August 30, 2007
Job Openings are one of the top five product category on vFlyer! Both employers and recruiters are using vFlyer to push job openings to vertical job search engines like SimplyHired, Indeed and Jobalot as well a horizontal players like Google Base, Vast, Oodle and Edgeio. vFlyer templates can also be used to post jobs on Craigslist!
vFlyer allows you to take advantage of trends such as increased direct employer posting, the growth in the number of vertical job search engines, and candidates increased reliance on the Internet as part of their job search. Because vFlyer automatically exposes your job openings to the leading free classified ad marketplaces, we save you time and energy and increase the size of your pool of potential candidates. Here are some job opening examples in various market segments:
| Technology
Real Estate
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Manufacturing and Logistics
Health Sciences
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Other Job Trends:
Recent reports state that over 50% of recruiters surveyed said that they either currently use or intended in the future to use online social networking as a method of recruiting candidates that’s why it’s a good idea for recruiters (and employers) to post their vFlyers (or links to the vFlyers or gallery) on social networks like MySpace, ActiveRain, Facebook, LinkedIn and others.
Finding great people becomes even more important in industries such as real estate that are going through challenging periods. Recruiter Mya Borgman of The People Link makes a great point when she says:
Really skilled real estate people know how to make money in any kind of market, whether it’s a buyer’s market, a seller’s market, a tight money market, or everything in between. So in today’s environment it is even more vital than before for a real estate company to get the best possible candidates that are available for any given position.
A growing number of brokers and lenders are using vFlyer not only for listing property and promoting services but also to announce job openings.
Technorati Tags:  Jobs, vFlyer
August 29, 2007
It has often been said that a picture is worth a thousand words and there isn’t anything nicer that a flyer or listing with a great property photo (obviously a great price is nice too!)
I have always been impressed by the number of quality photos I continue to find on vFlyer! Here are some of my recent favorites:
More and more real estate agents are opting for professional photos as it is becoming easier to find reasonably priced photographers. For those who choose to take their own photos, here is a great resource (Photography For Real Estate) dedicated to covering tips and techniques for real estate photography - that is worth checking out! So whether you choose to to take photos yourself or you prefer to hire a professional photographer – remember – make every pixel count!
Technorati Tags: Photography, vFlyer, Real Estate
August 27, 2007
Some people don’t realize you can use Watermark Plus for plain old simple image hosting. Simply upload your photos and make sure Graphic Type is None and the Text field is left blank! We’ll upload your photo and host it for you (for free) – another great use of Watermark Plus.
You an access the hosted image by clicking Get HTML and using the URL in your IMG (image) tag. So for example:
Uploaded photos are stored in PNG format. Unlike JPG, which is a lossy compression technique, PNG uses lossless compression – meaning no data or quality is lost – and as a result you get a higher quality photo with only a slight increase in size (5%-25% more than a GIF file).
Here are some image hosting examples:
Note: Photo uploaded by subscribers don’t have the “Image Enhanced by vFlyer.com†branding
August 25, 2007
This week’s vFlyer of Week comes from vFlyer power user Bob Taylor of Bob Taylor Properties (who has over 25 properties listed with vFlyer) and is a very unique property at 5024 Lincoln Avenue, Highland Park (See Zillow)! Bob has covered all his bases – in addition to this great vFlyer, he has all of his info and the property info in Zillow as well! It reminded me a bit of a gingerbread house – in any case, a great looking property and a great price!
Some of you may not know they can create their own custom flyers templates rather than using one of the standard templates. Its actually very simple and results are only limited by your creativity! Simple click on Create New link in the Template (Look-and-Feel) section of your flyer. This will take you to the Template Editor that allows you to customize most aspects of your flyer including background, colors and fonts (then follow the instructions in the vFlyer Support Wiki).
Here are some great creative examples of user-generated custom templates:
Technorati Tags: Templates, vFlyer
August 24, 2007
Every so often we sent out a service announcement to users . These announcements tend to focus on new features and promotions as well as other important news about the vFlyer service. If you some reason you are not receiving regular service announcements and would like to, first make sure that you have selected to them (click the Account menu and look at the bottom of the Profile tab).
