Looking for advice and critic

P

PropertySwitch

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Oct 22, 2013
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Location
Durban
I've recently put a website together from a business plan a friend I put together about a year ago. I feel this forum is a fantastic open platform to present and get some feedback from the pros out there. I am open to as much positive criticism you can through at me in the hope we can scratch open some good best practices.

Please have a look at www.propertyswitch.co.za
 
Looks very good. Interface seems very user friendly. Believe it or not, but my sideline project is similar to what you've done but a different business model.

I think the site is awesome since it is more intuitive than property 24 but similar to private property.

Picked up a 404 on your journey page.
 
ITCynic said:
Here is an analysis of your front page

http://loadimpact.com/page-analysis/propertyswitch.co.za-5fefd1575eb7436f97856ed1948715b1

Although you site is quick (on 3G) You might want to consider using WordPress W3cache for performance increase.

You have 73 data requests to load the front page, caching might reduce that and improve performance.
Click to expand...

Thank you ITCynic that's a great tool to get a good idea of your sites performance etc.
Your answers has brought up two more questions that might be interesting:
1) what drawback does the W3cache application have. I mean it makes sense I do agree to have your sites static content cached. But surely there will be drawback in using it else it would have been implemented with WP as standard?
2) I am currently hosting in europe with a company called amplehosting. I've used them for many years. But one thing I've never considered as it feels over priced is to host locally? Any thoughts on that?
 
shauntir said:
Looks very good. Interface seems very user friendly. Believe it or not, but my sideline project is similar to what you've done but a different business model.

I think the site is awesome since it is more intuitive than property 24 but similar to private property.

Picked up a 404 on your journey page.
Click to expand...

Thanks Shauntir

I'll go and fix the broken link :D

What's your plans from development point of view for your site? (if I may ask?)
I really do feel strongly about innovating the property market so anybody who is willing to make a change I'll stand behind them.
Pop me a private msg if you want a chat :)
 
PropertySwitch said:
1) what drawback does the W3cache application have. I mean it makes sense I do agree to have your sites static content cached. But surely there will be drawback in using it else it would have been implemented with WP as standard?
Click to expand...
There are quite a few caching plugins available for WordPress.
You could probably cut your site load time by at least a third using a caching plugin

Here is a brilliant article on the subject.
http://www.dashboardjunkie.com/test...-total-cache-vs-wp-super-cache-vs-quick-cache

Reason for caching.
http://www.wpexplorer.com/wordpress-caching/

Another article
http://sixrevisions.com/wordpress/caching-plugins/

PropertySwitch said:
2) I am currently hosting in europe with a company called amplehosting. I've used them for many years. But one thing I've never considered as it feels over priced is to host locally? Any thoughts on that?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately due to the cost of bandwidth in South Africa, hosting is more expensive here than overseas.

I have used non-SA hosting for my clients for more than 10 years without hassle so I feel there is nothing wrong with not using local hosting.

I have 1 client that has over 20,000 images and over 25GB's of data on his site. Trying to get this hosted in South Africa would cost much much more than overseas.
 
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I agree with hosting overseas as well. Much more bang for buck. Very few reasons to keep a site locally hosted.

Also, your site is going to scale and so you would need some form of caching. A cdn could also help server up your images. But that can be looked into later.
 
Would be great if South Africa starts stepping up with better hosting.
Thanks for the links I'll be going through them all.
 
Nice site and like the concept.

Liked this part....

What you do with the commission saving is up to you – go on holiday, buy a speed boat, pay your e-toll or do something more sensible like adding to the deposit for a new house! The choice is yours
Click to expand...
 
I didn't find a contact page.

I think a contact page is important. A contact form, email plus your telephone.

your number is on top right, but also make it a link <a href=tel:+27xxxxxxx> so when brosing from a phone, you can click/tap the number and it goes straight to a phonecall.
 
the dropdown at the top is too aggressive.

if I try click on a map marker that is near the top, the dropdown appears, and you cant click it.


looks very nice though
 
I tried searching Joburg, Cape Town, Durban and PE and never got any results...
 
webtailor said:
I didn't find a contact page.

I think a contact page is important. A contact form, email plus your telephone.

your number is on top right, but also make it a link <a href=tel:+27xxxxxxx> so when brosing from a phone, you can click/tap the number and it goes straight to a phonecall.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice I'll make sure to add your suggestions :)
 
c10n3d_0r6 said:
I tried searching Joburg, Cape Town, Durban and PE and never got any results...
Click to expand...

there will be a drop down as you type make sure to use the suggested drop down. Because if you only use "Cape Town" it will take you to central cape town and we don't have any listings in Central cape town, central joburg, central durban and central PE. We only launched about 2 weeks ago but the reaction has been great. We have tonnes of properties we working through at the moment
 
sp4ceman said:
what's the difference between this and any of the existing property sites? i know relatively little about the business logic
Click to expand...

Its looks like Property Switch is not targeting agents, but rather private sellers.
 
Yes and no - we are not targeting agents, but rather all property sellers.

Property Switch is different from the rest because we ask a 2.75% commission but provide a complete estate agency service. We pride our self in providing high quality information and photos. Our website is like no other, intuitive and transparent (we are not afraid of showing exactly where our properties are located). The website is responsive meaning it works on all devices - tablets and phones to desktop PCs. We only work with open mandates to give the seller more options, which means we do not discriminate between open mandates and sole mandates.
...more

So imagine you selling your house for R1,500,000
Normal estate agent 5%-8% = R75,000 - R120 000 Property Switch 2.75% = R41,250
...more

So how does it work...
Sellers are required to register and submit their property on our website. We then send a consultant to the property to take photos and collect information used to compile an online property profile which is posted onto our website as well as other property websites. eg. Property24. We then arrange appointments for potential buyers to view the property. It is the sellers responsibility to show the buyer around - as the seller takes an active role in the selling process we charge a discounted comm of only 2.75%. We assist with negotiations regarding the sale price and the OTP, we also make conveyancing and financing arrangements where necessary.
...more

Existing websites such as Property 24 and Private Property are just marketing portals for estate agents (eg. Pam Golding, ReMax, Property Switch etc.) to get exposure to the thousands of potential buyers that browse property online. These online property portals are great advertising tools, but do not provide the sames services Property Switch offers.
 
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