The 2nd #retechchat is taking place tonight at 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST. The topic this week will be “mobile marketing“.
If you want to participate, there are a few options:
See you at 6 PST!
Today, we’re pleased to launch the new VirtualResults.net!
Everyone needs a website revamp from time to time — and we’re no different after 3 plus years with our old site. Being a boutique design company, it’s a challenge to spend our precious design and development time on ourselves when they could otherwise be spent building amazing client websites — but it was finally time to buckle down and revamp our “home base”.
We’ve given the site more of a clean “3.0” feel and added a bunch of new content to the site to better reflect our current offerings — including an about page, details on each of our amazing team members and our respective superhuman characteristics, a FAQ, a high level overview of our SEO and consulting services, example Facebook/Twitter/Posterous skins we’ve designed, examples of our new predesigned websites that work, and of course an overview of our predesigned platform.
To go with a brand new site, we’re running a two week special on our predesigned websites that work – for the next 2 weeks, you can buy one of our predesigned websites for $599 — that’s $100 off our regular price of $699. Each site includes a full custom header, 13 available color schemes (and growing), and 6 different home page variations. I won’t go into the ins and outs of the platform – instead, I’ll let our examples speak for themselves.
So, have a look around and, whether is a website that works or a world class SEO – or anything in between, let us know what we can help you succeed online.
We’ve got lots of amazing projects and sites in the works, so check back often for updates..
— The Team at Virtual Results
On Wednesday, I’ll be conducting a WordPress blogging demo and Q&A session with Linda Aaron at Coldwell Banker Bain’s South Lake Union Office. If you are an agent/broker with CBBain in the Greater Seattle area and looking to learn more about WordPress or have a few specific questions you want answered, come on by between 1 and 4 Wednesday afternoon. You can RSVP here.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Here’s an example website that we did for Enrico Pozzo from the Lake Union office – MagnoliaListings.com.
We have a new promo offer for our predesigned websites that work platform that we wanted to share. Going forward, those who are our 1st client in your respective MLS get $200 OFF the standard $699 setup price. Our partner, Diverse Solutions, has been adding MLS markets like crazy (have you been following their blog updates?), so we want to give agents in those markets an incentive to go with a best in class website to go along with their best in class IDX. Now, instead of hooking up Diverse to that antiquated website of yours from the stone age, you can hook it up to an amazing professionally designed WordPress web site that provides the base SEO foundation and overall flexibility to grow your business over the next decade. We can have your site ready to add content to within 48 hours of payment, assuming you can give us direction and graphics for the custom header. If you’re curious what our predesigned websites look like, you can take a look at Loftsoma.com, LaPalmaHomeFinder411, or Lake St Clair Life. Here are some more example predesigned sites.
So, if you are looking to upgrade to a website that works, make sure to tell us your MLS and ask us whether you are eligible for the $200 discount when you speak with us. $499 for one of these websites is an amazing amazing deal (in my humble opinion anyway)!
It’s a given your listings — both active and past solds — need to be showcased prominently on your website. And we know listings need to be displayed with high resolution photos and that everyone hates data entry. It’s also a given that a listing price can and does change from time to time. For instance, your seller and you may decide to drop the price after 6 months on the market. When that happens, ideally, you would change the list price in one central place and it would change everywhere online — right? Well, the VR Real Estate Listing Management WP Plugin takes you one step closer to making that happen. We know the MLS is the first place that you change a list price — and then your website is probably the second place. For those of you with one of our new predesigned websites that work, you no longer have to worry about changing the list price in both your MLS and the backend of your website. Change it in your MLS, and your website automatically updates!
Version 1 of our plugin, which merged your own high res photos with virtually zero listing data entry other than the MLS #, was awesome – but version 2 is simply amazing. The plugin now supports past solds (complete with your own “Sold” page) as well as actives in areas without IDX coverage such as Manhattan. Plus, entering the MLS number now auto-fills your details fields so that your “listings” landing page (example on HomeSalesOrangeCounty) now displays a description of the listing as well as just the address.
To insert a listing, simply hit “add listing” from your dashboard, enter the address & MLS id number, add your high resolution photos — and you’re done! For those interested in the details, here’s the more detailed process of adding a listing.
You must be a Virtual Results client to use this plugin. If you’re interested in making the leap from a website that doesn’t work to one that actually does work, get in touch with us.