If you have subscribed to receive service announcement but are still not receiving them and are using a web-based email service such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail or Hotmail, make sure they are not ending up in your junk mail or bulk mail folders. You can solve the problem by adding no-reply@vflyer.com to your list of contacts. Just in case you missed any of the past issues, you can find an archive of service announcements on our vFlyer Support Wiki or below:
Technorati Tags: vFlyer
August 23, 2007
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There has been a lot of talk about the pros and cons of single property websites. Single property sites are a growing trend among Realtors where the address of a property serves as its primary URL (so a listing at 5977 Morgan Place would have the domain name5977MorganPlace.com) and become the focal point for online marketing for that listing. Some cynics argue that such sites are expensive and not valuable from an SEO standpoint – but I would like to counter these myths associated with single property sites! |
#1 – Single Property Websites are more about customer satisfaction than SEO
Not everything in life is about SEO! Sellers love single property website because they makes them feel good – and for a Realtor, a happy customer is good thing! Joel Burslem at the Future of Real Estate Marketing in his post on the same subject exclaims:
I suppose as a point of differentiation over other agents, especially if you’re competing for a high-end, luxury property, then appealing to a seller’s ego and telling them you’ll build them a unique website could secure you that listing.
I agree with Joel that single property sites probably make the most sense for high-end or unique properties. In the last couple of months, I have been tracking single property sites in my area (see my Flickr album) and almost all of them where expensive, high-end properties carried by brokers that cater to those markets in my neck of the woods (Alain Pinel, Coldwell Banker, i.e.). I think the Real Estate Tomato says it best, when it writes:
In terms of word-of-mouth referrals, its a very tangible and visible sign of the efforts provided on behalf of sellers (”my listing agent created a website just for my property”).
Most Realtors agree. Paul Eastwood, for example, comments on Trulia Voices:
These new tools can be a great aid to the listing agent when trying to win the listing…If you are only paying a few dollars per month - then this might well bring great value to agents looking to both win listings and attract buyers.
Most prospective buyers search for a home using real estate sites and search engines like their local MLS, Realtor.com, Trulia, Propsmart and the like – they generally don’t use Google to find a home – yet another reason why its not about SEO! I would argue that a Realtor that keeps his or her customers happy is going to get a lot more business then a Realtor who only cares about SEO - after all, 44% of buyers come from referred and not SEO. The good folks at Blood Hound Realty make a similar case in their post - [a custom web sites] might not Google well — but it doesn’t have to…
#2 – Single Property Websites don’t have to be expensive
True, there are companies out there that charge an arm and a leg for single property sites – but don’t be fooled, single property sites don’t have to cost a small fortune – after all, its only the domain you should be paying for. vFlyer’s Domain Plus, for example, is only $9.95 (per year) a domain for subscribers (free when you purchase an annual subscription). Joel Burslem at the Future of Real Estate Marketing makes a similar point about the cost of single Property sites and remarks “Tech-savvy Realtors will take one look at the price and scoff. $3000 for 50 sites?â€. I talked about the cost effectiveness of Domain Plus in my original post on the service.
#3 – Single Property Websites make properties easy to find
I would argue that is is a lot easier to remember an address than it is to remember the first and last name of a Realtor or the name of a local real estate firm you have never heard of before! The Real Estate Tomato concurs saying:
Considering the URL of a property website is commonly the street address (i.e. www.123AnySt.com ), it provides for a unique and easy-to-remember web address.
According to NAR, many buyers still find their home by driving-by and seeing the sign! By adding the URL to your single property site to your real estate rider you can “connect the property to the website†– allowing your property to get maximum exposure to drive-by traffic in the neighborhood! Kevin Boer of 3 Oceans Real Estate comments, after Tackling the Single-Property Website Conundrum:
If done well, a website provides a convenient place to get out your marketing message. The property I reviewed yesterday, for instance, has its own web site — www.655-14thAvenue.com — which is very easy to remember.
#4 – Single Property Websites are about great property marketing
At the end of the day, single property sites are about great property marketing! Services like vFlyer are designed to help Realtors do a better job of marketing their listings, and using a single property website only helps to demonstrate your marketing–savvy and technology-savvy. The end result is generally a quicker sale and happy seller and hopefully more business around the corner!
Why Domain Plus?
MyTechOpinionnotes that “vFlyer is offering competitive pricing for their single property sites.†and goes on to says:
vFlyer can save you more time than ever now by giving you an additional marketing option with minimal set up time. Even the best multi-taskers will appreciate the ability to create listing ads, distribute them to leading online marketplaces, and purchase custom domains all in one visit to vFlyer.
Other press and analysts made similar observations. Our goal for the service was to provide “easy to use†single property site functionality as part of our “One-Stop Shop†approach to marketing real estate listings. After receiving numerous requests from both Realtors and FSBO’s we added Domain Plus to our growing list of convenient services.
Single property sites aren’t for everyone but they are a great marketing tool you can use to better sell properties and snag potential customers. And if you are vFlyer subscriber, its a great and inexpensive add-on to your flyer or gallery!
