The Portland House Hunters
I loved working with Chandra Ashford and The Portland House Hunters to revamp their website. She was our realtor in 2016 when my wife and I bought our house so the boomerang of working for her years later was a great honor.
We added RMLS search integrations to increase user engagement by keeping users on her site and streamlined the site architecture. We also expanded their branding to emphasize their USP (unique selling proposition) utilizing color, photography, and custom Americana-tattoo-inspired spot illustrations.
The Problem
Their original site had a sterile template feel which didn't speak to their bright and cheery personalities. They also wished to increase their lead funnel by having RMLS search integrations and wanted their values to shine through more.
The Solution
We increased their sales funnel and ROI (return on investment) by adding search and listing RMLS integrations, pushed their branding identity further by adding personality and charm to the interface across the site, and made the site navigation more intuitive.
What I did
• Site Audit & SWOT Analysis
• Site Map
• Competitive Analysis
• User Flow
• Personas
• Buyer's Journey
• Branding & Identity Design
• Illustration
• HTML, CSS, & Squarespace DOM Manipulation
• Copywriting
• IDX RMLS Widget Integration
• SEO Implementation
Tools
• HTML/CSS
• Squarespace
• IDX Broker
• Google Analytics
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
Research
I embarked on a deep dive into their site and other local realtor's websites creating a SWOT analysis (strengths - weaknesses - opportunities - threats) for each. I also explored the big national realty websites like Red Fin and Zillow for ideas on improving UI functionality.
Competitive Analysis
Understanding the audience and how to appeal to them required understanding the interactive and visual language that they would be familiar with so that they would recognize what was being communicated.
Strategy
Together, we determined that the website should have better search and listing integrations so that potential clients wouldn't need to leave their site for their brokerage's site which would risk losing the sales lead. It was also important to strategically show more of their unique selling proposition through value statements and expanded branding personality.
Buyer's Journey
A simple user flow for the homebuyer's journey across the site prioritizing their needs.
Seller's Journey
A simple user flow for the home seller's journey across the site prioritizing their needs.
Personas
Audience
1. Progressive home buyers/sellers
2. Community-oriented people
3. Fellow local realtors
Sitemap
With an emphasis on ease of use and keeping users on the site, I created a sitemap that features a sticky top navigation with nested dropdowns by theme for convenient entry points to all subpages and anchor tags across the site.
Expanded Brand Identity
I vectorized and simplified their previous logo to optimize its scalability and use across different applications and expanded their branding with custom spot illustrations in the same Americana-tattoo-flash style.
Custom Spot Illustrations
Bespoke spot illustrations to symbolize different stages in the buying and selling processes:
(in order left to right)
(in order left to right)
BUYER'S PROCESS
1. Prepare
2. Dream
3. Get Real
4. Meet Us
SELLER'S PROCESS
1. Determine Goals
2. Prepare
3. Get Away
4. Sell It
Revised Banner Logo v1
The hand/key logo was still too detailed to be in the header as a logo so I broke out one of the Americana flower elements to frame the wordmark.
Revised Banner Logo v2
IDX Broker required that we add the Think Real Estate logo since they are the brokerage.
Lettermark & Favicon
In addition to reworking their logo, I also created a scalable lettermark to use as a favicon.
Final Designs
The finished website features bold pops of color, eye-catching shapes featuring CTA content, animated banners, playful illustrations, simplified navigation, integrated RMLS search and listing functionalities via IDX Broker, and much more!
Reflections
This project allowed me to integrate my own quirky and playful style while prioritizing the conversion rate business goals of The Portland House Hunters. With SEO optimization analytics and the RMLS integrations, we will be able to track the success of the design decisions we have made and then further augment and iterate to meet their business goals!
