Top 5 mistakes made when designing a property website

Designers continue to make mistakes when creating property websites. Designers that do not specialise in property websites forget or do not understand the processes that users go through, whereas specialist designers will fully know the ins and outs of property website design. Estate agents need to check each website designer's portfolio for these following mistakes:

• 1. Property search bar position

The most important aspect for property websites is the property search button on the homepage. It is important because it is the reason why internet users have gone onto the website in the first place. Without a prominent property search button, users tend to get frustrated and click off the website or end up being lost in unstructured navigation.

• 2. Too much information or too little information

Internet users tend to scan the text for the information that they need without fully reading each word. Make sure that any previous work has been written for online and not for printed literature. Scan the text of each page quickly and if you are unable to clearly understand what is in front of you then the website designer has fundamentally failed.

• 3. Low quality photography

High quality photography is now on every good quality property website but many website designers are unable to provide the resources to unable estate agents place high quality pictures on each property. Explore the properties on their portfolio and see what is available.

• 4. Camouflaged contact details

Contact details are the lifeline for online estate agents and many internet users now have a short attention span and little patience. This is obvious, but without clear contact details, users will be unable to find a way of contacting you. Again check how quickly you are able to retrieve contact details on their portfolio.

• 5. Complicated website design

Website designers try to cater for their clients and forget that the actual customers are the customers of the estate agents that will use the website. They try to dazzle estate agents by giving them a website that is overly complicated and has needless amounts of flash plastered all over the website. When checking a website designer's portfolio, get into the mindset of a customer wanting to buy property rather than looking at the aesthetics of a website.

If you have any questions about your estate agent website, do not hesitate call Resource Techniques on 0208 457 4777 for a free consultation.