And stay tuned — we’ve got more cool stuff in the works to share soon.
You’ve likely seen a few examples of our new predesigned websites already (LoriBee.com & HomeSalesOrangeCounty.com), but we’ve been quietly launching predesigned websites that work by the day and thought I’d show a few more. Here are a few more that have gone live recently worth taking a look at!
If you’re tired of throwing your money down the drain on websites that don’t work, like what you see, and know you should be on WordPress (you should be), feel free to contact us or just sign up.
Want your own amazing predesigned website that works? Feel free to contact us or just sign up!
When it comes to updating and showcasing YOUR listings on YOUR website, there are two overarching goals we’ve heard over and over from agents and brokers:
There is no solution currently available that accomplishes both goals within a WordPress framework. So we had one of our developers go away to a dark room for hours and hours to build a solution. What we ended up with is a new listing management WordPress plugin that integrates with Diverse Solutions dsIDXpress (the IDX plugin that comes with each of our predesigned websites).
There are two mandatory components to adding an active listing to your website using our new plugin — listing settings and listing photos, both of which I’ve outlined below.
Settings: Pretty simple: add the Address and MLS #. Optional fields are a Title to tweak the header of the page, YouTube video to showcase a virtual tour, and a community drop down to link the listing to one of the “community pages” entered in your website.
Photos: Upload your own high res photos, and then re-order them to your heart’s desire. The first image can be used as a home page slideshow widget to showcase your listings.
Once you hit Publish, you’ll get a listing that includes your high res photos and data straight from the MLS that looks like this. You can view the listing slideshow at work on the home page of HomeSalesOrangeCounty.com.
Great software takes time to build correctly and this is no different. What’s detailed here is only version 1 of the plugin; version 2 of the Virtual Results listing management plugin will support adding past sales as well as actives for those not using dsIDXpress (though of course the automated data portion won’t work without connecting directly to IDX).
High resolution listing photos and automated data entry made simple.
And that’s a wrap!
Note: You have to be a Virtual Results client to get access to this new plugin. If you want a best in breed WordPress website with this functionality built in, sign up for a custom or predesigned site today; we’d love to work with you.
Since Jim and I are both attending RE Bar Camp Seattle 2011 on Thursday at the Seattle Center, we’re running a “RE BarCamp Seattle special” on our new predesigned websites. For the next week (until March 9th), we’re offering $200 OFF ($699 regular price) when you sign up for a predesigned website that works. But there is a caveat: you have to donate $50 (or more) to Solid Ground (the charity being supported by RE BarCamp Seattle – DONATE HERE).
That means you get an awesome website that works for $499 + $50 donation to Solid Ground. So, net, you save yourself $150 off the standard $699 pricing. Pretty darn good deal if I do say so myself.
This is a win-win all the way around; you help raise money for a great cause, and you get $200 off an amazing WordPress website product at the same time! As I’ve said before, our focus at Virtual Results is to build the best real estate agent and broker sites anywhere on the web, and I think these are the best sites you’ll find under $2,000. I won’t go into all the ins and outs of the predesigned product offering since it’s already explained in detail here (and our FAQ here). I know most of you are visual, so here are a few example sites for you to look at:
So, are you badly in need of a new website? Want a real estate website that actually works and is professionally designed? We know numerous agents still have websites built 5 or 10 years ago with a huge agent photos and fancy flash pages that don’t work to satisfy today’s internet consumer looking for information. We also know from analytics that consumers don’t search the web for AGENTS; they are looking for homes for sale, market statistics, neighborhood information, mortgage rates, insights into their local market trends, and home values. We are offering an awesome website platform you can use to provide that information to consumers while taking advantage of the SEO friendly blogging capabilities of WordPress. Yes, we’re obviously biased, but 2011 IS THE YEAR you should move to WordPress.
Interested? Use the discount code “REBCSEA” in the embedded form below and hit apply discount to get the $200 off your invoice. You can email your Solid Ground donation receipt (donate online here) to drew at virtualresults dot net so we can verify and get your site up and running within a few days!!
[Formstack id=1038639 viewkey=a7QFL4nvtR]
And, it goes without saying, if you are at REBarCamp on Thursday (or at either of the Tweetups occurring on Wednesday evening before and Thursday evening after), Jim Marks and I would love to speak with you and answer whatever social media, website, or internet marketing questions might be lingering in the back of your minds.
