1. Create a free vSites account
On the vSites pricing page, we added an option to create a free account and build a website for free. Users who sign up for a free account get access to all vSites features and can add and edit their site content as much as they want. It’s only when they’re ready to publish the site and take it live that they’ll need to upgrade to a paid subscription.

2. Faster image loading from the Image Library
We sped up the time it takes for images to load in a user’s Image Library, so it will take less time for vSites users to select pictures from their Image Library than before.

3. Special characters removed
In some cases, when users copied and pasted text into the Flyer Editor, they were getting  at the end of the text. Now, those pesky special characters won’t be a problem anymore.

4. SEO settings issue fixed
Before, there was a discrepancy when a page’s search engine optimization settings were updated from the Control Panel or the Site Editor. Now the settings can be updated from either location.

5. Repeating modules problem fixed
In some cases, modules that a user added to a site were repeated. This should no longer be an issue.

6. Like Us on Facebook!
We added a Facebook Like widget to the vMarketing account homepage, making it even easier for users to “Like” us on Facebook. It’s a great way to keep up with vFlyer news, learn about promotions we’re running, and share your feedback with us. As of this morning, we were at 960 likes. Help us get to 1,000 before 2012!

Finally, we retired the Pets for Sale flyer template. This was an underutilized category and we had been seeing a rise in the number of fraudulent ads created in it. For any users affected by this decision, please accept our apologies and we hope that you’ll find other uses for vFlyer in the future.

Thanks to all of our users whose feedback helped us make these improvements. We’ll be posting an end-of-year recap later in the week, so keep an eye out for it!

Reedville Commons in Aloha, Oregon (see picture below)

Fairfield Apartment Homes in Little Rock, Arkansas

Bailey Hill Meadows in Eugene, Oregon

Residential Christmas Light Decorating by Clearly Amazing Window Cleaning in West Linn, Oregon

Vintage Christmas Cards from Stop and Shop in Sedalia, Missouri (these are great)

Sadly, I couldn’t find any flyers with a twinkling animated GIF as a background image, but maybe next year I’ll have better luck.

Happy Holidays from the vFlyer Team!

1. Three Craigslist Enhancements in vMarketing
We implemented three new vMarketing features related to Craigslist: the ability to preview Craigslist HTML from the Flyer Editor, three new Craigslist layouts (bringing the total to 14), and a lightweight HTML format for custom theme flyers. The preview option enables users both to see what their Craigslist flyer will look like before publishing and, for business subscribers, makes it easier to choose a different Craigslist layout. The new layouts include a “Before & After” layout that should appeal to service providers, particularly contractors, home staging professionals, and others who make things look better than they did before. And the lightweight HTML should make it easier for people’s ads to show up on Craigslist. All the more reason to use vMarketing’s Craigslist templates!

2. Custom Default Listings Order in vSites
We received requests from several vSites users to let them set their own order of listings on their site, so we added the option to sort listings by date published, price high to low, price low to high, or alphabetical order.

3. New Link Module in vSites
We’ve made it super easy to add a link or a list of links to your website with the new Link module. It allows you to link to another page on your site, an external web page, an individual content item on your site, or an email address, all through a simple, fill-in-the-blanks form.

4. New Slider Bar to Adjust Photo Width
Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference. We think that being able to change the width of a photo using a slider bar instead of typing it in is one of those things, so we introduced that option for modules that support text and photos.

5. UI improvements in vSites
We spruced up the appearance of Listings, Photo Gallery, and Business Profile modules, as well as the Add Module screen in IE8.

We also now show a vSites video that our resident auteur, Doug “The Ram” Ramsay, created. Nice work, Doug! Watch it and learn more about how you can quickly and easily build a website.

We hope you enjoy the new Craigslist enhancements and other features and fixes we introduced. If you have comments or questions, please let us know!

Also- Please take 1 minute to answer this survey! You will be entered to win a $100 Visa gift card:)

Our own Sena Shellenberger also provided a brief but action-packed demo of the social media features of vSites, much to the delight of the audience.

You can watch a recording of the webinar below:

The audience asked a lot of really good questions during the webinar and I wanted to excerpt some of them along with Charity’s answers below.

Q: Do you need to have a Facebook personal profile to have a Facebook Page for your business?

A: I recommend that you create a personal profile if you’re going to create a Page. If you don’t, it effectively limits your control of the Page; with an associated personal profile, you’ll have full control of the Page.

Q: For property management companies, should each community be responsible for their own Page or should the company manage all of the Pages for 20+ communities?

A: There should be some coordination of community Facebook Pages at the corporate level, but it’s critical that the communities are active on their Pages. Communities need to be responding to resident questions and complaints, sharing news, posting polls and contests… any content that current or future residents might find interesting.

Q: Explain what a landing page is; is it a web page or a Facebook Page?

