Hi Folks,

 

Just in the middle of producing a first draft mockup for a property website. Would love to hear your thoughts on it so far. Thanks.

 

It's not complete at all yet but I like to get peoples opinions while I design.

I've updated the design with a further navigation tab.

 

An update but the image in the slider isn't what will be there, just to make it look a little more complete.

 

Another update...

 

I would really appreciate your thoughts guys? Thanks.

Where are the photos and descriptions of properties they have for sale or have bought? The cheesy stock photos don't really work for me, if I was selling my house I want to get straight to the point...

 

1. What sort of prices do they offer for different sorts of properties?

2. How quickly can they buy my house?

3. How will they pay me?

 

I see you have a "Request offer" call to action - I presume that's a valuation form? If so that should be the first thing on your home page, prominent

Hello,

 

 

1. Make these paddings of the same width.
2. Then align logo, top menu, submenu left and right, respectively.
3. Logo, header bar, button, caption, phone number, etc — all they have a different light source directions, and that is not quite correct.
4. Better to move text from couple's faces (Tom Hanks and Sigourney Weaver?)

 

Hope that helps.

I would move the mid-bottom section (slider and call back form) up to the top, losing the full width image of the couple and make space for some content below (seo in mind). I think the colours work alright its just not screaming property website at the min. More appropriate images will be a good starting point.

Jay

Hi Guys,

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

Forget the images for the time being, these are literally content placeholders until I have what content the client wants. The feature slider will contain an image and bullet points of the steps to selling your house fast, then various other important info once I get this all from the client.

 

With regards to the mid-section. This design is based on a specific brief from the client but I do appreciate that at the minute it's not directly obvious it's a property website that buys houses under market value for a quick sale. I'll work on this, so points noted.

 

Lev, thanks mate. Can always count on you to point out the symmetry issues. Cheers, I'll get those sorted.

 

BlueDreamer, the 'Request an Offer' section isn't the most important call to action. Yes, it links to a fairly long evaluation form but it is not the main call to action. The main call to action is the small, 'Call Me Back' form. The client would rather speak to them in detail about their property, than simply have the details emailed. That is what is most important to him. Plus, users will more than likely fill in the smaller two field form than a long winded and detailed one. That is why it isn't that prominent.

 

With regards to the stock photo's. I do understand were you are coming from, and while they may not work for you, there is psychology behind them. Check out websites related to this niche and you'll see the same type of imagery throughout. The reason being, it's trying to convey a feeling of satisfaction and happiness, also family. It's not necessarily about the house, it's about the outcome. Freedom, relief, security and happiness for your family. You're selling an outcome. That said, as I've mentioned these specific images are merely placeholder graphics until the client has decided on exactly what is required. I do take your point though, so thanks.

 

With regards to prices, well obviously that varies based on property, and as mentioned this is a website which offers to buy your property for under market value, at least 25% under for those people who require a fast sale to free up cash. I do realise though, that this is not clear at the moment, so that is a well noted point. I hope this will be more clear when the information for the slider is available. The same goes for the other points, I hope this will be clearer when I have more information. Thanks for raising it, I'll speak with the client.

 

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Looks clean and fresh. Id loose the drop shadow on the nav items makes them look 'muddy' either lighten them or do 1 pixel solid drop shadow

With regards to the stock photo's. I do understand were you are coming from, and while they may not work for you, there is psychology behind them. Check out websites related to this niche and you'll see the same type of imagery throughout.

I know where you're coming from but I'd say that's really a traditional print/tv media marketing approach rather than a 21st century online-customer-centric approach

 

Just because everyone else is doing that it doesn't always follow that it's the most effective method. Imagine a customer browsing through a few sites so they can sell their house - on every site they'd see the same old images, but the one site that simply gets to the point and offers them what they want with no fuss would probably win the day?

 

Hmmm...

BlueDreamer, yup I totally understand were you are coming from, and I do agree to a certain extent but like it says in Steve Krug's book, 'Don't Make Me Think', don't break well established conventions, unless there is a really good reason to do so, or you are obviously improving on the original idea. I tend to agree. At the same time, I see were you are coming from though. Something to think on.

 

John, thanks. I've got rid of the drop shadows on the navigation text. Cheers.

 

Just sorting a few of the mentioned issues. I'll have an update up here shortly. Cheers guys. Really appreciate your thoughts.

Hi Guys,

 

Here's an update.

 

Don't make me read ' 'Don't Make Me Think'

I reckon you should watermark the logo (or just the house part of it) in the bottom right of the footer. Clients love to see their branding and its a nice professional touch to round off the site.

Yes, that's what is missing forgot to do that. I did plan on it.

 

LOL @ Lev

BlueDreamer, yup I totally understand were you are coming from, and I do agree to a certain extent but like it says in Steve Krug's book, 'Don't Make Me Think', don't break well established conventions, unless there is a really good reason to do so, or you are obviously improving on the original idea. I tend to agree. At the same time, I see were you are coming from though. Something to think on.

he he - that depends how you interpret "don't make me think"

 

From my way of thinking if you follow conventions all the time you're not innovating and you end up doing the same as everyone else, catch 22!

Tis true, tis true.

looks good, if you want to make money making websites for estate agents, learn how to export this format to ftp. big software companies charge a bomb for this. (I used to work in this sector)

 

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/adf.html

I like your little icon style logo house, is this a style that could be used elsewhere on the site as icons or graphics for certain actions or information, then you won't need to use as much stock images?

 

I think your imagery could work harder, and you begin to do that with your main image and testimonial, although this should be a feature that changes each time the site or pages are loaded, this way it will stay fresh and interesting.

 

The top nav and contact form all seems a bit fat fingered at the moment, maybe they could be a little smaller and sweeter. You've also got Times for 'name' and 'telephone' in the contact form which looks like a mistake as its not used elsewhere.

 

Hopefully I'm not stepping on your toes there, but hopefully it will help.

I think it looks pretty good so far. I'd make the navigation buttons a little smaller though. Also I would change the font in the call back form to arial to match the rest of the site.

 

Does your client want to display the properties they're selling/letting on the site? If so I would suggest having a few properties on the front page.