Making the most of your membership with PMO

By joining Propertymartoverseas.com, you have already taken the first positive step toward increasing your global online exposure. Our worldwide reach will be of great benefit for your company, particularly if you use your Propertymartoverseas.com membership to the full.

Use your Propertymartoverseas.com Logo

The Propertymartoverseas.com logo is a great tool for you to use when dealing with your customers. As our global presence grows, it will be reassuring for your clients to know that your business is affiliated with one of the world’s leading property portals. So, by displaying your Propertymartoverseas.com logo in a prominent position on your homepage, it will add value to your website and underline your commitment to offer your consumers quality and integrity.

Optimise your properties on Propertymartoverseas.com

Our completely revamped search system rewards those agents who go the extra mile in order to promote their properties in the best possible way . A unique internal ranking system on Propertymartoverseas.com rewards those properties that contain the most detail. So, even if you only have a small portfolio to upload, you can still ensure that your properties are seen by following these specific guidelines.

here’s an example of the way one of our agents have displayed their property.

 

Each property is awarded a point for:

• An image (total of nine images per property)
• A full description of the property
• Keywords within the description which make it easier for our system to locate them (for example: Apartment with sea view and large terrace)
• Additional info, ie, no. of bedrooms and no. of bathrooms
• Correct price displayed

 Here is an example of an agent’s page.

 The more points a property accrues, the higher it will appear in the Propertymartoverseas.com search rankings. Then everyone’s a winner! The customer is armed with everything they need and are more likely to generate a lead for you, as well as your properties being more visible on the site.

So, you’ve definitely made the right choice by teaming up with Propertymartoverseas.com. We’re the easy way to find property and, with your continued support and input, your company will reap the benefits in no time!

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The all new propertymartoverseas.com!

If Google’s aim is to ‘organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful’ then, let’s face it, they’re certainly doing their job properly! So, here at Propertymartoverseas.com, we’ve decided to adopt the same kind of attitude to our services by giving our property search tool something of a makeover.

So, instead of the usual click after click after click, then the confusion of drop-down boxes and the tiresome task of trawling through page upon page of properties which don’t meet all your criteria, Propertymartoverseas.com has launched a completely new and improved website.  It is now much more user friendly and allows customers to browse through our listings by typing in exactly what they’re looking for. Not only is this great news for the consumer, but this will also be more profitable for YOU, the agent.

 “The more detailed the property description, the more likely it is that an agents’ property will come up highest on our property search,” says Phillip Wilson, Research and Development Director for Propertymartoverseas.com.

We’ve also jazzed up the website with other interesting features such as news articles (updated daily), buying guides, country guides and pretty much everything a consumer needs to know when it comes to buying a property abroad. 

We hope you enjoy the new site!

E-mail Marketing and tackling blocked images

Hi there,

This week, I’ve been looking into ways of getting around blocked images in e-mails and trying to figure out if it’s better to use embedded images or hosted ones for our newsletter.

The fact is that most people have their e-mail client set up in such a way that it prevents images from being shown when opening their e-mails. As a result, the visual impact of the e-mail is completely wiped away once you try to download the images.

However, I was also interested to know why most commercial e-mail platforms don’t offer embedded images and resort to hosted images instead.

It seems that embedded images are blocked by default in many of the major web-based email clients, including Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail. Just like externally referenced images (hosted), they display by default if you’re considered a safe sender by that recipient.

Many people, either by email client defaults or personal preference, block the images in the HTML formatted messages they are accepting and there’s a small number of people who block HTML entirely. According to Epsilon Interactive, 30% of e-mail recipients don’t even know that images are disabled. In any case, it’s logical for recipients to block images.

Let’s add that for people using dial-up connections or mobile devices e.g. Blackberry or Palm would not be happy to receive e-mails loaded with images that take ages to download. This is an unhappy customer indeed.

Based on my findings, it seems that for the purpose of ROI, which should be your main concern when planning an e-mail campaign, it would be better to use hosted images for as long as we you do not have a decent list of recipients that have given you prior permission to send them e-mails.

Additional information:

This is a blog on e-mail marketing issues and tips (a blog with a page rank of 6!!! this has to be very good):http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archives/2007/02/current_conditions_and_best_pr_1.html

Why do clients block e-mail images?

Just as a lighthouse beacon beams a message with light, pictures in e-mail messages–also called “Web beacons”–can be adapted to secretly send a message back to the sender.

Spammers rely on information returned by these images to locate active e-mail addresses. Images can also contain harmful code and be used to deliver a spammer’s message in spite of filters.

The best defense against Web beacons is to prevent pictures from downloading until you’ve had a chance to review the message.

Both MSN Hotmail and Microsoft Outlook 2003 are preset to do this automatically for e-mail from addresses not in your address book. Outlook Express also increases its protection against Web beacons if you’re using Windows XP Service Pack 2. http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/email/spam.mspx

CAN-SPAM Act 2004 (describes current spam regulations):http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm

Wikipedia on e-mail spam:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spam

Adios,

Ellie

The Importance of Unique Content

If there’s one thing Search Engines love, it’s unique, original content.

Among the large number of factors that influence the position a web page is going to be in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) is how original and unique the content is. Achieving a high position in the SERPs is important because the higher you are, the more traffic you’ll potentially direct to your website.

Real Estate Agents who list their properties in several portals tend to submit the same content to all of them for publishing (by ‘content, we mean the property description text and the photographs of the property).

This creates a lot of duplicate content on the web and minimises the value of the information. Search Engines, when facing duplicate content, will try to distinguish which copy is the original source. Once decided, they will rank the original source higher and the copies will lose several positions to say the least.

