September 27, 200917 yr Hi, We're putting together a property site and it was suggested that we use the Rightmove BLM format when uploading properties etc. We've searched online but can't seem to find any programme that creates or uses the Rightmove BLM so that we can integrate it with our site. Help! Is the Rightmove BLM a programme? Can we buy or download it or is it something totally different? Sorry if this is a stupid question but, if you don't ask...
September 27, 200917 yr Hi Patrick, The BLM files are simply a delimited file format where each field is seperated by a special character e.g. comma, pipe, tilde. Essentially it's just a text file. The .BLM extension is just used to help id the files on Rightmove's FTP servers. Most of the major estate agency software suppliers (e.g. DezRez) have built in Rightmove export options where they will generate the necessary file and supply it to Rightmove's servers automatically. Rightmove call these 'datafeeds'. If you are building a datafeed from scratch, you just need to generate the file in accordance with Rightmove's datafeed specification. If your site is delivering properties from a database it should be relatively straight forward, just a matter of exporting the fields in the right order with valid items in them. You get the spec and further advice from their Automated Datafeed (ADF) team on 0845 338 0076.
September 27, 200917 yr Author Thats great. Thanks. We've just launched an online newspaper and are planning to have a property site running alongside it. Do you think we need to have software like Dezrez for our site seeing as how we're not going to be using the Rightmoves portal? Hi Patrick, The BLM files are simply a delimited file format where each field is seperated by a special character e.g. comma, pipe, tilde. Essentially it's just a text file. The .BLM extension is just used to help id the files on Rightmove's FTP servers. Most of the major estate agency software suppliers (e.g. DezRez) have built in Rightmove export options where they will generate the necessary file and supply it to Rightmove's servers automatically. Rightmove call these 'datafeeds'. If you are building a datafeed from scratch, you just need to generate the file in accordance with Rightmove's datafeed specification. If your site is delivering properties from a database it should be relatively straight forward, just a matter of exporting the fields in the right order with valid items in them. You get the spec and further advice from their Automated Datafeed (ADF) team on 0845 338 0076.
September 28, 200917 yr Thats great. Thanks. We've just launched an online newspaper and are planning to have a property site running alongside it. Do you think we need to have software like Dezrez for our site seeing as how we're not going to be using the Rightmoves portal? It's not like installing a bulletin board on a website. Most Estate Agency software (like DezRez) is designed to be back office system to help estate agents manage their business and property stocks. Exporting property information to Rightmove (and other portals) is just a small subset of their features. The software service may well provide a webpage of sorts on their own systems, or enable some level of integration with your own site, but I've no idea of the level of customistation possible or what might be required on your end. More on DezRes's page here about 'your web presence' : http://www.dezrez.com/your-web-presence.asp. It could be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, particularly as you would not be uploading to Rightmove yourself.
September 30, 200917 yr Author It's not like installing a bulletin board on a website. Most Estate Agency software (like DezRez) is designed to be back office system to help estate agents manage their business and property stocks. Exporting property information to Rightmove (and other portals) is just a small subset of their features. The software service may well provide a webpage of sorts on their own systems, or enable some level of integration with your own site, but I've no idea of the level of customistation possible or what might be required on your end. More on DezRes's page here about 'your web presence' : http://www.dezrez.com/your-web-presence.asp. It could be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, particularly as you would not be uploading to Rightmove yourself. It could well be like using a hammer. We're not going to have property stock as such. Our main objective is to allow readers / estate agents / web-users to upload their properties or, ideally, to send us their properties to upload for them. Thats basically it. Probably not a case for DesRez. Are there less heavyweight options available?
September 30, 200917 yr You could have a look through http://www.hotscripts.com/category/php/scripts-programs/classified-ads/real-estate/ as there are several off the shelf property management scripts listed there. Some may be ok! Otherwise you could use a Content Management System such as Modx, Expressionengine, Drupal etc etc
October 1, 200917 yr Author You could have a look through http://www.hotscripts.com/category/php/scripts-programs/classified-ads/real-estate/ as there are several off the shelf property management scripts listed there. Some may be ok! Otherwise you could use a Content Management System such as Modx, Expressionengine, Drupal etc etc Will do. Thanks for your advice.
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