Sector(s)
Domu is a website that allows users to search a wide selection of the best lofts, houses, condos and apartments for rent in Chicago. Domu is committed to transparency, simplicity and honesty in the apartment listing and searching process.
About the project
The Challenge
Domu was in need of help with a website design overhaul. Their existing site was on Drupal 7, but they wanted a new look and feel that would help them be known as the place to go for Chicago rentals.
More specifically, Domu wanted to improve and simplify the user experience for visitors looking for rentals, as well as for landlords posting property on the site. Additionally, it was clear Domu was missing out on a number of SEO opportunities, so fixing that became a critical component of the project.
Back to topMediacurrent’s Approach
A huge effort went into restructuring Domu's neighborhood pages in order to improve the user experience and improve SEO. Domu is only focused on Chicago, so they needed to show that they are experts in Chicago. The site's new neighborhood pages did that.
Beyond just highlighting the listings in each neighborhood, these pages share the story of the neighborhood such as what to do, where to shop, and how to commute. All this information is included on these pages, as well as beautiful photos from around the neighborhood to further personalize the experience for users. This way, apartment hunters using the site can make a more-informed decision.
Project Highlights
- Features and Amenities: We separated out a number of apartment amenities for landlords to check off, like parking or pet deposit requirements
- Preview Listings: Landlords now have previews and Drupal makes updating content easier and more efficient.
- Link Sculpting: An individual listing's URL now includes the area of the city, the neighborhood and the specific property name.
- Scannable Content: Chunked information allows users to search by more specific features and content in a scannable form
- Photo Tutorials: Create an intuitive photo tutorial that allows Landlords to publish high production value photo assets.
- New In-Line Editing: The previous version of the site made it difficult to make in-line changes. With the new Drupal site, content editors have an improved experience that simplifies the process of updating listings.
Final Thoughts
Domu wanted a site that was simple to use, easy to find, and showcased their authority in the Chicago rental scene. The new Domu site does exactly that. The neighborhood pages provide so much more information to site visitors than they previously accessed, and the individual listing pages break down what is offered in a more consistent and visually appealing way. Plus, content editors can access features that introduce search visibility, such as improved link structures, intuitively.
Note: Work for Domu was completed by Duo Consulting Inc., which became part of Mediacurrent in 2020. Read more about the acquisition.
Back to topWhy Drupal was chosen
The site was already built out on Drupal for its flexibility and robust ecosystem. For this project, we completed a redesign and added new features and functionality.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
S3 File System
Domu has a lot of great photos associated with their listings to show off available apartments. To account for the number of high-resolution photos for the site and to make everything perform well, S3 File System (s3fs) was implemented and extended to host files on Amazon S3 and meet Domu’s performance and usability requirements.
SMTP Authentication Support
The SMTP Authentication Support module provides a good base for integrating third-party email solutions. Given the large volume of helpful notifications that go out to site users, this has helped us to solve a number of key issues with the site’s previous iteration.
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