November 2007

Pay As You Go websites — with web partner support — set to become the new industry choice

Another exciting innovation by renowned pioneers OPG

THE pioneering provider of the first and best quality professional publications for estate agents has introduced an exciting new ground-breaking development — the first genuine Pay As You Go websites, with web partner support.

The Oldroyd Publishing Group — the parent company of Estate Agency News — were the originators of Map Folders, Property Portfolios and Postal Wallets for residential estate agents and are still the country’s largest producer of them.

They also produce quality bespoke publications for other professions, notably doctors’ surgeries and schools, and for the past seven years, have been producing quality websites for a whole range of businesses, now numbering over 1,200.

Their new Pay As You Go websites with web partner support are available for either £30 or £45 a month — with no up-front charges and no minimum term contract — and they are already generating wide appeal right across the industry.

The team ready to give you all the details about the pioneering Pay As You Go websites. From left: Louise Rhucroft, Gareth Pearson, Rachel Fahy, Jenny Mellenchip, Derek Kitching, Oliver Twambley, Daniel Pinches.

Expert advice and support

OPG point out that the Pay As You Go aspect of the sites means that an estate agent no longer has to pay a sizable amount up front to have their website set up, while the ‘web partner support’ is something that has been seriously neglected by website providers in the past.

At OPG they believe that a website must be continually developed and enhanced to ensure that it remains state of the art and able to compete in all aspects with the best of the rest.
Just like a shop window, if you don’t regularly clean the glass, hoover up the flies and change the faded merchandise, you shouldn’t be surprised if potential customers go elsewhere.

Such is the confidence that they have in the service that if you are not entirely happy at any time you can just stop paying and end the arrangement.

Excellent track record

“Only a company of our size, experience and capacity for forward thinking can offer such an attractive deal,” said OPG managing director Glenn Oldroyd.

“Estate agents have been dealing with us for years and know we have the background and backing to be able to offer Pay As You Go terms with no up-front fee or tie-in period. This is a genuine Pay As You Go arrangement with no strings attached.”

The websites produced by OPG are multi-page brochure sites on which an agent’s properties will continue to be listed via the major portals and software firms.

OPG are able to call on plenty of expertise, including that which brings you EAN every month, to ensure the sites are of the very highest quality.

Along with the superb design skills of OPG’s webteam, the Pay As You Go sites are able to make the most of the vast knowledge, experience and writing skills of the team behind the country’s leading newspaper for residential estate agents.

Specialist content

David Perkins, a past president of the National Association of Estate Agents, long-time consultant editor of EAN and still a popular columnist, has put together a comprehensive A-Z of house moving and a guide to the legal process, which are constantly updated and form just part of the 162 pages of rich content OPG can bring to the site.

More content will be made available on a regular basis, so your clients and buyers are always able to click on to a definitive source of all the content that matters to them as they contemplate and go through the home-moving process.

Personal pride

Paul Twambley, the founder of EAN who has been dealing with estate agents around the country for more than a quarter of a century, is a firm believer in the benefits of quality bespoke websites and takes a great personal pride in the content on OPG sites being of the highest quality.

“With 80 per cent of prospective vendors now forming their first impression of an estate agent’s service from their website, it is vital that they have the best possible ‘shop window’ on the internet,” said Paul.

“In this cyber-age, your website is now your showroom and it must project your brand and eclipse that of your rivals. It must say to viewers: ‘This is the agent to sell my property!’

Addressing the changing times

“After years of booming house sales, business is slower these days for most agents and a top-quality website is more vital than ever to promote their business.

“This Pay As You Go service fills a very clear need — an impressive website is required by all types of agencies, whether they are a new start-up business or an existing agency whose website is past its ‘sell-by’ date.

“Significantly, while new businesses might not be able to match their established rivals for size, prestige and location of premises, they can certainly rival them for size and quality of website — and of course this service will meet the needs of letting and commercial agents, even financial services specialists, just as readily as residential sales agents.”

All OPG’s Pay As You Go websites include hosting and maintenance, domain name registration and renewal and search engine submission to Google, Yahoo etc.

A dedicated and friendly ‘Web Partner’ is contactable by phone or e-mail to give support and advice on how to develop the site and maximise its return.

A helpful, dedicated team have been assembled to assist those agents who want to know more about OPG’s exciting, new Pay As You Go website service and they can be reached by calling 0800 612 1408 or by sending an e-mail to payasyougo@opg.co.uk.