Online estate agents do not even dominate their own market place – because traditional agents have a more successful internet presence.
The claim has come from Eric Walker, managing director of Northwood.
He said: “The simple truth is that all good estate agents are now internet agents.
“In fact, our web ranking is higher than most internet agents, our bounce rate is better and our visitors spend more time viewing more pages.
“We are not labelled as internet agents simply because it’s not the only place we do business.
“I find it incredible that we have a more successful online presence than many firms which claim to be online agents. They do not even dominate their own market place.”
In a blog on the Northwood website, Walker says that online agents do not threaten traditional high street firms and will not replace them.
However, he says that he respects many internet-based agents and believes they have introduced innovation and evolution.
“They did make us pull our socks up and embrace the cyber generation, and have actually made us more efficient.”
He acknowledges that internet agents charge lower fees – but adds, that that is because they can.
Comments (47)
@smileplease Chris Welch Chief Marketing Officer easyProperty. Not an estate agent but a marketeer. @wilko much as I would love to reveal exactly what we are doing and how ,sadly that will have to wait for our launch which is coming soon and I am sure you will have lots more to say then.
What perhaps you have misunderstood is this is not a moms and pops organisation. This was founded by an estate agent Rob Ellice. We have a model we believe will work in this market back by a brand with 95% brand awareness already. Sure we will adapt and learn as we go and we may not get everything right first time but we have built a world class management team and board to steer this business to success.This is not about online or offline but about providing real choice for the customer,ultimately it is they who will decide who succeeds and who fails.Lets see who is right 🙂
Good afternoon EasyChief Chris 😉 Time will tell and the consumer will indeed decide and 95% brand awareness is indeed impressive………………..However ask yourself……..what do the 95% think of your brand?……………… Its okay being well known………BUT being well known for the right reasons is the key?………………..I am one of the 95% who know of your brand (well the EasyBit anyway) and I wonder whether the "cheap, cheap cheap" bit has been played so much it may well work against you……..I mean I don't think quality of any description when I think EasyJet, just cheap…..and you managed to fill a TV series with unhappy clients customers who were treated pretty poorly……and many who said NEVER AGAIN…….hope it goes well for you though…..take it easy in the meantime.
thanks @ric the easy brand and specifically easyjet has come along way in recent years,indeed their CEO recently said 95% of customers now flying easy for the first time don't go back to their previous airline. Where having a brand like easy works hard is we don't have to tell landlords or tenants what easy is all about,it actually works even harder with partners and believe me we have lined up some brilliant ones,they understand what a national can bring. Its not about being cheap its providing value for money versus whats out there in the market. Easyjet is an outstanding success story and we hope to be too,I wish I could take it easy but sadly I have an innovative online property busy to launch very soon 🙂
I m sure you do believe it will work otherwise pretty pointless in starting up! – world class management team….. hmmmm not to sure about that one looking at the director report quite a few dissolved business between them. As Ric rightly mentions 95% market brand awareness but is it the right awareness do you remember Ratners? They had high brand awareness for a period for being "Cheap" 😉
@smileplease as a director myself I can assure you it is worldclass,failure also never comes to those who do not try 🙂
Ratners and I am old enough to remember was a massive success story it created huge demand for jewellrey and bought up many of the competiton,sadly it was Mr Ratners big mouth that brought the company to its knees,there was basically nothing wrong with the brand or the proposition. "online" agents already account for around 5% of the lettings market and growing sadly most simply do not have the brand or the resources to create brand awareness on a national basis. Traditional high street agents even the corporates have largely local brands with barely a handful operating on a semi-national basis. Think back to when the budget airlines launched what did the national flag carriers and regional airlines do….dismiss them saying their brands and superior service would see off these "cheap" competitors. Landlords are interested in getting the right tenants in fast and cutting their costs in doing so,why do they need to walk into a shop to do this…..oh and btw we already have a very large database of interested landlords already signed up before we have even launched. This industry is big enough for many to succeed in,we of course believe the future is bright…bright orange in fact 🙂
The usual dichotomy exists where on line and high street agents are poles apart. What I dislike is the rhetoric where on line 'pioneers' threaten to close us down, inflict mortal blows and wipe us out. I actually embrace the competition and wish no such ill to befall a competitor howsoever modeled. I never heard Amazon threatening to destroy John Lewis – they just focused on their business and John Lewis adapted.
