Sudler is Chicago’s largest real estate and property management firm. It was finding that many of its customers were using nationwide Web-based search portals, such as Realtor.com, to narrow their property searches and eventually make their way to a Sudler agent. Still, because the portals were so large, most customers were finding it difficult to zero in on the perfect property, and some were spending hours just tailoring their searches. Many times, buyers who might have been strong sales leads for Sudler simply abandoned their searches -- leaving them without a property and Sudler without a commission.

In an effort to ease the process, Sudler decided to build its own regional portal focused exclusively on the Chicago area. It wanted to build a site that not only made it easier for customers to get up-to-date, comprehensive listings, but it also wanted to ensure the site acted as a strong sales lead tool. With the help of Web development firm AlphaZeta, Inc. it did both.

The new site, Sudler.net, uses the real estate industry’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) feeds, which let users access property listings while searching by features such as town or neighborhood, number of bedrooms, property size and price range. Unlike other real estate sites, however, Sudler.net emphasizes simplicity. Gone is the need to wade through multiple pages of criteria in order to build a comprehensive, detailed search. At Sudler.net, buyers and renters can access search listings and input their specific criteria directly within the site&singlequot;s homepage. Most property searches can be performed in one simple step and the resulting hits consist not only of the MLS information, but the accompanying photos, detailed descriptions and even icons explaining amenities, such as "pets allowed” and "parking.”

Users can then tour the property virtually through the site, locate the proper agent and schedule an in-person viewing though an online appointment setter – all within one step of the Sudler.net homepage.

The one-click search/appointment feature falls into the best practices category cited by recent Forrester Research study, which found that sites with flat navigational structures – or the ability to perform the majority of critical tasks from the homepage or just one step beyond – are more successful (see Three steps to better site navigation ).

The result is a win for both customers and Sudler, as customers find the property they want faster, and the number of Web-initiated sales leads to Sudler agents have nearly doubled, according to Andy Shiparski, executive vice president at Sudler.

"For the user, we&singlequot;ve taken a highly complex, constantly updated set of property information and made it virtually effortless to work with,” explained AlphaZeta CEO Michael Davies. “And for the real estate agents, we&singlequot;ve given them the ability to quickly interact with qualified, motivated customers."

The Sudler site is located online here.