Posted on Nov-10-2008
SEO & Property Development in Asia
This month I had the chance to consult for one of Thailand’s largest condominium developers. The preliminary consultation for Raimon Land Plc on behalf of Bangkok startup Arctos Group focused on the development of a Russian site to target the growing number of Russians buying luxury condominiums in Thailand.
Raimon Land’s push in to Russia was recently covered in the Bangkok Post.
MOSCOW : Raimon Land Plc is confident in strong demand from Russians, planning to launch a Russian department to tap the Eastern European market after finding that 23% of its total sales from foreign buyers last year were from Russians, according to chief executive officer Nigel Cornick.
Russian market will be closely monitored over the current high season, says Mr Cornick. He said the new department would be based in Bangkok to manage increasing interest from the booming Russian market in the company’s upmarket condominium projects.
“We will see the profile of customers in Russian and CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States) market and do market research to find which segments have purchasing power and potential to tap into,” said Mr Cornick.
In Russia, he said, there were 200,000 people with annual incomes of more than US$1 million and 170 of them were billionaires.
Since 2006 the company has sold 745 million baht worth of property to wealthy buyers in Russia and the former Soviet states. Of the figure, 426 million baht was generated last year. Their favourite destination was Pattaya, accounting for 63%, followed by Phuket with 28% and Bangkok with 9%.
Elsewhere in the Industry
Even though many industries are only beginning to Focus on SEO here in Asia, elsewhere the property search space is highly competitive and already stratified. To own a slice of the most valuable media property (a.k.a the Google front page) means serious investment, serious web development and a SEO focused business strategy. Even though some larger SE Asian enterprises are beginning to invest in SEO, as I look around the search space I still see a land of opportunities. Those who make the right investments now will be the market leaders in the near future. Those who miss the boat will face a much steeper mountain to climb when they attempt to enter a more competitive and stratified space.
