22
Sep
Evolving your estate agent website design
Estate agents
cannot keep the same website design forever. It gradually becomes
dated, in both aesthetics and usability, as the fashion of website
design changes and user online behaviour alters. When is the best
time for estate agents to redesign their website? Estate agents
must always remember that they have 3 seconds to
impress.
Most of the time, people dislike change. Take the example
'Users criticise Facebook update' from BBC's
Newsbeat. It states that in an online poll 94% of users disliked
the changes but Facebook, but Facebook ignored this. They knew the
changes were for the benefit of its users and now most people have
forgotten what the old Facebook design was like. Yet, users have
even responded positively to Facebook Lite, a slimmed down, re-design of
Facebook.
This is where balance has to be entered into the equation.
Estate agents must weigh the pros and cons of redesigning their
estate agent website. The only con is that users love a
familiarity, but this is from routine. As from the example above,
it didn't take long for users to change their habits as long as
usability is the underlining factor of a website's design. Estate
agents must remember to redesign their website for their users, not
for themselves.
Estate agents need to remember that users are task orientated.
They have accessed your website for two main reasons, property
search and accessing contact details. Once on your estate agent
website, they will be looking for several 'Call to Actions' so that
they can complete the task in hand. Several 'Call to Actions' are
now the benchmark of any estate agent website, including a large
property search button or a crystal clear primary navigation that
clearly states each section of the website.
Estate agents should not forget features. As discussed in
'the best estate agent websites', enhanced
mapping, Google Street View, high resolution photos, EPC's, HIPs,
virtual tours that are all embedded into the website will improve
the 'stickiness'. Features that link off or are opened in a
'pop-up' increase the chance that users will be led onto another
competitor or just led astray.
In conclusion, estate agents must get the basics right. A
website with clear 'Calls to Action', transparent usability,
fantastic user experience will win hands down over a website that
looks visually stunning but users find hard to navigate. Features
that are on top of a well designed estate agent website will finish
off the WOW factor and will force users to keep coming back again
and again.
Resource Techniques is a specialist in websites for estate agents. We provide a large
range of services including web design for estate agents, Search Engine optimisation for estate agents,
SEO services, and software for estate agents. Resource Techniques
can be contactable from our Twitter
profile, Facebook Fan Page or our contact us page.
Back to Top