Using the web for commerce, when you don't have an "e" product

Even fields such as landscaping, consulting and estate agency can make significant use of the web to generate a commercial return. Whilst it is difficult to digitise a "product" from these areas, it is possible to create a list of well qualified leads and to engage with them in a targeted and relevant manner.

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the Internet has evolved into a force strong enough to reflect the greatest hopes and fears of those who use it. After all, it was designed to withstand nuclear war, not just the puny huffs and puffs of politicians and religious fanatics. - Denise Caruso, New York Times

Take estate agency, for example. This business ebbs and flows with the economy and in some markets, it is easy to get leads and move property. Other times, when the economy is slower, buyers are scarce. In this environment it is particularly important that you have a good online presence and critically, that the reduced number of buyers in the market can find your site and the properties you list. Relying on leads exclusively from property centres can be a risky business in a low market.

For most real estate professionals the business climate has changed dramatically. Whereas for several years, simple presence in the field was a license to be successful and earn a significant living, today a much better strategy needs to be utilized, just to stay on the playing field.

Building a pipeline begins with attaining good data. This means: NATE - name, address, telephone number and email address. Increasingly, leads arrive from short text code messages from enquirers who see a property. These should be nurtured as they are usually very active buyers. While direct mail can still be of value, emails can be powerful, much quicker and less expensive, but no less targeted than other DM activity. For example, by grouping your prospect base into categories (like young family versus singly professionals), you can send out emails that are targeted to the interests of the prospects. The content of the emails will be customised with name, etc. but also the content and the list of properties will reflect the interests of the prospects. Generally, the greater the personalisation, the better the engagement from the prospects and the greater the response.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), also known as Organic or Natural Search is the process by which a site is designed to be aligned with the ranking of search engines. If the site is designed in a way that allows search engines to "see" your site clearly, by using HTML tags correctly, you can give your site the best chance of improved rankings. Regular and frequent content additions are important too and the content should be carefully designed to match tags, images, links, headings and other structural elements of the site. Keep the content on your site fresh, accurate and robust. For example, it’s a big turn-off to arrive at a site with inaccurate information or links that don’t work. Create a compelling reason for someone to search for properties on your site.

Last but not least: Links. As many links as you can get directing trafic to your site will improve ranking. This can be quite hard to achieve if you do not have a wide circle of associates with whom to foster co-operative links. Some independent hotels get round this by providing co-operative links between their site and hotels in different geographic territories. They are not competing (Vancouver and Edinburgh are not in the same market) however independents in both cities can help each other by fostering links.

Search Engines such as Google have a large paid component to its search results as well. Look at any search on google, say for "properties for sale in Edinburgh" and this will return two premium "sponsored links" at the top of the page and a series of tageted ads running down the right hand side. Companies bid for these positions using a variety of keywords that match the search phrase you provide. This is “pay per click” advertising and is unique in advertising media. Just try asking your favourite newspaper or property supplement to allow you to pay based on the results of the ad!

3. Honour channel preference – By that I mean make it as easy for someone to contact you via e-mail as by telephone. Prompt follow-up is also critical. Make sure you get back to them before they have a chance to reach out to a competitor. And as already mentioned, get complete information from each person so that you can maintain multiple contact points with them.

4. Utilize a contact management program. There are a number of these programs on the market today that will allow you to keep in close contact with those who warrant it, schedule others for contact later on, and also parse the database for mailings (as described above).

5. Study competitor sites. Although most sites have similar attributes, especially ones that are template driven, others are unique with varying degrees of professionalism. While a template site is okay, it has limitations from both a design standpoint and from a Search Engine Optimization perspective. Many Realtors have sites through the companies that they are representing (Prudential, Century 21, etc.) and also have another site that allows greater flexibility and opportunity for differentiation.

