globrix.com Joins TDPG

homesandproperty.co.uk may have left The Digital Property Group’s network, but there is already something to take its place: UK property search engine globrix.com.
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Boom Time For Portals?

propertyportalwatch.com’s desk is awash with news of record web traffic for August 2009, so does this signify boom time is here for property portals?
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DPG Recruits to Beat rightmove.co.uk

The Digital Property Group (DPG), owner of four UK property portals, findaproperty.com, primelocation.com, homesandproperty.co.uk and findanewhome.com, has launched a recruitment drive.
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TDPG Pricing Attracts Debate

estateagenttoday.co.uk is reporting complaints from agents over new advertising rates for portals within the The Digital Property Group.
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Digital Property Group’s Record Month

Hot on the heels of announcing increased traffic to findaproperty.com and the portal’s new marketing campaign, The Digital Property Group has revealed that its network of four property portals received a record high of over 4.42 million total unique visitors in January 2009. This is an increase on its highest previous figure of 3.76 million, and includes the highest ever traffic levels for findaproperty.com and findanewhome.com.

findaproperty.com saw 2.79 million unique visitors while findanewhome.com earned its title as the UK’s most visited new homes portal. primelocation.com saw 2,082,550 unique visitors – a figure only bettered when the market neared its peak during January – April 2007. homesandproperty.co.uk saw a 37% month-on-month increase to 629,473.

It’s not just traffic either – DPG say the company saw a total enquiry uplift of 53% between 01 – 10 January 2009 compared with the same period in February 2009, with sales telephone enquiries for primelocation.com rising by an impressive 197%. Intellitracker figures confirmed a total of 8,947,159 visits across The Digital Property Group sites in January.

Mark Milner, Chief Executive of The Digital Property Group, said of the record statistics:

“Welcoming over 4.42 million unique home buyers and renters to our portals is an extremely positive start to 2009. What is especially pleasing is this high performance is shared across all of our brands and will drive UK and International enquirers to our member agents from every level of home buyer and renter.”

“It has been widely reported that consumers are re-engaging with the property buying lifecycle in response to opportunities within every tier of today’s market. This increased interest in our websites is equally the result of long-term investment into each of our individual consumer brands and the value we deliver to our returning visitors. The Digital Property Group is independently recognised as a clear no.2 in the property portal market and we expect to keep making ground on the number one position.”

The ABCe report confirms Hitwise’s latest rankings which place DPG’s combined portals second, with a market share of 25.52% behind rightmove.co.uk who hold a mighty 40.40% market share, and ahead of propertyfinder.com who have 10.43% market share.

Digital Property Group Takes Aim at Top Position

In a coup for the Digital Property Group (DPG), Countrywide plc, the UK’s largest estate agency group has agreed to list all its networks on DPG’s portals.

With its four portals combined, DPG is the UK’s number two player. The deal means that Countrywide’s network of over 1,000 estate and lettings agents will list their properties on primelocation.com, findaproperty.com, homesandproperty.co.uk and findanewhome.com.

The four DPG websites have a share of over 25% of visits within the UK property portal market (Hitwise November 2008) and exposure to more than 3.7 million monthly home buyers and renters (ABCe September 2008).

In statement from the two companies about the deal, Mark Milner, CEO of The Digital Property Group said: “Our work with Countrywide is essential to ensure we offer visitors the widest selection of properties as we continue to close the gap on our competition to become the UK’s number one property portal”.

DPG’s recently launched Insight analytics tool brings them in line with market leader rightmove.co.uk’s ‘Rightmove Plus’ functionality. Mark Milner of DPG said: “The launch of Insight, our new analytics tool empowers our member agents to increase enquiries and instructions in today’s property market. Amongst its many features, Insight monitors consumer traffic and produces real-time property search reports to enable agents to build a balanced portfolio which matches demand. The online software also allows agents to benchmark their performance versus the local market by postcode – an invaluable tool in monitoring real-time performance whilst targeting new opportunities in today’s challenging market-place.”

Grenville Turner, Countrywide Chief Executive said: “We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with The Digital Property Group to list the entire Countrywide network on their portfolio of websites.”

“Previously, our estate agents had individual agreements with different portal providers. We are in the process of implementing a new, coordinated online strategy to ensure customers have the widest access to all of Countrywide’s properties. This partnership will enable our branches to extend their online presence and reach a much larger audience.”

Grenville continued: “Now is the time to extend Countrywide’s online presence and TDPG have responded to the needs of estate agents and the conditions they are currently facing. The property market has been waiting for a portal to provide bespoke reporting that offers member agents a meaningful insight into their local markets and adds real value to their performance management. This partnership with The Digital Property Group will ensure that we are well placed for the return of the property market, and we look forward to continuing this relationship throughout 2009 and beyond.”

Countrywide’s agents include high street names such as Bairstow Eves, Mann & Co, Taylors, Abbotts, Dixons, Fulfords, Bridgfords, Gascoigne Pees, John D Wood and Countrywide Residential Lettings.

DPG Reveals Analytics Tool

The Negotiator has revealed that The Digital Property Group (DPG) is in the process of unveiling a marketing analytics tool for its member agents.

Called “Insight”, the tool will allow agents to monitor their traffic, and use the data to improve consumer marketing.

It brings DPG in line with their competitor rightmove.co.uk’s “Rightmove Plus” function.

Agents will be able to monitor traffic received from DPG’s portals and compare themselves to competitors in a “benchmarking” application.

The Negotiator quoted DPG chief executive, Mark Milner, as saying:

“The point is that our customers do not have this data at their finger tips. Their media spend should be subject to the same scrutiny as every other spend.”

“We are trying to put in the hands of estate agents the same media tools that we have, so they can measure their return on investment with our sites.”

The application will be available to member agents using DPG’s four property portals: primelocation.com, findaproperty.com, homesandproperty.co.uk, and findanewhome.com.

You can find out more at insight.thedigitalpropertygroup.com and see a demo here.

UK Portal Fees May Increase for Some

Recently we reported on an announcement that fees would not be rising in 2009 for major UK portals primelocation.com and findaproperty.com operated by The Digital Property Group.  But all is not as it first seems.

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