Oakwood Estates is an award winning estate agency with offices in Iver, Datchet, West Drayton and Old Windsor. They pride themselves on their local standing.
The principle aim of the design was to avoid a corporate feel which was challenging considering the client is a successful, award winning multi-office network. We therefore had to convey a friendly local feel which was achieved by deep rooted application of the brand across its various mediums. This included use of an illustrated animation including a branded car & letting/sales board. The perspective of the foreground to the background properties help imply the brand as a significant but also fun and friendly.
A prominent feature is the search bar with tabs for a variety of search methods. We realise the importance of easy search and high property visibility on our websites even if the majority of buyer traffic is via the portals. This is because a lot of buyers will test a prospective agent’s website to see how easy it is to locate a property. Without having any is a risk that you may lose the lead before they contact you.
Below the main animation can be found a selection of available components such as a welcome text introduction, featured articles, news articles, testimonials, local area guides, testimonial preview and social media connections. On a responsive view the header image formats neatly onto one screen where users will intuitively know to scroll down to access other useful material.
The overall dynamic of the website had to be scaled to accommodate easy navigation for a centralized property search whilst enabling users to easily identify and contact their relevant local branch whilst also optimizing the site for SEO across several geographical areas.
The site structure is designed to be responsive so the image and the main call to actions are always visible full screen no matter what device is being used. The intuitive nature of smartphones means that users will know to scroll down the page to access any number of home page components that will link to various areas of the website. This is a common theme across many of our sites and follows modern day website convention as opposed to cramming everything into the space one screen.
The Oakwood Estates website is rich in useful content which not only helps SEO but also allowed us to design a dynamic and comprehensive article page. The blog & news pages also allow easy navigation through archived events that can be posted to social media through our Content Management System automatically.
HIVE's 360 Virtual Tour service has enabled us to stand out from the ever growing number of estate agents and has given us the opportunity to impress our clients with something new and innovative. We can confidently say that it has helped us win several instructions over our competitors and the service HIVE offers has exceeded our expectations.
Jamie Ullmer
We have been extremely impressed with Bruce and his team at Hive. Their technical knowledge and understanding of our Estate Agency needs has only been out-weighed by their drive and desire to deliver "a top notch product", within the time-frames that our business has demanded! "Location Information" is a real USP for Miles & Barr and has not only helped us gain Listings where we may not have, but has also been an invaluable tool for relocating buyers which will surely help us secure future business.
Christin Miles | Partner
East Estate Agency of the Year silver award
We are now fully utilising the HIVE Brochures and they are being really well received by both potential vendors at market appraisals and by our current vendors. None of our competitors is offering anything like it and they help us win business.
Dee Quealy | Director
Having forged a reputation for innovative and forward thinking marketing, ‘Local Information’ was a perfect product for staying one step ahead from our nearest competitors. Our listers report that potential vendors are very impressed and this has had a direct impact on our conversion rates
Hive offer a fantastic product coupled with excellent after sales and ongoing support. This product has allowed us to not only impress clients but improve our conversion and average fee value.
Robert Chamberlain | Area Sales Manager Essex & East Anglia
Being in a market with a shortage of instructions and available stock to sell, Hive Location Information Brochures have given us a instinct advantage with potential vendors in terms of winning a marginal instructions or achieving the right fee. It is also particularly impressive how quick we receive the completed brochures.
I would just like to drop you an email to mention that our Hive brochures are well received by our clients and gives us the edge to be different in providing bespoke information. I must also mention it was a contributory factor in us winning Gold in The Sunday Time Award for Best Estate Agent in the Eats of England (Single Office Category). We hope to see more great market leading innovation from your company.
The Location Information guides have been very successful in helping to win business at the valuation stage. As you know, I was initially uncertain about how effective they would be, but they have proven to be an extremely worthwhile investment for us.
We were excited at the very beginning with the HIVE Location Information product. It adds real value to both vendors and landlords properties in providing in-depth local information and data for the property. Buyers and renters alike love the booklets and on line presentation of the properties and the local amenities and infrastructure. It has also proved an instruction winner and gives us an added advantage over the other agents at valuations.
Joshua Rafter MARLA | Managing Director
i-PACKS
Conveyancing
Website Design
360 Virtual Tour