January 2005 Newsletter

”Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors,
and let every new year find you a better man.”
- Benjamin Franklin

A Memorable Year… AA Products & Services Released in 2004

2004 was a very good year for product enhancements here at ADVANCED ACCESS. In case you missed some of last year’s news, here is a review of the products, services, and upgrades we released in 2004. Our products are designed to help you become more successful in your business, so we encourage you to take advantage of ALL the marketing tools available to you in a comprehensive Internet marketing program for 2005.

To begin the year, we released some upgrades and enhancements, including more new styles, upgrades to the Page Manager, Schedule a Template Change, HTML tools and Banner text to our fabulous Classic Package^TM 3.0.
In February, we announced the addition of several new Strategic Partners, including Allen Hainge Seminars, Frog Pond Group, Prudential Real Estate Network, Realty URL’s, Real Estate ABC, and VisualTour.com.
In March we released our Internet Marketing Search Engine Guide – a comprehensive guide to Internet Marketing, including advice on Search Engine Optimization, Pay per click, Link Popularity and more. The guide is available in your Virtual Office.
In April we announced our Most Impressive Website Contest - our second annual promotion that provided you an opportunity to nominate a website designed and hosted by ADVANCED ACCESS for a special award. All of the winners’ websites were dynamic, content-rich and in general, very IMPRESSIVE.
In June, ADVANCED ACCESS released a large selection of Hot New Icons. There are now 9 different default homepage icons to choose from and many of the icons include animation. We have options to change the layout of your icons, and for your clients and prospects who speak another language, we now include a link in the new icons to Translate Your Site into one of 5 languages through Google’s handy translation tool.
Also in the summer, we executed a complete change of the architecture in our server room. We doubled the square footage of the server room and purchased an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) with a planned Standby Emergency Backup Generator. With over 15 million emails delivered per day through our server network, our goal is to keep our usage down to 35-40% of capacity on a day-to-day basis.
In July we celebrated our 200^th Marketing Tip. Our ongoing commitment here at ADVANCED ACCESS is to provide you with the tools you need to make the most of your Internet presence, so we send you a valuable marketing tip EVERY WEEK.
In August ADVANCED ACCESS announced a Valuable Free Upgrade – Community Profile Information available on your websites! We partnered with OnBoard LLC and ReloDigest to provide demographic and environmental information on your websites, including age demographic, environmental evaluation, wealth and crime breakdowns.
In September, we unveiled the Mobile Website Team - A combination of current staff and an impressive National Seminar Speaker line-up provides some of the most innovative and educational seminar “break-out” sessions and presentations at trade shows and conventions all across the country.
In October, ADVANCED ACCESS announced that our products, programs and services were designated as an “approved” CRS Quality-Tested Product. By earning this designation we are officially authorized to display the Council’s “Quality-Tested Seal.”
In November, we announced our NEW Client Relationship Management product to serve you better. Also, we reported that our own Jane Ellsworth-Purcell was recognized as being one of the first people to complete the highly regarded certified e-PRO® Trainer designation.
And, to end the year– we announced the release of our NEW ADVANCED ACCESS website. A result of months of planning, design, and implementation by our staff, our AA website has been created with you, our valued client, in mind.

This is just the beginning. We are working on MORE exciting new product enhancements that will be released early this year. We’ll be keeping you updated through this newsletter and our weekly marketing tips, so be on the lookout for additional products and services to be released SOON.

To find out how you can use our new products and features to maximize your Internet Marketing plan, please contact us via e-mail at support@advancedaccess.com or by phone TOLL FREE at 866-518-1571.

NAR Creates REALTOR® Tsunami Relief Project

NAR this week announced the creation of the REALTOR® Tsunami Relief Project to aid the victims of the December 26 earthquake and tsunami that has devastated dozens of countries in Southeast Asia and resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties. The National Association kicked off the relief project with a $50,000 contribution, and asked REALTORS® to contribute to relief for the victims as well.

At ADVANCED ACCESS, we are committed to supporting relief efforts in the Asian countries devastated by the recent earthquake and resulting tsunamis. Through various corporate promotions, we are donating a portion of our sales this month to the Tsunami Relief fund.

