Comments for Zoomf Blog - UK Property Blog. http://www.zoomf.com/blog Chatting about the property market, search and web 2.0. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:57:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 Comment on Sell-by-owner listings on the NAEA website? Not in our lifetime. by Mike Carter http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/17/sell-by-owner-listings-on-the-naea-website-not-in-our-lifetime/#comment-13126 Mike Carter Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:14:47 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=371#comment-13126 Agree completely. Two things need to happen with portals, engines and the agents. 1. The syndication partners need to be clear. If portals and engines distribute listings to other websites (a good thing for everyone as long as clicks come back to source) then that needs to be stated. 2. Conversion tracking needs to be enabled. Currently the majority of agents only understand volume of traffic. There is not a lot of talk about conversions which is the measurement of 'quality' of traffic. So 1,000 clicks from portal X should have a metric that says 70 converted (for example). Those 'conversions' would be emails submitted as a result of the click to your website. Regarding claims of 'largest listing' ... I'm not touching that snake-pit. :-) Agree completely.

Two things need to happen with portals, engines and the agents.

1. The syndication partners need to be clear. If portals and engines distribute listings to other websites (a good thing for everyone as long as clicks come back to source) then that needs to be stated.

2. Conversion tracking needs to be enabled. Currently the majority of agents only understand volume of traffic. There is not a lot of talk about conversions which is the measurement of ‘quality’ of traffic. So 1,000 clicks from portal X should have a metric that says 70 converted (for example). Those ‘conversions’ would be emails submitted as a result of the click to your website.

Regarding claims of ‘largest listing’ … I’m not touching that snake-pit. :-)

]]> Comment on Sell-by-owner listings on the NAEA website? Not in our lifetime. by Angus Edy http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/17/sell-by-owner-listings-on-the-naea-website-not-in-our-lifetime/#comment-13125 Angus Edy Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:08:17 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=371#comment-13125 I think sale by owner listings on traditional portals is a time bomb waiting to happen. All the portals would love to be able to charge owners significantly more per listing than they are able to charge agents. However, you are right, agents will be up in arms about this. Some portals are already trying to muddy the waters between agent listings and sale by owner listings. Upad for example have taken a feed of agent listings from Zoomf, claimed they have the largest number of listings of any portal and then tried to sell sale by owner listings directly to owners. my view is that it doesn't really help to sell properties having numerous different portals showing the same properties. Each portal needs to have something unique about it to make it worth advertising on. Rightmove are still by far the most succesful agent in traffic terms, probably due to their advertising spend. I think sale by owner listings on traditional portals is a time bomb waiting to happen. All the portals would love to be able to charge owners significantly more per listing than they are able to charge agents. However, you are right, agents will be up in arms about this. Some portals are already trying to muddy the waters between agent listings and sale by owner listings. Upad for example have taken a feed of agent listings from Zoomf, claimed they have the largest number of listings of any portal and then tried to sell sale by owner listings directly to owners. my view is that it doesn’t really help to sell properties having numerous different portals showing the same properties. Each portal needs to have something unique about it to make it worth advertising on. Rightmove are still by far the most succesful agent in traffic terms, probably due to their advertising spend.

]]> Comment on DomDot driving leads to Zoomf’s Agents by Anna Chapman http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/14/domdot-driving-leads-to-zoomfs-agents/#comment-13025 Anna Chapman Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:45:43 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=370#comment-13025 Hey guys. Good to hear from you. Firstly, would like to announce that Domdot will be translated into English in couple of weeks. Other 4 distinations will be added the same way in Russian version: we will collect the main keywords in description of property in english and indicate them in Russian along other important pieces of information that can be translated in automatic way (like tags, price indications and so on). So Domdot will slowly become a place where Russian people can look for any real estate abroad. Also don't really get your worries about the fact that Russians dont understand that English agents dont speak Russian - its not true! I can tell you that those people that are buying real estate in UK do realise that. For them there is just one problem - they dont know where to start the search and that is precisly what we are trying to help them with. There is another more important worry - with crisis the buyers slowed down, but that will not be forever... Hey guys. Good to hear from you.

Firstly, would like to announce that Domdot will be translated into English in couple of weeks.

