Dear Valued Subscriber
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July Edition Newsletter
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Welcome to SAHometraders Newsletter for July. As the rest of the world struggles to cope with the global financial meltdown, South Africa shines as we are congratulated on successfully hosting three major sports events over the last 6 months. Cricket's most lucrative event, The Indian Premier League, the highly anticipated British and Irish Lions rugby tour and the Fifa Confederations Cup injected billions of rands into the South African economy and experts are already speculating about the positive spin-off that this, and hosting the upcoming 2010 Soccer World Cup will have on the local property market.
Talking about hosting - be sure to check out SAHometraders red-hot deals on the design and hosting of your agency’s own website. Also in this edition, you’ve talked and we’ve listened. Continue reading to find out how your suggestions paved the way for some more innovative features. |
This newsletter contains:
- Information on our cutting-edge new features
- Updates on current activity
- Marketing services that work for you
At SAHometraders, our goal is to provide quality lead generation from our 6 property type 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 |
Monthly Views and Enquiry Reports
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You can now view a report stating how many views and enquiries each of your individual properties had over a one-month period (starting March 1, 2009). To do this, open Property Admin, go to List all properties by Agent/Type select an agent and click Next. The text listing will show the Action column with a tab labelled Activity. Click this tab to view each property’s report, which will look like this:
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Put your properties on the Map
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It’s new, it’s groundbreaking and you can start taking advantage of it right now. The SAHometraders Property Map aims to provide potential buyers with a geographical perspective of a property. Using Google Maps, house hunters are able to view a street map and satellite image of a property and its surroundings. It shows other properties for sale in the area as well as its proximity to major highways, schools, hospitals and other amenities.
Most of all, this site was designed to give your listings even more exposure. Loading your properties are 100% free and easy-as-pie. Click here for a guide on how to get your properties on the map.
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| Subscriber Update |
Follow Us On Twitter |
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To say that Twitter has taken the world by storm is an understatement. On the odd chance that you haven’t heard of it, this social media site is a service for people from all over the world to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick and frequent “Tweets” or messages. It has been hailed as a great way for real estate agencies to tune into activities among their target market, competitors, and industry thought leaders. Posting a tweet takes seconds and signing up is easy. Don’t forget to follow SAHometraders at http://twitter.com/sahometraders for interesting tips, ideas and property news updates.
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Some News on Our Thriving Rental Site |
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Over the last 6 months, SARental has had more than half a million visitors, resulting in around 3,5 million page views. This can largely be contributed to the fact that our rental site is extremely well positioned on all search engines for all major keywords/phrases. Isn’t it great to know that your rental properties are enjoying this exposure? |
Tips on Writing Description and Titles |
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Extensive studies have shown that the words of a property listing do as much for selling the property as the images. It is therefore extremely important to get the wording of an ad right. Here are some tips on how to write effective titles and description for your properties.
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Writing the Title
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Find A Unique Feature/Quality: A lot of titles read exactly the same, making it hard for a property to stand out amongst the rest. Your challenge is to write a catching yet accurate title using a property’s unique attribute to attract a potential buyer’s attention. You might want to give it some thought.
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Remember the Keywords: The subject line should be interesting enough to grab the buyer’s attention, but to make it Search Engine friendly, it should also include vital keywords, such as property, house, apartment, etc.
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Don’t Repeat Information: When it comes to the title, agents often repeat information that is already shown in the property features and facts section, such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms etc.
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Writing the Description
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Keep It Short and Punchy: A common mistake made by agents is writing descriptions too long. Use your most persuasive language to simply capture the essence of the property. Don’t exaggerate, rather be specific e.g. don’t say a spacious kitchen if you can, in fact, give the specific square metres (m²).
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Highlight the Positives: Words like "small garden" imply a lack of space, but instead of stressing the negative, rather turn that into something positive like "easy-to-maintain garden".
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Use Good Grammar and Punctuation: Show your professionalism by ensuring that the language and grammar you use are correct. Write your property description in a word application like MS word to take full advantage of the built-in spell checker and thesaurus.
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Focus on the Area - The description should focus on information regarding location, such as the fact that it is close to the beach, or 20 minutes from Cape Town, or close to schools in the area. Being more specific about location parameters and infrastructure will give the search engine spiders more to pick up on, as well as give the potential buyer a better idea of where the property is and why it is such a good buy. Once again, don’t repeat information already stated in the features and facts section.
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Real Estate Photography Guide |
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After doing some research, SAHometraders has come up with some excellent tips on how to take professional photographs of property. You needn’t be the next Annie Liebowitz or spend a fortune on photography classes. In fact, all you need is some guidance and a little common sense … Click here to view and/or download our Real Estate Photography Guide. |
Legal Update |
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This month C&A Friedlander Attorneys gives us more info on the abolition of stamp duty … Click here to read more
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Mobi Site Dynamic Marketing Tool |
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Since the launch of our mobile site last year, cell phone users had the opportunity to browse our site via their mobile phones - anywhere, anytime. Since then http://saht.mobi had roughly 7500 visitors and we expect this number to grow even more since South Africa has 39-million mobile phone subscribers and the fourth-fastest growing mobile communications market in the world. This is yet another way that we ensure maximum reach for your listings! |
Comic Feedback |
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At SAHometraders we never get tired of clients e-mailing us their feedback, whether it is a comment or suggestion or just a mail to thank us for our service. Sometimes we even get compliments from non-clients, as showed in this email we received a while ago:
Dear SAHometraders
Please contact me on the number below regarding incorrect information posted on your website associated with an available property rental.
I am receiving calls for rental on a property I own and reside in!....will rent the wife if necessary!! Clearly… your site works!
Cheers |
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:
- Des Robb Estates
- Superior Realty
- David Grant Real Estate
- List and Let Johannesburg
- Orange Realty
- World of Real Estate
- Opportunity.co.za
- The East Village
- Dibz Private Sales
- Harcourts West Coast
- Just Letting Tygerberg
- Jedco Properties
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- Property 100 – 17 Offices
- Invest in the Best
- Team Syndicate Properties
- Josalle Properties
- List and Let - Durban
- Lara Green Properties
- Firzt Realty South
- Haus To Go
- SLM Properties
- Harcourts House of Realty
- Harcourts Elite
- Real People
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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. |
