Web design best practices are constantly changing. Shifting popular aesthetics, new technology and changes to search engine ranking algorithms mean that every website has an expiration date. With real estate web design, it’s even more important — and difficult — to stay ahead of the curve.
At TREM Group, we try to be the curve by developing proprietary tools and pushing the boundaries of real estate websites. For this year, we’re focused on a few design strategies that combine elegance and ease of use with powerful SEO and discovery. First, a few things are a given — not trends but years-old staples of quality web design. Every one of our sites is responsive and mobile-ready. Each one is built with a WordPress backend for ease of use. They’re all blog enabled with plugins for social media and search engine optimization.
Looking forward, here are the real estate web design trends we’re seeing for 2016:
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Continuous scroll — This is something that came into popularity in 2015, and we’re expecting a continuation of the trend this year. You may have noticed our website uses it. That’s because on mobile devices, users don’t want to click and load; they want all the information easy to find.
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Autoplay video — By the end of the year, we’re going to see all the best websites using video autoplay. Users are already expecting it because it happens when they visit Facebook, Instagram and many popular news sites. Device-optimized resolution is making video fast and frictionless.
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Better map search — We’ve made this a priority at TREM Group. Never has a tool been so desperately wanted by users and yet so hopelessly clumsy. So we developed our own map search technology that lets real estate website visitors search any number of ways, including drawing a search area on the map.
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Cards and slides — These go hand in hand with continuous scroll. As the user moves down the page, design elements are required to segment the information. Slides are like pages in that landing on each one represents a transition to a new topic. Cards are smaller partitions that fit multiple blocks within a desktop screen and offer the user preview text and images to decide whether to enter the page for more information.
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Virtual reality — This might not come into full swing until 2017, but many developers and real estate agents are looking into ways to integrate virtual reality experiences into their real estate websites. Particularly for out-of-town buyers, the benefits of virtual tours can’t be understated.
Ready to start building your custom TREM Group real estate website? Contact us at 305-705-5000 today!