CO-FOUNDER Peter Bolton likens the appeal of phuketproperty.com to that of an adorable puppy.

The ex-marketing and event organiser’s analogy seems a strange way to describe a property listings portal, however on hearing what he and co-founder David French intend to do with the site, it actually begins to make a lot of sense.

Both men are British-born friends who have spent the majority of their working life in Hong Kong. On one of the numerous vacations to Phuket over the last decade, they both recognised a need for a website like phuketproperty.com.

Mr Bolton said of his experience of searching for his own Phuket property, “There are so many developers and property agencies on the island, many either work in one geographical area or just offer rentals or just one type of property.”

It is thus Mr French and Mr Bolton’s aim to provide a property and land dedicated listings portal for businesses involved either directly or indirectly in the Phuket property industry much like the highly successful UK based website: www.rightmove.co.uk.
Mr French said, “90% of UK based developers and agencies list on that website. Many of which actually include rightmove’s logo on their own website and in their advertising artwork just so that they may be affiliated with the company.”

The British duo’s ambitions are equally as bold and are pleased with its success so far, despite launching less than six months ago.

Big Phuket developer names that are already onboard the comprehensive listing site include Yoophuket, Pips, Outrigger and many smaller property agencies. All of which interestingly have their own website, which begs the question that if they do, why would they wish to be on someone else’s?

Mr Bolton clarifies, “Often their website has a poor infrastructure and search engine and there’s no optimisation so it cannot generate leads.”

Regardless of how basic or sub-standard an agency’s website search functionality is, as soon as they let phuketproperty.com list their properties, potential home owners are automatically able to make a specific search on phuketproperty.com’s website.

They can click on the logo attached to each property to be taken to their website, to ultimately make a purchase, but most Mr French said, remain searching on their website because it’s simply easier and better. Property seekers remain on the website to search and then go to the agency’s website to make a purchase, therefore the agency doesn’t lose commission and everyone’s happy.

Mr Bolton added, “A lot of the companies on the island don’t understand the power of marketing. There are lots you need to do to optimize your website. Most of the developers are also pretty hopeless at analysing their website’s traffic and what is working.”

One of the many features that phuketproperty.com offers to their clients is a monthly hit report which provides in-depth analysis on the amount of leads and interest they have generated. They also benefit from the extensive advertising that the company does, in Phuket and around the top six investing countries in the world.

It’s free by the way... for the first three months…

“They realise what a great service it is and how invaluable it is for their business and therefore at the end of the three months, they find it hard to give the service up much like caring for a puppy,” said Mr Bolton.

Phuketproperty.com’s aim is simple; to be recognised everywhere as ‘Phuket’s No 1 property website’ and the politely spoken English chaps would rather do it in an amiable fashion, “We are not the enemy, we want to be friends.”

This is why, although the website has a classified listings service where clients can list their properties to sell, they will never sell properties themselves as they don’t want to compete, just aid companies in during these struggling financial times.

Phuketproperty.com takes a lot of the strain from a company’s promotion and marketing department and in times when companies are being ‘streamlined’ and made into slimmer and fitter organisations, it makes sense to employ such a comprehensive and multi-functional service.
Along with the dog analogy, Mr Bolton continued to impart wisdom to Phuketians who may be suffering right now, “When times are bad, the most successful businesses are the ones that are innovative. Some businesses have a tendency to shut up shop during low season and batten down the hatches, but you can’t really do that if you want to do more than survive and prosper.”

Phuketproperty.com will also be launching the first ever Phuket Property Price Index containing transaction history and price comparisons. There are also plans to launch a forum which will give property agents and property seekers alike a platform to chat about the industry. Phuketproperty.com is creating a community if you will, because ultimately one day all of you property agents will be friends with papa phuketproperty.com making sure you play nice.