Case Study
John Cannon Homes
The Client:
John Cannon Homes has been creating luxury custom homes since it's humble beginnings in 1987. Today the company has built over 1,000 custom homes on prominent waterfront and golf course properties along Florida's Gulf Coast. While John Cannon Homes continues to build luxurious homes on the Southwest coast, they have expanded their services to meet the demands of business and residential customers alike by offering interior decoration and property management services.
The Challenge:
John Cannon Homes wanted to update the look of their website to represent the detail and superior quality that goes into every home they build. The goal was to create a site that would allow visitors to feel as though they were stepping into an actual home built by John Cannon. The previous site utilized flash navigation, which meant that search engines would not find interior pages and users with disabilities would not be able to access the site. John Cannon Homes also wanted to make changes to their photo slideshow, but did not have the actual design file available to them.
The Result:
Tortus was able to seamlessly overcome these hurdles so that John Cannon Homes could focus their time and resources on marketing their properties. Since Tortus created John Cannon’s original site using Ruby on Rails, we were able to make requested changes without undertaking a lengthy re-programming of the site. Tortus reconstructed the original slideshow using high quality images and new design elements, such as a day to night effect. We also recreated the font that John Cannon Homes has used to brand their business for past 20 years. Tortus took these extra steps to ensure that the look and feel that the client requested remained without having to bother John Cannon with tracking down the existing design elements. Tortus also re-built the navigation bar to John Cannon Homes specifications, yet used web best practices so that it would not negatively affect search engine rankings or disabled users.
In order to entice new visitors to johncannonhomes.com, Tortus created a user experience that allows visitors to take a virtual tour of available homes, view floor plans or even create a home by selecting preferences from drop down menus. We also added a chat feature that lets representatives from John Cannon Homes follow viewers throughout the site and engage them in a live one-on-one chat. Not only does this feature allow the John Cannon Sales staff to capitalize on their time between showings, but it also helps them reach qualified prospective homeowners who have shown interest in a particular home.
The John Cannon Homes website also features a full site Content Management System which allows the staff to add and remove available properties on their site. This tool allows staff members to update listings on a daily basis so that prospective buyers have access to the latest property offerings available.