Dear Valued Subscriber
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August Edition Newsletter
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Welcome to the SAHometraders Newsletter for August. Seacom’s 15 000 km undersea fibre-optic cable, connecting Africa to Europe, the Middle East and Asia, has finally come on stream and are set to change the way South Africans interact with the Internet. This multi billion rand project went live on 23 July and brings with it the promise of faster Internet at cheaper rates for both fixed line and mobile phone users.
With internet connectivity assured to boom in South Africa, more people will tap into cyberspace and consumer behaviour is bound to shift from limited web browsing and checking email to enjoying more internet content including e-commerce and accessing media-rich applications such as audio and video. The good news is that this exciting development will generate an increasing number of house hunters who will turn to the net for finding property, bringing a bigger audience for your listings. |
In this edition :
- Make use of our IOL Property feed and our new Property Map to get more exposure for your listings
- How to publish property videos on our site and make the most of the feature property area on your site
- Sign-up for a programme that helps you analyse how visitors interact with your website
- And much more…
At SAHometraders, our goal is to provide quality lead generation from our 6 genre specific national sites and 19 regional specific sites by meeting the demand for inventive forms of advertising with progressive online marketing ideas and state-of-the-art design features. If you have any queries regarding our various products or services, please don’t hesitate to contact us: sales@sahometraders.co.za.
Yours in online marketing
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| New Features |
More Exposure With IOL Property Feed
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IOL Property is South Africa’s largest database of online property and constantly makes use of the country's largest property print publications to advertise their website. Their user-friendly site hosts 270 000 property listings and, like SAHometraders they enjoy a large amount of traffic and good positioning on various search engines. You can now advertise your listings on IOL Property by way of our dynamic feed. All you need to do is send us an email with a request to be added to the feed. This service is 100% FREE.
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Property Map Update
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Last month we launched our new Property Map and subscribers from all over have responded very positively to this new innovation. We’ve have been keeping track of problems that agents are having when loading properties onto the map, and one of the predominant problems seems to be with viewing the map. Browsers including Internet Explorer 7 are showing some compatibility issues, which causes trouble with opening and viewing the map. Should you experience such problems you might want to download a more compatible browser. Click here to download Firefox 3.0.12
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Upsize/Downsize the Featured Property Zone
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Owners of a website designed and hosted by SAHometraders will be glad to know that you can now choose how many featured properties you want showcased on you home page. We know that different agencies have different needs and therefore you should be able to choose whether you want 1, 3, 6, 9 or 12 properties displayed on your homepage, as well as which properties you want to feature. Contact us should you wish to alter your featured property. Click here to view an example of a homepage that shows 12 featured properties.
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Property Video Links
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Successful estate agents are always on the lookout for ways to ensure maximum exposure for their properties and recently video marketing has become the newest way to advertise property. SAHometraders gives you the opportunity to showcase your property videos alongside your listings. Once you’ve uploaded your property video to a video-sharing site like YouTube, copy the URL of the page your video is published on. Then simply go to Property Admin and select or create the property you want to add the video to. Scroll down till you see LISTING IMAGES AND MEDIA and add the full URL in the Property Video box. Remember the same can be done for Virtual Tours.
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New Regional Sites in the Pipeline
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Our 19 regional sites are doing so well that we have decided to add 4 more sites to our collection. The latest edition was Midrand and you can expect Hout Bay, Lowveld, Rustenburg and Centurion to join the ranks in the near future.
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| Subscriber Update |
Great Images + Good Description = More Enquiries |
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Last month we passed on some valuable tips and advice on taking great photos and writing good descriptions. If you missed out you can visit our Newsletter Archive here. We would like to again stress the importance of good quality images as well as accurate well-written description as these components ultimately influence a potential buyer’s decision to enquire or not.
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How well are you marketing your website? |
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It is essential to be able to evaluate how well you website is doing. Google has a powerful, flexible, easy-to-use and easy-to-install program that will help you analyse how much traffic you are getting, where you traffic is coming from, how long visitors are staying on your site and other valuable information. To make use of Google Analytics you need a Google Account. Don’t have one yet - sign up here.
Use your Google Account e-mail address and password to register for a Google Analytics account here. You need to follow the prompts to register you website and ultimately Google will provide you with a piece of HTML code similar to this: |
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Copy the unique tracking code, email it to us at support@sahometraders.co.za and we will finish the process by adding the code into you web pages. It is really this simple and 100% FREE! Contact us if you need any further information on Google Analytics and how to register your website.
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News Ideas |
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If you own one of our quality websites and often struggle to come up with topics for your News section, here are some ideas:
- Keep an ear out for things happening in your community, whether it is the annual flower show or an important event like the development of a new mall, shopping centre, hotel etc.
- Try to connect with the other businesses in your community that also have their own websites. (Stick to property related businesses like painters, movers, bond originators, interior decorators etc.) Publish an article on their product of service in exchange for a link from their site.
- Always reference your source of information and never simply copy and paste an article, as this is seen as plagiarism. It is essential that you always write unique content.
- If you own a franchise agency, you can publish press releases regarding the franchise like the appointment of a new CEO/MD.
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We Welcome Aboard |
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More and more agents are realising that if your agency is not advertising on the Internet, you're loosing out on valuable business opportunities. Over the last 2 months we saw a large number of agencies joining our innovative way of advertising on the web, which proves that despite the economic downturn, online advertising remains the most cost-effective way to display your listings. This month we welcome these subscribers:
- Princess Grant Properties
- Dorette Steyn Properties
- Harcourts West Coast
- Evergold Properties
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- Stately Homes
- Harcourts Jacaranda
- M & T Development
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These agencies put themselves ahead of the pack by getting their own site designed by SAHometraders. Here are some examples of our quality designs: |
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| Marketing Services |
National Site |
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SAHometraders has over 600 subscribers, marketing 35000 properties for sale, 4000 rentals and a selection of farms, businesses and commercial developments.
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Product Range |
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- List Management
- Monthly/Quarterly Newsletter
- Electronic Signatures
- Newsflashes
- Various SMS Options
We would be happy to design an appropriate package to suit your particular needs. Should you be in the process of setting up a similar arrangement elsewhere, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a competitive option. |
Agency Website Design and Hosting: |
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| In addition to the national site, SAHometraders has designed over 200 agency sites. These sites are based on a proven core property search engine and listing technology, that is constantly being enhanced and updated at no further cost to you, and are personalized in terms of look, feel, branding and any additional information that may be required. |
The Bottom Line: |
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- Subscription fees: R228 p/m for 10 listings or R399 p/m for unlimited listings
- Once-off all-inclusive cost of R3876 for agency website design
- Thereafter a charge of R171 p/m for website hosting
- All costs include VAT
We look forward to hearing from you and are more than happy to discuss further detail telephonically, or where practical, it can be arranged for us to call on you. You can email us at sales@sahometraders.co.za. |
