Total overhaul 2017

In 2017, Cardis Immobilier revised their whole graphic charter. The website therefore also had to be adapted. We took advantage of this occasion to improve the site’s referencing and implement new functionalities. That way, the site could better respond to the needs of people looking for a new home or real estate investment.

Cardis Immobilier is a trailblazer in the real estate industry, especially when it comes to technology. Our challenge was to integrate new functionalities and compel visitors to use them intuitively, in addition to updating the website in accordance with the new graphic charter.

Finding property can be a long and tedious task. Both Cardis Sotheby’s and Antistatique wanted to facilitate that process.

In order to adapt the site to the new graphic charter, we also had to revise its concept and design. For instance, the homepage became adjustable (content to be showcased could be selected), a map was integrated into the search engine and the magazine section was revamped to make it more reader-friendly.

When we launched the new site, we wanted to introduce all of its new features to the public. That’s why we created an informative video.

Check out the video:

Netlinking allows us to increase the number of external hypertext links towards a site or webpage that we want to promote.

Competition is fierce in the real estate world, especially with the rise of search portals like Homegate and Immostreet.

We got an expert to carry out a meticulous Netlinking campaign over several months and place links on quality sites in order to improve the referencing of cardis.ch. 

The major new feature of the cardis.ch site is a map integrated into the search engine. What could be more practical than being able to view property directly on a map? Visitors can indicate their desired search area, helping them narrow down results and locate their dream property.

In order to ensure that the search engine was user-friendly, we carried out a number of tests. 

Cardis Sotheby’s also targets investors. This group has specific needs when it comes to the information they need to know about a piece of property. We developed a special search engine for them that includes specific search criteria, and information related to real estate investment and profitability.

If visitors have any questions, they can contact someone working at Cardis Sotheby’s directly. After all, it’s helpful to be able to get information quickly, without having to pick up the phone or write an email. Besides being practical for visitors, a chat function is also useful for collecting information about clients.

Symfony 2 was an obvious choice for us, as it has proven to be a solid and versatile backend. Combined with a Dynamic styleguide (also developed by us), this dynamic duo can efficiently process all types of content.

In order to ensure a flawless visual experience on different browsers and provide a solid base for our CSS, we chose bootstrap 4, which is now mature and, most importantly, flexible.

The interactive map was a particularly important part of our project. In order to develop the map, we used React and added Redux as an overlay to ensure the integrity of the data displayed on the interface at all times. We wanted to create a map that could handle a certain number of markers, all while being efficient and esthetically pleasing. That’s why we chose the Leaflet library. This library has an active community and significant number of plug-ins, which allowed us to implement a drawing function on our map.

An interactive map wouldn’t be anything without a search engine that uses cutting-edge technology. That’s why we trust Elasticsearch, which has an incredibly fast search speed, is able to manage a large quantity of information and has a search mode that can be configured as desired. Elasticsearch really has it all!

This project illustrates what we hold dearest to heart. We want to work with our partners for the long haul, and this project only strengthened our relationship with Cardis Sotheby’s. The development and production of this project, which took just four months, confirmed our team's ability to fulfil ambitious goals and master the organization side of things. From a technical point of view, part of the codebase came from the first version of the site. We were able to develop this code over the years and could therefore carry out part of the overhaul effortlessly, without having to rewrite everything. We are proud to have collaborated with Cardis Sotheby’s for all these years on past and future projects.