I was interested to see that an agent not too far from us, Howard Cundey, has launched a new TV driven website http://www.howardcundey.tv/.
I can see a lot of potential for video as an online engagement tool, and this agent has put quite a lot of thought into how to make the site a useful resource.
Looking at the positives first.. I like the site introduction video, if not the presenter. On websites with a lot of information and 3 or 4 different elements of navigation, welcoming visitors and offering a few quick pointers of how to use the site is a nice touch.
Equally, the consistent attempt to engage visitors through video, rather than taking a short cut and using plain text on internal pages - even to the extent of information about the company and local areas - is positive.
Taking this site as an alternative, rather than primary method of marketing properties, the property 'videos' (animated photos) with voiceovers work well. Much more so than I have seen on examples integrated into the main estate agent website elsewhere where visitors can get more information more quickly by simply browsing photos and reading bullet points.
It's also good to see good 'book a viewing' style calls to action, along with social media bookmarking icons to encourage sharing.
The website isn't perfect though.
The biggest no-no for me is that the videos are preceded by adverts. While that might provide a useful contribution to running costs, it is intrusive and out-of-place in a commercial setting like this.
The videos are also a little jumpy for some reason, but there are often teething problems with newly launched websites, so that might be forgiven.
Finally, the lifestyle directory at the bottom of the site seems completely out of place. I'm not sure what fine wine and private charter boats have to do with estate agency, but here I think they are an unnecessary distraction which might damage conversions.
I think Howard Cundey should be commended for taking an innovative approach - but what do you make of it? Can you see it becoming a worthwhile investment?
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