The client
Jacksons Letting Agents are a long-established Shrewsbury lettings agent.
As well as listing properties on their own website they also use two popular national property listing portals – RightMove and Zoopla.
The problem
Their existing website was several years old and difficult for the client to manage.
The interface to upload properties (which was the only thing he could amend himself) was clunky, however it did reliably upload their site properties to the national listings sites.
Jacksons also felt frustrated by the limited number of pictures they could add to each listing.
Their website looked dated and cluttered as well as not working well on mobile devices, plus they had recently rebranded so needed a redesign to accommodate the new logo.
Unfortunately, Jacksons’ designer (who they had to approach for any content or design changes) could no longer support the website full time.
He had what we tend to call a Zombie website.
What we did
Several things were vital with this project:
- Displaying property listings effectively
- Ease of use by Jacksons staff, allowing them to quickly add properties
- Creating a new the auto-feed to RightMove and Zoopla, uploading new properties
- Incorporating the new branding in a clean, modern, simple design
Advanced estate agency features
We used WordPress solutions for all of these needs.
We customised a third party plugin to display the properties in several ways, with a clean layout for listings.
A key feature is the property map, which displays properties for rent on a custom Google map, complete with Jacksons branded ‘pins’. Jacksons staff only had to enter a postcode to display the properties on the map.
Mobile responsive design
As well as this we customised a premium mobile-friendly (responsive) design with their new company colours and branding.
We then worked with Jacksons to overhaul the content, streamlining and repurposing it to focus on what their visitors would want to do on the site.
And because we had very few images to work with from the previous website, we photographed their new ‘To Let’ signs outside some of their properties in order to get that home page image!
We produced a training manual that for Jacksons staff, with one to one training on the new system, and showing them where they could get help and further support if they needed it (Clue: our support service!).
We have since worked with them to develop further features on the site, including:
- Switching over one of the property feeds to a new estate agency portal, OnTheMarket.com
- Adding a dynamically-generated printable property list, that staff can print on demand for people who call into the office, reducing waste and printing costs
- Adding ‘Let Agreed’ tabs to property images via a simple control in the admin area
What happened next
Jacksons can now amend the content on their website, and because we simplify the admin area of our clients’ websites, they know that they can’t break anything important!
And staff can add as many pictures to each listing as they like, as well as being able to easily upload the property’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for website visitors to read.
The site is clean and works well across different mobile devices, which is useful both for people trying to find their office and also those using the listings map to find a property for viewing. And because of the interactive Google map interface they can navigate right to the door on their phone.
Clients can also dial direct to the Jacksons office through the website on their smart phones.
Overall, the website now delivers key information with clarity across any device.
Jacksons merged with another agent in 2018.