Portal Person – I met with the new SEO team and they found some of your observations highly entertaining. Your highly educated guess on bounce rate was out by just under 100% above the actual bounce rate. As for me being 'yet another joker in the industry' I have been called worse. I am at a disadvantage as I don't know what you do or who you work for, so wouldn't be so rude.
Hound – yes the car is good, though the MPG is not quite the figure quoted on-line 😉 I did read on line reviews, but chose it as a friend has one and the nice man at Stephen James arranged a test drive. I didn't find the dealership on line – I drove past it for several years.
Eric:
If your team found me amusing then you need a new team because they're covering their own ***** by hiding their mistakes behind rhetoric.
Are you saying your bounce rate is 20%?????
That's still very bad. I don't think I've ever had a website that bounces above about 5%….. You can live in cloud cuckoo land all you like with your SEO team this and bounce rate that but ultimately you have hand picked a few phrases that you rank high for and made a whole massive PR story surrounding it. Your 13 year old domain should be at least a PR 7 by now, your heading title tag doesn't need your company name because your domain name has it and carries more weight. You have some 250,000 back-links with some heavy hitters from Government and Educational domains yet you struggle with page rank … this is because your site's content and structure is put together all wrong… Your site has the same weighting in Google's mind as pieces of **** like http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk (a domain half the age of yours) but you carry on and listen to your team of experts as they obviously know what they're doing (that was sarcasm incase it got lost over http).
Just for a laugh I will take a domain that has never been used before, optimise it and have it rank above you for one of your main keywords inside 6 months.
I will email you when it's done – then your "SEO" team can buy me a beer 🙂
Really good reply, even if a bit aggressive! – Do not agree with all your views but sounds like you know your stuff on this portalperson. I am looking at my website in next couple of months and if you do not mind will contact you then (taken your email from previous comments). Would also be interested to see where you are on the page rank as myself and most of my local established competitors are only a 2!
smile: I'm retired but I'll happily give you a free consultation and or point you in the direction of some colleagues that will look after you
Pleased to hear the car is good Eric 😉 Playing 'devil's advocate' for a minute, whilst you can choose a commodity on the strength of a friends recommendation, the same is of course not true for a home. ( I appreciate of course that many will choose their selling agent on recommendation) so the question about where the majority of enquiries originate from is still something to consider.
Eric good to see an agent recognising the strength of having an online presence. I am somewhat less clear on what an "online marketplace " is and why it is any different from the offline market place. In todays connected world buyers and sellers,landlords and tenants will potentially use many channels,but what is evident is they use the internet more than any other. Online transactions are growing and will continue to grow but as yet they have failed to hit critical mass but in my view this is just a matter of time as more brands enter the space like easyProperty and invest in technology and marketing. Once consumers get into the habit us using online to buy sell rent and let then you will find they will not return to the high street. The last line in the article was perhaps the most perceptive but online is more than price, its ease of use,its convenience and it fits todays digital world, it may in the end not be for everyone,but for sure it can be for anyone.We look forward the helping you pull your socks alot further up 🙂
Chris@easyProperty
Trolling? I cant believe that somebody really working for "easyproperty" would post this. Even if this is a brave "Chris" from easypropery (doubt it is a real person) did have these beliefs it goes to show how far out from reality he is. Technology and Marketing is spoken about but not service or best price. And Chris or whoever you are we look forward to the day you go into liquidation as a number of online providers have done. Have you seen Harry Hills track record????
The eye should welcome contributions from any sector of the property industry but is it just me that feels posts like this one from easy prop, and other "onlinies" have no substance or detail to their agency models. The sentiment that people want to use online agents is all well and good because of the technology available, but in isolation has been proved not to work. And as it says on the homepage of easy property ; "In true "easy" style we are going to shake up the UK property market to make buying, selling, renting and letting simple, quick and cost effective. This is what we do best! " …….HOW are you going to do it??????….
I'm especially interested how you are going to make every conveyance simpler, every survey problem simpler, every issue of tenants not paying rent simpler(not to mention cost effective), speed up searches…I could go on…please let me know Chris.
Having just read the blog, a question for Eric. Before you went to the BMW dealership to purchase your new car, how did you shop around? did you take time out and visit all the local car dealers, or did you do your research online to decide what make/model of car you wanted?
