What Is Your Property Management Website’s “Feng Shui”?

Most property management companies still maintain a physical “brick & mortar” location. You probably put a lot of thought into the office layout, design, and furnishings – especially if you invested some money into improvements. When you planned your property management office space maybe you even considered Feng Shui, the practice of balancing energy in a space to promote health and good fortune.

Your company website is your virtual property management office. In fact, if you are doing a good job of promoting it, I’ll bet more people visit your website than your physical office location. And, of course you want your website to promote company health and good fortune…the goals of Feng Shui.

Whether you believe in the principles of Feng Shui or not, its foundational ideas will help you create a better online presence for your property management company.

Here are 5 ways you can apply Feng Shui principles your property management company website:

1.  Eliminate Clutter
Feng Shui advocates a good flow of energy from one room to another. Dirt and clutter can block its path.

I’ve seen a lot of property management websites with old, irrelevant information or poorly organized content. Leaving this “clutter” on your website detracts from the important stuff.  Also, crowding content on a web page can make the site feel cluttered.  Make sure there is plenty of white space on the page so that it is easy to skim or read.

Once a quarter, make time to do a website audit and “clean house”.

2. Make Connections
Feng Shui promotes connectedness, making it easy to see how one thing is related to or flows into another.

The concept of connectedness applies to website navigation. It should be easy for a website visitor to find the area of your website that relates to them (e.g. a prospective owner vs. an existing client). Once they get to that spot, make sure it is simple for owners and tenants to locate the specific information they need (and not get “lost” searching through a confusing website maze). Use text links and buttons within page content so a visitor can quickly jump to information they want to see.

3.  Full of Energy
Feng Shui recognizes life energy – the idea that living and inanimate objects are full of energy, either positive energy or negative energy.

What kind of energy does your property management website have? Is it stale and static? Is it a barren wasteland due to neglect? Or, is it vibrant – full of ideas, helpful information, and ways to interact (e.g. blog comments, videos, social sharing)? If you don’t know how to evaluate this – ask for help (and honesty). Let me tell you, if your last website design was done more than 5 years ago, it’s probably time for some changes…

4. Colors Matter
Feng Shui uses color to elicit responses. If a room is to be used for relaxing, one set of colors are used. If it is to be used for work, another set of colors are to be used. Colors affect our moods and responses.

Color is also important in company branding and website design.  Do you know that there is psychology behind the colors you use in marketing? When you chose your company colors, did you think about this or just choose a color you like? Orange conveys warmth. Green conveys growth and abundance. Blue conveys trust and reliability.

What do your property management company colors convey?

5. Don’t Forget the Vital Focal Point
A room designed around the Feng Shui principles always contains a vital focal point. Without a focal point, the energy in the room dissipates in many directions.

It‘s important to identify a focal point for each page of your website. Everything included on that page should support and reinforce the focus – images, video, and copy.  The focus will also help you choose keywords to optimize the page for search engines. Web pages that cover too many topics or try to address the needs of more than one type of person (e.g. owner AND tenant) will create overwhelmed, inattentive, and confused website visitors who will most likely leave your website quickly.

So..what is your property management company website’s Feng Shui?

I may be a little biased since online marketing is one of my passions, but I think your property management company website is perhaps the most valuable marketing asset you have. It is worth investing time and money into its design and usability so that prospective and existing owners and tenants feel right at home when they arrive, find their way around easily, and soak in the good energy your website exudes (creating health and good fortune…).