Published: 11 January 2007.

By Nick Buick

In this article we offer some practical advice to ensure your listings generate the marketing response they deserve.

Keep syndication in mind

The Property Manager’s listing engine syndicates listings to a much wider network of websites than just this one. Whenever you add or change a listing on this site, your updates are automatically syndicated to our various partners including:

• Your own business’ website (ask us how);
• RentAustralia.net.au; 
• StudentHousing101.com.au;
• RealEstate.com.au;
• RealCommercial.com.au (as of 2007);

Some of these sites are owned and operated by us, others are independent websites whose internal architecture is entirely different to that of ThePropertyManager.com.au.

As such, each site updated has unique requirements to what it will and won’t classify as a valid listing. For example, RentAustralia.net.au allows you to add a listing without any photography, Realestate.com.au on the other hand, will ignore all listings that do not have at least 1 photograph included.

We understand that each agent wants varying quantities and types of information on their listings, so to keep things simple for you, ThePropertyManager.com.au leaves it to you to decide what details are relevant. Generally, however, the less detail you provide, the less likely your listings are to generate leads. If you want your listings to appear on ALL partner websites, you should complete every field in the listing.

RealEstate.com.au and RealCommercial.com.au will reject any listing or update that fails to include the following data:

• Listing Address details including postcode and suburb (these are validated against the Australia Post postcodes database);
• At least 1 photograph;
• A Headline;
• Description Text;
• Price;

Provide accurate and complete listings

If your listing omits details by which a user has searched (eg: the State the listing is located in), your listing will be excluded from that search, reducing the number of people who will see your listing.

Your listing will automatically include street directory maps and satellite aerial photographs according to the address information you specify. Provide inaccurate or incomplete addresses, and these maps will be misleading.

Keep your listings up-to-date

By default, listings are displayed in reverse chronological order to the date they were last updated. Therefore agents / managers who keep their listings database up-to-date are rewarded with more prominent listings.

Keep your profile up-to-date

Ensure your contact details, (in particular your email address and phone numbers) are accurate. Your profile includes many important details, including your company logo and paragraph of text to sell your ability as an agent or manager to prospective clients – have you completed yours?

A picture is worth a thousand words

Users will be far less likely to open listings that fail to provide photographs, or use unflattering imagery.

When searching for property, users are searching through many hundreds of listings, often clicking backwards and forwards to various properties… Like putting a face to a name, photographs provide users with a visual-aid as to which property they are actually enquiring and make it easier for them to recall the properties specific details at a later date.

Double check your listings

When you create a listing your attention to detail and professionalism as an agent or manager is being put on display. Listings that have spelling / punctuation / grammatical errors or incorrect details make you look sloppy to both prospective clients and vendors alike. Double check your listings for errors to ensure you’re putting your best foot forward.

Be honest

Your reputation as an honest agent or manager is your most valuable asset, don’t have it tainted by providing misleading information or omitting important details. Realestate.com.au will ban agents who provide misleading advertisments.