Enriching web sites
Commercial real estate portal PropertyLook is one such business that actually emerged out of those years Gartner coins as the “trough of disillusionment”. According to its general manager Wally Scales, it arose initially out of joint venture by the “big four” Australian commercial real estate players as a defensive strategy to cover the market space. It has since tailored itself into a clever portal that helps match people looking for commercial property with suitable estate agents. Working in much the same way as Domain.com or even jobs Web site Seek.com, PropertyLook primarily functions as a portal where real estate agents can advertise their commercial listings.
A key problem starting out in 2001, says Scales, was that unlike residential property listings which were quick to make the move to Web-based portals, commercial clients tended to be older and less inclined to embrace the Web as a resource for researching the market.
With that in mind, PropertyLook’s business model is structured around search engine optimisation, meaning that it is not necessary for a customer to know that PropertyLook exists but Googling for commercial property would hit quickly on the portal.
The challenge was to make the Web site user friendly and intuitive so that unfamiliar customers would be comfortable using it, as well as developing it into something that offered not just listings, but a place to thoroughly research the market. Scales explains: “In a newspaper the idea is to put in minimal information and the interested parties enquire of the agent for more information.
On the Web it works in reverse—if you don’t provide a whole lot of information upfront, because that listing is surrounded by a whole lot of other listings for similar types of stock, the viewer simply moves onto the next one. They are surrounded by choice and so if there is not a rich level of information, you will lose out.”
Since 2001 the commercial real-estate market has very much adopted this model and PropertyLook now ranks in the fi rst few hits in most searches. In October 2005 the site’s traffic had increased by 290 percent on its 2004 traffic. But as the penetration of higher bandwidth spreads and market expectations grow, the challenge to innovate and offer a richer and more tailored service has also evolved.
Virtual tours are nothing new in real estate Web sites, according to Scales, but the inclusion of flash-based virtual tours that offer more than just a spin around a room are now being made available. “A traditional virtual tour usually includes a 360-degree pan. In my opinion these are becoming dated because they are expensive to produce. What we are actively promoting on our Web site now is a flash-based animation which also features a professional voice over. It’s a far more versatile tour. To date the file sizes have been too large to run online, but with flash you can deliver a professional, rich, online tour with a voiceover for the same cost,” he says.
Another innovation currently under development for the Web site is the use of map-based searching. “Using GIS (Geographic Information System)-based technology you’ll simply start with a map and drill down towards the area you are after. On the side you’ll have some parameters that you can use to refine your search. Because it’s map driven you can see exactly where it’s situated, and if you click on a particular dot on the map it will bring you into the detailed information for that properly listing,” says Scales. “We are also tracking the Google Earth phenomenon [a satellite imaging and mapping service offered by Google] carefully. I think this is where a big part of property searching is heading in the future.”
Other functions have recently been included to PropertyLook such as an online booking facility for agents wishing to sell by auction. By completing an online form the auctioneer will be notified by e-mail and the booking published in an “upcoming auctions” section of the site.
And PropertyLook is also tackling customisation the site. “Once you subscribe to the Web site, you are able to enter a customised environment where everything is laid out and delivered up the way a customer wants it, and all the content that is irrelevant to them doesn’t even feature. Instead of viewers looking at generic info they will be looking at highly customised information according to their requirements,” Scales says.
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