A: In the context of Facebook, a landing page is a page within your Facebook Page that visitors see when they first get to your Facebook Page. On a Facebook Page, you have tabs on the left side for different pages. Landing pages allow you to shape your Facebook Page visitors’ first impressions and have been proven to increase conversions via Facebook. In your Page settings, you can choose which page you want as your default. There are a number of web applications out there that let you create a free or inexpensive Facebook landing page; I’ve used Shortstack and Pagemodo, which both work well. I recommend doing a Google search for “Facebook tab tools” and seeing which one works best for you.

Q: How do you start a blog that will get read?

A: Post interesting content! Use your keywords and write stuff that is likely to generate interest. As for blogging platforms, I use WordPress but there’s also Blogger (both are free) as well as others; do some research and see which one you like best. Also, businesses need to promote their blogs. Share your blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else your audience or customers are hanging out. Last, follow other people’s blogs and comment on their posts, because your comments will link back to your blog. (Be honest and sincere in your comments, of course.)

Q: What about Klout?

A: For measuring your success in social media, I think that Klout undestimates the value of individuals who like your Facebook Page. For instance, if I’m not very active on Facebook for a week, that means I’m busy that week, not that my influence has decreased, yet my Klout score would probably go down. For measuring tools, I prefer EdgeRank and Facebook Insights.

Finally, here are some links to tools and resources related to yesterday’s webinar:

Content posting applications
Buffer
HootSuite

Content aggregators
Google Alerts
HyperAlerts
Kurrently

QR Codes
Inman Next: Don’t Be a QR Code Dummy
Socially Engaged Marketing: Brainstorming Idea #6: Get Creative with QR Codes

Facebook Info
Socially Engaged Marketing: Don’t “sell” to me – Connect with me

Inman Next: Everyone Has Their Contact Information On Facebook In The Worst Place Possible

Google +
Socially Engaged Marketing: Google + for Business?

Link your Google + page to your site

Social Media Insights
vFlyer Blog: Social Media is Here to Stay

Thanks to Charity and everyone who attended yesterday’s webinar! If you’re interested in attending other vFlyer webinars, take a look at our vSites and vMarketing training schedules.

Oh- and please don’t forget to like us on Facebook!  Help us reach 1,000 likes by the end of 2011!  :)

1) Use this promo code “cybermonday2011″ for 15% off new or upgraded vFlyer subscriptions.  In order to redeem, go to vFlyer’s pricing page and enter the code in the box below the packages to see updated discounted prices.

2) 50% off custom design work.  We have fantabulous designers that can create beautiful custom headers for your website, flyer, blog, etc.  Just give them a logo, or some colors to base the design off of and they will work their magic! They can also modify splash images of your choice.  Please call us at 800-594-5930 to redeem, or you can email us at support@vflyer.com

Feel free to share this with friends and family who may be interested.  Act fast, as the deals are valid today only:)

First, Sydnor Lofts has a very stylish logo that they feature in the site header, below the navigation menu. And speaking of the navigation menu, Sudhoff made great use of the menu tabs; rather than the usual fare of “About Us,” “Floor Plans,” etc., their tabs suggest a story and draw in the site visitor. (“The Possibilities”? Of COURSE I’m going to click that tab.) Below the header is a very nice triptych-style splash image showing three photos of the development. And farther down the homepage is an image linked to a downloadable PDF brochure of the development.

I think what I like most about Sydnor Lofts’ website is that the sleek, minimalist aesthetic of the site parallels that of the development itself. It’s the perfect instance of a website reflecting the look, content, and attitude of the very thing it represents.

vSites offers a range of features ideally suited to apartment community websites, including modules for floor plans and community information, downloadable PDFs, and the ability to integrate check availability and scheduling widgets right into the site. If you’re a property management company or apartment community in need of a new website solution, I hope you’ll give vSites a try!

This new preview capability should make it much easier to get stakeholder approval on a website before publishing it. It’s one more reason why vSites is the ideal small business website builder.

We also pushed a number of UI and functionality improvements to vSites and vMarketing last night, including:

1. A new “Welcome” email sent to users who complete the Site Wizard process

2. A new design of our pricing page to better show both the annual and monthly subscription options

3. A fix to a bug around manual edits to the width of a picture on a site

4. Improvements to the login UI across multiple browsers

5. A fix to the “Attributes” section of our non-standard Craigslist layouts for vMarketing business subscribers (the attributes are now shown in bulleted rather than comma-separated lists)

Our focus has been on adding new features and fixing bugs in vSites for the last couple of months, but we plan on shifting our focus back to vMarketing in an upcoming release. Keep an eye out for improvements to Craigslist content and other parts of the vMarketing service in the next few weeks.

Here’s a graphic showing how the program works:

Resellers use our program to create marketing content for their own clients. They then sell this content to their clients at the regular price.  After they bring on 3 clients, they start earning 30% on each client they subscribe, or if the Reseller is paying, he or she gets a 30% discount for each client account.

Benefits of the program:

1. vFlyer’s platform is intuitive yet powerful.  Both of vFlyer’s services use a “fill-in-the-blank” template approach for adding content, greatly simplifying the content creation process.

