothing to something with a new website – but a blog can provide your website with vital ‘real estate’ for search engines to ‘crawl’ and get noticed. This is because when you implement a blog page and update it regularly, you’re creating more indexed pages for your site for Google to crawl – and more pages, better chance of being spotted!

It’s also the case that if you’re producing content your readers find interesting or entertaining, they’ll likely stay on your site for longer, too. This will help improve your website’s ‘Dwell time’ – basically, how long a visitor spends on a page that they’ve clicked on via a search engine result. The longer they stay, the better as this indicates that the visitor has read all (or the majority) of your content (meaning it’s good stuff and worthy of traffic) before moving on to another search, or another area of your website.


Regularly Add Evergreen Content to Your Website

Google tends to crawl websites that are regularly updated with evergreen content; so, whenever you add new content to your site, you’re effectively telling search engines that your site is active and should be checked more frequently. Keep in mind that it’s likely that the core pages of your site will remain static and unchanged, so little chance to update or add on a regular basis – blogs on the other hand have no such problems.

Now, at this point, if you’re an estate or lettings agent, you may be saying to yourself ‘but I publish lots of content thanks to our property listings!’ And to an extent, you’d be right; however, these listing tend to be list-based content (so not search-term driven, which we’ll come onto a little later) and removed or archived from websites once properties are sold – meaning they’re only visible to search engines for a potentially short amount of time.

Good quality SEO-supporting content should be evergreen in nature and based on the subjects and search terms your prospects are actively looking for – and this is what a blog is perfect for. This way, you stand a better chance of being visible on search engine results for the audiences you want to reach.

Don’t Forget Your Page’s Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions (or meta data) are the little summaries of pages you’ll see underneath search engine listings. When they’re left blank, search engines will often show content from the main body content of the page it’s indexing; which is of course no bad thing – but when it comes to improving your SEO effectiveness, you should really ensure you add a proper page meta description.

Your website’s CMS should give you the ability to update you website page meta descriptions and ideally, you should aim to keep your meta descriptions to around 150-160 characters in length; this will ensure it’s the perfect length to appear correctly in those all-important search listings. There’s also a few other bits of SEO best practice to keep in mind when crafting a good meta description:

• Don’t duplicate your meta descriptions – Yes, they may only be small bits of content, but simply duplicating content across all your page meta descriptions will actually do more harm than good. Try to ensure each page has its own unique meta description that is super-relevant to the content on the page.
  
  
• Make them compelling – Your meta descriptions are the teaser to your website’s pages; so make the description compelling and something your audience wants to know more about!
  
  
• Include relevant and researched keywords – your meta descriptions should contain the keywords your users are typing to logically reach your website; so, don’t just include them within the main body content of your pages – include them in your meta descriptions, too!

Use Keyword Research to Guide Your Website’s Content

As we mentioned earlier on, a blog with lots of interesting and engaging content is a great way to drive traffic to your site; however, writing content for the sake of content isn’t going to necessarily attract the people you want to attract to your site. For estate or lettings agents, this is extremely important…

When you look to produce content to feature on your site, think about the specific search terms your prospective customers would use to find your company. By conducting keyword research that relates to your business, you can discover:

• What are people searching for?
• How many people are searching for it?
• In what format do they want that information?

By knowing this information, you can create both more effective marketing campaigns and website content that can reach your desired audiences, make your site more visible to them, and build critical brand engagement with your estate or lettings agency.

The search terms you choose to target in your content will also need to be relevant to your business and services being promoted on the site. With this in mind, always aim to create content which aims to answer a relevant search term or pain point your ideal customers would use to bring them to your site.
 
Use Alt-Image Tags In Your Website’s Imagery…

Images are often a focal point for many estate and lettings agency websites; meaning that there can often be hundreds of property images on a website at any one time. Aside from making the user experience more engaging, images can also play a big part in enhancing your website’s SEO effectiveness, and this can be done by using alt-image tags.

Alt image tags are used within an HTML code to describe the appearance and function of an image on a website’s page. Also called "alt descriptions," alt-image tags are the written content that appears in place of an image on a webpage should it fail to load properly, and are also used by screen readers (mainly used by visually-impaired users) to describe what is being shown on-screen.

In addition, your alt-image tags are also crawled by search engines in much the same way as your website’s core content. This means that the more descriptive and relevant your alt-image tags are to your website copy, the better chance you have of search engines locating your page.