Other 4 distinations will be added the same way in Russian version: we will collect the main keywords in description of property in english and indicate them in Russian along other important pieces of information that can be translated in automatic way (like tags, price indications and so on). So Domdot will slowly become a place where Russian people can look for any real estate abroad.

Also don’t really get your worries about the fact that Russians dont understand that English agents dont speak Russian - its not true! I can tell you that those people that are buying real estate in UK do realise that. For them there is just one problem - they dont know where to start the search and that is precisly what we are trying to help them with.

There is another more important worry - with crisis the buyers slowed down, but that will not be forever…

]]> Comment on DomDot driving leads to Zoomf’s Agents by Mike Carter http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/14/domdot-driving-leads-to-zoomfs-agents/#comment-13000 Mike Carter Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:03:23 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=370#comment-13000 LOL. Fair enough :-) Of course the Zoomf Blog isn't the BBC so I'm not sure about 'on the record' being that much exposure but we do have a fair readership. As you know can probably guess Ivailo, I completely agree with your analysis on the language issues on these types of things and it's early days for what a foreign syndication network can do for a UK agent. But of course, we're busy just trying to make sure clicks are understood in the context of conversions. Baby steps first. Be well my friend. LOL. Fair enough :-)
Of course the Zoomf Blog isn’t the BBC so I’m not sure about ‘on the record’ being that much exposure but we do have a fair readership.

As you know can probably guess Ivailo, I completely agree with your analysis on the language issues on these types of things and it’s early days for what a foreign syndication network can do for a UK agent. But of course, we’re busy just trying to make sure clicks are understood in the context of conversions. Baby steps first.

Be well my friend.

]]> Comment on DomDot driving leads to Zoomf’s Agents by Ivailo Jordanov http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/14/domdot-driving-leads-to-zoomfs-agents/#comment-12999 Ivailo Jordanov Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:32:53 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=370#comment-12999 Forgot to mention that anonymous owes me a VERY expensive dinner for not telling me that I was speaking on the record :) Forgot to mention that anonymous owes me a VERY expensive dinner for not telling me that I was speaking on the record :)

]]> Comment on DomDot driving leads to Zoomf’s Agents by Ivailo Jordanov http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/14/domdot-driving-leads-to-zoomfs-agents/#comment-12998 Ivailo Jordanov Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:21:50 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=370#comment-12998 Considering that the above posted comment contained a quote from me, I can elaborate on the reasoning. What can I do if I am the only guy that speaks Russian in town and asked to evaluate these things? :). Firstly I think Domdot is a good product and I was not referring to their quality of traffic or product, but rather to what happens in the current form of the implementation. You have a website which is in Russian, a Russian speaker browsing the website, clicks through to a listing on zoomf, which is in English. Zoomf registers an impression, but the user very quickly realizes that this is not for them and jumps back or perhaps they figure out the contact form and assume that since they got here through a Russian site, they can complete the form in Russian (the foreign language spam I was referring to). Hence why I think a portion of the traffic is useless. You are correct about the value of building a syndication network and I certainly believe that a different implementation with zoomf and Domdot could be advantageous, but I do not think that the current implementation makes sense for the reasons above. Here is an example, would you implement Paris listings in zoomf that are in french? Do you think there would be value to the French agents? Or how would you feel if the Madrid hotel descriptions on Expedia UK were in Spanish? Thats all, no at all related to who is competing with who :) Considering that the above posted comment contained a quote from me, I can elaborate on the reasoning. What can I do if I am the only guy that speaks Russian in town and asked to evaluate these things? :).
Firstly I think Domdot is a good product and I was not referring to their quality of traffic or product, but rather to what happens in the current form of the implementation.
You have a website which is in Russian, a Russian speaker browsing the website, clicks through to a listing on zoomf, which is in English. Zoomf registers an impression, but the user very quickly realizes that this is not for them and jumps back or perhaps they figure out the contact form and assume that since they got here through a Russian site, they can complete the form in Russian (the foreign language spam I was referring to). Hence why I think a portion of the traffic is useless.
You are correct about the value of building a syndication network and I certainly believe that a different implementation with zoomf and Domdot could be advantageous, but I do not think that the current implementation makes sense for the reasons above.
Here is an example, would you implement Paris listings in zoomf that are in french? Do you think there would be value to the French agents?
Or how would you feel if the Madrid hotel descriptions on Expedia UK were in Spanish?
Thats all, no at all related to who is competing with who :)