2. Customization. vFlyer provides an extensive range of themes and layouts to choose from.  In addition to the ability to upload photos, videos, custom headers and integrate social media, users can also create their own themes allowing them to match their branding.

3. Flexibility. With vFlyer, you can grant access to an account to a client so that they can log in and make edits themselves or simply restrict access to yourself. You can also set up all of your client accounts under one login, making access to all of them super easy.

4. Save time while creating higher quality content.  The vFlyer platform is easy to use, enabling users to create professional-looking high quality content quickly and easily.

Interested in learning more? Check out the new Reseller page and the Reseller FAQ’s. To sign up, email reseller [at] vflyer [dot] com, or call 800-594-5930 x 5.

1. Enhanced site theme previews
We added a “Switch Theme” link at the top of the Site Editor that, when clicked, allows you to preview different themes applied to your site, right in the Site Editor. It’s a much simpler way to see how different themes will look on your website.

2. Video on listing detail page
We now display the video on the listing detail page if a video is embedded in the flyer.

3. Site Map and XML Sitemap fixes
You can now choose to show or hide a page in the Site Map. We also fixed a bug in the XML Sitemap that was preventing all site pages from being included.

Finally, we posted a very funny vSites video that our own Doug Ramsay created. We’ll be sending out this video to users in an upcoming service announcement, but you can watch it here as well:

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I have. After you watch it, take a look at how vSites is the best website builder for small businesses.

If hunter gatherers in remote countries and 102-year-old women are using social media, you better believe a growing number of your customers are using social media.  Luckily for you, we recently added a Social Media Toolbar to our website building service, vSites.  Here’s an example of what it looks like on a website:

Here is a very basic introduction to all of the social media platforms you can now integrate into your vSite using our new Social Media Toolbar.

The Big Dogs

Facebook: Facebook is the leader of the pack.  With 800 million users, as well as the ability to have business pages as well as personal profiles, this is the mother load of social media networks.  Including this on your website will allow people to easily find your Facebook page where they can then ‘like’ you and learn more about your business via photos, status updates, etc.  If you are a newbie to social media, you should start your research here.

Twitter: Twitter is based on the premise of sharing “what’s happening” in 140 characters or less.  Including a Twitter icon on your website will allow users to quickly and easily follow your Twitter profile, and they can even start a conversation with you.  Here is a great video giving you the Twitter basics.

YouTube:  YouTube is the largest video sharing network in the world.  Anyone can create an account, and upload a video for the entire world to see.  Including fun, quirky or informative videos on your YouTube page and then integrating that into your website is a great way to build community with your users.

The Growing Dogs:

LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a “professional network.”  It’s similar to Facebook’s layout in that you have a detailed profile, but instead of friends you have a “network” full of “connections.”  Having Linkedin integrated into your website can help build credibility for yourself and your busineses.

Google Plus: Google Plus is Google’s recently launched social network.  Many say it is a direct challenge to Facebook, and there have been many comparisons made between the two.   This is a network that has a lot of potential, so integrate your profile if you want to show that you are an early adopter.

Yelp: Yelp is one of the most popular review-based websites in the world.  I almost never go to a restaurant/hair stylist/yoga studio without checking the Yelp reviews first.  For small businesses and service professionals this can be both a blessing and a curse.  If reviews are important to your business, include it in your profile to show people how awesome you are!

Flickr: YouTube is to videos as Flickr is to pictures, mostly.  It’s not as big as YouTube, but it is a very popular photo sharing website.  Many people upload high quality pictures to their Flickr account, and share albums with friends and family.  You can integrate your Flickr profile if you want to share pictures with your website visitors.

Foursquare: Foursquare is pretty popular with the younger crowd and it’s worth knowing about.  Foursquare is most commonly used on mobile phones, and the premise is you get points for “checking in” everywhere you go. Here’s an example of how Corcoran Group, a very social media savvy real estate company, uses Foursquare.

The Blogging Dogs

Blogger: Blogger is Google’s blogging platform.  You can easily create blogs, follow other blogs, and advertise through the Blogger platform.  If you’re not sure what Blogging is, think about writing in your diary, except sharing it with the online world. Blogging is a great way to share your industry knowledge and converse with your customers, so I highly recommend integrating a blog into your website.

WordPress:  Here is an adorable example of a WordPress site. WordPress is another popular blog platform.  Both Blogger and WordPress allow you to get pretty creative with the look of your blog.

ActiveRain: ActiveRain is a professional network for people in the real estate business.  With over 215,000 users, it’s one of the largest real estate networks in the world and has information about everything you could possibly want to know about real estate.  Incorporating an ActiveRain blog into your website will show users you are knowledgeable about the Real Estate industry, and give them ways to connect with you.

This was a basic introduction of the 11 social networks you can integrate into your website using vSites, and I hope the stories about the hunter-gatherer, and 102-year-old woman on Facebook will encourage you to get out there and start being (virtually) social!