Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
In tech news from Russia, the Federation's fastest growing real estate portal, Idinaidi.ru, has just announced having received venture funding. The Sorren Media, along with Camco Private Equity Group, were named in the startup's release. For an early stage startup, there's a lot to be said for this one's chances.
In public beta testing since mid-December, Idinaidi is squarely aimed at Russia's vast housing market and the rapid adaptation of digital there too. For those unaware, Russia passed Germany as the most "wired" country in Europe. Experts project that the Russian Federation will have 100 million users by 2015. Stephen Inscoe, Founder and CEO of Idinaidi.ru, offered this comment via the company's press:
"Idinaidi is the product of 2 years research and development involving over 900 people in 38 cities throughout Russia, and is the first site designed from the start as a national mass-market site."
From a practical standpoint, and looking at the startup's website metrics, it seems highly unlikely more than a handful of users are engaged on the homepage of this site. Alexa rates the young site a PR2 at 2,259,902. No significant SEO seems to have been done, Alexa again shows only 2 sites linking in. The company has created a Twitter profile, but as yet there is little or no engagement. The same situation holds true for Facebook, no real endeavor to either brand or push social media. Even on VK, engagement is at a minimum.
There's no doubt the online real estate space for the Russian Federation and other Eastern European nations will expand rapidly in the months and years to come. Startups like Idinaidi can and will assist investors, agents, and all concerned by providing ease of access and good tools too. For very early stage startups, it should also be noted that having several pieces of the development puzzle lagging behind is normal too. Still, ramping up social media and marketing, along with core constituencies, is vital for what one could call any "killer" startup.
I will say this for Idinaidi, among the hundreds of Russian startups I have scrutinized these last 10 years, their's is among the top 10 percent for understanding "at least" that there are many channels needed to drive business. Looking at how they have already embraced tablets... We'll follow this one closely.
Thank-you for the article. 'Con' very much taken on board. We started the online marketing last week. We will develop the channels you mention starting with VK this week, and should have around 8,000 unique today. The target is to be around 80,000 unique per day by the end of the year, although we clearly also want to profile the traffic and build the listing base to 200,000 moderated listing by the same time.
Always very happy to answer any questions, and keep you in the loop.
Stephen Inscoe
Idinaidi.ru, Founder and CEO
@Stephen, Thanks very much for taking the time to stop by, in the digital world CEO reciprocity and engagement is a signifies the potential of success more than most variables. Or at least, I have found. That said, I would be very surprised indeed if your website has 8000 unique visitors a day at this stage.
Without any significant PPC or SEO outlay, and virtually no social media in place at the moment, and in a "not so" powerful niche as real estate??? On Yandex, in the SERPs for real estate terms, you have many, many competitors ranking higher and receiving the bulk of search traffic. Realty.BizNet.ru is one that would be pressed to get 8000 unique visits a day, but probably does "sometimes". http://www.rusnedvigimost.ru/ ranks ahead of you by a long ways, but is such a horrible site you will easily pass them in my view (soon perhaps). http://www.realty.ru/ is a less horrible real estate entity, but one you will have to contend with. I expect you are already close to be as powerful as they are, at least visibility wise outside Yandex. Then, of course, there is Yandex itself, with the most powerful real estate presence in Russia - a contender with any website on Earth.
You sit in an interesting spot Stephen. In a way I envy the potential your startup has. For now though, two bits of helpful advice. First, pass these guys on Yandex. http://www.russianrealty.ru
Second, Google the people who comment or critique your wares. Or "Yandex" them at least. 😉
Always,
Phil
Thanks again for the helpful advice. As you say, I do keep an eye on the other sites, and on the Google and Yandex results. I am happy to share the stats with you. Unique yesterday was 7,694. We have done some work on SEO before launch but this is ongoing, and we are starting to ramp up our online marketing before launch 1st February.
Regards,
Stephen
@Stephen, If you share your metrics with us, I will in turn show the audience too. We are rooting for good startups, in case my criticisms make it seem otherwise. I've always been on the side of innovation.
Phil at pamil-visions dot com Stephen.
Always,
Phil