Why is a property specific website so important to an overall condominium or apartment marketing campaign? Over 70% of all home searches begin on the Internet. This means the Internet is often making the first impression. A great community website can stop and engage a prospect for minutes in a dynamic web experience. A bad experience on a website allows them to quickly jump off and go in search of a more appealing apartment website. It’s never more true than on the Internet that you only get a second to make a great first – and lasting –– impression.

Property management websites do a great job of aggregating traffic from the Internet. But Merrick Towle has seen the benefits of driving home seekers to a branded property website.

A personalized site ensures that the unique nature of the building and its residents can be highlighted effectively. Merrick Towle’s NAHB Pillars Award winning apartment website and campaign for The Zenith featured the striking and memorable architecture . For another project down the street, Merrick Towle created an apartment website featuring the energetic nightlife in the area for Eden Apartments. This ensures that the traffic that comes to the property website is the right target. They will be more qualified and more likely to rent.

Merrick Towle creates tools to keep a prospect on the property website for as long as possible. The longer they stay, the more likely they are to contact the property.

Property websites make source tracking easier. We utilize unique tracking URLs on media sources to determine effectiveness of media and message.

What are some key things to include on a property website? What are some things to avoid?

All Flash websites have limited applications. Instead, create hybrid websites that feature HTML copy but offer Flash features like we did for Belmont Station Apartment’s website. Google and other search engines don’t see the copy if it’s embedded in the flash image. So it’s important that your copy be in HTML.

Create sites that work on two levels such as Merrick Towle’s award-winning Highland Park Apartments website:

Spend time to develop website architecture that is easy to navigate. Write SEO copy that is bulleted and information rich. Allow people to quickly get to the information they seek.

Interactive tools that encourage “stickiness” and keep people on the site longer:

• Furniture arrangers
• Floor plan searches
• Video content
• In-depth area pages
• Interactive maps

What are the top pages a prospect visits on an apartment or condominium website?

• We try to feature these sections prominently on the home page, as they are consistently the top-visited pages on condominium or apartment websites:
  • Floor plans
  • Photos
  • Specials

Next week will will take a deeper look at how we constructed the Zenith Apartments website.  We will also continue to post best practices for SEO, Vaultware integration and other tools to ensure traffic conversion.

by Jason Miller, Digital Associate Creative Director, jmiller@merricktowle.com