The path ahead for property portals

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/290744139 Property Portal Watch Workshop San Francisco - August 4, 2009 The Path Ahead for Property Portals

Who are we? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jima/243309196/ and many more… Clients:

We speak with everyone http://www.flickr.com/photos/23680544@N07 Regularly speak with 50+ portals in many markets, media sites, etc

Current web thinking OLD NEW
Closed
Own the user
Brand
Offline advertising
Size
Pageviews/Display
Profit Driven
Open
Let the user go
Experience
Word of mouth
Speed
Actions
User first

Topics http://www.flickr.com/photos/tantek/22778226/
Is content king?
Openness?
At what cost SEO?
Google?
New models?
Print?

Is Content King? My database is bigger than yours

Is the database a differentiator? http://www.flickr.com/photos/adesigna/3237575990/

Do users care? http://www.flickr.com/photos/fun3/417463333/

Maybe bigger isn’t better?

Definition of content has evolved

User Generated Content

Or is it user experience that matters? http://www.flickr.com/photos/superbomba/3560084221

Discussion Is database size critical? How is community/UGC relevant for real estate? What matters, size or speed?

facebook

Twitter

Yahoo!

Should you let the user leave your site? http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpstorm/140115572/

Who owns the user? Portal Estate Agent Seller ?

Discussion Is “owning” the user still valid? Should you let the user leave? Should you let others in?

Friend or Foe? Property Portal http://www.flickr.com/photos/ittybittiesforyou/3528619275

Free!!!!

Free!!!! Users!!!!

Free????

If Google had to do SEO http://www.meangene.com/google/google1.html

The Cost of SEO
time, effort
expertise required
lose control over product
lack of transparency

Discussion Is relying on SEO healthy? Is there any alternative? Should you diversify your sources of traffic? Is it safe to rely on a potential competitor?

Keeping the users

Keeping the users (2)

Is this the internet users want?

Targeting SMEs

Targeting agents

Google Real Estate

How will Google get users? “ The ascent of Google Maps is a result of the shortcut in the search results on Google. 61% of visits to Google Maps came directly from Google last week.” Heather Hopkins, Hitwise http://weblogs.hitwise.com/us-heather-hopkins/2009/02/google_maps_edges_closer_to_ma_1.html

The cream rises to the top, right?

Who owns the user? Portal Estate Agent Seller

Current web thinking
Closed
Own the user
Brand
Offline advertising
Size
Pageviews/Display
Profit Driven
OLD NEW
Open
Let the user go
Experience
Word of mouth
Speed
Actions
User first

Discussion Is Google a portal? Is Google defending the user? Is Google neutral? What are the challenges Google Real Estate faces? What should portals do?

New models? http://www.flickr.com/photos/35421063@N00/2731757488

Inclusion
flat fee
ex: Yellow Pages
Audience
Pay for audience
ex: newspapers
Performance
results
ex: search
Free
ads
ex: globrix, gumtree

Is free really viable? Registration Detail pages Financial services Related info Upselling Adsense

Should you be thinking about performance?

Agents want the users
Not all agents, but growing number
Invested in website
Google trains them
with Analytics, Adwords

Migration is hard http://www.flickr.com/photos/pnoid00/1909096140

What do you sell? Performance http://www.flickr.com/photos/al-stan/3093809724/ Branding http://www.flickr.com/photos/funkyah/455336901/

Discussion Are new models viable? What do agents want? Is it possible for giants to change model?

Print? http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluefootedbooby/352172004

Print is dead Source: ImmoStudie 2009

Offline and Online Search by id num, from newspaper

Long live media groups!

Discussion Is online AND offline more powerful than just online? Has the window closed for old media? Why are so many leading players pure online?

Conclusions http://www.flickr.com/photos/fliegender/236372712
Content still king, but less so
Preference better than ownership
Nothing is free
New models coming
Not all print is dead
Speed is critical

Learn more We’re here all week. Let’s chat. http://blog.nestoria.co.uk Twitter: @nestoria http://www.flickr.com/photos/foundphotoslj/466722575/

Questions? http://www.flickr.com/photos/calavera/65098350/

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The path ahead for property portals

by lokku on Aug 05, 2009

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