The point I'm making is that whilst we do all the good things that Eric mentions in his blog, what we really need to consider is where the initial contact takes place. In the good old days, people took time out, and wandered round all the agents to see what was on the market, and register with them. Now, that initial contact is in the vast majority of cases, remote, and generated from online sources. (Anyone see the news report few days ago that we spend more time with digital devices than we do asleep, and declining high street footfall is well documented) That's why, unlike Eric, I'm very much of the opinion that the days of the mainstream high street agent are numbered. Remember what Ian Springett said about Agents Mutual being a 'bet' on the future of high street estate agents, not a confidence inspiring statement.
By the way, hope you're enjoying your new car Eric.
Hound: you make a very good point.
Most research for homes/cars/anything expensive is done on a tablet/phone led in bed at the end of a hard day simply browsing the internet
You missed the best bit.
"I am sure despite lower fees, their margins per sale are much higher than ours….."
Oh, dear, Mr Jury – is the best bit REALLY about higher margins? A few percent of chuff-all is, on the accountant's balance-sheet, still chuff-all…
The article says "He acknowledges that internet agents charge lower fees – but adds, that that is because they can."
I would dispute the fact the can; the only cost savings a like for like online agency can make are the ITZA related costs of premises; rent, rates and utilities. Firms with national 'oil film' coverage might well employ xxxself employed, work from home intermediaries but invariably single molecule coverage is extremely unlikely to compete with a staffed 2 or 3 person office firm. At best the service level is down there with other passive intermediaries who are operating locally; competition always finds its own level.
Given that the ITZA costs of bricks and mortar are no more that 7-10% of turnover, online agencies can not realistically charge significantly less for their service than an officed agency simply because their fixed costs remain so very similar.
Harry Hill pumped out an article in Property Drum in 2010 outlining the costs of selling a property- (from memory) removing the 'office' costs dropped the average commission required down to 1.1% average. On that basis I assess that online agents think they can charge less and pitch their offering accordingly. The naivety of assuming easy money is dragging unbalanced levels of competition into the niche sector so it is really hard to see how any of them are truthfully making any money at all.
The key issue here isn't premises costs, its staff costs. There are many on line services which work on the basis that they simply don't need the staff the traditional model requires. Perhaps this lack of staff in a service industry explains why on line conveyancing, divorce and house sales has never generated the success of the sale of on line goods.
One thing i would like to suggest is to make sure you have a google webmasters account, you need to verify your site which is pretty easy. You are allowed to do a google fetch, you simply enter the URL of your property, then google lists the page within minutes, then you upload to RM but it was seen on your site 1st by google! You can do 500 fetches a month.
http://www.google.com/webmasters/
Am I missing something?..Nice article but I was under the impression that online agents didn't need a higher presence online for their sites compared with high st agents. They rely on R/M and Zoop entirely to sell their property,not their sites? Besides I don't want my company featured in a search like "cheap online estate agent"
Wilko:
It's generally perceived that "Online only" agents are more knowledgeable in the digital marketing landscape – something I've yet to see myself. It's true they're more innovative as generally their websites are more up to date aesthetically and technologically and don't look like they jumped out of a 1995 movie but as far as their marketing and or SEO go; they still have a way to go.
Also digital marketing takes time, it's a waiting game, the simple fact is that older domains have more trust flow and will often outrank younger domains purely on this fact. This is quote an annoyance for the end user as they seldom care how long a domain has been around, they simply want the best source of information and in mine and many trusted & respected I.T industry / marketing professionals opinions this is not always the oldest or youngest domain as age is NOT relevant, content is and always will be king
quite not quote….
Note to this website developers …. Enable comment editing as typo's are annoying.
Morning PortalPerson…… you say "and in mine and many trusted & respected I.T industry / marketing professionals opinions this is not always the oldest or youngest domain as age is NOT relevant, content is and always will be king" …………………okay I like that!! so you agree, RM and Z could be damaged beyond repair if the market share of property (which in theory is the content) swaps from these two over to AM? as you have said before and again I agree, that the one stop shop website BUYERS do not care which agent has the property, simply the property is visible and the experience on the website is good…………………. (It one thing ive always liked about RM in fairness the website is good, not to fussy, everything you need if you want it BUT not pushed in your face) I agree you on this particular post before you say "I do not care about them"………………………………..just one other thing though I am picking up on is your frustration perhaps with simply how bad websites are in our industry and perhaps your comments are with passion! But you see PEOPLE are almost always involved in anything for instance if YOU are a self employed Tech Whiz then you will need someone with people skills to convince me you "care about me" as you sound like you could be useful to someone like me who wants to ensure my website is working correctly. So why not perhaps make a few friends on here and see if you can help them……. I would never close the door on someone who has what may be the knowledge you do in making a website work and our industry better, if they approached me in a particular way………….Like CP says, you make some VERY GOOD points but then perhaps some comments from way back in a tech room forgetting the PEOPLE are involved.
