GPAR Website Redesign

Make a House A Home

GPAR (Greater Philadelphia Association of REALTORS®) has reached a point of breakout growth, its membership at an all-time high. Now they need a website to support those users. Their goal is to maintain membership, make their website a valuable resource for their users, and communicate the value of a membership with GPAR to current and potential members.

A Solid Strategy

GPAR focuses on its members, and those members depend on GPAR as a network and support system, guiding them through becoming a REALTOR© and maintaining a successful career.

GPAR had pain points with updating their current site, and with a move toward more virtual events, they needed the functionality to support a more robust event calendar. To best serve GPAR’s needs and its users, our strategy for the GPAR redesign was to update: update content, design, and build.

A Sitemap with Good Flow

Starting with a robust and user-centric strategy, we reorganized the site from the ground up. Over time the site had more and more valuable information added to it, but the organization of that information began to be less intuitive and more bloated.

By taking the site down to the studs and revisiting the sitemap for areas of improvement, we created a redesigned site that is move-in ready for members.

Content Walkthrough

As part of the sitemap rebuild process, we combed through the existing site content looking for areas that could be beefed up, moved, combined, and relocated.

An in-depth content reorganization aims to make the site more intuitive for users. The member section was one content area of the site that we identified that would benefit from more information. Through our user persona exercise, we knew that GPAR had an influx of users who would be just starting their journey as a REALTOR©. We decided to recommend a new page on the site, “Steps to Membership.” The page’s purpose was to guide a REALTOR© to relevant information, no matter what stage they are at in their career.

Adding a Coat of Paint

Our goal was to create visuals in line with what users expected to experience on an industry site while also setting GPAR apart from others in the field. Some custom graphics, simple and clean typography, and layout choices allow users to get the information they need without distraction.

Up to Code

Creating a site that is easy to update and maintain is always a top priority. We utilized WordPress and created a custom template to make the design come to life. The event calendar is a breeze to update and allows site visitors to conveniently add events to their calendars, a massive plus for the client.

Moving in the Final Pieces

As the site development wound down, the project didn’t slow down! Next up was the content population, or the process of adding the website content to the new site. We also have a training session with the client after the content population, so GPAR knows how to update and add new content once we shake hands and they’ve got the keys to their brand-new website.