Tips for Building a Good Website for Malaysian Property Developers
Following our earlier article on Websites for Malaysian Property Developers (read it here), we present here six pointers for making a good website to suit the Malaysian public.
First and foremost, most of the rules here pretty much apply for any kind of entry-level website, not just for real estate only. But the important thing to remember here is that a some of Malaysians seeking info on houses and developers may not be very Internet-savvy. It may even be their first or second using a search engine. So with that in mind, developers should take heed to note the following advice:
First rule – Get a website! If you don’t have one, that is. We’ve searched for dozens of local property developers, only to find that they do not have even a simple website. Instead, the public may be directed to your competitors, or even worse a forum or personal website that may not present favourable or accurate info about your company or product. Do a simple website adhering to the principles outlined here (and also in our previous article here).
Keep it simple – Most people who come to your site want to know the basics – your contact number, what are your projects, and where your office is. So make it easy for people to find it. Don’t hide it under layers and layers of sub-pages that require 5 minutes of navigating. They don’t really need to know the too much details of your new condo project – that kind of query is best handled by your sales staff at the show unit.
Don’t make them wait – No need to have fancy flash presentations. More apps mean slower loading time. Most people don’t have the luxury of broadband at home, so if they can’t see anything after 5 seconds, they usually click away. If you want to dazzle everyone fantastic graphics and movies, give them an option to view a non-flash site or to skip all the bells and whistles.
Update it regularly – having an impressive website is not much use if you don’t update it regular. You don’t need to do it everyday (like here!), but every time you have new info like new launches, latest promotion and change in contact numbers, you must update it. For developer websites that act as a portal (like myioi.com and ytlcommunity.com) they also include other relevant info like property news, stock info, forums, notice boards, etc.
Check your mail and reply fast – if you have one of those contact forms, or have a e-mail for reader query, check it regularly and reply fast. It can do wonders for your public image. In this age of the super fast broadband connectivity, please aren’t content to wait more than a few days to have their query replied. People are annoyed when are put on hold while on the phone, what do you think they would feel if you did not reply their e-mail query for days?
Consider more advanced features – once you have the website running and have incorporated the above pointers, you may want to go the extra mile and incorporate extra features for the benefit of your potential buyers. Some websites have interesting articles on home ownership, loan calculators, your share price indicator, links to other resource sites (pertaining to real estates, of course), community message board, and whatever you think that can add value to the site while increasing your public profile. If you do it well, your site might become the one stop portal where everyone goes when they think of ‘good developer’ and buying homes.
Previous article in the series:
We found the site by the people we bought our house from to be quite adequate.
www.asianpac.com.my/levenue
Comment by SM — September 29, 2005 @ 2:51 am
A very good post!
Websites are online equivalents of ubiquituous business cards; hence it is crucial that they are well-designed to exude professionalisme.
As a web designer I support your efforts to educate property developers, although I would like to propose that this post be directed towards governmental bodies and non-governmental organizations too.
Comment by Wan Zafran — September 29, 2005 @ 7:51 am
SM,
desa park city? hmmm… we’ve heard a lot about that posh place… never had the time to go all the way there.
wan zafran,
government websites? Many aren’t updated for a long, long time… some even from day one.
Comment by Administrator — September 29, 2005 @ 8:37 am
Yah, you should go take a look tomorrow.. I heard that Sunway SPK is launching some units tomorrow. After that you can check out the LeVenue 2 show models on display..and take a drive around Desa Park City.
Comment by SM — October 21, 2005 @ 9:52 am
sm,
as luck would have it, we have actually seen sunway spk and levenue II at desa parkcity. the review will be coming out next week…
Comment by Administrator — October 21, 2005 @ 11:32 am