LANDFLIP

Industry
Land Real Estate, Marketing

Profile
LANDFLIP, created in 2004, is a top online resource for selling land worldwide. Founder Ryan Folk, working in real estate at the time, saw the need for an online platform designed specifically for marketing land rather than residential real estate. As a veteran of the enterprise software world, Folk was able to combine his expertise in technology with his knowledge of the land market to create the innovative site. LANDFLIP, which caters to land owners, real estate agents and auctioneers looking to advertise land for sale, auction or lease, has grown at an amazing rate since its humble beginnings in 2004, exceeding even Folk’s expectations.  

Buying and selling land can be a complex and confusing process. In order to make the right decisions, it is crucial to not only know what pieces of land are available, but also to understand the different nuances of the market. Recognizing how important it is to be knowledgeable on both aspects of the land transaction process, Folk also created LANDFLIP’s sister-site, LandThink. Designed to complement LANDFLIP, LandThink is an educational resource for land investors and sellers, providing the information to help this audience take full advantage of the land real estate market.

Challenge
Starting out as a bright idea, the LANDFLIP website initially drew 10,000 unique visitors per month and was hosted in a shared hosting environment. However, it didn’t take long for more people to start using the valuable site and dramatically increase unique visitors.

In August 2006, due to the growing demand for its services, LANDFLIP converted to a paid advertising site, and expanded even faster with an average growth rate of nearly 15 percent   each month. Also growing quickly was LANDFLIP’s newsletter mailing list, which was distributed to more than 50 new subscribers per day.

As LANDFLIP expanded, the company faced a number of IT infrastructure challenges, like the ability to scale to meet the tremendous increase in Web site traffic volume and maintaining network speed for site visitors and users with the increased traffic.  Also, as LANDFLIP was continually adding new land sales regions to its site, it required a solution that could keep up with the growth of related business data. LANDFLIP realized that the ability of a hosting provider to scale with the company was a crucial element to overall business growth and success.

With a small LANDFLIP team, the fast growing company also needed a reliable solution that would free up employees’ time, allowing them to focus on the core business.

“With the growth of LANDFLIP, we needed the ability to scale and scale quickly,” said Folk. “We knew PEER 1 could provide what we needed to succeed.”

Solution
In October 2007, LANDFLIP moved to a managed hosting solution with PEER 1. In its first year with PEER 1, the company experienced a 460 percent growth from 75,000 unique visitors per month, to 350,000. This was due in part to a dramatically faster and more reliable PEER 1 network, which allowed faster page loads and low latency no matter where the site was accessed from worldwide.  

PEER 1 was able to match LANDFLIP’s impressive growth with its scalable solution and the technical expertise to fully support the company’s system. The managed hosting solution is backed by PEER 1’s FastFiber Network™, which consists of 15 state-of-the-art datacenters in 17 cities across North America, and 21 network points of presence (PoPs).

“You can get a server anywhere, big or small,” said Folk. “Server providers are a dime a dozen. A good network is not, which is why PEER 1 was the obvious choice in my eyes.”

PEER 1’s hosting facility is equipped with redundant power supply, so that local power issues do not impact its network availability.  PEER 1 owns its own network and is not reliant upon the local power grid to guarantee maximum uptime. Its on-site, auto-switched power generators and centralized UPS systems provide power conditioning, allowing for uninterrupted datacenter operation. This highly secure, redundant IT infrastructure protects LANDFLIP’s servers and web presence, ensuring the company is running online, all of the time.

PEER 1 also offers LANDFLIP a solution that can dependably scale with the company’s growth, no matter how fast or slow. Additionally LANDFLIP is able to take advantage of PEER 1’s excellent and reliable customer service, with access to customer support experts anytime, day or night.

Benefits
Network Strength and Reliability
A strong network was a key feature that drew LANDFLIP to PEER 1. Being able to handle LANDFLIP’s high volume of traffic was paramount as LANDFLIP supports sales in the U.S. and worldwide, recently expanding internationally with land listings from Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.

PEER 1’s FastFiber Network, with datacenters throughout North America, was able to manage and keep up with this expansive growth, providing the right solution LANDFLIP needed. PEER 1’s powerful network also confidently offers LANDFLIP faster page loads and low latency regardless of where users are located.

“I’ve been very pleased with PEER 1,” said Folk. “The speed of the network is phenomenal, and the PEER 1 infrastructure allows access to LANDFLIP with extreme speeds from anywhere.”

Scalability
PEER 1’s scalable hosting solution guarantee was another key attribute that led Folk to PEER 1.  As a fast growing company, LANDFLIP needed a solution that could expand along with it, at any rate needed, and meet its specific IT needs.

PEER 1’s core value proposition of delivering scalability means that it can meet any hosting demands at any time. When LANDFLIP experiences an influx of visitors to its site, PEER 1’s network is able to handle the traffic spike without question, consistently keeping up with the company’s growth. LANDFLIP is also able to request changes to its service and upgrades to software, which PEER 1 can accommodate quickly through its expert customer support staff.

FirstCall Support™
Through its customer service experts and 24x7x365 FirstCall Support, PEER 1 ensures LANDFLIP’s online presence is always fast and available. FirstCall Support promises to provide answers and solutions on LANDFLIP’s first call to the company, allowing them to focus their time on running their businesses, instead of worrying about IT issues.

This commitment to customer support enables LANDFLIP to quickly and easily implement changes as needed, which is vital to maintain scalability. LANDFLIP receives expert insight and individual attention on its systems, enabling Folk to make key business decisions with confidence.

PEER 1’s customer service and support played a large role in Folk’s decision. “From the very beginning, PEER 1’s customer service was different from other hosting providers. Although I don’t have to call PEER 1 often, anytime I do, I get immediate attention,” said Folk. "Their customer service is rock solid.”