We recently “re-engineered the content and design of a website for Gardner+Lang ( www.gal.com.au ), a leading commercial real estate consultancy in Melbourne, and the result is a site that is quite different from most commercial agency sites.
But before I get into the reason why it’s so different, it’s important to understand a little about the company’s culture.
Gardner+Lang’s (G+L) Managing Director, Chris Lang is a big believer in the “give and you shall receive” mentality. In fact, that’s one of the reasons his business is so unique. He isn’t in the business of selling real estate or managing commercial property. Instead, he takes the focus of working with affluent investors to help them increase their property wealth.
The Gardner+Lang positioning statement sums it up perfectly. It says, “”Helping High Net Worth Clients Acquire, Manage and Market their Investment Properties … For Maximum Return”
CHALLENGE
Chris’ previous website was created a number of years ago and was looking a little dated. What’s more, it really didn’t capture the uniqueness of his company’s services. Not only that, Chris sends out an excellent e-Bulletin each month, but the problem he was having was that he wasn’t achieving many subscriptions online.
Chris approached us to re-engineer his content, revamp his copy and re-design the HTML portion of his website so it achieved three outcomes:
1. is rich in content so it built a relationship with prospective clients: 2. it generates a larger amount of traffic by way of search engines; 3. and also maximises the number of email leads they generated.
RESULTS
1. Ease of Use
The previous website already had some really good content, however some of it was buried within the website so it was difficult to access. The new website includes additional articles, and with the existing content, we ensured that a number of the sub-pages were visible from the home page so people can easily find all the information that interests them.
2. Maximising initial interest
Previously, the headline for the website was simply their company “tag line” or positioning statement which said “Helping High Net Worth Clients Acquire, Manage and Market their Investment Properties … For Maximum Return”. Whilst this headline promoted some very strong benefits, we decided to use a headline that was shorter, sharper and drilled deeper to hit the core hot button of investors.
The following headline was decided upon “Interested in quadrupling your property wealth in as little as 5 years?”
As you can see, this headline is shorter and more benefit oriented plus it offers a specific outcome, but the main element is that it’s use as a question adds a curiosity element and makes people want to
3. Maximising length of stay on the site
To increase the length of time people spend on the website we featured a number of key articles from previous editions of the G+L e-Bulletins. These articles are featured as teasers featuring two or three paragraphs of each article, then to read more, people need to subscribe to their e-Bulletin. Once they have subscribed they can then access the full article.
The purpose of the teaser format was to capture as many email addresses as possible.
4. Enquiry generating mechanisms
A critically important function of any website is to generate enquiries and if your site isn’t enticing site visitors to leave their email address, you’re simply wasting opportunities. That’s where the Gardner+Lang site is brilliant.
Gardner+Lang’s previous site already had a response gathering mechanism in their “Negotiating your Way to Success” e-report which gets emailed out to respondents. Gardner+Lang found it to be a great tool for attracting enquiries but they wanted to dramatically increase results.
Now, the new website, not only offers 8 different opportunities for people to leave their email address, it also includes a “call to action” at the bottom of each page, encouraging people to subscribe or to enquire about one of their complimentary consultations.
Response devices include:
* General enquiry page
* FREE consultation
* FREE 7 property investment lessons
* FREE subscription
* FREE – Negotiating your Way to Success
So, no matter who visits the site, there’s a good chance that people will leave their email details.
The result? Already, before any search engine optimisation activities have kicked in, Gardner+Lang are receiving twice as many eBulletin subscriptions.
5. Copy in general
Chris Lang is a talented copywriter himself, so we re-used most of Chris’ copy but just tweaked it slightly to ensure it was suitable for the web. This included creating new home page copy, shortening sentences and paragraphs and adding more frequent subheadings throughout each page.
When you visit the site, you’ll notice how the use of powerful article headlines on the home page entices people to read further:
* How to Create Your Own Investment Blueprint
* 8 Factors to Consider When Selecting a Commercial Property Investment
* 12 Criteria that Determine Your Property Investment Success
* Property Rating Matrix
Notice the way the headlines are worded”:
* “How to ”
* “8 factors”
* “12 criteria”
Each of these attract attention and arouse curiosity. They stand out. They offer a benefit. They appeal to the driving needs of the site visitor.
6. Credibility online
A website visitor doesn’t have the luxury of speaking with a sales person or visiting your company, so your website is your online storefront. It sends a message about the credibility, professionalism and expertise that your company offers.
That’s why it’s important that your site sells and gives proof of your claims. The Gardner+Lang site does that perfectly. They have case studies featuring properties they have sold and properties they manage, and there are a whole range of success stories but what they also do is have from the horse’s mouth testimonials from clients … from a long list of clients at that.
The credibility building keeps going. There are also a number of case studies featuring award winning marketing campaigns they have created.
IN SUMMARY
The Gardner+Lang website follows the 5 golden rules of websites that sell including:
1. Easy to navigate 2. Simple, useable design that loads quickly 3. Flooded with email address capturing devices and enquiry mechanisms 4. Loaded with valuable content to maximise repeat visits 5. Heaps of credibility building tools in the form of testimonials, case studies etc.
Next time you re-engineer your site, apply these rules and you’ll find that your results increase dramatically.
Kris Mills of Words that Sell ( http://www.wordsthatsell.com.au/ ) is a top selling copywriter, trainer and author of numerous how-to guides including Proposals and Tenders (Bids) that Sell. Kris has also produced a FREE ebook entitled “11 Bid Writing Sins and How to Avoid Them”. To arrange a FREE copy, visit:http://www.wordsthatsell.com.au/tendersebook.htm
