Essential tech for real estate: Online courses

July 2015

We all know the property industry has an ongoing love affair with print. Endless brochures, property details, research reports and miscellany are lavishly printed on glossy, heavy paper.

All very well, and paper does have a part to play, but the reality is that digital is the starting point for most people today. If you want to know something, read something or buy something then a screen is the place you start. Increasingly this is a mobile screen, be it a tablet or a smartphone.

Unfortunately a large percentage of data outputted by the industry is either still in print, in pdf’s formatted for print, or on websites that aren’t mobile formatted. One of the biggest surveying firms in the world is still a closed book to mobile users, being unusable on a small screen.

So things have to change. And to help this happen there are two online courses I recommend as many staff as possible are encouraged to take. The first is Squared online (paid), run by Google and formed of five modules that guide you through the digital landscape and theory and practice of digital marketing. Made up of online lessons, background reading and collaborative projects it would suit any property marketer.

The other course, the Digital Business Academy (free), is run by Tech City UK in collaboration with University College London. It is designed for people who want to start their own online business but many of the lessons would benefit almost anyone looking to develop their digital skills.

Antony

This appeared in Estates Gazette 11th July 2015