Internet Advertising to be Relatively Unscathed

A recent article in the Economist discusses the likely impact of the current financial crisis is on the internet advertising market. It makes for interesting reading.

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Free Workshop - January 6, New York

There are still places available to our inaugral workshop. Property Portal Watch, in conjunction with the team at Inman News, are proud to announce the free Strategies for Tough Times workshop to be held on the 6th January in New York - the day before Inman Real Estate Connect conference.  The first 50 people to register will receive FREE passes to the Inman Real Estate Connec conference.

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Strategies for Tough Times Workshop

Property Portal Watch, in conjunction with the team at Inman News, are proud to announce the free Strategies for Tough Times workshop to be held on the 6th January in New York - the day before Inman Real Estate Connect conference.

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Property Portals and Generational Marketing

Generational marketing could become a lot more important for property agents and portals, particularly as Generation X, the first Internet savvy generation, begins to dominate the property market.

Generation X describes the demographic currently aged 27 to 43.

According to research by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), in the US Generation X make up approximately 25% of Realtors® and over 55% of homebuyers. Generation Y are slowly advancing into the property market, while Boomers still make up most of the decision makers in companies.

It might be old news, but some are taking the hype about the different demographics very seriously.

According to a recent article by RISMedia you need to understand how to work with Gen Xers, as well as how to promote portals and properties to them.

The article states:

“Gen Xers are the first generation to embrace the full potential of the Internet. They may be going 100 MPH on the information highway but they still need help reading the road signs. They look for value in services and are willing to pay for it. They want choices. Services should not be “one size fits all.” Gen Xers want to see the value of a transaction and how it can fit into their financial future. Gen X consumers expect to access their transactions, reports and documents online 24/7.”

US based portal Homes & Land released data about their readers that corroborates NAR’s demographic research. They say 61% of their audience is between 25 and 44 years old.

Most interestingly, Homes & Land say 69% of their audience is female, with males making up just less than a third, or 31% of their audience.

Times are Tough (part 2)

I just wanted to follow up on the article i wrote yesterday with some more thoughts on what property portal sites should do in the current financial crisis.

I came across a presentation from Sequoia Capita on startups and the economic downturn.   The key messages are similar to the ones i wrote in the previous article however they have gone into more depth and i thought i would summarise them here for everyone.

Here are the key messages:

1. The recovery will be long - dont expect a quick turn around
2. There are new realities - raising money on high speculative valuations is a thing of the past and series B and C funding will be very very tough
3. Customer take up of businesses will be slower than projected
4. Expense cuts are a must
5. You have to become cash flow positive

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Times are Tough, Portals Should Tighten their Belts

The credit crunch and the collapse of the financial markets can only mean one thing - the days of easy access to funding is well and truly over.  In a recent article on cnet titled “VC’s throw cold water on portfolio companies“, VC’s and angel investors are giving their portfolio companies a clear message - prepare for the worst.

So what sort of preparation as they talking about?  They are suggesting cutting marketing costs, reducing G&A costs and even laying off staff.  The way angel investor Ron Conway put it in a letter to his portfolio companies is “This is the equivalent to “raising an internal round” through cost reductions to buy you more time until you need to raise money again; hopefully when fund raising is more feasible.”

The other pieces of advice being offered include:

• If you need to raise money, start early and raise as much as you can
• Talk to any VC / investor you can - you cant afford to be picky
• Aggresively examine M&A opportunities as strength in size will be important
• Be very realistic on your valuation as they will fall
• Potentially consider the sale of your company to a corporate partner

On top of this, it is highly unlikely that VC’s, angel investors or the private equity market will be investing in new businesses (at reasonable valuations) any time soon. 

Therefore what does this mean for the property portal sites around the world?

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Four Types of Property Portal Markets

In a previous article i wrote about a number of different business models that there are in the property portal world (Click here to read the article).  However, not all of these models can be applied to every market and to understand where to apply a business model, you must first understand the type of market you are operating in to determine the likelihood of success.

These four market types are - Maturing Markets, Emerging Markets, Early Stage Markets, and Non-Existent Markets.   Each of these are discussed in turn in this article.

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Property Portal Financial Models From Around the World

When looking at property portals around the world, there are various financial models that are being chased.  The main ones are subscription, pay per listing, free to pay - pay to upgrade, lead generation and pay per acquisition.

The models that are truly delivering returns to the operators are the Subscription Model and the Pay Per Listing Model.

Each of these models is discussed in detail in this article.

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