In 2016, 1xINTERNET built a website for Miklaborg, an Icelandic real estate agency. Due to the growth of Miklaborg's business over the past few years, the website was no longer able to meet all of their needs. We relaunched the website using the newest version of Drupal, it features a powerful search engine, an improved UX design and API integration with a real estate management system, using our 1xDXP as the foundation.
Who is Miklaborg?
Miklaborg is one of the largest real estate agencies in Iceland. The company was founded in 2007 and currently employs around 30 people. Miklaborg was recognized as an outstanding company by Creditinfo in 2015 and has maintained that status each year since then.
Miklaborg’s website is a vital part of the company business as it is where prospective buyers can find extensive information about properties on sale and contact real estate agents directly. The majority of the data displayed on the website is retrieved from Miklaborg’s real estate management system, Homemaker, which was also developed and is maintained by 1xINTERNET.
What was the goal of the project?
Miklaborg's existing website required improvement. The objective was to create a user-friendly website that editors could manage effortlessly, and visitors could easily navigate. Moreover, Miklaborg requested a modern and visually appealing design that would highlight images, as they play a significant role in property listings.
By implementing a new CMS system, website editors would be able to produce landing pages, which are a vital aspect of marketing campaigns. The aim being to increase traffic on the site and generate leads.
How could we help?
The new Miklaborg website was developed with Drupal 9 and our 1xDXP solution as the foundation. For the backend we implemented our user-friendly 1xCMS system, website editors can now easily create content, including landing pages and contact forms.
Miklaborg operates their business using "Homemaker," a real estate management system created by 1xINTERNET for Miklaborg. Acting as a database for the company's website, Homemaker houses all property listing information. By integrating with the Homemaker APIs, the website can acquire data from the system, which is then displayed on the site via a lightweight React application. When properties are put up for sale in Homemaker, they automatically appear on the Miklaborg website and other general real estate platforms.
The 1x design team created a visually appealing and modern-looking design. When users view an individual property listing, the first thing they see is a collection of images, which was the website's primary focus. On the individual property pages, users can also contact the real estate agents directly about the property. The addition of a “wishlist” function enables prospective buyers to save and quickly find their properties of interest when they visit the website again.
One of the main requirements for this project was to improve the search in the property overview (Söluskrá). With the implementation of ElasticSearch we were able to create a powerful search engine with a variety of filters to simplify the search experience. The search is fast and responsive.
Our collaboration with Miklaborg is ongoing and we are currently working on Homemaker 2.0, an improved version of the real estate management system. We have also assisted Miklaborg with content creation on the website and integration with Google Analytics for their marketing campaigns.
Main features of the project
Powerful Search Engine
Using ElasticSearch we implemented a fast and powerful search engine. Visitors can easily browse through the available listings in the listing overview and use the provided filters; area, type of property, number of rooms, price and size.
Modern UX design
The new website has a modern look with an emphasis on images to attract prospective buyers. Users can easily contact estate agents and access information about the properties for sale. Editors can now create landing pages which is a crucial part of marketing campaigns.
API Integrations
The most advanced feature is the integration with Homemaker’s APIs. All information about property listings is retrieved from the real estate management system and displayed directly on the website through a React application. This saves a lot of time and effort for editors.
Why was Drupal a good fit for this project?
Miklaborg already had experience with Drupal. The old website was running on Drupal 7 and Homemaker is also built in Drupal. Miklaborg is a longstanding client of 1xINTERNET and they were happy with the possibilities offered by Drupal. Miklaborg is a rapidly growing business and due to its highly scalable nature, Drupal will be able to accommodate that growth in the future.
