What Does Rebuilding Your Homebuilder Website Look Like?

As a homebuilder, you know that your clients have different reasons for building a new home.

Ultimately, however, it generally comes down to the fact that the home your client is in no longer meets his or her needs. It really doesn’t matter whether it’s a question of style, square footage, or location—your clients look to build something new because their existing home no longer meets their needs.

The same principle holds true for your builder website. If it’s not presenting your business in the right way and not generating the kind of leads you need, you need to do something about it. But what does it look like when you rebuild your website? It involves more than just refreshing the look of the home page.

One of our clients came to the conclusion that while his website was OK, it could do a better job of representing what his company was all about—and could generate more business. You can see his old home page here.

The site is OK. There are adequate pictures of homes. There are places you can click for more information (But you have to know to click on the images). It works—but he and we both knew it could work better.

We redesigned it with more upscale photography that focuses on the inside of the home—where people actually live. We added clear calls to action to encourage people to seek additional information.  And we streamlined it to make sure the important information stands out. We also added an opportunity for viewers to comment on the site and let us know if there was information they thought was missing.

Then we measured the results. In less than a week we could see a significant uptick as far as viewer engagement. Viewers weren’t just hitting the home page and stopping. They were clicking on the various options and visiting other sections of the site. And in that first week the homepage had already generated a new qualified lead that the client could follow up on. Click here to take a look at the redesigned homepage.

Here’s the thing: The way the site looks is important. It reflects the quality of the work you do. But your site needs to do much more than look good. It needs to engage your audience and allow you to have interaction with them. That’s why it’s important to be strategic about the way you approach your website redesign. You really need to think through what you want people to know and what you want them to do.

In some ways, it’s a lot like building a home. Rebuilding your website involves a lot more than simply putting a new coat of paint on an old house. You need a good plan with clear objectives and you need craftsmen with the skill to execute the plan.