7 MUST HAVE Things for a Property-Management Website

Data: 2016.05.06

It doesn’t matter whether you have the best or the worst properties in the city, if your prospects can’t find the information about you and the estate you manage, those properties will be empty for months. Your property-management website is one of the most important tools to attract your prospects. But when was the last time you looked at your web and asked “What have you done for me lately?”

You probably didn’t start your website just for fun. But does it work for you as you expected? Does it generate leads for you?

Perhaps you think that the number of your leads depends on the visitors’ needs, so you can just provide the information and leave everything else for them to decide? Absolutely not! Thinking that everything depends on your visitors is totally wrong! The prospect may be in the driver‘s seat but you are still the navigator, and it is your responsibility to steer him in the right direction.

In this blog article I will state the most important things that no property-management website should miss.Apple or Pear?

There are a lot of property-management websites where you cannot tell at first sight what type of real estate they manage. It might seem obvious for you, but it is not for everybody. So, firstly state loud and clear on the upper part of your main page what properties, residential or commercial, you manage. That will make sure that the prospects you don’t need will not be wasting their time or yours.

What’s in it for him?

It is very important to state how you can benefit your clients and why your properties are better than others. You know better than anyone else what you can do for your clients, they should know that too.

Searching your available-properties listing

This is what they came for, right? To find out what properties you have to offer them. So, do not hesitate – make the best out of each and every property you manage. Emphasize the good qualities. Most importantly, provide the main information: size, location, price and PICTURES, more than one of them! You can also include surrounding views of the building. Somebody might be tempted even just by the view.

Map of available contents

Location is the first criteria for some of your prospects, so it is important that they can see where all your properties are situated on the map. This can go together with the properties listing or separately, but should definitely be included on your website.

Owner portal for owner resources

Your property owners would really appreciate it if every time they need some information, contracts, etc. about their rented property they don’t have to contact you or your colleague, but could find it at their personal account in the owners portal, right there, right now.

Tenant portal

The tenant portal will also provide your tenants with instant access to their accounts anytime. This will save time for both of you, reduce paper work and help to avoid unnecessary calls and visits. Read more about tenant portal advantages and learn why you would want to have one.

Don’t forget mobile-friendliness

Both your prospects and property owners – all of them are really busy men. Many of them are looking for the info on the run, while going to work, waiting for a meeting or a call. Appreciate their time and build a mobile responsive design; if they can’t read what you are saying they will not be interested. What is more, mobile-friendliness is very important for Google. If your website does not have a mobile responsive design, Google will not rank it well, whatever best keywords you may use.

This is not all! These are only the specific things that a Property-Management company’s website should have. Find out what basic, general things any website should include in order to generate leads, in this article.

To sum up, everything should work as a package. Both specific property-management functions and the basic functions of every website should be combined. As a result, your website should be smart, helpful, resourceful and interesting. It should attract owners and investors, market new properties, generate leads and find tenants for you, generally – fill vacancies. And don’t forget – your customers should feel like they are dealing with people, not with the system.

ADVICE!

If you think that creating a new website is too big an investment for you, Zillow provides free property-management websites for rental pros. According to Zillow, this new service is aimed at rental professionals “who do not have their own website, wish to improve their current website or are looking for a free custom Web solution.” Interested? Read more here.

SOFT4, as a provider of a software solution for commercial property management, is constantly releasing blog articles about how to meet and cope with  trends, tendencies, and challenges, and giving suggestions as to how to react to the changing environment in order to stay competitive.

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