11
Dec
Estate Agent's 5 fundamental questions when building a website
A strategy is a plan
of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Without strategy,
estate agents only have blind tactics that will lead them down the
dark alley of failure. Do you want your website to fail its basic
goals or do you want it to succeed and become the envy of the
competition?
A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular
goal. Without strategy, estate agents only have blind tactics that
will lead them down the dark alley of failure. Do you want your
website to fail its basic goals or do you want it to succeed and
become the envy of the competition?
1) Why is the website being built?
This question is designed to make estate agents contemplate the
reasons why they have a website in the first place. Answering: just
because everyone else has one cannot be an acceptable answer. Think
clearly on the reasons how it will benefit your agency directly and
indirectly.
2) Who is the website being built for?
A common misconception is that the website is being built for
the estate agent. This is excusable because on a lateral sense the
website has been commissioned by the director/partner but the
website is not for solely the director/partner. The people using
the website on a daily basis are not employees or directors, but
property searchers.
3) What will property searchers be looking
for?
Firstly the WOW factor - something that will not only encourage
the user to enter the website but also give a slight hint of the
quality of properties within the websites. Next users want to be
clearly see either a large property search button or a featured
property to click on. Both shows that users are looking for
property, putting a hurdle up here will only frustrate users.
Once users have defined exactly the range of properties that
they are looking for, users are then looking to build a picture of
what the property is like in the mind. Features such as high
resolution pictures, a clear text description, Google Maps, Google
Street view, Floorplans, EPCs, virtual tours and online property
particulars all add different dimensions to the overall mental
picture.
Lastly users want to see clear contact details. Many estate
agent website designs fail this need to have clear contact details
on each individual property.
4) Where will my users come from?
- Loyal customer base
- Print media
- Social Networks
- Search Engines
- Directly typing in the web address
- Email campaign/Property brochures
5) How will I know the website is working?
The best way to identify that your website is a successful one
is to quantify it. Google analytics lets estate agents analyse
exactly how well their website is performing. Areas such as how
many people have visited the estate agent website, where they've
entered, exited, how long they stayed on the website, which area
they entered the website and much more.
Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques
comments, 'Do not forget that your customers will actually comment
positively on your website! A shocking revelation but a beautifully
designed website with a WOW factor and a rich user experience will
attract more comments than a UFO sighting.'
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