How to shine on the property portals
Most buyers start the search for their new home on the property portals. So ensuring your property stands out from the crowd is essential.
The chances are, if you are looking for a new home, your search begins on the property portals. The three most popular portals are Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket. Rightmove is the most popular but this doesn't mean the others should be ignored. Almost 50% of our enquiries come from OnTheMarket and Zoopla (Property enquiries 01.23-06.23). It is always worth advertising on all three portals to maximise the exposure of your property.
The portals aren't the only way to market your property. A growing number of enquires are coming from our own buyer database, 15% so far this year (Property enquiries 01.23-06.23). Sign up for property alerts here. We have also built an active following on our social media channels, we post all of our new sales listings to our pages as another way for buyers to keep up to date with new properties.
Superior marketing
With the huge number of properties being launched to the portals everyday, your property needs to stand out from the crowd to capture the attention of potential buyers. Getting the basics right of having great photography and a captivating description are essential. We take the time to ensure that we show your property in its best light, and it works. Our listings achieve an average of 16% more views on Rightmove compared to other agents in our areas (Rightmove 01.23-06.23).
Ashford Road, Bethersden - currently for sale with Sandersons UK
Phased launch
Many agents are focused on setting the marketing live as quickly as possible across all the portals they use. This may be simpler administratively, but we don’t feel it is in our client’s best interest. We have a more considered and strategic marketing approach. This is focused around maximising the exposure of your property and ensuring actively ready buyers (who are registered for new property alerts) receive and don’t miss a key notification. One of the ways we achieve this is with a phased launch:
- Day 1 - Local launch to sandersonsuk.com, active applicants registered on our database & social media
- Day 2 - OnTheMarket portal launch for ‘Only With Us’ at the top of the search page
- Day 3 - Zoopla launch including partner sites such as Prime Location
- Day 4 - Rightmove on launch
Staggering the release of your property maximises exposure and ensures actively ready buyers (who are registered for property alerts) are less likely to miss a key notification. We can review the response from each phase and if need be, alter the buyer profile before launching to the next portal to get it exactly right. Buyers have a sense of anxiety to act promptly before the launch to the next online channel.
OnTheMarket promotes properties that are exclusively listed with them for 24 hours. Firstly through the 'Only With Us' banner that means the property appears at the top of searches for 24 hours. Also through their partnership with Country Life Magazine, exclusive properties with them are frequently promoted online and in the magazine.
Premium Listing vs Featured Property
Rightmove offers two additional options when listing a property, they are similar but have some key differences.
Premium Listings show more photographs than a standard listing and the overall listing is also larger. Rightmove quotes that Premium Listings receive 20% more property detail views (Rightmove data, 2022).
Featured Property also shows more photographs with a larger listing, but also appears at the top of property searches. The property appears twice as it also appears in the list of results. Rightmove quotes that these listings receive double the property detail views (Rightmove data, 2022).
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