Related Posts and Resources:
Technorati Tags: Single Property Websites, vFlyer
August 22, 2007
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Although many of our users are into residential real estate, we also have a growing number of commercial Realtors using vFlyer. Despite market concerns, commercial real estate continues to ride the momentum of five consecutive years of investment gains. According to Coldwell Banker’s 2007 Commercial Real Estate Survey some 71% of respondents plan to purchase real estate in 2007, up from 49% in 2006. Similarly, 63% plan to sell commercial real estate this year, up from 40% in 2006. |
This all translates into good news for commercial Realtors! So, it’s no surprise the level of commercial real estate listing activity on vFlyer continues to grow! Available commercial real state categories include Office Building for Sale and Office for Lease. Here are some recent flyer examples:
Technorati Tags: Real Estate, vFlyer
August 17, 2007
August 16, 2007
I just wanted to highlight two great recent Domain Plus examples: www.1731chansonplace.com and www.yourpittsburghrealtor.com – great choice of domain names!
Technorati Tags: Domains, vFlyer
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As part of a promotion we are doing this month around the launch of Domain Plus, users that sign up for (or upgrade to) an annual subscription will get one or more FREE Domain Names in additional to the regular discount (2 free months of service). Here is how the promotion works: |
- vFlyer Starter – 1 FREE Domain Name
- vFlyer Basic – 3 FREE Domain Name
- vFlyer Premium – 5 FREE Domain Name
- vFlyer Professional – 10 FREE Domain Name
This promotion is good until the end of this month (Aug 31, 2007). Simple sign up for or upgrade to any vFlyer annual subscription and a credit will be issued to your account that will appear at the top of your Domain tab. To use your credit, simply search for and purchase a domain and the credit will be applied towards the purchase of that domain.
Related Posts and Resources:
Technorati Tags: Domains, vFlyer
August 13, 2007
Last week, we launched Domain Plus with support for .com and .net top-level domains (TLDs). This week, after a number of inquiries on supporting additional domain names, we have added support for .info and .biz top-level domains (TLDs).
According to the Wikipedia, the .info top-level domain (TLD) has actually been the most successful of the seven new domain names, with over 4 million domain names registered (March 2007) since its introduction in 2001. Additionally, over 1.6 million .info websites are in active and dedicated use. .info means information in about 37 languages which makes it fairly intuitive. As a result, its has been quite popular with single property websites, especially in situations where a .dom domain is taken. vFlyer user Renee Burrows talks about two of her own .info domains in a post she recently did on the importance of having a web presence. (www.9760Havasupai.info and www.5314AzureView.info).
The .biz TLD was intended for domains to be used by businesses. According to the Wikipedia, it was originally created to relieve some of the demand for the good domain names available in the .com top-level domain. It is currently the second most popular of the new TLDs.
So, for those of you who asked, you can how check for the availability of .com, .net, .info and .biz domain names and map them to any flyer or gallery using Domain Plus!
Related Posts and Resources:
Technorati Tags: Domains, vFlyer
Real EstateRealEstaterealtorinman
As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the quality and quantity of Watermark Plus images continues to grow! It is always exciting to see users applying our technology in creative ways to solve their sales and marketing problems! One of the best uses of Watermark Plus to create information-rich pictures thay really “say it allâ€. The first photo from Dawn Graham Homes does this by marrying a high quality photo with the caption “Top Rated Schools†and a photograph of the listing agent that sends a clear message to prospective buyers! Elise Timpe of First Team “says it all†by including the property’s location, price, key feature as well as her phone number, photo and company logo all in the same photo – without obscuring or compromising the quality of the photo! These are two of many great examples of Realtors that are putting Watermark Plus to work for them!
Technorati Tags: Photos, vFlyerAdobephotoshopbling
August 10, 2007
Last week we announced an innovative new service from vFlyer – Domain Plus - the ability to map one or more domain names to your gallery or flyers! Today, I am happy to announce Domain Plus is live!
Domain Plus allows subscribers to search for available domain names and then map them to either their gallery or any one of their flyers (non-subscribers will need to upgrade to use the service). Using this service you can create single property websites (http://www.1240westmain.com) that map to an individual flyer or quickly deploy a primary or secondary website by mapping a domain name to your vFlyer gallery. You can access Domain Plus by clicking on the Domains tab. From this screen you will be able to search for and purchase domain names, or manage existing ones.
Visit our vFlyer Support Wiki for more information on Domain Plus, including frequently asked questions (FAQ), examples and other resources!
Related Posts and Resources:
Technorati Tags: Domains, vFlyer
Real EstateRealEstaterealtorinman
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