Refreshing MIH’s Website

Refreshing the website. So at the ripe old age of four, MIH got to thinking that they needed to make some changes, after all we had gone through a development period and things were definitely changing. Rather than being an embryo business, we are now a fully formed walking talking “youth” not quite an “adult” with the emphasis on the young, please. As befits this growth spurt, Sarah and MIH embarked on the truly daunting task of updating their website.

While as a company MIH considers itself as a pioneer in Property Management, technology and websites rather pass us by. Although we espouse modern technology for our property management and accounts systems and for our clients, most of us are unable to distinguish between one end of an HMDI cable and another- apologies to Richard and Ginty who no doubt are grinding their teeth if they are even reading this blog!

So where to start with a new website

Although Sarah made all the decisions on the website when MIH first started and MIH frequently receive compliments on the website as a whole, there was a lot we didn’t know then and in truth still don’t know. Having been coaxed into making changes by Helen Cox our marketing manager, as is the usual wont of MIH we asked her, as our expert to provide us an overview of our options.

Our first website was very much focused on the MIH ethos, the services that we provided, and what made us different. At the same time, the web designer and copywriter were asked to ensure that the website was user friendly and informative. For us, we wanted our website, much like our blogs to be a place where information was disseminated in a simple way and acted as almost a reference book for property management and any questions that you may have about the industry or what a property manager should do.

A more grown-up property management website

However, this time around we needed to focus on the website being less cottage industry and more about a proper business which with a staff compliment of 11 (as at the time of writing but subject to increase at short notice) and a growing portfolio, we needed to be able to portray both this growth while retaining the original values.

There were also some technical issues that we needed to address like the Content Management System, the slightly old fashioned idea of ticker tape on the website – something which was dismissed out of hand almost immediately and also the need to be able to take online payments, something for 2021 when we get there.

In one of our previous blogs, we referred to our growing panel of contractors who share the same MIH ethos that we do and Helen took us on the usual roller coaster ride. With the words barely out of our mouths, two companies were found to design the new evolution of MIH.

Having carefully considered both proposals, MIH selected Mercer Design and the lovely Anya, who like Helen has shown endless patience when dealing with a complete technophobe, we started the nerve-wracking process.

A new look property management website

Almost immediately we were presented with “style tiles”, a colour palette and various fonts, and at the same time, we were also asked to concentrate on how we wanted the website to present. Despite feeling wobbly about the change, we plunged in and soon began to see the framework emerge with the upshot being that our logo needed to be refined. Despite being a company that pride themselves on quick decisive action, we must admit that deciding the Pantone colour was difficult but the end result more than makeup for the concerns.

Bringing in a copywriter to capture our tone of voice

So now that we had the skeleton website decided, we needed to consider the copywriter and what we wanted to get across this time. Although all of the MIH blogs are written in house on the basis that we are the ones with our ear to the ground, we would not deign to write a whole website and needed an expert for this.

Although we had refined the website a few times, we felt that we needed to capture a different voice for MIH now and again went through a selection process which included our original copywriter. On this occasion, we felt that we needed someone new, and selected Fiona Mocatta, a choice which was supported by our original copywriter who commented that she was really proud of how far MIH had come when told of our decision. Fiona quickly got to work and having worked with Sarah, Joe and Candice at MIH and Helen and Anya wrote copy which quite simply is MIH.

As you will see from the website, the results are truly brilliant and we are all absolutely thrilled to see the updated website reflecting the MIH ethos. The pain and jangling nerves were worth it, even down to whether the lilac boxes were correct with the only fly in the ointment being that due to the pandemic we have not been able to get photos on the website, but like the online payments that is something for next year along with the new office and something to look forward to.

We are obviously very proud of our new website and hope that you will find it as useful and entertaining as we do but as always would welcome your feedback on whether we have truly Made it Happen.

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