Holding back notes on the trumpet and coming out top on Google

Two things stand out for me about estate agent Kevin Henry.

Firstly, they have a genuine passion about Saffron Walden because they’re local and have lived there for years, unlike the corporate agents who open hollow branches everywhere.

Secondly, because of this authenticity and experience – and years of hard work – they are repeatedly the number one home-selling agent in the area. And they deserve it.

Their old web site was an uneven jumble of colours, components, microsites; tens of icons with no explanations, miscellaneous pages buried deep in the navigation. It was hard to know where to start, what to click on. Somehow along the way someone had forgotten to put a picture of a house on the front page. What was it that you do again?

Doing the obvious thing well

People are looking for a home, not an estate agent. In terms of the content, this meant stripping away anything inessential to the single task of searching for houses straight away. No questions, no introductions: simply an easy search box next to a big map of the area showing lots of properties. Underneath we put a scrolling gallery of available homes to communicate activity and choice, and most of all to reinforce the message that Kevin Henry provides homes.

Kevin Henry front page

When it’s that easy for the buyer, the seller wants in too.

Company profile, contact details and the articulation of selling points are still vital, so we made them easy to find on the footer and top menu, but the best thing people can discover about an estate agent is that they have loads of homes, easy to find, with lots of details.

Search engine optimisation

And of course people need to find the site in the first place. We set about boosting search rankings with our clandestine, rune-casting, voodoo process of … writing choice content in all the right places: content that makes sense to readers, appeals to search engines, and, don’t forget, appeals to the person reading the search results too. Even the witty strap line got sacrificed (it’s no good having a witty strap if no one ever finds it).

Kevin Henry are now first on Google for ‘saffron walden estate agents’. And it is gratifying that where other results say things like ‘longest established and best known’, ‘we have offices in Saffron Walden’ and ‘a wide range of property’ – that our client’s description says ‘Kevin Henry sell more houses each year in the Saffron Walden area than any other estate agent’.

Which one would you click on?

Personality

The challenge in the rest of the copy was to convey friendliness, even a little bit of cheek, while keeping the tone professional and the experience straightforward. Not everyone can write a business blog but for this client it is the perfect vehicle to display some personality and knowledge. When they started in the late 80s they used to send out humorous newsletters to a mailing list – the blog was simply starting this up again online.

Actually there is a third thing I love about Kevin Henry. As I got to know them, I discovered just how amazing their service is. I heard it from satisfied customers, and I saw the cupboard with bags of Waitrose goodies prepared as a surprise for moving day.

The joy of keeping a web site simple and focused is that customers will already love you for the ease with which they can find relevant information. You don’t need to blow every note on your trumpet from the start. Then, when all the extras of incredible service appear on top, you’ve not just got customers but excited fans.