Websites · 6 min read
Rightmove already owns the buyer. Your site should win the landlord.
Why copying the portals loses, and what actually wins an instruction.
The short answer
A website for letting and estate agents works best when it targets landlords and vendors, not buyers and tenants, since the portals already own that traffic. An instant valuation request, published management fees and genuinely local area guides do more for an agency's own site than copying Rightmove ever will.
By Raja Wahab, Co-founder, Fixby Studios · Published · 6 min read
Why copying the portals doesn't work
Rightmove and Zoopla own the search traffic for buyers and tenants browsing listings. An agency website trying to compete with that as a second-rate listings site is fighting a battle it can't win. The agency's own site should instead be built to win the landlord or vendor instructing the sale or letting in the first place.
- "letting agent fees [town]"
- "free valuation [town]"
- "landlord management [town]"
- "rent my property [town]"
What a website for letting and estate agents should include
- An instant valuation request that only needs an address and a phone number.
- Published fee structures for landlords: tenant find, rent collection, fully managed.
- Genuinely local area guides — schools, transport, average rents — not spun boilerplate text.
- Landlord compliance content: EPC rules, licensing, deposit protection, Renters' Rights changes.
- Vendor and landlord testimonials, kept separate from tenant reviews.
Manual landlord follow-up
- — Leads sit in an inbox
- — Whoever replies first wins
- — Easy to lose the instruction
Instant valuation routing
- — Leads scored and routed fast
- — Automated follow-up sequence
- — Faster reply than competitors
Why speed of response wins landlords
Most agencies lose landlord instructions to whoever replies first, not whoever is genuinely best. Scoring and routing valuation leads instantly, with an automated follow-up sequence, closes that gap without adding staff.
“Target landlords and vendors directly — the portals already own buyer traffic.”
Cost
A landlord-focused agency site with valuation requests and compliance content is available on our monthly plans with no upfront build fee (see our monthly plans at /plans). Ongoing SEO is worth considering given how competitive agent search terms are.
Why area guides need to be genuinely local
A landlord deciding between agents can usually tell within a paragraph whether an area guide was written by someone who knows the street or generated to fill a template. Specific, accurate detail about schools, transport links and realistic rents builds more trust than generic praise for the area.
The same applies to compliance content: EPC requirements, licensing and deposit protection change periodically, and a page that is clearly kept up to date reassures a landlord that you are paying attention to the rules that affect them.
Keeping landlord and tenant content separate
A landlord deciding who should manage their property and a tenant deciding whether to rent a flat want completely different information and reassurance. Mixing the two on shared pages dilutes the message for both.
Your questions
- Should our website list live properties if we already use the portals?
- You can still show current listings, but the site's job is to win the next landlord or vendor instruction, not replace the portals for buyer and tenant search.
- Is an instant online valuation accurate?
- It gives a starting estimate to capture the enquiry. A proper in-person or video valuation should always follow before any figure is relied on.
- Do we need separate pages for landlords and tenants?
- Yes — they're searching for different things and conflating the two usually means neither group finds what they need quickly.
Raja Wahab is co-founder of Fixby Studios, a Huddersfield studio building websites, SEO, social media and business software for small, owner-managed businesses across West Yorkshire.
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