Story House Real Estate was founded on the belief that every home, every buyer and every seller has a unique story. Their cheery “For Sale” signs speckle Charlottesville with whimsy and the promise of that story. Founded in 2018, and with over 1200 homes brokered, Story House has their operations and their marketing dialed in.
Their mission is to “delight and surprise our clients with the highest level of customized service.” To achieve that, they pay attention to the big picture as well as the small details. They want to make their clients’ life transition as smooth and stress-free as possible. As their mission implies, getting things right is just the baseline – they truly strive for the exceptional. Along those lines, they had some goals when we met.
// Business Goals
Story House had several goals which had been stacking up:
- Update the website’s branding to match their in-house mockups
- Make the real estate website more mobile-friendly
- Resolve issues with existing IDX data feed to provide more reliable data and reduce site errors.
- Build customized, pre-saved IDX searches that show the listings in each neighborhood on each specific neighborhood page — (perfect for landing page SEO!)
- Keep the site very current by supporting staff to make updates rather than outsourcing it
// Challenges
Established in 2014(?), the website has a significant amount legacy information to maintain and manage properly:
300+
pages
1800+
posts
198
testimonials
28
categories
18
templates
12
menus
There were many files left behind by past admins and developers, making it hard to figure out which page, post and template was actually used.
Removing old IDX software, pages and posts introduced us to a tangle of pathways to follow. With over 300 pages and 1800 posts, such links were everywhere. Removing pages and posts also means removing links from pages that were to remain, opening up the possibility for a large amount of broken links.
The number of pre-saved property listing pages — all counties and communities in the CAAR service area — meant that any change we made had to scale well and as easy as possible for the client to make page-level updates.
Finally, the site was live and had significant traffic. The real estate market never sleeps. Updating the branding meant integrating changes while minimizing the risk of upsetting users with downtime during the transitions.
“Faced with the challenge to revamp our webpage with a fresh look and increase its functionality I began to look for a developer that could help us reach that goal. It did not take long to switch our web services to Birch Studio. David took the time to learn the current state of our site, understand the problems and present a variety of solutions. He was patient throughout the process as layouts and designs were adjusted and helped us to create our vision. Birch Studio’s IDX feed is responsive and offers a variety of search tools. David continues to be available as we experience any troubleshooting errors and even takes the time to teach us how to adjust areas on our own.”
—AMELIA MCCONNELL, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & DESIGN, STORY HOUSE REAL ESTATE
// Solutions
We started with a small project to get familiar with each other and the server environment, then moved on to larger projects. We worked first on a non-public server so we were free to build things, get client feedback and make revisions without the pressure of working on a live site.
For overall branding on the real estate website, we updated the page layout templates and styles. Per best practice, we applied them site-wide to minimize interaction with individual pages (remember, there are over 300 of them). We invested time in deciphering which of the assets (pages, categories, menus, etc.) were used and then implemented a few techniques to track which ones were useful and which ones to mark for future removal.
For the 1000+ sold listings that needed to be entered by staff, we created a form on the back-end of the site. This allowed staff to focus on entering content quickly, and not be concerned about formatting. We determined that a handful of text fields and select boxes would be most efficient for data entry. Each listing would get its own page on the back-end to avoid the eternal scrolling through hundreds of entries. This method also allows us to easily add fields in the future. For the manual work that couldn’t be avoided, we provided some savvy browser tips and bulk update methods to help staff process the information as quickly as possible.
For the cleanup, we dug into the code and determined which items were useful so the client could then do their work without fear of losing something important. That, on top of regular backups and testing, made the transition from old to new site very smooth, and possibly enjoyable.
Deliverables included:
- create custom theme to match branded mockups provide by client
- optimize header, footer and navigation for mobile responsiveness
- update design in code and back-end user interface
- advise on how to work with existing IDX feed
- advise on plugin function and maintenance issues
- advise on cleanup of obsolete pages and links, scanned for broken links across entire site
- embed newsletter sign up form
- switch out old IDX data feed for RealConnectMLS
- created featured properties carousel/slider for home page
- advise on best workflow to manually create and update dozens of pages
- add a custom page for all sold homes with custom form to speed data entry
- edit blog template for better branding and content flow
// Benefits
A smoother looking, smoother running website, the Story House website is on-brand and functions like the broker, marketing manager and their clients expect. Looking at and working with the website becomes an easier and more efficient task for all parties. That’s a great relief for a real estate brokerage that is listing and closing several properties a week.
Story House clearly puts a high value on professionalism and care for their clients, and they expect no less from their vendors. Two years into our work together, we are proud that we’re able to provide them that level of service. Good things come around to good people.
