IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT #RIGHTMOVE AND #ZOOPLA MARKETING
You may or may not have heard about a new property
portal called OnTheMarket.com which is due for launch next week.
The new portal has been set up and is owned by estate
agents, who all have a vote as to the running of the portal and a members club.
This property portal membership insists that members are only under contract
with one other property portal, either Rightmove or Zoopla, therefore meaning
that many agencies are having to drop either Rightmove or Zoopla as their
second property online advertising outlet.
“The latest survey by Property
Academy, in which 4,506 people currently selling their home or investment
property were questioned, shows that 94 per cent expected their property to be
marketed on Rightmove and 68 per cent on Zoopla, while 39 per cent backed
Primelocation”
The website
has been set up to combat the duopoly (by creating a new one) of Rightmove and
Zoopla, with a view to the OnTheMarket website being the only required website
in the long run, therefore saving agents large amounts of money. In actual
fact, the ruling that only one other website portal can be used has actually
strengthened the position of Rightmove in our area, resulting in them actually
increasing their monthly charges! The website in the long run will NOT be the
only go-to site, as internet agencies are not welcome and only agencies
considered as “real estate agents” are allowed to sign up for the service, which
again may strengthen Rightmove as THE portal in our area. It is worth noting that
agencies in Wales have agreed to ditch Rightmove, meaning that the site with
the power there is actually Zoopla.
In our
opinion, it is not currently in the best interest of our clients to drop either
Rightmove or Zoopla in favour of this new site, until the new site proves
itself to be a better lead generator or tool for property finding.
In
Sheffield we are aware that many agents are dropping Zoopla in favour of
Rightmove in order to join the new OnTheMarket website.
At Spencers, through January to date, we have
received 39 Zoopla enquiries and 62 Rightmove enquiries, which proves that
Rightmove does still outperform Zoopla, but none of the enquirers are the same
people, which would mean that we could currently miss out on viewing opportunities
if we were to close our Zoopla account. Interestingly a higher percentage of
Lettings enquiries come from Zoopla than Rightmove.
At this
point, we feel that there isn’t enough information about the new website in the
marketplace and therefore we are currently continuing with Rightmove and Zoopla,
in association with Prime Location, as we feel that this offers the best
service to our clients and markets properties to the widest possible audience.
We feel that we need to offer the very best marketing for our clients.
It is our
duty as estate agents to find the very best price from the best buyer to suit
the vendor’s purposes, and this includes full marketing in as many ways as
possible. Did you know that, at Spencers, we regularly also use Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Blogger, and YouTube to market properties
in other ways through the internet? Will OnTheMarket ban this too?
If you are
thinking of selling a property, it is worth checking with your proposed agent
whether they are signed up to OnTheMarket.com, as you may not feel that it is
the right thing for you. If you already have a property on the market with
another agent you will find that you suddenly will not have your property
listed on one of the other main international lead sources; did you know about
this? Some agents are delaying the marketing of properties on other portals by
48 hours to give an advantage to people visiting the new website. You will also
find that agents have withdrawn marketing of the second portal (Zoopla or
Rightmove) in favour of only advertising the new website under their rules and
conditions.
We will
monitor the success of the website and will listen to our clients’ needs to see
if we feel that the new website will be worth joining at a later date. In the
meantime we do not feel that we should be bullied into how we market properties
on behalf of our clients to suit our own pockets.
#theladysnotforturning
#theladysnotforturning
0114 268
3682
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