ERA Re-Launches Their Website

Definately is a huge improvement from the old. Like a lot of their new search features :-)

My initial blush at the site is that I think the top header flash section is not required, period. I have been designing and programming sites for many years now, and I always have that conversation with clients. Do you want a "pretty" site with a bunch of graphics, or do you want a really nice site that enables to clients to get what the came for quickly?

Part two is the number of clicks it takes to get the results. If I know the city, it still takes 3-4 clicks to get my results. That's 2-3 too many, in my opinion.

And lastly, I am not a huge fan of map results, unless they are really easy to use, and that one is not that easy.

I am just speaking my mind. No offense meant. Just offering my two cents.

Why is the globe showing the Middle East and South Asia? Not a fan of massive flash, but atleast it's short and too the point. Most concerned with the scrollbar on the home page which was hard to figure out that that was what it was. I kept scrolling out (Ctrl+-) to see why more and more images were appearing farther and farther to the right and then realized there was a slider. It looks like your typical national franchise website, nothing mindblowing. I clicked on the first thing that catches my attention the "Ask This Old House" button and am taken to a useless page with no further information about Ask This Old House...odd that this is featured so prominently when I doubt that it is that appealing to much of the population and there's nothing there but a home search page...if I wanted a homes search, I'd have clicked home search...oh well

Hey Patrick - Great speaking with you. Look forward to further conversations :-) BTW - I am in agreement that simplicity and less is a lot of times better!

Having seen ALOT of real estate sites, I would hardly consider this average. There are sites that do things better and more 'cutting edge' however these sites are really for an elite group of users - not the general population. Like I said in my review, I am a proponent of simplicity and less-is-more. Are there things that could be changed on this site? Sure, but so does every site.

I went to yours BTW. I like it. I am a big fan of visual search and you incorporate some of that there. I would allow the end user to sort by attribute in the search results section.

I also like the neighborhoods aspect to your search. You ever think of tying some community and school content to these properties so your users can get an idea of the lifestyle they are buying as well as the home?

Is your site a VOW? It required me to register in order to see any of the listings. I have never encountered that before.

-PH

It is nice to see ERA finally step it up. I was with ERA my first year in real estate (2003) and they were way behind the curve at the time.

@Drew ~ I don't know which brokerage will be next in line for a redesign, but I do know that Windermere just finished theirs a couple of months ago.

A little feed back that will hopefully help. The site is average at best. The map search is very confusing. Looks like they better keep on improving it.

Hey Drew, thanks for the pingback. The ERA team did a really nice job on the site and although I am not at liberty to discuss the next round of enhancements at this time I can tell you that they will be equally impressive. This week ERA is at their annual convention and will be unveiling some of the new stuff. One thing that I can say is that although the redesign was long overdue, it is/will be well worth the wait.

I believe that ERA, like a number of brands, is leveraging their brand and their resources to create the best experience possible while still keeping in mind that their agents are their lifeblood. It's a fine line to walk, being agent- AND consumer centric.

-PH