Realtors are traditionally very busy people and often marketing, especially developing a professional web design, can fall into the “when I have more time” category of their business plan. However into today’s tough real estate market it is important for agents to shift their thinking and realize that they must have a solid internet marketing plan, built on the foundation of a user-friendly website, in order to stay afloat and ahead of their competitors.

Personal experience has shown me that an amazing number of credible realtors do not have a website to showcase their listings. If they do have a website, it is vastly undeveloped and is doing nothing to retain their current clients or attract new ones.
Some basic things a realtor’s strategic web design should include are

• Clean and classy design
• Easy to use navigation
• User friendly search option, that can search on a variety of variables
• RSS capabilities
• Ability to show up to date listings with accurate information that can be printed or emailed by the user.
• Login area where users can specialize preferences and have updates emailed to them
• Contact form
• Relevant links
• History of the company and agent information
• Helpful articles and resources
• Search engine optimized
• and more

While this list is just the tip of the iceberg, it is important to remember that an effective custom website design will be your most important marketing tool and is often your first impression to potential buyers and sellers.

A recent article published by a business site made the statement that SEO web design was recession proof, and I’d have to agree. SEO and web design are hot right now, despite the crumbling economy due in part to relatively small cost compared to the huge gain in sales and traffic to your site over time. The Silicon Valley Insider article talked about how businesses can’t survive on a professional web design alone. In order to compete and be a major player, the big guns (i.e. Google) must see you as reputable (lots of people linking to you), relevant (lots of good, valuable content), and dynamic (content updated frequently). Because we offer a professional SEO service, we can build you a well optimized site, as well as help you get your existing site ranked above the fold in an organic Google search.

Earlier in the week the Chicago web design competition, cleverly titled PhizzPop, was hosted by Microsoft at the Chicago Cultural Center. Several professional web design companies embarked on the competition challenge of actively engaging and creating support of the 2016 Olympic bid with Chicago’s younger generation.

The fact that PhizzPop chose Chicago to host one if it’s competitions is even more evidence of the fact that Chicago has a very large, often untapped pool of talented, cutting-edge, web designers and website consultants.

When Effect develops a professional web design there is an important discovery step involved.  We will review with you the goals, needs, processes, and the structure of the website.  We will lay everything out before the development process begins.  The discovery step is a vital part of the design process to create a website specific to your needs.

Professional web design starts with understanding your goals on the web.  We want to identify who your audience is and establish the best possible way to reach them.  The first step in our design process is getting to know you and what your vision is.  No matter the goal of your website we can help you attract the demographic you seek.

Determining what you want to achieve on the web is the first step in every professional web design project. Success is measured by the goals that are reached through your website. Whether it is qualified leads you seek or an Ecommerce store looking for sales, your website is only as successful as the goals that are reached. This is why it is so important to our firm to get to know each client and pin down what their goals truly are. We believe in seeing a website project through the eyes of our customers and that a professional web design will produce a win-win situation for everyone.

Professional web design begins with a solid process and a team that cares about your web needs. Our first priority is to understand what who you are and what your company wants to accomplish on the web. Once we learn about you and your business we can turn those ideas into a website that works for you. Your goals are important to us and we consider a successful website one that accomplishes those goals. We do not offer cookie cutter websites, we offer creative web development that is custom fit for your needs.