Dear Valued Subscriber
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March Edition Newsletter
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Welcome to the SAHometraders Newsletter, the aim of which is to keep you up to date and informed as to new developments and features on our site.
Over the last month we have seen the local economy blowing hot and cold, with promising interest rate cuts on the one side, and on the other, rumours of a looming recession in South Africa flaring up like a bush fire.
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Most countries do not have the luxury of interest rate cuts in these tough times, and yet, South Africa can look forward to more cuts coming our way on top of last month’s 100 basis point rate cut. This will certainly take the pressure of cash-strapped consumers and stimulate the economy, while the property market is likely to respond positively.
While the cynics are speculating that things might get worse before it gets better, experts believe that the property market can only grow stronger from here on. |
This newsletter contains:
- Updates on current activity
- Information on our cutting-edge new features
- Marketing services that work for you
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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| Subscriber Update |
In Case You Haven't Noticed...
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When you want a list of your properties for sale, you would go to Property Admin and, to date, the Detailed Listing option, selected as a radio button to the left of the “Next” button, has been the default as shown below: |
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We discovered that certain agencies hadn’t picked up on theses options and are therefore un-aware of the many options and functions available when selecting “Text Listing”. By popular demand we have now made the Text Listing the default option. |
The numerous benefits of using the Text Listing option are:
- It saves you time as it loads faster because images are excluded.
- It is easier to delete property listings
- Marking your listings as inactive/active, for sale/sold can be done in one step.
- Sending html property brochures by email.
- Printing brochures.
- Downloading and saving an Excel spreadsheet of your listings.
- Creating custom reports.
- And much more…
If you scroll to the bottom of your listings you will find various ways of marking selected properties. See the example below for these options.
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The Detailed Listing is limited in terms of the amount of info that can be displayed because there is only so much space on your monitor without having to scroll left or right. Accordingly, the text listing option provides much more information at a glance and can also be downloaded onto an Excel spreadsheet that includes additional information such as the address of the property etc. This downloadable report can be used as a stock list and will certainly cut down the hours that you spend drawing up stock lists manually.
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Alternatively, you can also create a customised report for each individual agent or the agency as a whole. See the example below. These custom reports can be saved for repeated use.
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Stay Legally Informed
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| Trevor Manuel’s budget for 2009 showed an aggressive cut in taxes, meaning more disposable income for consumers – a definite positive for the property market. C&A Friedlander Attorneys gives us some perspective on the key tax issues raised in the budget … Read more |
Marketing Your Own Website
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Marketing your website is as important as owning your own on-line real estate. There are many off-line marketing strategies that can be used to drive traffic to your website, like including your web address on all printed materials such as business cards, brochures, letter heads, fax cover sheets, newspapers ads etc. You can even add it to the agency’s main voice mail message or your mobile phone’s mailbox message.
Agents can put magnetic decals on their car doors and add stickers in back windows. Have you included your website address on all For Sale and On Show boards? Go all out - print the website address on the back of a T-shirt and wear it to the gym. Remember that you can expose all your property listings by making effective use of just a small space.
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We Welcome Aboard
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Every month, SAHometraders welcomes new members who joined our innovative way of advertising property on the Web. These members will soon start reaping the rewards of our progressive approach to Internet advertising, including maximum exposure for their properties and superior cost-effectiveness. This month we are proud to welcome:
- Edenvale Rentals
- Des Robb Estates
- Dickson Real Estate
- Invest In The Best Properties
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- Hanlies Properties
- Home- Rite Real Estate
- Anna Basson Properties
- Superior Realty
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The SAHometraders 6 property specific portals, our 19 regional specific portals and 3 affiliated sites (IOL Property, which is marketed in various newspaper publications, Gravity - South Africa’s only property search engine and Property Genie) will ensure that your multiple listings reach a large target market, but having your own website designed is the ultimate tool, allowing you to take advantage of the many benefits of Internet Marketing while you showcase your entire portfolio of properties.
This month, 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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| New Features |
Receive SMS Notification of Enquiries |
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SAHometraders is about to launch a useful new service that makes it possible for subscribers to receive SMS notification when they get an enquiry from potential buyers. At the same time, agents will also receive e-mail notification as usual. This service gives agents the opportunity to respond to an enquiry immediately, whether on the golf course or at home. It makes a lot of sense if you consider that a large amount of Internet users browse the web after work or over the weekends. Our system will automatically send you a notification SMS when you receive an enquiry, plus the website user has the option of choosing to send a SMS message that will also be sent directly to your phone. To take advantage of this great service, agents need to buy 300 credits @ R150 upfront, meaning an SMS will cost you a mere 50c.
Contact us to subscribe and increase your chances to close a deal. |
Add Multiple Agents to Rental Property |
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A while back we added a feature to link multiple agents to a property for sale. Now you can also link more than one agent to a rental property. To do this, just go to Rental Admin, navigate to the property you want to add more agents to, and click on Edit. Then scroll to Agent where you will see the Link Additional Agents box. Click on the box and simply select the agent/s you want to add. |
Property Viewing Report |
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When negotiating, agents often need data to motivate the selling price of a property. SAHometraders is giving you a negotiating tool in the form of property viewing reports. By using these reports, along with enquiry reports, you can show your clients how much interest a property has had over a certain period of time. You can get your hands on these reports in the back office under Reports. |
SAHometraders Speaks Your Language |
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The SAHometraders property sales section can now be browsed in Afrikaans. Users can go to our home page and select Afrikaans to start using this new feature. We translated the navigation as far as possible, however users should still use the English names of cities/towns/suburbs when doing a Quick Search. |
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| Marketing Services |
Banner Advertising |
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We would like to highlight to everyone that there are banner ads available on both our national and regional sites. Banners appearing above the fold are available at 5c per exposure with a minimum take up cost of R1000 per month. These banners give agencies greater exposure with links directly to their website or, if you don’t have your own website, ask us about our cost effective website deals. Alternatively, we can link to your property listings on SAHometraders.
You banner will be exposed to the around 200 000 visitors that view 1.5 million pages on our sites per month. |
Here are some examples of agencies that are currently taking advantage of our offer:
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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.
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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. |
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