]]> Comment on DomDot driving leads to Zoomf’s Agents by Mike Carter http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/14/domdot-driving-leads-to-zoomfs-agents/#comment-12997 Mike Carter Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:06:01 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=370#comment-12997 Well of course traffic has to be judged on the merits of its quality. DomDot has it's own translation services and can speak more to how they qualify traffic themselves. Not sure why you think it smacks of desperation. Building a syndication network is always a good idea and then judgements can be made to quality as the relationship builds for both parties and an analysis is done. DomDot is not our only syndication partner and Ivailo Jordanov would make these comments as his engine competes with DomDot in Russia from what I understand. And regarding the Trinity Mirror deal, it's 2 weeks old. So of course a lot of good synergies will be executed throughout 2009 which will bring a lot of benefits to our agents. Would be interested in your name anonymous.... Well of course traffic has to be judged on the merits of its quality. DomDot has it’s own translation services and can speak more to how they qualify traffic themselves.

Not sure why you think it smacks of desperation. Building a syndication network is always a good idea and then judgements can be made to quality as the relationship builds for both parties and an analysis is done. DomDot is not our only syndication partner and Ivailo Jordanov would make these comments as his engine competes with DomDot in Russia from what I understand.

And regarding the Trinity Mirror deal, it’s 2 weeks old. So of course a lot of good synergies will be executed throughout 2009 which will bring a lot of benefits to our agents.

Would be interested in your name anonymous….

]]> Comment on DomDot driving leads to Zoomf’s Agents by Agent http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/11/14/domdot-driving-leads-to-zoomfs-agents/#comment-12996 Agent Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:44:37 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=370#comment-12996 [17:41:16] Ivailo Jordanov says: To me that means that a portion of your traffic is fairly useless. You can not realistically expect a Russian to read adverts in English and respond with an email or call in Russian. I would venture a guess that this is probably the source of your foreign language spam. I understand that the Trinity Mirror is trying to boost traffic, but this smacks of desperation and brings no value to UK agents or advertisers. It would be wiser, in my view, to invest in some good quality UK traffic. I wonder what your advertisers think about this? [17:41:16] Ivailo Jordanov says: To me that means that a portion of your traffic is fairly useless. You can not realistically expect a Russian to read adverts in English and respond with an email or call in Russian. I would venture a guess that this is probably the source of your foreign language spam.

I understand that the Trinity Mirror is trying to boost traffic, but this smacks of desperation and brings no value to UK agents or advertisers. It would be wiser, in my view, to invest in some good quality UK traffic.

I wonder what your advertisers think about this?

]]> Comment on I’ve been using Twitter for two weeks, so what do I think? by hipconsultant http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/06/09/ive-been-using-twitter-for-two-weeks-so-what-do-i-think/#comment-12958 hipconsultant Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:55:58 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/index.php/archives/183#comment-12958 Just signed up after being resistant to the twitter idea for a long time :) You have a new follower. Your comments made me smile as at present i am in the same position you describe ie me, myself and i; currently following me. The twitter search interface has been down since i joined 2 days ago so finding it harder than it should be to find good people to follow. http://twitter.com/hipconsultant Just signed up after being resistant to the twitter idea for a long time :)

You have a new follower. Your comments made me smile as at present i am in the same position you describe ie me, myself and i; currently following me.

The twitter search interface has been down since i joined 2 days ago so finding it harder than it should be to find good people to follow.

http://twitter.com/hipconsultant

]]> Comment on The importance of listing photos… by A Picture Paints a Thousand Words! | BrightSale Online Estate Agents - Property News and Views http://www.zoomf.com/blog/2008/07/25/the-importance-of-listing-photos/#comment-12933 A Picture Paints a Thousand Words! | BrightSale Online Estate Agents - Property News and Views Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:06:05 +0000 http://www.zoomf.com/blog/?p=275#comment-12933 [...] The guys over at Zoomf also have some interesting thoughts on this subject along with one of the strangest property photographs I have ever seen! [...] [...] The guys over at Zoomf also have some interesting thoughts on this subject along with one of the strangest property photographs I have ever seen! [...]

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