Most good website content management systems have the ability to add alt-image tags without having to change HTML code on a website; so, whenever you upload an image to your site, ensure that you add a relevant alt-image tag that describes the image. For example, if you’re uploading an image of a property for sale, you could add something like ‘3 bedroom house for sale in (your property area) (your company name)’. This is search-based content, and accurate to the image you’re displaying – both key ingredients for good SEO!


… And Do The Same For Your Image File Names

Like alt-image tags, your image file names can also be crawled by search engines; so, to give your site every opportunity to rank and make better use of your nice website images, give them descriptive file names much like your alt-image tags.

For example, don’t just have lots of images with generic filenames; before uploading them to your website, ensure the filenames are descriptive of the file – for example, if you have an image of a property’s garden, call the filename ‘Large garden of a 3-bedroom home for sale in (your area) (your company name)’.

Improve Your Page Loading Times

Got lots of images on your site? Great! But always bear in mind that having large, high-quality images can slow down your website’s loading time, and slow loading times can be detrimental to your website’s SEO performance.

With many people’s browsing habits now shifting to mobile rather than desktop, it’s more and more likely that visitors to your website will be using their phones and potentially a mobile network. It’s for this reason that having a mobile-optimised and fast loading website is critical, as there’s research to show that 40% of visitors will leave websites if its pages take longer than 3 seconds to load; and worse still, 80% of those visitors often won’t return to that website if it simply takes too long to even load up!

Fix Any Dead Links

With estate and lettings agencies often having a revolving door of properties on their website, it’s common for links to listings to become broken or dead once a property has been sold or let. Dead or broken links can be negatively affect your website’s organic search rankings as search crawlers will follow links on your site and, if what they’ve been linking to has been removed, will simply end up at a virtual dead-end and not go any further.

Regularly fixing and removing broken links is one way to avoid this problem and allow site crawlers to freely roam your website and index all your relevant pages. Plus, from a user experience point of view, it’s just good practice and makes the process of browsing your website more pleasurable for everyone!

Be Active on Social Media Channels

Finally, another really easy way to improve your organic search rankings is to be active on social channels, and share your website’s content as often as possible. Now, it’s important to mention that social media doesn’t directly contribute to SEO ranking, but the links you share across social platforms help increase brand exposure – so it can have a positive effect on things like lead generation and brand awareness.

Ultimately, your shares across social media sites have no direct place in SEO rankings. But, when more people share your content throughout social media, it generates social signals that indicate your posts are useful to your target market – and this can help drive more targeted traffic to your website.

While social media doesn't directly increase your search engine rankings, it indirectly affects your digital presence, improve lead generation effectiveness and helps build your brand – two critical parts of building a successful estate or lettings agency.

Struggling to generate inbound enquiries from your website? Not generating enough new sale instructions? Not ranking highly on Google search listings? Why not book a 20-minute chat with one of our expert website consultants and see what a Webdadi website can do for you... Just hit the link below to get started

Recently, I was speaking to a friend of mine who runs his own estate agency. Like many agents, the past 12 months have been a roller coaster; but since the start of 2021, he – and many other property agents like him – were experiencing what he had heard being described as a ‘1 in 300 year phenomenon’ within the property market.

This 1-in-300 year phenomenon appears to be an extraordinary convergence of pent up demand for property and the breakneck speed at which property transactions are taking place, most notably outside of London as far as Cornwall to the West, and all the way up to Cumbria where sales in the last few months have regularly been reaching a sale-agreed price 25%, sometimes more, over guide price.
 
Also, it’s been often the case that homes are selling in less than a week from being on the market in many subprime areas of the UK from going on the portals – that’s an incredible surge in demand, and one which many estate agents are struggling to keep pace with!
The fast and high transaction rates coupled with a shortage of property in the straight supply and demand curve is the core data point for this trend; but also undoubtedly linked to buyers feeling the pressure to complete sales before the Stamp Duty holiday and the step change down comes to an end in September this year.
 
To see the extraordinary supply and demand curve in action, try turning on the ‘show sold properties’ button on a Rightmove search and see the astronomical numbers of properties that have sold compared to what’s for sale in many of the hotspots. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at a few miles around Farnham in Surrey and see what I mean - It’s crazy!

