Is Your Site Underperforming? Discover the Nine Keys of Effective Property Management Web Design

Picture this: You’ve invested blood, sweat, and late-night caffeine binges into building your property management empire, only to find your website resembles a ghost town in the Wild West, devoid of leads and traffic. It’s a chilling thought, isn’t it?

As Jason Hull, President & CEO of DoorGrow, often says, “Your website should be your best salesperson!” If yours isn’t achieving impressive results for you, you’re leaving thousands of dollars in potential revenue on the table.

Understanding the Importance of Property Management Web Design

Long gone are the days when consumers were divided into online vs. real-world shoppers. In today’s market, every buyer is online. Your property management website should be on the frontlines, representing the very best of your business and helping land new business for you.

If you’re one of the many property managers out there fed up with a website that isn’t getting you anything but crickets, learn the nine keys all effective property management web designs should incorporate.

1. 1. Go Responsive, Responsive, Responsive

      Mobile visitors make up an estimated 54.4% of all web traffic. That means more people are likely to view your website on their cell phone than their desktop computer.

      Think about the last time you had a quick question for Google. What’s the best insurance agency near me? How I can I find an affordable plumber to fix my sink on a Saturday? The list goes on and on. Maybe the idea came to you while watching TV or doing the dishes, but chances are better than not, you pulled out your phone and did a quick search.

      To put it simply, you’re not the exception to the rule. This is how modern shoppers research options available to them. In order for your website to connect with those visitors, you need to make sure that your website is fully responsive.  Long gone are the days where we would create a traditional website and a secondary mobile site with fewer bells and whistles and less functionality. Consumers expect the same browsing experience on their phone as they’d have on their computer.

   2. Choose a Fresh, Updated Look

      Automobile manufacturers release a new model annually. Of course, there are incremental improvements and little tweaks, but a big reason for these annual releases is to update the design of the car.

      Buick did a whole advertising campaign designed around this a few years ago. “That’s not a Buick!” The premise was simple: every person in the commercial struggled to see the Buick right in front of them, simply because the design was so much newer and fresher.

      If your website dates back three years or more, you should be thinking about a site design overhaul. Five years? You’re past due for a tuneup. Ten years? You’re basically running a website that was built for the dinosaurs.

      Updating your site isn’t just about vanity. A fresh, contemporary look makes a great impression and helps convince consumers to buy, just in the same way a sleek new Buick reeled in new buyers that would never have thought about driving their grandpa’s fuddy-duddy sedan. New designs pack a punch and subliminally influence buyers to prioritize your brand over the competitors.

   3. Cater to Investors, Not Renters

      If you haven’t already gotten the memo, let’s be frank: tenants do not pay your bills. Stop catering your marketing message to people looking for rental vacancies.

      Yes, maintaining positive relationships with your tenants is an important part of an effective overall management approach. But your property management web design should cater to property owners, not renters.

      Most of the tenants who ultimately rent from you probably aren’t finding your website and then perusing your listings. Instead, you’re syndicating your vacancies across lots of different sites, like Apartments.com, Zillow, etc. Those are the first destinations that potential renters go to seek out properties on the market. And ultimately, tenants don’t care near as much about your business. You’re an afterthought to them. They fall in love with rentals, not with the management company responsible for them.

      Property owners, on the other hand, are the ones who are performing search queries for property management. Investors are ready to spend money with you. These are your customers, so don’t treat them like anything less than your top priority. Build a property management website that speaks directly to their pain points and highlights how you solve their unique issues.

   4. Make It Easy to Window Shop

      Shop windows are a retailer’s best tool for pulling people into their stores.

      Think about it. You walk past a shoe store and something shiny catches your eye. You immediately start to think about yourself wearing those shoes and how nice they’d look on your feet. And right beside the shoes, you see the little price card telling you how much they cost. You might mull it over for a second or two, but if everything lines up correctly, you’ll go into the store to take a closer look.

      Your website is like your shop window. You’re highlighting your product offering and making it easy for a consumer to imagine what you could provide for them as their property manager. Offering upfront, transparent pricing is part of that equation.

      Putting pricing on your property management website is often a scary proposition. In fact, many of our own clients baulk at the idea, thinking it’s akin to sharing all of their secrets with the world or giving competitors an unfair advantage. In fact, the very opposite is often true. Sharing your pricing on your site can have a long list of benefits, including:

      • • Building immediate credibility with site visitors
        • Collapses time! No more tire kickers or people who aren’t qualified leads calling
        • Helps combat fears about your services being unaffordable

      Perhaps best of all, conversions skyrocket when pricing is published to your site.

   5. Highlight Your Team

      Building immediate rapport with site visitors is important. When a website is too driven by stock images and pretty graphics, visitors have no idea who is working behind the scenes. This can create concerns about how trustworthy you are and whether or not they should reach out to continue a conversation about your management services.

      By highlighting your team, you’re stepping out of the shadows and saying, “Hey! We’re the ones running the ship over here.” It makes for a much more powerful impact that will greatly help to boost your overall performance.

      

   6. Share Real Feedback from Clients

      Anyone can make big promises about achieving impressive results with their property management approach. Let your testimonials and reviews do the talking for you.

      When you make a purchase on Amazon, you’re no doubt using the product ratings to inform your decision. The same is true when it comes to your property management services. Letting prospective clients hear from other investors is a surefire way to build trust and cement yourself as an expert in the field.

      Don’t have any current testimonials to share? Consider using a tool like GatherKudos to run a drip campaign and request feedback from all of your contacts! It’s an easy way to collect reviews and boost your online reputation with minimal effort required.

   7. Target Specific Service Areas

      Clearly delineating where you provide property management services is important. Not only does listing your service areas on your website help inform potential clients and reduce any confusion about the support you offer, but it can also serve as an invaluable SEO tool.

      Google uses a number of different factors to determine where your site ranks; a comprehensive navigation system that includes your service area, detailed sitemap, and optimized metatags all contribute to how effectively Google spiders are able to crawl your site. Ultimately, this can all translate to more traffic and traction for your site.

   8. Remember ADA Compliance

      All businesses in the United States are required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination due to disabilities. In the realm of property management web design, this means creating sites that are fully accessible to those who have visual impairments. There are a number of tools available to make websites more easily accessible.

      Failure to implement such measures can trigger complaints and ADA violations. In addition to action taken by impacted consumers, many property managers have been targeted by attorneys specifically looking for ADA compliance issues in recent years.

      A surefire way to avoid these issues, while also ensuring your site is accessible by the masses, is by following WCAG standards. Don’t feel like taking on the risk solo? Working with a qualified property management web design company with experience in ADA compliance is a surefire way to keep yourself protected.

   9. Stand Out in Your Market

      Finally, don’t forget to make certain that your property management website stands out from the crowd. Branding and site design are important differentiators that can make or break your business when it comes to clients comparing you to others in the market. If you’re using free property management website templates or relying on a turnkey site from a company like Wix, this is an issue you might encounter.

      We avoid this for our customers by only licensing our site designs once per market. This means no two DoorGrow clients will have the same site in the same general service area. This helps protect everybody involved, while also ensuring you have a unique site that will have the highest impact possible.

We have worked with hundreds of property managers across North America, providing training, consulting, branding, and property management web design services. Our team of seasoned experts is the leading company in the industry for property managers looking to revisit their website. Interested in how we can help you? Schedule a free consultation with us today to learn how DoorGrow can help you to exceed your financial goals.

Take the DoorGrow Website Quiz for free to see how well your current site is performing!