The Placester team is excited to announce that we are partnering with Union Street Media, a leading real estate web design and development company. To help you understand what this partnership will mean for the Placester community, we got in touch with Union Street Media Founder and President, Ted Adler.
Placester: How did Union Street Media get its start?
Ted Adler: Like many great startups, Union Street Media was born out of a college dorm room. I started the company in the fall of 1999 while completing my senior year at Middlebury College. We began developing websites for a wide range of clients, many of whom are still with us today. In 2002, Union Street Media signed a partnership agreement with the Vermont Association of Realtors and became the first developers in the state to build integrated IDX websites. We have worked with hundreds of agents, teams and offices since then, helping our clients place well in search engines and convert more buyers off the web than their competitors.
P: What sets Union Street Media apart from other real estate website developers?
TA: Union Street Media’s commitment to our clients is what separates us from the pack. Every client has an account manager that reaches out to them on a periodic basis to help ensure they’re using the full potential of the site we built for them. Our Support Team is legendary too: we respond to issues promptly and communicate in plain English, not “Geek Speak”. We feel that web developers have often created a bad rap for our industry, and we walk the walk of good customer service every day. The result? Our client retention rate for both 2011 and 2012 was 94%. Our blog post here sums it up: http://www.unionstreetmedia.com/blog/usm-news/94/
P: How can Placester users benefit from this new partnership?
TA: Placester has developed a powerful platform and we’re excited to help build sites on it as one of their first Solution Partners. For current Placester clients, we’re able to offer internet marketing services to ensure your site ranks well in search engines for both organic and paid results. If Placester clients are looking to redesign their site, we can do that too. Our WordPress installation integrates with Placester’s IDX platform for everyone of the hundreds of MLS’s they service nationwide. We’re able to customize Placester sites beyond the core platform too.
P: What’s one stand-out feature of Union Street Media that the Placester community should know about?
TA: One stand-out feature that the Placester community should know about is Compass, our customizable property list and detail view tool. The goal of a good real estate website is to educate buyers about the market and help convert them to potential leads. A big part of ensuring this happens is moving the buyer through a conversion “funnel” that ends on the detail view page of a particular listing for sale. After working with hundreds of agents, teams and offices testing various list and detail views, we looked across our platform to determine what design elements helped generate the most conversions. We’re excited to be the only Solution Partner offering Compass to Placester clients.
P: Can you recommend an example of your work?
TA: We recently launched BAMBOO Real Estate on Placester. With offices in both Dallas and Houston, Bamboo Real Estate recently won an award for their Technology & Forward Innovating Business model at the 2013 Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco. This site is a great example of the kind of website we can produce with Placester.
