Wednesday, 15 July 2015

Make your online property advert stand out from the crowd

It is common knowledge that most property searches now start online via major portals like Rightmove and Zoopla. So it’s more important than ever that people have a considerable online presence when it comes to selling their home. This means you need to know how to market your property effectively so it stands out from the crowd in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Here at ChimneyPots, we appreciate the importance of excellent online visibility and we do all we can to help you with this. In particular, your property advert is the first thing that would-be buyers will see. If you don’t catch their attention immediately, chances are they’ll look elsewhere.


There are a few things you can do to make your online property advert the crème de la crème. As we said before, the sellers’ market is a dog-eat-dog world these days – second-rate ads just won’t do the business anymore.

More than anything, your online advert needs to be visually appealing. The saying ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ is never truer where property is involved. Whet the buyer’s appetite with high-quality, professionally taken photographs that effortlessly highlight your home’s best attributes. This is something we can help you with at ChimneyPots, as well as coloured floorplans to give prospective buyers a clear idea of the property you are trying to sell.

Photographs should be chosen carefully and kept to a maximum of six – too many might be off-putting or give would-be buyers the impression they don’t need to view the house in the flesh because they’ve already seen it all. You want to entice and tease them, but you don’t want to give away everything.

The front shot is absolutely crucial. This should be a photo of the room you are most proud of, because it’ll be sitting front and centre of your online ad. The kitchen is often referred to as the most important room in the house, but a stylish master bedroom or a recently refurbished dining room could also encourage admiring glances.

In addition, tailor your photos on a seasonal basis. There is no point having a lush, spacious garden as your main picture if you’re looking to sell in winter. By the same token, a photograph of a cosy living room with a roaring fire is not appropriate if you’re selling in the height of summer.

Aside from the visual elements of your online property advert, the next most important thing is content. A punchy, engaging description will help your house stand out from the crowd. Keep it short, keep it light-hearted, try and make it witty if you can, but don’t be too effusive when it comes to praising your house as buyers are likely to see straight through this.

It doesn’t need to be a literary masterpiece; it just needs to convey your property’s best features in as concise a way as possible. It’s your first chance to put across your sales pitch so it’s an important step to get right.

All this, of course, is of no use if your advert isn’t placed on the right portals or seen by the widest range of people. We’ll advertise your property on Rightmove, Zoopla, Find a Property, Need a Property, PrimeLocation and many more platforms. The reach of the major portals is phenomenal and unrivalled, making it the perfect location for ultimate exposure.

Essentially, your online ad is there to sell your home. If it’s not up to scratch, the likelihood of that happening diminishes quite considerably. If you get it right, the number of viewings you secure will increase and the chances of an offer being placed are dramatically raised.

For more advice on selling property in Southampton, Portsmouth and the surrounding areas, please contact us on 08448 099931. Additionally, our instant online valuation tool gives you an accurate idea of what your property is worth in the current market.

http://chimneypotsestateagent.co.uk/make-your-online-property-advert-stand-out-from-the-crowd/ 

Wednesday, 1 July 2015

ChimneyPots ready to expand its business

At ChimneyPots we are delighted to say we are expanding our team after a successful year helping those across the South of England sell, buy and let property.
As we know, the majority of property searches are now started online, and we have sought to capitalise on that by giving our clients a considerable internet presence. At the same time, we always retain our personal touch and high levels of customer service that are the foundations of the company we’ve built.

The market being as buoyant as it has been in recent years has helped contribute to our success, but none of it would have been possible without the diligence, commitment and passion of our team. If you have a fantastic team on board, it stands to reason that your chances of being successful greatly increase.

We take particular pride in the marketing side of our business. Through our integrated marketing package with Angels Media, we provide an instant online valuation tool which allows sellers/landlords to assess the current market value of their properties. We have also enhanced our Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) to improve the user journey on our website. In addition, we have rolled out various ad campaigns to get the name of ChimneyPots out to as many people as possible.

Social media, too, has enabled us to improve our online visibility by giving us a presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Blogger.com. The immediacy, interactivity and engagement opportunities offered by these platforms helps to build relationships and acts as a great way for us to update existing/would-be clients about our recent activity.


Being a family-run business, we place great importance on building strong relationships with the people who use our services. We provide the same service as a high street agent but without the costly overheads, which means we can pass these savings onto you – the customer. We have three different pricing options to suit your personal requirements – Option 1 is a complete marketing package, with £375 paid upfront and £375 payable on completion; Option 2 is a comprehensive agency service, with £500 paid upfront and £500 payable on completion; and Option 3 also provides a comprehensive agency service but with 0.7% commission payable upon completion (much cheaper than many high street-agents).

We believe in flexibility and adaptability, so we aim to facilitate the demands of our clients as much as possible. As we said before, we recognise the huge importance of customer service when it comes to gaining and retaining clients.

A criticism often made about hybrid agents is that we are faceless, anonymous machines, holed up in some poky little room doing very little for the money we charge. This is not something we recognise. We don’t merely get your property exposure on all the main portals, we also devise a marketing strategy (including high-quality photographs, For Sale boards, coloured floor plans and virtual tours), we conduct a home visit with one of our trained valuers, and we take a dynamic and pro-active approach to make sure unnecessary delays and stumbling blocks aren’t put in your way.

Plus, of course, we don’t operate on a standard Monday to Friday/9-5 basis. We’re much more flexible than that. We’re open 7 days a week for added convenience, something many traditional agents don’t provide.

More than anything, the determination, hard work and skill of our staff have helped put us in the position where expansion of the business is both possible and credible.

For more information about selling and letting in Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester and many other areas in the South of England, contact us on 08448 099931.

http://chimneypotsestateagent.co.uk/chimneypots-ready-to-expand-its-business/