UK property market resource, Zoopla! was shortlisted in The Good Web Guide Website of the Year Award 2009, impressing the judges with its comprehensive information and slick property search service. Zoopla's head of PR, Lawrence Hall, answered some questions about the business on behalf of founders Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain.

Explain the concept.

Zoopla.co.uk is a unique property website offering users FREE information and tools to help them make better-informed property decisions. It provides the UK's most comprehensive source of residential property market information (current values, sold prices, area information as well as property for sale) to help buyers, sellers, owners and estate agents alike and give them an advantage in the property market.

How does it make money?

We offer a unique dual pricing structure, giving agents the flexibility to choose between paying a fixed monthly fee for 'unlimited' leads or paying on a 'pay-per-lead' basis. We are flexible and are happy to let agents choose the model that best suits their business between fixed or variable cost pricing.

Tell us about the founders' background?

In 2007, following the success of transforming the DVD rental market with LOVEFiLM.com, Zoopla.co.uk founders Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain set out on a mission to deliver efficiency and transparency to the UK property market for both consumers and professionals

When did the site launch?

January 2008

What was the inspiration for the site?

Zoopla.co.uk was born out of consumer frustration. House hunting consumers don’t have time to build an Excel spreadsheet from Land Registry data to calculate the prices of comparable properties. Zoopla.co.uk provides a better way to provide the house buyer, seller, renter, agent and owner with the information that's going to help them make the right property decision.

What does the name ‘Zoopla’ mean?

The name has no translation or major story behind it. It’s deliberately different from the other property websites and you’re unlikely to forget it!

How many visits do you have per day, and what's the target within 12 months?

Zoopla.co.uk continues to be the fastest growing UK property portal according to comScore figures and continues to grow its market share. With the recent integration of the propertyfinder.com audience, we are now in a great position to continue our growth and offer even greater exposure and leads for our agent members.

Describe your average visitor.

Zoopla.co.uk has created a totally unique proposition with a broad user appeal that is highly differentiated from traditional property portals. We are the UK's leading property market resource and an essential destination for buyers, sellers, renters, owners and agents.

Name your closest competitors.

There are various other property websites, but the current market leader is Rightmove.co.uk

What is Zoopla's biggest challenge?

Creating a resource for every home in the UK is a significant challenge as is developing market-leading algorithms to value each of them. From a technical perspective, we have the challenges of requiring massive computing power in order to collect tens of thousands of data points daily and to feed these into our algorithm and recalculate our value estimates for every home daily on the basis of the latest information we have available.

What makes Zoopla.co.uk unique?

Zoopla.co.uk offers a very unique proposition by providing FREE information and data on all 27 million homes in the UK. It is a place where users can share information to harness the power of the collective intelligence of the community.

Visit www.zoopla.co.uk

6 January 10