Century 21 Looking Glass Case Study

Century 21 Looking Glass is an established REALTOR in Mid-Michigan with two locations and almost 100 agents.  They are the largest Century 21 franchise between Detroit and Grand Rapids.  In January 2007 two managing partners in the firm decided they needed a website that reflected the image and dedication to quality that their franchise represents.

The partners wanted all of the features expected of any Real Estate website, but they also wanted each of those features to be the best, in order to offer a higher value to their customers and agents.  In February they solicited firms and tried to decide who would be the best fit for Looking Glass.  Which firms could bring the best designers, best developers and the most Real Estate experience to the table.  Web Ascender was awarded the project in late February and created an aggressive timetable to launch the new website by May 1, 2007.  The website was launched on-time and at the budget promised, resulting in an outstanding success. 

The Century 21 Looking Glass website is packed full of features yet is very easy to use for even the most novice of users.  Careful planning throughout the entire design process allowed us to use color schemes appropriately to give visual indicators to users.  Specific colors were used to identify "clickable" elements on each page and let visitors know what they should click on next.  Web Ascender utilized the new breed of Web 2.0 technologies, including: ASP.NET 2.0, Web Services, JQuery and AJAX.  The entire website was developed using our SiteCTO product, giving Century 21 Looking Glass an easy way to update content and add pages.   Any one of the trained Looking Glass staff can add new pages and new agents to the website in a matter of minutes.

• SiteCTO Content Management System - Allowing easy management of any page in the website
• Complete administration of agent data, including photo resizing and correct formatting of phone numbers
• Photo Galleries (as seen on the new construction areas)
• Automatic download of IDX & VOW MLS data from their local REALTOR Association (all local properties)
• Automatic download of Property photos, with auto-resize for download performance and aesthetics
• Property search forms that can search across multiple property types and on a variety of criteria
• Easily view search results and access the next property in your search results
• Contact forms for agents, property information, scheduled viewings and more.  
• SiteCTO’s Form-Builder to easily add more forms and contact options
• "Send to a friend" feature for notifying your friends of interesting properties
• Map properties using Google Maps
• All form submissions are processed through Century 21’s Lead Router System
• View property photos by hovering, clicking, or watching an automated slide show
• IDX & VOW Virtual Tour integration
• Users can register on the website, giving important sales data to Century 21, and unlocking a set of new features for themselves
• Registered users can save properties and access the entire VOW MLS database

• SiteCTO Content Management System
• Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 C#
• Microsoft .NET 2.0 Web Services
• REST Web Services
• Java Script + JQuery
• AJAX
• SQL Server 2005
• KSO Image Library
• Pivo FTP components
• IIS 6.0

Quotes from Matt Robertsons Video Testimonial 3 weeks after go live

• There was constant communication throughout the development process
• They researched all of our competition, and ours is better than any other one else’s out there
• The internet is where our business is going, we have to be ahead of the curve, that’s why we contacted Web Ascender
• From the ideas to go live it was 90 days, we couldn’t have asked for a better timeline
•  The domain transfer and go live was flawless
• Cost, Communication, and solving our needs were great
• We highly recommend them, they did a great job

Quotes from Ken Adams Video Testimonial 3 weeks after go live

• Their level of professionalism is great
• Everything has worked out to our expectations
• I believe the project finished ahead of schedule
• The proposal was complete; we knew what our costs would be
• We have had no problems since our website has launched
• I like their knowledge of the entire computer industry
• We wanted the best of the best, and we achieved that
• I would recommend Web Ascender to anyone

Matt & Ken's Video Testimonials are currently being edited and prepped for the web. Check back in a couple of weeks to watch them.