Today we showcase the story of an exciting venture, from Brisbane, Australia, ApartmentReviews - Australia's Largest Dedicated Apartment Resource, founded by Shane Moore.In a recent email-based interview with Shane, he gave insights into how he is managing and juggling. This is what he has to say in his interview with us:
• How long it took before it was up and running
From the initial concept to having the first basic site live was around 3 weeks. The current design took another month or so to get right, at which point I started advertising through Google Adsense and posting on forums.
• Stage of Venture
The site launched in 2007 and since that time I've been concentrating on building traffic and attracting real estate agents to list their details. The next step will be to transition the 30 or so real estate agents we have into paying customers (currently it is free for them).
• Which Market Segment
Anyone looking to rent or buy a residential apartment.
• Customers
Anyone looking to rent or buy a residential apartment, and real estate agents that specialise in apartment buildings.
• Targeted Age Group
All above 18
• Users Using Service
Around 6,000 unique visitors per month, plus around 30 real estate agents listing on the site. Over 500 individual real estate agents are subscribed to our monthly apartment popularity (traffic) report.
• Marketing Technique
Organic search results (where most traffic comes from), Google Adsense, letterbox drops in large apartment buildings, and print advertising in local publications.
• Measuring Success
The site was ranked 29th in Australian Anthill Magazine's inaugural Smart 100 list. Traffic is growing each month (albeit a little slower currently as the marketing budget has been significantly reduced) and we're attracting more real estate agents wishing to list their details on the site.
• Monetising/Revenue Model
Currently Google Adwords plus individually negotiated banner ad campaigns. The next step is to monetise the agent listings. Each building has five positions available for agents to list their details on, and they will pay a monthly subscription fee for each building they list on.
• Main competitors
None yet, as we aren't a classifieds site like realestate.com.au and the like.
• money required
Around $10k has been spent on development costs and advertising so far. Ongoing costs related to the site itself are very low.
• Main Barriers
Hundreds of hours of manual research to get all of the apartment building information. The work never stops because more apartment buildings are popping up every week.
• Advice For People
Sites that use all user-generated content, as opposed to our site which is half generated by us (the apartment info) and half generated by the users (the ratings and reviews), take much less work!
• External Funding
None
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