What should a website for a real estate developer look like ?

5 rules of web design for the development industry

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The key point of contact between the client and the developer is the website. The process of selling apartments is a long one, it requires decision-making by the future owner in the course of analysis and comparison of offers. Meeting the requirements, expectations of the Client and the availability of the offer is key here.

See how a website for a real estate developer should look like, what to pay attention to and which elements should not be missing from the site to make it effective and intuitive for a new buyer.

Table of Contents:

1. The most important elements of a developer's website
2. Develop the purpose of the site
3. Homepage structure
4. Functional elements necessary to sell the investment
5. How to design a classic and standard search engine
6. Appearance and functionality of the subpage apartment card

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Building a developer's website - the most important elements

A website for a developer is slightly different from a typical business website. Canons and user habits, however, should be preserved so as not to violate generally accepted web design standards.

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What is the purpose of the developer's website ?

When designing a website, we should be specific about what it is supposed to accomplish. The main distinction here is between two or three conversions and the goals of the user's visit to the investment website.

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1. Information about available offerings and housing statuses
2. Information about the developer and his history of previous investments completed
3. Willing to contact a representative and schedule an appointment

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The basis of a developer's website is the readability and orderliness of information, i.e.: intuitive menu structure. The user should be able to find his way around the site to get the information he needs, for this purpose we should pay attention to the following aspects of directing the user to the most important subpages of our site.

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Home page design - structure and sections

It's true that users don't read web pages, they scan them. What does this mean for us ? The design should be clear, provided with large slogans and short content referring to the slogans. Graphics should correspond to the described section.

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Short slogans and interesting or content-relevant graphics draw attention, if the user is interested in entering further he will go to the sub-page with a highly visible CTA button.

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Is a slider needed on the home page ?

We must be aware that the slider is the maximum visible second slide for the user, they scroll down the page, so we should focus our attention on the first slide or divide the slide into 2 or 3 tiles directing to selected subpages that we want the user to visit. See also why not to use a slide on the homepage

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Show investments in numbers

A very good module simply showing the parameters of the investment, e.g.:

1. number of apartments
2. number of floors
3. standard and quality
4. number of meters available
5. additional facilities

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Sections with icons

Definitely yes. They attract attention especially if they are interesting and match the style of the site and the investment. Just by the icons alone, the user should learn about the most important cars, advantages of the investment.

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And most importantly, let's not try to break open doors. If the user is used to the standard menu, the logo on the left linking to the home page, let's try to keep these useful functionalities.

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Are you looking for an investment website contractor ?

Check out our websites we've made so far

Dedicated CRM systems for developers

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Functional elements of development investment sites

In the case of an investment site for a developer, what matters is the ability to quickly contact and reach an apartment card. Solutions here are two :

1. an effective solution to increase conversions from a website is to place the CTA button for contacting or making an appointment in the menu of the site ideally at the end in a form slightly differentiated from the entire menu, (how to design a CTA button to be effective)
2. placing a classic search engine with parameters in the second or third section on the home page, in case we are dealing with a user who wants to find apartments while on the phone after the second scroll he will get a mechanism ready for this

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Graphic search engine - steps to reach the apartment card

Graphic and standard search engine

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Ideally, it would be a section on the home page fairly high on the 2nd or 3rd position.

As for the menu, we should create a dedicated item, e.g.: apartments, which will expand to the sub-menu graphical search engine / standard search engine.

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Typical parameters that a search engine should take are :

1. filtering by apartment type
2. area
3. availability
4. number of rooms
5. price / selectable by slider /
6. possibility to search only for vacant apartments

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Housing card and housing list

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Equipped with large enough pictures. This is where an ecommerce solution will work best. 2-column layout. On the left sidebar with the details of the apartment and the corresponding CTA to contact, download the card. On the right, a projection of the apartment and optional 3D visualization.

Let's not forget about the apartments similar below to the search and placing the text search below again.

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Sales landingpage

Dedicated to collecting leads when creating Adwords campaigns. For more about landingpage, see our post : what a landingpage should contain.

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Technical requirements for the developer's website

First of all, we should bet on responsiveness and an ideal mobile version. The vast majority of users browse websites on smartphones.

It is worth taking care of technical aspects like :

1. loading time,
2. speed of operation,
3. dedicated burger menu
4. pulled CTA button 'make an appointment' in the top navigation bar
5. possibility to contact by clicking on the phone number

See also how wordpress page optimization looks like

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What are the tasks facing the developer's website ?

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First and foremost, clear navigation leading to the conversion, i.e. contact with the representative. In the second aspect, equally important, getting to know the developer's offer. Selling an apartment is a long process and the user will probably return to the site several times, it is worthwhile to make it simple and intuitive and not frustrate with bad UX solutions.

How to design a website for a developer logistically ?

Creating websites for developers are two different 'schools' and approaches when it comes to creating investment websites.

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The developer's basic single homepage

Construction of one main page of the developer with separate subpages per investment, e.g.: current investments, completed investments.

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Dedicated investment pages linked from the developer's home page

Building the developer's home page and individual investment pages. For elaborate pages of larger developments, this route works better.

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Advantages of the solution

1. These types of stand-alone sites dedicated to the investment are a better showcase of the investment, as they are dedicated to specific design, graphic and stylistic solutions. The whole creates a coherent image of the investment
2. They are more readable because they have a menu and structure dedicated to only one developer's housing project
3. It raises the prestige of investments especially the more expensive ones aimed at a more affluent audience,
4. A simpler way to communicate, putting your investment URL on a banner or in an ad.

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