Therefore, it is worth spending a bit more time working on your property descriptions. How to go about it: 

1 – In an excel sheet (for instance), create a table with the following headings: Property ID (your internal reference number), Description, Pictures, Portal, Date submitted. This will help you keep a tight control as to which content you produce and who’s publishing it.

 2 – Then, looking at the information you have collected for a property, decide which words best describe it and which are the most important. For example, if you’re selling a townhouse in Antibes the most important words would be: townhouse, 3 beds, Antibes, France. As you might have noticed, there are thousands of properties that fit under those keywords in Antibes.

Therefore, you need to find some extra keywords e.g. centrally located or sea views or near golf. If you read Ellie’s post, then you’ll see what I mean. 

3 – Write a detailed description of your property using your keywords. Then, start writing a few variations of the same description and make sure you are still using as many of your keywords as possible in all of them. At the same time, the text has to read natural and be appealing to the human reader so do not stuff it with keywords. Once you have the descriptions, highlight important keywords in bold (this is a call to the Search Engine to say that this is an important piece of info regarding the property). Again, don’t overdo the highlighting. 

4 – As for the photographs, the same applies. Do take numerous pictures of your properties from every possible angle and take pictures of the surroundings as well. Propertymartoverseas.com accepts up to 10 pictures per property so add to this, the number of pictures accepted by other property portals you might be using and finally, add the number of pictures displayed in your own website. With this, you can calculate how many pictures are required. 

5 – Attach different pictures to each version of the property description and you are ready to submit to the portals. 

6 – Use the original, the most detailed description, for your own website since you should offer some new information about a property for interested visitors. The likelihood that they have seen the property first in a portal such as http://www.propertymartoverseas.com/ is very high. 

7 – If you think you’re not getting enough enquiries about a property that would deserve attention, then try changing the description by adding different keywords and making it sound more attractive and interesting. Pay attention to the photographs as well and change them if necessary.

If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment.

Ellie

The key to effective property descriptions…

Hello there! 

We’ve been doing our research on how effective it is to sell properties online and have discovered that the number of homes in the UK now being displayed on the internet has gone up by nearly a million over the last year, according to statistics.  

So, when you’re writing descriptions for your online properties, make sure you include as much information (and as many good quality photos of the properties) on your website as possible. It’s all about making them stand out from the rest and therefore attracting more visitors to the website. 

The statistics we found showed that 71% of people aged 65 and over said they’ve never used the internet while only 4% of those aged between 16 and 24 said they’d never used it either.  

So basically, you need to be talking to a younger audience; you need to keep things fresh and use language that will appeal to and be understood by the younger generation. 

We’re not saying you have to include slang words or make yourself sound like a gangsta rapper, but just try to keep things from getting too repetitive and, of course, too bland. 

So rather than saying:

 ‘There is a spacious living and dining area with modern décor’   

Try saying something like: ‘The property boasts a bright and airy living area with stylish décor and modern fixtures and fittings, as well as a dining area – perfect for dinner parties and Sunday lunches with the family.’ 

We’ve made the word ‘modern’ bold, as it’s one of the keywords recognised by Google. Keywords such as this help your web pages to achieve higher rankings and will therefore get more people clicking through to them.  

Other keywords you might want to try are:

● cosy

● new

● peaceful

● attractive

● stunning 

Help the reader to build up an ideal image of what living in the property could be like. It’s all about looking for the potential and highlighting the best bits. 

So, if the property would suit a family, try to create the ideal family environment through what you write.

It’s all in the detail…

Hello there!

Welcome to the very first ‘Tips and Advice’ post from propertymartoverseas.com!

Today you’re going to learn how to be more creative when describing the location, setting and features of the properties on your website.

It’s important to make each property sound appealing, ideal and most of all, unique.So, let’s say you want to describe a villa which has a large landscaped garden and a pool.  

Rather than just describing it like this, you should try and pinpoint what it is that will make the garden and pool appealing to potential buyers.

Ask yourself: is the garden big? Does it have any flowers, shrubs or trees? Would it be ideal for pets or children? Is the pool a decent size? Once you have a rough idea of what you want to say, you can start to play around with words, like this:

Step outside this luxurious villa and you’re greeted by a beautiful landscaped garden, lined with miniature palm trees and a pleasant decked area, ideal for al fresco dining or simply enjoying the sun. There’s plenty of room for kids to run around or even pets, but the main attraction is, without a doubt, the large and inviting outdoor swimming pool – perfect for cooling down on those scorching summer days.

Keywords and phrases help to optimise your webpage in Google’s rankings, so make sure you include words such as the following (in bold):

Step outside this luxurious villa and you’re greeted by a beautiful landscaped garden, lined with miniature palm trees and a pleasant decked area, ideal for al fresco dining or simply enjoying the sun. There’s plenty of room for kids to run around or even pets, but the main attraction is, without a doubt, the large and inviting outdoor swimming pool – perfect for cooling down on those scorching summer days.

So, not only will you be making your properties sound more desirable and getting higher rankings on Google, but you’ll also help to send out more friendly and professional vibes to everyone who views your website!

Go on- try it yourself and don’t miss our next post for more helpful tips and advice!

Hello from PMO!

Welcome to the brand new weblog from propertymartoverseas.com .

Here, you can keep up to date with all the latest news from the property world and also have your say by leaving us comments.

If you have any queries, all you have to do is post a comment and Ellie will get back to you shortly.

Ellie is PMO’s Web Editorial Assistant. She’s here to help answer all your questions and enquiries as well as give you professional advice and tips on how to make your properties sound inviting and more appealing to house hunters looking for their perfect home via the internet.

We hope you enjoy interacting with us!

Ellie

Your PMO blogger