For more information about how to donate, please visit the following link:

American Red Cross

New Year’s Resolutions for your Website

ADVANCED ACCESS’ own newly promoted Operations Administrator, Anna Bourland, has written a valuable series of New Year’s Resolutions for your Website. And, we are proud to announce that Anna’s article was accepted by Broker Agent News and was featured last month. Anna’s article was full of helpful tips and fresh new ideas to promote your website this year. Some of the topics include:

Resolution 1 - I will spend TIME on my website
Resolution 2 - I will add VALUABLE content to my website
Resolution 3 - I will take advantage of the FREE programs and instruction available to me
Resolution 4 - I will market my website EVERYWHERE
Resolution 5 - I will incorporate an email marketing solution and contact management program

This month (January) we will be featuring a few of Anna’s resolutions in each of our Weekly Marketing Tips, so be on the lookout for your email each Friday. If you miss any of our weekly marketing tips, you can find them here.

ADVANCED ACCESS Virtual Assistant Network

Have you made it your resolution this year to improve your website? If so, rest assured that help is on the way. We are pleased to announce that we have compiled a list of ADVANCED ACCESS Recommended Virtual Assistants for your review. Each Virtual Assistant on the list has been screened and interviewed by our ADVANCED ACCESS staff to confirm they were experienced in the real estate industry and knowledgeable in our Classic Package^TM 3.0 product. Referrals were forwarded to us by a variety of ADVANCED ACCESS clients, and after an extensive review process conducted with the candidates, the following list of VA's is being presented to you as the official ADVANCED ACCESS Virtual Assistant Network.

Click HERE to view our ADVANCED ACCESS Virtual Assistant Network.

Please note that although we have made every effort to screen each candidate carefully, ADVANCED ACCESS cannot make any guarantees regarding the Virtual Assistants listed above, and cannot be held responsible for the outcome. We recommend that you contact several Virtual Assistants to find the one who “fits” your personality and business style the best. Our goal is to help you make your website the best it can be, and we hope our Virtual Assistant Network will be a valuable resource for you in the process. The Key to Your Success – is Our Service.

ADVANCED ACCESS Acknowledged By
FAR Disaster Relief Fund

ADVANCED ACCESS received a letter of acknowledgement and thanks from Trustee Russell Grooms, of the Florida Association of REALTORS^®Disaster Relief Fund.

The letter of thanks was sent to ADVANCED ACCESS to acknowledge a monetary donation that was sent earlier in the year and was made on behalf of the countless victims that were left homeless or suffered property damage from the four hurricanes that swept through the state of Florida during the past two months.

In the brief letter, Trustee Grooms thanked ADVANCED ACCESS for their thoughtful and heartwarming gesture of support, and stated that he and other REALTORS^® across the country are, “…proud to be part of an organization that so willingly comes to the aid of others in times of need.”

The Florida Association of REALTORS^®, with over 103,838 members, is a member of the ADVANCED ACCESS Affinity Program and is featured as a Strategic Partner on the company’s Website. As a benefit of the Affinity Program, Florida members can take full advantage of a variety of discounts on ADVANCED ACCESS products, programs and services.

AA is an Approved Supplier for RE/MAX International

(Anaheim, CA – January 24, 2005) – ADVANCED ACCESS today announced the signing of a final agreement that will appoint the Anaheim-based company to the RE/MAX International Approved Supplier Program. The formal agreement is the result of a stringent review process by RE/MAX International, Inc., and designates ADVANCED ACCESS, its products, programs, and services, as an “approved supplier” to more than 100,000 RE/MAX professionals in nearly 5,300 independently-owned and operated offices in 53 countries worldwide.

Just as the RE/MAX network has continued to experience growth throughout the last 32-years, the RE/MAX Approved Supplier Program has experienced paralleled growth, becoming one of the largest of its kind in the real estate industry. Similarly, as its client roster has grown since 1998 from only 600 clients to approximately 30,000 customers nationwide in 2004, ADVANCED ACCESS has demonstrated its commitment to superior customer service by providing the latest in technological services and support.

