Using Organic Growth to Capture Regional Market Share
Matthews Benjamin Estate Agents are a premier estate agent serving North Lancashire, Cumbria, and the Lake District. They provide services to those looking to buy, sell, lease or rent properties in the area.
Matthews Benjamin Estate Agents
The Challenge
Matthews Benjamin approached us in late 2020 looking to replace their previous website. As an estate agent, any website has to integrate seamlessly into their property management solution. The site also needs to provide additional information about the areas to encourage property takeup, and must contain all relevant information to allow those selling or leasing their properties to feel confident in their chosen business.
Matthews Benjamin also has an ongoing arrangement with an exclusive national firm, acting as their local representatives in the area. These properties also needed to be featured on the site but with clear demarcation.
Lastly, a valuation tool was required to help homeowners gauge the value of their own property in a volatile market.
The client also wanted to ensure that they were one of the first estate agents to be found through organic search in their area. We agreed to build the new website and to provide ongoing SEO support from that point, with a heavy emphasis on local SEO techniques.
First Digital Media took on responsibility for liaising with the other third party providers Matthews Benjamin’s site needed to interact with. As well as designing the content and navigation for the site in collaboration with the client, our web development team ensured that all integrations were smooth and reliable.
The Solution
Owing to the specifics of the property market it was determined that a multi-channel solution did not fit the client’s budget and scope, and so we focused on SEO.
Working closely with the client, we developed and reworked a number of key pages and advised them on a strategy for their three Google My Business pages.
Our developers built a site that was easy to navigate, easy to sort, and which presented all the information needed for properties in as attractive a way as possible. We designed specific code so that the team at Matthews Benjamin could add a separate description of each property for feeds to the major national sites without the content on their own site becoming confused.
With a strong foundation in place, we began to look at opportunities to incorporate other related searches into site content and optimise for them.
54.6
%
annual increase in organic traffic
312
%
increase in qualified leads year on year
100.9
%
increase in organic traffic over 24 months
The Results
“Great team, very helpful, friendly and quick to assist with any queries or additions.”
– Tegan Winder
Over a six year period we’ve seen the client’s organic traffic grow steadily, but also shaped that traffic to see a higher proportion of those visitors convert into leads.
We’ve also been able to act as the institutional memory for the client’s marketing function following a change of directors, as a result of which we now work more closely with the client’s main stakeholders.
In late 2024 Matthews Benjamin instituted a renewed emphasis on social media marketing within their team and we’ve acted as a support for this function, offering our expertise and helping them monitor the value of their work.
We are able to provide the client with confidence in their online presence, as well as massively increased market share for their region.
