Geek Build 2012 Site #4 – San Diego Coastal Homes – Encinitas
This post outlines the goal, objectives, ideas and thoughts that we have or would like to accomplish for my new site for Geek Build 2012.
Market: Encinitas, CA is a saturated and competitive market. It falls into the San Diego North County Coastal region which is made up of the middle to high end markets of Del Mar, Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe, Carmel Valley, Encinitas and Carlsbad. The median home price for Encinitas has come back down to the mid $500,000’s. Buyers and sellers are made up mostly of white collar professionals who tend to be savvy and resourceful. With a population of around 60,000, Encinitas has a diverse type of product ranging from muti-million dollar ocean front properties, dense beach style housing, traditional planned subdivision catering mostly to young families to million dollar semi rural estate homes that combines the caliber of Rancho Santa Fe Estate Homes with a more closely knit community. The commercial regions are split into the laid back beach town corridor to the large “any town” America power centers serving the suburban masses. Resident profiles are mostly young professional families (due to the excellent schools) to those seeking a laid back, higher end coastal lifestyle.
Primary Goal: Maximize buyer and seller requests for showings; either through IDX or on-site contact forms by offering a value proposition that matches the savvy and sophistication of the target client.
Vision: We believe in a clean, comfortable, effective, trustworthy and informational/educational user experience. The challenge is balancing the ability to meet the client’s informational needs with the negative impacts of offering irrelevant or too much information. The value proposition cannot be forced on a client as everyone’s defenses are already high on the web and in real estate. We envision the experience to be similar to that of a customer walking into a Nordstrom. The customer consciously
and subconsciously understands the value proposition pretty quickly. As they say, it is all about the client and not about the agents.
Branding: Our brokerage, which was formed 12 years ago primarily in commercial real estate, is called Novi Real Estate Company which has almost no branding value in my opinion in residential. As we have grown our residential side, we have transitioned that part of business to San Diego Coastal Homes. We would very much like as much input as possible regarding a new approach to branding this new site and welcome any and all input. You cannot offend us so don’t hold back!
Domain Name: This is always a challenge and I would like to seek everyone’s input on this as well. I know most obvious domains are reserved or taken in our highly competitive market. I was able to secure encinitascoastalhomefinder.com but not sure of the effectiveness of this domain. Too long? Not ideal for SEO? Thoughts? I am not sure but I do not think the “coastal” word gets used much in searches, not sure if that matters.
Discussion points:
- Target Market Expectations – What do clients really care about? What don’t they care about? What turns them off? What validates the brokerage? What comes across as “cheesy” “lip service” “used car salesman”? What has been proven to work on other’s sites?
- Branding – What is an effective way to build a brand?
- Domain name – What is the best approach?
- Lead Capture – What works and what doesn’t….
- How can we offer an experience and resource that goes beyond what the competition is offering?
Note from the Editor: Not sure what Geek Build 2012 is? It’s building a few real estate websites from scratch publicly with the help of the Geek Estate Community and overseen by an experienced steering committee. Read more about Geek Build 2012 here, or view all posts related to Geek Build 2012 here.
**Geek Build logo designed by Dominic Morrocco at M Squared Real Estate.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 09:26h, 03 MarchTarget Market Expectations – What do clients really care about? What don’t they care about? What turns them off? What validates the brokerage? What comes across as “cheesy” “lip service” “used car salesman”? What has been proven to work on other’s sites?
Focus on the content, user experience,
Branding – What is an effective way to build a brand?
Define your core values and interests, and build on them. Makes a habit of under promising and over delivering rather than vice versa.
Domain name – What is the best approach?
I come from a branding background, so my advice is to pick something you want to brand your site as. Don’t just pick a domain to have a domain..it needs to be a “brand”. You’re going to be telling it to people over and over, make sure it’s memorable and meaningful.
Lead Capture – What works and what doesn’t….
We’ll get into this a bit later. Hard to discuss everything at once
How can we offer an experience and resource that goes beyond what the competition is offering?
That starts with the competition – what are they offering website wise? Are the top 3-5 in the rankings delivering a great experience?
Greg Fischer
Posted at 18:20h, 03 MarchJason – I love the name San Diego Coastal Homes. I spent a few years in San Diego with the Navy and I immediately thought of the Del Mar racetrack, The Belly Up in Solana Beach, and lavish house parties in Encinitas. One thing I suggest (which I also have to do) is to write about the areas you serve and highlight what it means to live there. For example, I absolutely love Fort Worth, love it. When I talk to people about real estate, I first talk about the things in the city that get me excited to live here, and in turn it generates excitement in them.
What is your connection to the San Diego Coast? Why do people move there? What lifestyles fit well? Tell your story and let it brand you – it will excite people about working with you.
Daniel Bacon
Posted at 10:01h, 05 MarchI like San Diego Coastal Homes as well, but is it a brand? Your brand has to come from you, and Greg is right, enthusiasm is infectious and if you are passionate about your area that will come through.
People want information, and depending on how that information is presented I don’t think you can give them too much. The problem is how to give people all of the information they need without confusing them and turning them away. The answer is clean and well thought out design.
As for domain names, I am guilty of buying a lot of domains base on SEO benefits. But unless you can get sandiegorealestate.com your better of thinking through your brand and letting that guide your domain choice. What are you selling?