10 Essential Features of a Highly Effective Property Website
Just like any other business, commercial real estate companies need a strong online marketing strategy to showcase properties and stand out from the competition. Recent studies* have shown that almost 80% of tenants and investors will start their property search online. This means your property website is a critical marketing tool to help your audience find out more detailed information about the property and to visualize its key selling points as a first point of contact.
Starting the actual process of real estate web design can seem overwhelming. How you make your property website a success depends on a number of factors. From usability to content and design, there are many things to consider in order to ensure that the website both looks good while providing the information and visual engagement that your potential tenants, investors and brokers are looking for.
Not only must your site look polished and professional, but it also needs good content that is informative and relevant. It should be easy to read and navigate, with every component functioning quickly and smoothly.
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1. Only Use Professional Photos
Your website, in some cases, will be the first time a client sees your property and services. Including large, captivating images of the property on the homepage immediately speaks volumes. Furthermore, a photo gallery of around 10 images or more will create a lasting first impression. Take the time to organize high resolution professional photos that will build confidence in your brand.
2. Floor Plans and Interactive Stacking Charts
Graphical elements such as downloadable floor plans and interactive stacking charts illustrate the layout of any property to bring the available space to life, and are a great way to further pique interest.
3. Add an Interactive Area map
A location map is a great way to highlight the property’s location in relation to area amenities, corporate neighbors and transportation.
4. Include Directions
Optimize your property by integrating a google map to point out exactly where your property is located and makes it easy for people to find you – and it will improve your visibility in search listings too.
5. Feature Key Building Amenities
Highlight your on-site amenities using a bullet list or graphics. If you place them in a separate section this will give further emphasis to your property’s strengths and quickly convey its selling points.
6. Visible Contact Info
If they can’t contact you, all your hard work will have been for nothing! Additionally, it’s a good idea to create a simple lead capture form so you can track the movements of visitors to your website via Google Analytics.
7. Show the Tenant list
Nothing adds credibility more than a list of your current tenants. Add their logos and a little information about each one and potential tenants can be inspired by the companies that already reside there.
8. Update Recent News
By adding a news or blog section you can continuously add fresh and unique content to your website with minimum effort. It creates a sense of activity in the building, can be used to make announcements such as new lease transactions and show off tenants, as well as improve visibility in search enginess
9. Track Activity with Analytics
Your website may look beautiful but once it’s finished it’s crucial to then evaluate its effectiveness. By integrating Google Analytics you can track your website’s performance and monitor how people interact with each page. Make sure to set up goal conversions which measure how many visitors complete a conversion such as filling out a contact or enquiry form.
10. Make Sure It’s Mobile-friendly
Having a responsive site that automatically adjusts itself to fit any sized screen (desktop, tablets, mobiles etc) and behaves seamlessly across all browsers is vital so that people can access your property anywhere, from any device.