NORTHERN Ireland’s leading property gateway Propertynews.com has been awarded the top gong of Innovative PropertyPortal of the Year 2016.
The prestigious prize was presented at the Build-news.com annual awards.
The Build Awards are dedicated to uncovering and rewarding the very best in technical innovation, design and service from across the worldwide construction and property industries. The awards are held throughout the year and a rigorous research and judging processes aims to guarantee that only the most deserving firms and individuals will be successful in winning one of these top awards.
Property News is recognised for its innovation in allowing estate agents to manage their properties through back-end software, before uploading and advertising it on the company’s front-end website.
The Property News website’s users benefit enormously from having access to the widest range of resale, rental and new homes, as well as commercial property and land sites, available anywhere on the market in Northern Ireland. Propertynews.com first launched in 2000, after evolving from a magazine.
Since then, the growth and diversification of the company has been dramatic, having reached many landmarks the first of which came when the company reported a million brochure downloads in September 2001. It then became the first portal to offer online bookings for New Developments in April 2003. It was bought over in 2006 by Independent News & Media, Ireland’s largest media company, and soon after launched a mobile version of the website, with its first app to follow in December 2009.
Property News has had numerous website refreshes, and a new property portal is currently beingdesigned and will be launched later this year. Head of Digital at Independent News & Media, Emma Kerr said:
“We are delighted to receive this award as it is testament to the innovation that we at Property News pride ourselves on. With our new property portal currently in build phase, we will continue to keep innovation and user experience central to everything we do and continue providing the marketplace with a best in class platform to help house-hunters find their perfect home.”
On the new look website an innovative blog will feature content to appeal to a wide-ranging audience, above and beyond those active in the property market. In addition to its social media presence, the team at Property News use a leading search function which is unique in the global property-market, having been created especially for Property News.
Working in tandem through the new company website, Property News will develop its search function even further. Currently, users of the Property News website can view listed properties on any device, demonstrating the versatility and mobile-responsiveness of the website – it includes many unique features such as 360-degree photography, and virtual tours of properties.
The Property News’ team has also implemented cutting-edge visitor-level tracking onto the website allowing the site to identify and track users. This enables it to shape content towards the individual, influenced by what they have previously viewed which in turn will help speed up their search and find their ideal property. This alone makes Property News truly unique in the market with users now more able than ever to find more relevant, personalised content every time they visit the site.
To view the “Playing the Game of Homes” article in build-news.com (on page 46) click here>>>