I wanted to clarify a couple things regarding our post on the Lones Group lawsuit on Friday.
First of all, Daniel Rothamel is a friend of Jim and mine. I can speak for both Jim and myself when I say that Daniel’s one (of many) class acts in this industry. I’ve personally never heard a negative thing uttered about him – by anyone over the course of the last five years. That said, I wrote that post for 2 reasons:
On point number 1, it’s my personal opinion. Nothing more. Nothing less. No good whatsoever will come from lawsuits like the one Daniel is facing now. It’s a waste of time, money, and effort for all of society to endur — and the lawyers win no matter what in the end. I would feel the same way on that subject whether or not I knew the defendant.
Regarding point number 2, think of it this way. Imagine someone ran up to your friend and sucker punched them in the stomach Ask yourself two questions. 1) Would you defend your friend? And 2) if you were talking about the matter with another friend a day later, would you give them a neutral account of the incident? I hope the answer to number 1 is yes, and absolutely know the answer to number 2 is “no”. Those who know me well know I’m loyal to a fault, and that certainly played a factor in writing the post as well.
There were some strong comments voiced by Kevin Tomlinson and a few others regarding the fact that we were bullying the Lones Group by taking a SEO angle. Everyone makes mistakes, and we’re more than happy to admit we were in the wrong if that’s the case. On careful reflection, we have decided that although we feel strongly that the post itself was well intended, the SEO comment may not have been. Thanks to all for your input and thoughts left in the comments — this is what makes social media such a powerful medium. I have modified the original post as a result.
What we were doing with our blog post is defending. What the Lones Group did to Daniel and his family IS bullying.
Lastly, please do contribute to the ZebraDefenseFund if you can. Our thoughts are with Daniel and his family and hope this lawsuit is laid to rest soon.
Obligatory Disclaimer: I am not an attorney, in any way, shape or form. I consider Daniel Rothamel and his family (also parties to the lawsuit I’m about to discuss) personal friends. And until today, I had never heard of The Lones Group (although I have been around the Seattle real estate scene for about 6 years). Furthermore, I have no idea if they are good at what they do – that’s not the point. Finally, what follows is simply my personal opinion.
Before l I start (my rant), a brief recap of the news that hit today — The Lones Group Inc filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Daniel Rothamel and his family brokerage, Strong Team Realtors, for infringing on their “Zebra Report” and “Zebra Blog”. Supposedly, Lones Group and Strong Team Realtors are in direct competition (even though they are 3,000 miles away) and the fact that Daniel has been known as the Real Estate Zebra for the last 5 years is “unfairly diverting business” from Lones Group. They are asking for $75,000 in damages. Here is the Inman News article: ‘Real Estate Zebra’ hit with trademark suit.
In my eyes, The Lones Group just destroyed their reputation with a single strike of their pen and a court filing on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I think it’s safe to say the Lones Group had no clue what deep public crap they’d get themselves into by filing this lawsuit against a blogger as well known and respected as Daniel Rothamel (the real Real Estate Zebra), who has hundreds and hundreds of friends (all of whom have blogs and Twitter accounts) all across the country. Doing what they just did is PURE brand suicide in today’s social media world. A single quote, link, or picture can reach millions of eyeballs within minutes. Like it or not, that is the way our intertwined world operates. Companies can operate within that framework, or cease to exist. And Lones Group is now suffering the consequences. You would think an Internet Marketing Company would know this?
FEAR of competition is completely unhealthy compared to competition itself. Here’s an idea for the Lones Group. Instead of filing a trademark lawsuit because you are scared, you should have done things SUCH AS the following:
The Lones Group lost the online fight for the Zebra brand name (if there ever was one) in the ONLINE real estate space. The fact that someone would rather file a lawsuit rather than figure out how to settle their matter privately is a disgrace. But, hey, maybe that’s just me. To win in life and business, you’ve got to show up. And if you lose? Learn from your mistakes and move on. Don’t file a stupid lawsuit; it’s a waste of everyone’s time and money. As I’d said before, business and life comes down to execution. Daniel succeeded with branding himself. The Lones Group didn’t.
Competition should be motivation for you to get better. Not motivation for taking legal action.
Last, but not least, if you want to help Daniel defend himself, you can donate to his defense fund at ZebraDefenseFund.com. All extra proceeds will go to charity.
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