homesalone.co.uk Offers Free Listings
August 28, 2009 by Emma Sorensen
UK property portal homesalone.co.uk has revealed that it is moving to a free-to-list business model, pushing away from both the traditional subscription model favoured by the big UK property portals and the increasingly popular pay-per-lead model.
The company says that the change is in response to a number of takeovers, management buy outs and new portals arriving in the UK market which the company thinks is not only fragmenting the market to saturation point but also providing little value to estate agents.
Mijal Raja, Managing Director of homesalone.co.uk, emphasised the portal’s consideration of real estate agents in the decision, saying:
“There has been a lot of movement in the property portal market this year. Questions have been raised regarding which payment model is best, be it subscription or pay-per-lead. The truth is that neither model works for the estate agent, but both work in favour of the portal. We have redefined our core business with current and forthcoming products which are subsidised by ancillary services, and allow us to provide estate agents with a free alternative to what we believe are outdated and one-sided offerings.”
Jason Taylor, Sales & Marketing Director added:
“Whilst this market turmoil has been taking place homesalone.co.uk has been very quietly developing, refining and improving, with the aim of producing a site beneficial to both consumers and agents. We believe that we now have a unique offering which, over time as revenue generated by other portals dwindles, will become the standard in the industry.”
homesalone.co.uk is the brainchild of a team of industry experts from the fields of estate agency sales and lettings, conveyancing, and IT. The site provides properties to buy or rent along with a number of other services including mortgage and home appliance price comparisons.
The company’s “Home Movies” feature is set to become an on-line channel, hosting a range of features including property virtual tours that can be linked to the main property search engine, retailer advertisements, educational “how to” videos, and viewing tours for new property developments in the UK and overseas. Auction Homes Alone, a new UK property auction feature, is also due to launch soon.
homesalone.co.uk was recently redesigned to provide better property searching, integrated business services such as mortgage quoting, price comparison for home appliances and overall improved performance. Images have also been optimised to improve download speed on mobile devices.
The company says that further developments are scheduled for release later this year with a major print and TV campaign scheduled for 2010.
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Jason you seem to have a great website , only one thing suprises me why are you opting for a TV and Print advertising campaign??????. All research points these mediums in heavy decline and above all non cost effective – my recommendation to you as the Sales & Marketing Director for homesalone.co.uk. Option for a Online Campaign that is cost effective, reaches targetted audiences, in in large numbers; that can measured quantitavely. with respect – It’s a no brainer Jason ?
Not sure I agree with Tom fully on this. With such consumer oriented products you really need visibility. Granted UK TV has become much more fragmented, but this also brings the pricing down to much more affordable levels. You can’t switch on the TV without seeing moneysupermarket or a bloody meercat. Yes, it must also be backed up by an aggressive online campaign but should still figure in the overall marketing package. Simples Tschk.