The property market in the UK is a huge industry and online property web sites are becoming increasingly popular. Estate agents are capitalising on the online market to advertise their properties on either their own web sites or on other property portals. There are also a number of portals that enable individuals to upload their own properties for sale or for rent online. Either way, there is a demand for web site design for the online property business. What is a standard property web site design package and what are the interesting web site design add-ons that work?

Let us consider the estate agent that requires a web site to upload their own property portfolio, for sale or for rent. The web site design here consists of the front end or the online client interface and the backend or the admin section that enables the estate agent to easily upload their properties online. Let us configure the front end from a web site design point of view. In terms of design, some graphical elements depicting some nice properties is a winner. The web site must instantly be recognised as a property web site. It is best to determine from the outset which end of the property market the web site is targeting. Whether it’s the low end or the most expensive end, the web site design must reflect the market needs. Do not try to kill several birds with one stone. Identify your market segment and target it with a focussed message.

From a web site design feature set point of view, a property search is essential. Most online visitors will expect to be able to search for a property online using a number of search criteria like number of bedrooms, type of property, area. The graphical side of the web site design must present the search box and fields very prominently as these are a key feature. The online visitor chooses his or her search criteria, drop downs are handy, and results pages matching the search criteria are displayed with a list of properties. Each property featuring on the list will have at least one image, a title one line description and a more details area with a button to read more. The web site design will present the list in a way that the page does not look cluttered and hard to read. Click on the read more button and the web site page focuses more on the property with more images, a location map and a contact seller or estate agent button.

Property search sites are database driven web site design packages. Properties are uploaded on the database through an admin area and online clients search the database through the search criteria described above. Let us look at the back end or admin area of the web site design used by the webmaster, in this case the estate agent, to enter properties on the web site. Simplicity is the key here. Estate agents are not only busy people but the personnel are not IT professionals. If the web site design system is too complex and tedious to use, they will not keep the web site up to date and in time this will be the downfall of the web site.

Basically, any member of staff from the estate agent should be able to upload information, i.e. property details, on the web site easily. From the web site design angle, the system must be simple, user friendly, robust and secure. Start with a simple access to the admin area. The web site will have a url where a username and password allows direct access to the property upload feature. Fill in the information fields with the property information that will appear on the web site, upload a few photos in the admin area, click a button and the whole lot is instantly online. The web site admin area will feature a list of properties with a delete and modify button next to each property. This will allow staff to keep the properties online up to date.

This is a summary of the web site design features required on an online property web site. There are obviously a number of add-ons that will differentiate a web site design from the rest and this is the subject of another article in the web site design series.

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