Ric.
It's not hard to rank above RM & Z for certain key words or phrases – especially for local areas. Google ONLY cares about giving the user the BEST piece of content (not always taking into account domain age as a metric)…. Myself and a company I occasionally consult for did an experiment with an agents website where we managed to get it ranking on page 1 in Google for relevant results above RM & Z. Now I am not saying that we can rank high for things like "Property for sale in London" – this would take a lot of money, what I am saying is there is markets with very plausible search queries that are quite easily attainable for high rankings with very little effort. This is mainly due to the poor quality of competition (i/e your competitor agents websites doing more harm than good) and the generality of RM & Z with their trust flow for anything remotely related to property – i/e Google will happily use them as filler results if nothing else quite hits the mark … Ergo… hit the mark and you will out rank them.
The difference in leads between page 1 and page 2 (dependent on traffic) would be about 5 leads per week more on page 1
Sorry for putting my replies in parts.
I am a techie but a retired one. I used to also build UX (User eXperience) interfaces for large corporations and CRM's so I know a thing or three when it comes to engaging people behind a screen – it's a completely different approach than face to face – personally I am ill equipped to deal with people face to face as I find stupidity abhorrent which leads me to talk down to people (not a good trait in a sale person!!) but behind a screen it's something that comes naturally. UX and UI (user experience and user interfaces) are things that a lot of companies spend a lot of money on in terms of testing. There are a lot of interfaces that are so basic that you wonder how they ever attract and maintain consumers yet they do. On the other end of the scale there are flashy websites that are so complicated to use that they never ever succeed. This in part is why Google have stuck with the same(ish) layout for almost 10 years.
I will email you….again, agree with you especially the Google example, which is why (for me) I think RM are crazy with all the changing they are doing…..it works well now and adding the Z like things will make is too easy to sell against as an estate agent IF AM were to get it right, I will stay away from an Estate Agency debate with you today, as I like where we are with this now……you have clear understanding of something I don't.
Good article, we need more high street agents making a noise about benefits of the traditional yet modern agent and in turn the media picking up on them.
Poertal Person – I think you are missing my point. Nevertheless, I actually have a meeting over SEO today with our new people and agree with your comments. Your tip is appreciated too. Much better value than actually paying someone for advice 😉
Perhaps spell your point out then because you've taken some stats from your analytics and basically made up numbers in your favour for a bit of PR.
Kudos for that but it's a cheap shot and needs backing up.
Oh and if your "SEO" geniouses don't raise at least 10 issues that I've found with your site then you should consider hiring someone who knows what they're doing.
You should also hire some better front end developers as there is many issues with varying parts of the UI – perhaps ask them if they even know what "overqualifying" is…
PortalPerson,
You make some good (and bad) points about SEO but coming across as an expert is a bit ridiculous when you spell geniuses as 'geniouses' and hazard as 'hazzard'. One skill that is essential to target keywords correctly via SEO is the ability to spell correctly!
Yes CP, I forgot that typos and or mis-spellings of my auto correct spelling has EVERYTHING to do with my knowledge of SEO… My mistake …. Idiot!
Just because grammar and spelling is not correct does not mean they are not an expert in their field.
Oh and Eric, if you're reading this… a little free tip, if you want to get higher rankings then validate your HTML and CSS properly and employ some developers who actually know how to build a correct website that does these simple things by default 😉
You have a rather good point on this and your one above about page rank.
PortalPerson, quick question as I am with you when you're in tech help mode!!! ……………………………Do META lines or something names like META lines or titles have anything to do with the visibility of your website?…………….and what are your thoughts on if you came across an Estate Agent with a "live chat" system? (although I like people talking as you have figured, some people do prefer online chat)…..
Ric.
