30 Apr Luxury Real Estate Microsite Strategy In Action

A question we often bring up with our real estate clients is that of microsites to promote a single property. To be honest, I’ve had a hit-or-miss response in our experience, but I think under the right circumstances you should go for it. Writing about microsites isn’t anything new, but when it comes to promoting a very special property, I haven’t seen much written on the subject. If you’re wanting to pursue this marketing channel purely for SEO, this post isn’t for you.

When you have a property that’s so unique it not only deserves its own brochures and video, but its own microsite as well, it gives you a chance to show off your personal brand and create a little work of art on your own. I recently came across a microsite so well done I thought it would make for a great example and perhaps convince you to try one out with our team.

What about the SEO benefits?

This is usually the first question from the client’s marketing director, as it’s generally a good idea to keep great content on site. When it comes to properties valued over $20,000,000 dollars I usually don’t tend to think about search traffic. I want the microsite experience to stir up emotion and provide a more bespoke real estate buying experience.

I would say that it might be a good idea to implement a rule stating that you should always create a microsite for any property valued at more than $20 million. Bear in mind that there are other developers and home owners out there looking to sell their expensive real estate in the near future. Your marketing efforts on a property like this will only reflect well for your business if you can find that buyer.

The Faena Penthouse Microsite

If you pay attention to real estate news like I do, then you most likely heard about the recent sales of this exquisite $50,000,000 USD penthouse in Miami. There are few places in the world where a penthouse apartment costs that kind of money… Not even Vancouver, and rarely even New York.

The Faena Group is the company behind this development and if you ask me, this is a brand to keep an eye on in the future. This one-of-a-kind penthouse not only had the finest materials and architects, but the marketing team really outdid themselves. I should mention at this point that we had nothing to do with this campaign, I’m just a simple admirer of the work done.

The website design is fresh and modern, loads fast and showcases the property better than most Realtor websites would have. The only thing I can fault them for is not having a really good HD video on the site, but I’ll live.

The whole microsite does a great job at selling without selling. It provides the user with a minimal design that showcases nothing but the immaculate property for sale. The content also puts you in the right mindset of the Miami lifestyle and what it is like to live in a Faena property.

A single page on a Realtor’s website is just not good enough to showcase all that this penthouse offers.

Marketing Results?

Well the property went to contract so it looks like someone is buying it. Wow!

There’s a reason why I mentioned earlier that if you’re in this post for the SEO then you should skip this one, and here’s why: you’re not going to sell this property from a Google search. This type of home is going to garner international press both online and off, and that’s what will ultimately sell it.

The internet indeed exploded with the news on just about every luxury blog, financial news organization and everything in between. This is where the real PR value comes into play as the blog and news readers shared the news vigorously.

I took the retweet and Facebook shared count numbers from the top 20 news and blog sources and from those alone there was a whopping total of 19314 shares!

Capturing Leads

The main goal of their microsite was of course to nab great leads as well as drive up brand awareness. The Faena brand has a couple hotels and more real estate development under their belt and it’s a name that will stick with us for a long time to come. I will admit that I had never heard of them before, although they’ve been around for years doing amazing things in the luxury hotel and real estate sectors.

In the end, selling a property comes down to the right leads and weeding out the annoying people who will never buy, just inundate you with questions which just waste time.

Microsite Creation

Generally a microsite should be around the ten page mark and our development platform of choice is always WordPress. There are a handful of other content management systems out there that will easily do the job but WordPress is quick, the plugins are there and the beautiful design options are bountiful.

If you don’t have the time or know-how to create your own microsite, then by all means give us a call to see what we can do for you.