The Venue at Orange: Custom property website spotlight

In this article, we’re excited to spotlight a custom property website that recently went live for our friends at Cannon Management Company. The Venue at Orange is a new build and lease-up in Redlands, California.

The website is a private theme that was developed specifically to match the client’s brand and functional requests.

We’re often asked about the process of creating custom RentCafe websites. Who better to tell you about it than one of our clients? Ryan Shelden, director of property management at Cannon, shares his experience here.

Why a custom site?

“We wanted to have the best-looking thing in town,” shared Ryan when asked why he and his team decided to go custom. “We’re opening the latest and greatest community in Redlands. It’s critical to stand out from the competition.”

By going custom, The Venue at Orange differentiates itself from competitors in the area with an exclusive digital identity. Having a custom property website also helps them personalize their online experience to deliver on their brand promise.

Ryan explained, “The owners really wanted something unique they could customize.”

Why REACH?

Cannon Management has a reputation of providing top-notch marketing and management solutions for their multifamily clients. For the Venue at Orange, the Cannon team wanted to create the most efficient environment possible.

Ryan, who has experience working with Yardi products, was drawn to the possibility of combining all marketing, management and operations in one system. REACH by RentCafe is part of the Yardi family and the pricing was competitive, so he decided to give it a try. 

“We were piloting more than just the website with Yardi,” Ryan shared. “I wanted everything to be on one platform, from application and move-in to advertising and websites. I wanted the convenience of having all the information in one place.”

Ryan also works with REACH for SEO and PPC, which is easy to do since the team knows the Venue at Orange website, brand and audience so well.

This approach minimizes the hassles associated with managing multiple integrations.

“The one thing I don’t have to deal with is integrations. Because everyone ‘integrates’ with Yardi. In the past I’ve worked with outside providers, and there’s always something wrong and a different person you need to fix it,” said Ryan. “This way we can just use our Yardi team to swap in and out media etc. We can just go to your team if we need anything.”

What was the creative process like?

“It was pretty simple. We provided some color palettes and architectural renderings. We did the mood board exercise. And your team took it from there,” reported Ryan when talking about the website design process.

Within a few short meetings with our creative team, everyone was on the same page.

Ryan shared that this was the part that had worried him the most: “I was concerned because, a lot of time with custom things, it can be hard to get everyone to agree. There can be a lot of back and forth. But Katie and her team really dove in with what we provided. The creative brief process was super helpful.”

Results that speak volumes

When you visit the Venue at Orange website, the first thing you notice is how clean and modern the layout is. The motion in the hero draws you in. This area can also be used to feature videos and other animated images.

Renter-friendly features include detailed floor plans with video tours, an interactive community map and easy online applications. There’s also a frequently asked question page that helps prospective renters find the information they need to take the next step.

The Maps And Directions page has a custom layout that includes robust text and a local area map that helps prospects visualize the neighborhood around their new home. This page has an average engagement time of about 33 seconds, which is high compared to map pages at other communities.

Before the website launched, there was a temporary site at the same URL that was already attracting traffic. Since the launch, both organic leases and conversions rates are up more than 100%, indicating that the new site is significantly outperforming the placeholder site.

The Venue at Orange’s site is seeing consistently high registrations from both organic and paid sources, which is the conversion our team places the most value on. A registration is someone who views the site and then creates a user and password to start an application.

Its SEO strategy is starting to pay off in terms of search rankings too. The website ranks well for both branded and non-branded keywords. For example, in addition to surfacing any time someone searches some combination of “venue” and “Redlands,” it appears on page one of search results for “luxury apartments Redlands.”

Moving forward

With a commitment to innovation and a focus on personalized experiences, Ryan and his collaborators have solidified The Venue at Orange’s position as a leading luxury apartment community in Redlands. We’re excited to see where its digital transformation takes the brand moving forward. With more than 100 units already leased, we’re confident the project will continue to be a success.

If you’re interested in exploring the potential of a custom property website for your company, get in touch with your REACH representative or contact us.