Commercial agents should have more control

| Web design

Commercial agents should have more control

It is shocking how many commercial agents we talk too, who do not have day-to-day control over their own website. Despite the website being the most important marketing tool at their disposal, many do not have the ability to make even the simplest changes for themselves- changes that would keep the site fresh and effective.

Yet, this lack of control could be costing them money and even be harming their Google rankings.

Not able to break free

Years after their website has gone live, many chartered surveyors still finds themselves beholden to their original website designer. Even the simplest changes to page copy, like updating team profiles, require the commercial agents to pay the designer to do the changes for them.

We have spoken to chartered surveyors who need website developers to upload news articles and in some extreme cases, even to upload new property listings. In the case of the latter, the agent requires the developer to do this on an almost weekly basis, each time paying the developers hourly charges.

Perhaps it is understandable then that so many small to medium sized commercial property firms have websites with old and out-dated content.

CMS is the answer

Why is access to your website so important? Well aside from the obvious cost implications and poor marketing practice, you could be affecting your page rankings on Google. All of the leading Search Engines like websites that have new, regularly updated content that is relevant to your audience. This is far easier and cheaper to achieve if you can upload content yourself.

This is where a CMS or Content Management System will empower you.

It’s easy with a CMS

A CMS will allow you to easily create, edit or delete content on your website without the need to be a programmer or a whizz with code. The most important thing is that you won’t need to pay a developer to make simple changes for you.

Your new website will be built around the CMS and provide you with a simple user interface that you access via any popular website browser. The scope and level of access will vary from one designer CMS to another, but you should at least have control over your news pages, property listings, page content, images and even adding and removing pages.

Most good web developers will offer CMS based website solutions. In particular, many of the developers that specialise in the property sector, will provide solutions that are tailored to the needs of the property sector.

 

Philip Burrows, Marketing Consultant