6. REALLY IMPORTANT – If you send an e-mail to your database and you do it in one bulk e-mail, make sure that you blind copy (Blind CC) all of the recipients. I received an e-mail recently from the developer of a new community. The e-mail was sent to 200+ individuals who had requested to be on the mailing list. The person who sent it out didn’t Blind CC everyone, and the entire list saw each other’s names. Besides the negative credibility impact for the developer, it was likely a bonanza for the handful of other realtors in town who were on the list themselves.

There is no question that this is a challenging time for most people associated with the real estate industry, including homeowners who are trying to sell their properties. The factors that fueled the market on the way up, along with the ones driving the downturn are out of the control of any individual.

What remains in your control is the lead generation and follow-up process. Hard work, strong organizational skills and a willingness to embrace e-mail/the Internet, are important ingredients to attaining impressive results in a tougher marketplace.

Copyright 2007 Robert A Innes

Wi-fi and Wimax.

This is a subject that could fill several books, however, at an outline level, the difference between the two is essentially range. Both are wireless networking approaches to allow multiple mobile devices to wirelessly connect to a local hub and onwards to a private corporate network or to an internet service provider.

The thing with high-tech is you always end up using scissors - David Hockney

Both of these terms are thought of as technologies, but they are actually certification marks for equipment that meets the requirements of the IEEE standards group, specifically, 802.11 for Wi-Fi an 802.16 for WiMAX. These standards terms are difficult to use in speech and therefore the terms Wi-Fi and WiMAX have come to represent the technologies behind the standards.

Wireless networking refers to the ability of a device (most often a laptop computer, but in the future, wi-fi enabled mobile telephones) to share files and access network services (browse the internet, conect to corporate data services, etc) without a physical wire connecting the laptop to the network. A special chip inside the laptop provides the wireless networking capability.

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)

Wi-Fi is a solution for offices, homes, bars and clubs. As a single solution, typically you would have a broadband (Digital Subscriber Line) modem connected to a wireless router (sometimes one device rather than two) to support perhaps 10 to 20 wireless devices (sizing the solution depends on many criteria).

Generally, the device that wireless signals trasmit to and from is known as an Access Point. To support a large facility, say a hotel or large office, many wireless access points might be deployed to extend the range of the wireless network (or wireless LAN, as it's often called - WLAN) beyond the distance that one device can support.

There are three variants of wireless networking A, B and G. A fourth, "N" is on the way. Most devices are backwards compatible, i.e. if you purchase a "G" capable device, it can most likely support A and B also. Essentially, each progressive variant extends the speed and range of the previous generation. It is important to remember that although a 54 Mbps (mega bits per second) wireless connection sounds very fast, the user experience on a wireless network is determined by many factors, not least, other wireless traffic sharing the access point, but also, the wired network onwards from the router. So, if the wired network runs at a 512K connection to the internet, this will likely be the slowest part of the link and the part that most greatly impacts the user experience.

Wireless networks can be easily secured using passwords, encryption and or MAC addressing (unique code on each network card/chip). Wi-fi networks in public spaces, e.g. a cafe, are usually referred to as hotspots. Although housings are available for mounting access points in external areas, Wi-Fi is much more commonly an indoor deployed service (though the signal from an access point can often overspill the office / cafe domain and provide a limited service to non target users outside).

A considerable amount of work has been done to provide a "services layer" of capability beyond the physical networking layer, for example, management systems to monitor and regulate traffic flow, authentication and charging services to administer user accounts, etc.

Many hotspots are moving to a free access model (free at the point of delivery) but supported by advertising or a recognition that free Wi-Fi will generate more traffic at the cafe, bar, etc. especially in non-core hours. Ad-supported models are likely to appear more and more as people shun paid access and migrate to locations that offer free access. An ad-supported model allows the cost of the access provision (not very great) to be recouped and a steady income stream provided into the future. Ads can take the form of sponsorship where a blanket ad for a mainstream brand washes across the screen and cannot be avoided. The branding opportunity is strong but transient. Other forms that are more intrusive, give more opportunities to see but may be less welcome to customers. However, given that access is free, customers are likely to have a high tolerence for advertising in this medium. The high water mark for advertising persistence has not been reached yet.