A live chat system from a user perspective is a very good idea provided that it's manned properly. One thing users hate is waiting for an answer!
With regards to SEO, this is a very deep and indepth subject that spans a billion dollar industry on it's own. A lot of it is a dark art. One thing that is widely known is that Google et al look for context in their algorithms which means that metas, page titles and heading tags all bear relevance and weight throughout the page and that ultimately this has bearing on how relevant the "bots" see your page (it's content) in relation to a phrase or term, this then carries across your website.
If you like, email me at john.milner.1962@gmail.com _ I will give you an unbias opinion on your web SEO purely from the perspective of what a search engine would see. We both agree that portals should not control the flow of property leads on the internet and if I can offer some advice to aid you climbing the ranks higher (and ultimately raking above them) then I am happy to do so 🙂
Thank Portalperson………I'm away from my office today but will touch base with you in the next week or so………I agree with the live system, my concern was managing it. Nice to have a chat away from the difference of opinions! 😉
Good advice! – This is the benefit of this site.
Yep, a good insight from Portalperson. I will certainly be bringing up some of your points with our seo team.
A good point well made. We are all evolving our businesses to meet the demands of the ever demanding consumer but service, regardless of the chest beating of the likes of Harry Hill et al, will remain the foundation of the moving process.
Now this has to be the funniest thing I've read all week (not taking into account any of PeeBee's comments of course).
The domain name northwooduk.com has a page rank of 3 and for an 11 year old domain this is shocking. Page rank is Google's measure (out of ten) of how important it ranks a particular website in its field. Even BAD websites that are 11 years old have a higher page rank than this, heck I've achieved this level f page rank on many sites inside 2 years. Now some people who think they're in the know about SEO and digital marketing may argue that Page Rank is not a valid metric but it is when it comes to ranking in search results. As an example. I chose one of Northwood's key phrases that they use on their front page "Guaranteed rent" – which they do rank number 1 for, 2 places below them is "ewemove.com" which is a little over ONE YEAR old has a page rank of 1 yet will ONLY receive about 5% less clicks.
This guy has taken a few keywords and phrases that they are strong for and made it into a song and dance against a VERY NEW model in the industry – one with few players who have a strong domain history. His stats are heavily bias in his favour and I can only guess that he has guessed the traffic figures of his online only competitors.
If I were to hazzard a highly educated guess I would say his bounce rate is about 40% and his daily unique visitors are about 200 with perhaps 500 page impressions – not figures to boast about really – this can be accomplished on a blog website of this size in 3 weeks.
Yet another joker in the industry who thinks that because he ranks higher for one or more phrases that he dominates his competition when in reality most **** eventually floats to the surface anyway. Being the best of a bad bunch is not being the best. Online ONLY agents (as more in touch with digital strategies as they are) are still lagging miles behind most other industries.
I think you can now understand the frustration High Street Agents have with "Online Agents" both manipulating figures and services. I am glad a high street agent has fought back.
smile please:
What figures are manipulated?
All I can see is "Online Only" agents state (quite rightly too) that they're cheaper … is this a lie? Are there other statements and lies I'm unaware of?
I think that's the argument PortalPerson. You see an online agent as cheap and offer the same service and the vendor will be better off. High street agents see that they online agents cost the vendor more money as cannot achieve the best price and the service is far inferior. Its all about perspective and which side of the fence you sit.
I think that one day the internet will be the mainstream but at the moment they are not close. Take the Sarah Beenies offering on her site (you can use any site for comparison) Once you factoring the upfront cost and the add on's that most high street agents offer for "Free" you may save £1200 on an average uk house sale. Now bear in mind you have paid all this money upfront if it has not sold you have done your money. Also now add on the fact you have no mail outs on your property, no agents ringing out on the property, no accompanied viewings, no sales agent that has seen the property in the office that can bring the pictures to life. No sales agent that is incentivised by a sale or keeping it together to earn a commission. That is the difference between high street and online. Oh and if it does not sell you do not pay a penny! – The big savings are on the large prime areas. But if you have a £500,000 plus property do you really want an internet agent or a professional with all the bells a whistles? – One day the internet will probably rule when somebody with VERY deep pockets such as Countrywide or sequence decided to ditch the sales force and invest properly in a system that works. But as seen with Purplebrick emoove hatched, they take a percentage of the market but they are not what the majority of the public want. Sorry for the long reply!