More Speed, Less Haste

His comments about this phenomenon aren’t just being felt by his agency, either. In April, Buy Association reported that in a survey of over 5,000 estate agents, 74% of them believed that the ‘lack of speed’ was a genuine problem that affected their property sales. And, with so many new instructions being won by agents during this time of plenty, this problem was only being exacerbated.

The rush to keep up with the surge in property transactions is of course having knock-on effects outside of estate agencies. Lenders, conveyancers and surveyors have all come under significant strain to keep up with the increased demand for transactions; meaning that the entire home selling process is believed to be taking up to 43 days longer than at the same time in 2020.

The big question is how long will this last? Whilst this surge in demand hasn’t been unexpected, it’s what comes after the end of the freeze this September which could put the brakes on this property rollercoaster. Will it slow down in late September/October when the new stamp duty step down kicks in, or will that pent up demand last into 2022 and beyond?

The Big Property Crunch?

Here at Webdadi, we talk to a huge number of property agents all across the country; and the one thing that has been consistent ever since the end of 2020 has been how ‘busy’ they all are. But, one thing that many haven’t considered is what happens come the end of September 2021 with not only the unfreezing of Stamp Duty, but also a huge shift in the way people work the usual 9-5.

The feeling is whilst employees seek to strike a better life balance in places like Cornwall, there may be many furloughed employees who are going to come back shortly; but many employees feeling they could pull off a hybrid work from home and work from the office deal with their employers, giving them flexi-working either two to three days a week in the office that would be worth the travel costs trade to property lifestyle costs far out of town.
 
So, this could well be a trend that’s not going to slow down and allow subprime London family areas house prices to rebalance the exit of its residents any time soon, certainly in relation to the sub-rural and rural hotspot areas house prices where this overspending trend is going on.

In addition, September 2021 will also see the much-heralded furlough scheme will also come to an end. As of April 2021, there were an estimated 11.5 million jobs that have been furloughed under the scheme, but there’s absolutely no guarantee the jobs will be re-instated – so there’s a huge question mark over whether the people on furlough will be able to return to their jobs, or will possibly have to start looking for a new job in an already turbulent market.

For the property market, this could very lead to a very big crunch following a very big bang. Not only will the cost of buying a property go up for those looking to spend over the £125k threshold, but you’ll also potentially have a huge volume of people simply not being able to afford to move home due to changes in their circumstances.

There’s also another factor which could play its part in a big crunch, and that’s the continued expected rise in property prices. Whilst this is of course good for homeowners, it’s expected that this rise is going to be primarily driven by a lack of supply – and this is where that huge rush on transactions this year could have an unexpected side-effect…

Too Busy to Get The Easy Stuff Right?

It really has been a case of ‘striking whilst the iron is hot’; but the big bang we’re seeing has meant that the internal staffing resources for property agents and their partner finance agencies have been stretched mightily thin. As a result, what we’re seeing is a noticeable decline in estate agencies getting the easy stuff right when it comes to their own marketing activities – and this is really important.

Whilst many agencies will have perfectly serviceable websites, we’ve found that for many, the need to rush through transactional processes has led to a sharp decline in digital marketing activities; such as regular content posting and following basic SEO best practices. Whilst this may not seem like a big deal, the long-term effect for a website’s performance can be incredibly damaging – including drops in website search visibility and inbound lead generation; two critical components of how agencies generate new sale instructions.

Remember: that with a potentially smaller pool of new vendor instructions potentially coming to the market, agencies will need every advantage to draw potential customers away from their competitors. For the savvier of agents already thinking about how to improve their business before the end of September, they’ll be in pole position to capture more new customer leads than their rivals. And as for the ones who are only focusing on rushing through as many property transactions as they can now? Well, they run the risk of their brand being less visible, and less searchable, too – and we all know what that can lead to…

With new sale instructions potentially becoming scarcer as we enter the third quarter of 2021, it’s vitally important that agencies do everything in their power to being the first port of call for the people searching for their services – and not just make hay whilst the sun shines.

Struggling to generate good quality inbound leads to your website? Why not book a 20-minute consultation with one of our expert website consultants? Just hit the link below to get started…

When it comes to a great estate agent web design, you probably think that the most important pages will be the homepage (your virtual shop window) and your property listings, right? And that makes sense – they’re the main pages where visitors will take the actions you want them to take.