T-Mobile in the UK has a neat service where for £20 per month you can get a username and password and unlimited access at hundreds of hotspots up and down the country. If you are a T-Mobile contract mobile phone customer, the deal is even better - £10 per month for unlimited access and the £10 charge is conveniently levied to your mobile phone account.

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)

WiMAX is often thought of as Uber Wi-Fi, but it is in fact a different type of wireless networking. WiMAX is for Metropolitan Area deployment, often under the control of a Public Authority with remit for public service provision in the particular metropolitan area. WiMAX floods a town or city with (mainly) externally mounted high performance wireless networking devices, the signal from these devices will actively penetrate internal areas.

The effect is to provide wireless broadband capability for masses of people, commonly under the remit of the town or city (other Authorities might be large office / university campuses, though Wi-Fi would most likely be used). The initiative is often sponsored through a desire to overcome a lack of connectivity (either because of individual economic challenges or legacy wired network infrastructure limits). Other uses include corporate redundancy (an alternative to wired networks for resilience) and corporate to consumer services, especially by telcos to deliver additional services into homes without having to provide wiring into the homes. However provided, the central idea is that masses can connect to WiMAX and access a range of services not currently available.

The range of WiMAX can be as much as 70 miles, however, the performance degrades over long distances and with "Line of Sight" issues. Essentially you can have either high bandwidth or long reach, but not both simultaneously. You need a suitable WiMAX capable device, similar to W-Fi above, but at the moment, not interoperable cards/chips. So, any Wi-Fi capability your current laptop has does not guarantee any coverage in a WiMAX wireless network. This likely will change over the next three to five years so, for example, you might use a city facility (WiMAX) whilst travelling on a Public Transit Authority bus or train and then connect to a corporate wireless network (Wi-Fi) in your office, using the same card or chip supporting multiple protocols.

There is a saying in networking: fast, cheap, good - pick any two, but can't have all three. As with wired networks, so with WiMAX.

A great deal of the complexity of WiMAX is dealing in three areas: a) overspill to other networks, b) overcoming the obstacles of a diverse cityscape, and c) providing a fast and efficient way of connecting the "Mesh" network of WiMAX access points to the main switching station. Backhaul connection from the mesh will normally be at least 100 Mbps so there is little issue there, the problem is mostly at the "radio" side, the signal to and from the wireless devices, where theoretical connection speeds drop quickly as line of sight and other users impact the connection.

Most effort in this field is currently directed at the engineering level to address these points and less work has been done on the services level, compared to W-Fi, although, much of the services work developed in the Wi-Fi space will be transferrable, because most of the large Wi-Fi players are heavily involved in WiMAX.

At a services level, much work has gone into the commercial basis for WiMAX. If free at the point of delivery, who pays? One option would be to increase local taxes, but that is unpopular with politicians (and constituents!) and many installations are moving to some form of advertising supported model. Perhaps a systems integrator or infrasructure firm will pay for the install and then pay the local authority a %age of revenue generated from advertising on the network. This passes a lot of the risk for the project to a technology firm.

Copyright 2007 Robert A Innes

Commercial Property Notification

Today I saw an office property to let. The board outside the property advertised a short text code and a property reference number - for example, 88010 & HALLDM6. The service costs £1 per instance and delivers, initially a text message with basic details of the property, but very shortly afterwards a WAP push message with a min-schedule with photographs. Very impressive.

Clients often can't articulate exactly what they want in a system until they see a system with what they don't want. - Rob Innes

Similar services are well used by residential property sales agents and letting agents but this was the first time that I'd seen a similar thing for commercial property. Not sure about charging users £1 to access information in a form that makes service provision easier for the provider. Also the charge information was not displayed nearly as prominently as the call to action. Still interesting use of the technology.

Copyright 2007 Robert A Innes