A new website for 2017? Estate Apps answers some important questions:

How important is it, that as an estate / letting agency, you understand how well your website has been performing in 2016?

Knowing how your website is performing is paramount with almost every user beginning their property search online. You need to know that your visitors are finding the content they want / need quickly and that your site is sticky enough for their visit to end in contacting you. A website should be a regularly evolving platform as trends and user behaviour changes regularly. Keeping tabs on your analytics is a great way of keeping in-touch with the game.

How fast does your website page load? Is this an important question and does a second too long in opening mean the potential of you losing clients?

Most Definitely! In this internet-reliant world, customer expectations have risen over the years and no one wants to be waiting ages for a page to load, it’s a complete put off and can lead to having frustrated users. Not only do you get ranked on the quickness of your page by Google, but your bounce rates are also affected. We’ve previously written a blog on why your clients could be leaving in a flash because of your website – http://estateapps.co.uk/blog/your-clients-could-be-leaving-in-a-flash

Can we expect to see for 2017 more innovation that will increase performances / engagement of websites, especially that as consumers, we are living in a faster world and we have very high expectations especially during our time spent online?

Technology changes all the time and it’s (normally) always moving forward so yes, expect to see big developments – especially from Google whom tend to be at the forefront of web technology nowadays.

Just how often should estate and lettings agents be renewing their website?

We tend to recommend every couple years. A variety of factors can make you consider reviewing your website. A change in brand design or having high bounce rates combined with a low conversion rate or even a website that just looks outdated, these are all factors in looking at refreshing your website.

A user is far more likely to interact with a company if their first impression is good and with most people using the internet to find their home, your website is absolutely crucial.

What piece of property tech would you advise agents to keep a look out for in 2017?

With so much property tech (#PropTech) breaking through, it’s hard to choose one. One of the most exciting for us is Virtual Reality, it’s really come to the fore during 2016 and 2017 could be a big year for VR and the property industry. To gain more of an insight into how VR is set to change property, read our recent blog on VR at http://estateapps.co.uk/blog/octulus-rift-google-cardboard-or-samsung-gear-vr-is-the-future-of-propert y-vr