However, what if we told you that there’s one page in particular that is vitally important, but often not given the love and attention it deserves? It’s time we had a chat about your website’s ‘About Us’ page design…

Why Estate and Property Agents Can’t Afford to Ignore Their About Us Page Design

Whilst an ‘About Us’ page design may just seem like one of those ‘nice to haves’ on an estate agent website design, it’s actually vital to effective user engagement. Your About Us page introduces you as a business to your website visitors, enlightens them about who you are and gives you the opportunity to make that all-important positive first impression.

Ultimately, your About Us page design has to answer three core questions that a reader will most likely be asking, and they are:

1. Who are you?
2. Why are you doing this?
3. What makes you different?
   
   

However, in our experience, the humble About Us page is often something that property agents don’t really give much attention to. Sure, they’ll have a generic description of themselves and maybe a short paragraph on what they do, but that’ll be it! This ‘that’ll do’ approach squanders a fantastic opportunity to build a rapport with your customer and, most importantly, set you apart from your competitors in an already crowded marketplace.

Think about it: when a vendor is looking to sell their home, they’re looking to make possibly one of the biggest and most expensive decisions of their lives – and the same goes for buyers, too. They want to feel comfortable with the agency they choose, trust in their abilities, and truly believe they’re going to help them get the best deal possible on their prospective property. Where will they go to make these types of judgements? Yup, you guessed it…

So, when it comes to estate and property agents, what should a great about us page design include?

1. A Demonstration of Trust
 
This is vitally important, as the process of selling or buying a home can be incredibly stressful – so, your About Us page is your opportunity to build trust with your audience and demonstrate that you really know what you’re doing!

You can start building trust with your visitors by stating the number of years you’ve been in the business, important milestones or highlighting particular client success stories. Remember, that your audience will have no shortage of competitors to choose from when looking for a property agent; so, highlight why you’re the agency that can be trusted with their cold, hard cash.

2. Your Company’s Core Values

What does your business stand for? What makes your brand different compared to your competitors? What are your key principles? These are questions a visitor may be asking themselves when looking to choose a property agent, and this is where talking about your company values come in.

Your business will be looking to attract a certain type of customer to your agency; so, if a vendor discovers that the values and principles of an estate agency are similar to theirs, you’ll have a much better chance of being chosen as the selling agent. For example, if one of your main core business values is accountability, you’ll find it much easier to attract clients who appreciate accountability and transparency from their property agents.

3. Good Quality and Engaging Content

When it comes to ranking well on search engines like Google, good quality engaging content is king: and your About Us page is a fantastic opportunity to add optimised content to help support website search engine visibility. Also, a visitor will want to know what the real people behind the business are like – here’s your opportunity to do just that.

Like your company values, this is a chance for the reader to really get to know you. Be personal and honest, and don’t make your content too formal or – worst case – dull! Try to have a conversational tone with your reader and wherever possible, think about the search terms your customers would use to reach your site through a search engine, and include them in your content. Not only will this make your page more engaging for the reader, but it will also help your site’s all-important Google rankings.

4. Client Testimonials

Finally, it’s all very well and good talking the talk – but this is your opportunity to back-up your sales patter with real-world examples of the customers you’ve helped. Validation of your company’s work from 3rd party sources or previous customers is absolute gold dust for property agents; so this is your chance to showcase any good feedback you’ve received and use it to help convince new customers to sell their property with you.

There are a couple of ways you can get good quality testimonials for your website:

• Google Reviews - Reviews left by your customers on Google is a fantastic way to not only enhance your site’s search visibility, but also for you to keep track of the levels of service offered by your business.
   
  A good Google review may be the first thing a potential customer sees when searching for your site; so ensuring they are generally positive and also used to support your company statements is a fantastic way to not only improve your business; but leverage that all-important validation of your services from real-world customers.

• Feedback forms – Once your sale is done and dusted, are you collecting formal feedback from your customers? And if not, why not? Feedback from your customers is essential to guide and inform your decision making and influence positive innovations and changes to your business – not to mention an essential part of measuring customer satisfaction!
  
  If you’ve had a customer who’s been appreciative of your services and has had a good experience with your property agency, don’t let the experience go unnoticed and ask for a testimonial!

Does your website need some help in making a brilliant first impression? Then get in touch with the experts at Webdadi today!