“This is quite an accomplishment for ADVANCED ACCESS, and naturally all of our staff and senior management team members are thrilled and honored to become a member of the RE/MAX Approved Supplier Program,” stated Kristina Davis, Chief Executive Officer for ADVANCED ACCESS. She continued, “…the RE/MAX logo is one of the most respected symbols world-wide in the real estate industry, and for us to become a member of this group is both a privilege and an honor.”

Randy Morse, Vice President for RE/MAX International, Inc., stated, “Being named to the program is not a simple task. The RE/MAX Approved Supplier Program is comprised of the most elite group of vendors in our industry. It is only those suppliers whose products and services represent the pinnacle of professionalism from design and functionality to customer care and loyalty that will be considered. We’re thrilled to include ADVANCED ACCESS among this top-tier of technology vendors. It’s well deserved.”

Meet Vanessa Holguin … our Featured AA Employee

This month we’re featuring Vanessa Holguin, from our Website Follow-up Department. Vanessa has been working with us since June, 2000, beginning as a Customer Support Representative. A natural people person with wonderful phone skills, Vanessa was eventually promoted to the Website Follow-up Group. In her position, Vanessa is responsible for contacting our clients periodically to go over some of the key features of the website, and provide ideas about how to achieve maximum performance and exposure to ensure success.

Vanessa was born in Monterey Park, California and her friends and family call her “Nessa.” She attended school at Pomona Catholic High School and Mt. San Antonio College. Prior to working at ADVANCED ACCESS, Vanessa gained experience in customer service, accounting, real estate closings and showings, and loan processing. Vanessa has been working in the service industry for 14 years.

As part of a large, extended family of REALTORS®, Vanessa’s parents, and her sister and brother are all “in the business.” Vanessa’s family includes one sister, Yvette, and three brothers, Jesse, James and Chris. Vanessa also has two nieces and one nephew.

When she’s not working, Vanessa enjoys traveling and trying new things, motorcycle riding, off-road racing with her younger brother James, whom she considers her true best friend and inspiration in life. Vanessa also enjoys being with her family, reading, running and creative writing. In the future, Vanessa would like to obtain her real estate license and work toward obtaining her Appraisers License so she can stay involved in the industry with her family.

Vanessa has a boyfriend and new best friend, Mike LaLonde, whom she met here at ADVANCED ACCESS in 2000, and began dating seriously last year. Vanessa and Mike just returned from a trip to Kona, Hawaii where they had a grand adventure, touring the island by Jeep, taking a boat out to sea for the day, whale watching, fishing, and riding on wave runners.

Vanessa enjoys her position here at ADVANCED ACCESS, saying “I enjoy helping out the family with their real estate transactions at home, so working here at ADVANCED ACCESS with REALTORS® just comes natural to me. It doesn’t seem like such hard work when you do what you love.” In addition, Vanessa likes her work here, and lists the reasons why. “…The positive environment, our staff, learning at least one new thing every day, and constantly working with and assisting REALTORS® … makes me feel right at home!”

We’re proud to have Vanessa Holguin on the ADVANCED ACCESS team of skilled and enthusiastic professionals.

Our ADVANCED ACCESS Resolution for 2005

Here’s a resolution you can COUNT on….At ADVANCED ACCESS, we resolve to continue to bring you the most innovative products and services for the real estate industry, and to back these products with reliable and efficient customer service. We would like to thank you for your business and support, and we wish you a happy, healthy, successful and productive New Year.

A crucial part of our commitment to your success is our weekly e-mail Marketing Tips, designed to give you ideas on how to make the most of your Internet presence, how to drive more traffic to your website, and provide you with resources to make your website the best it can be.

If you haven’t had time to read your marketing tips each week, start the NEW year right by viewing the previous tips by clicking here! Listed by date and subject for your convenience, these tips are a valuable resource as you plan your marketing strategy for the New Year. Together we can ensure that 2005 is the year of SUCCESS in your Internet Marketing.

December 2004 | Back to Main Page | February 2005