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1st March 2007  

Looking for the best real estate (site)...?

4 years since our last major upgrade to our site, we are proud to launch the new look aussiehome.com web site today, which has been in planning for many months. We have to thank everyone for their input, ideas and hard work to pull this together, and precisely on time. Thank you one and all.

New aussiehome.com web site

Some new features:

* set to wider 1024 pixel settings (today's standard)

* New 'keyword' search (main central box) so you can search for properties with 'ocean views', 'pools', and in a certain suburb, or by ID number ...

* latest in Google map 'mash' technology (click map search)

* side bars on the left and right (always visible) for all links to be seen (using no pull downs)

* all wrapped around a new, modern look and feel

Any comments on the site? Crave the old site? Please follow the links below the Properties of the Week on the new home page - bottles of wine for the best comments!


Using the site - side bars

left hand side barOne design rule in any web site is that "you should always be able to get to every page form every page", and the new permanent left & right hand side bars means this is possible.

All your SEARCHING can be done using the left hand bars. RESEARCHING and AGENT (client) LOGIN can also be found on the left hand side

Click on the couple looking at the laptop (top right image) to also go to the AGENT LOGIN

Our 'Related Services' advertisers appear in the right hand side

There are now THREE larger spots for 'Properties of the Week' on the home page - a popular opportunity (still only $176/wk!) has now been made even more prominent, and an extra slot has now been made available. To enquire on BOOKINGS click here


The new look Google Map Mash

No doubt you're heard of Google, and perhaps their Google Earth (http://earth.google.com). Google Maps have been available since Sept '06 and we have used them on our site (and our hosted sites) for many a month now.

Map Mash

The 'map mash' concept allows developers (like us) to use their product and place properties on maps using our own icons, and includes satellite imagery and zooming to lot level. It also allows MAPPED PROPERTY SEARCHING - something we developed using our own technologies since we first started in 1999, but now has become available almost as standard.

We have taken this a step further today using pull down filters and list of properties around the map. It is the ultimate 'map-based search tool' for property that we first envisioned almost 8 years ago. ENJOY!


Comments / Feedback?!

We'd love to hear your comments (good, bad or indifferent) to the new site.

CLICK HERE TO GIVE US YOUR VIEWS - Best comments get bottles of wine!


 
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The 3 main rules of web site design

1. Site should load in 8 seconds (after that time, 50% of your users leave). A new site, like ours today, with new graphics, might break this one until people have used it and the site 'caches' on their machine.

2. Site must be easy to use/navigate (they don't come with instruction manuals). Always difficult when introducing a dramatic new site after the previous has been there for a few years.

3. Site must be up to date (it's only as good as the data entered) - this is up to all of us.

Other new portals

2006 marked a watershed year in the online (web) advertising in Australia as the A$1 billion was crossed for the first time (a 66% increase in 2005: BRW Feb 24th 2007). The big 3 print media companies in Australia all now each have their own car, real estate and job web sites. The sector is certainly 'hotting' up, as the inexorable shift from print to online media gathers pace.

2 new sites have been launched recently for real estate: myhome.com.au (predominantly owned by PBL Media - Packer - and what was the remnants of homehound.com.au, a franchise site) and rent.com.au (a new site, headquartered in Perth, which looks to dominate the rental space). No doubt representatives from these sites have been contacting you.

Our position (which we are happy to state) is that as the shift from print to online takes hold there will always be new entrants into the marketplace. Do you need these other sites? We have 'property feeds' available for all our clients so you can be on your own site (the most important one in our view) and the Top 4 real estate sites in WA: 1. realestate.com.com, 2. reiwa.com, 3. aussiehome.com and 4. domain.com.au. We have 5 years experience in feeding to other sites and 8 years experience in managing aussiehome.com.

At the moment, we do not feed to myhome.com.au or rent.com.au; but should the demand from our clients be great enough then we could consider establishing one. I suppose it is up to you whether this happens ... or not!

Do let us know what you think: do you want us to help get these new sites established, or do you already have enough web sites available through our system (you can be on 5 sites for single data entry at the moment)?

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Tel: +61 (08) 9389 5833
Fax: +61 (08) 9389 5845
Email:   service@aussiehome.com
183 Stirling Highway, Nedlands WA 6009
PO Box 1138, Nedlands WA 6909
Australia
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