March 2005 Newsletter

"Learn to listen.  Opportunity could be knocking at your door very softly."
- Frank Tyger

Major FREE Upgrade to HomeFINDER, now known as
QuickHomes® Released this Month

ADVANCED ACCESS is proud to announce the release of a major upgrade to our popular MLS search program.   This upgrade is SO BIG that we gave the program previously known as HomeFINDER a brand new name. QuickHomes® is the result of months of programming and design hours and features loads of new product enhancements that will save time and provide advanced features for you and your clients.

Some of the significant enhancements to the QuickHomes® program include:

• Gain valuable leads by encouraging visitors to sign-up and receive email updates of their search criteria, with guest books, flash contact forms, and other lead generation tools.  Your Website will not only attract visitors, but will now generate leads that you can automatically send directly to Intellicards™ and begin one of your promotional campaigns, just by selecting a single preference. 
   

• NEW and improved Search features for the consumer, including searches by MAP and by WIZARD, in addition to an enhanced 'Search by Price or Feature' page. 
   

• The MAP Search feature allows the consumer to quickly and easily 'draw a box' around a specific geographic area and perform property searches within that area.  With Map Search, it is now possible to search on a specific area "within" a city, instead of searching the entire city.  Visitors can highlight the area they are interested in and see how many properties are listed, where they are listed, and what points of interest are located nearby. 
   

• The SearchWizard feature takes consumers through the search for property 'step by step,' making it easier for them to target the homes they want QUICKLY!  With new SearchWizard, you will not only be able to serve your clients the results they are looking for, you'll get the feedback that you need to stay ahead of the competition.  Track every visitor that comes to your Website, their searches, the properties they viewed, and even the properties they saved as favorites.  With SearchWizard, you receive more details about prospect searches, and greater control over total prospect management.     
   

• Consumers can choose their own display of search results by Text List, Small Preview or Large Preview
   

• Fabulous Slide show of Property photos, or the consumer may click on the photo they would like to see and it will be featured on the listing results.
   

• Enhanced Agent Branding features are built into the new system, including multiple phone numbers and PHOTOS. 
   

• Your prospects can mark their FAVORITES quickly and easily and save them for future reference.
   

•  Consumers have the ability to SAVE their search criteria for quick access and future use. 
     

• QuickHomes® Preferences allow you to customize the look and feel of your QuickHomes® product to match the colors of your Website.  You can also add-on personal information such as your photo, company logo, and contact information to be featured on EVERY page.  Format up to four Featured Properties to appear at the top or bottom of every page.  Customize your Map Search starting point to the area located around your office.  Set your default options to enhance your user experience, and finally, customize QuickHomes® automatic e-mails that go out to your prospective client with your personal message!

With more searching power, better feedback, the ability to gain valuable leads, freedom to customize, and much, much more, QuickHomes® is the latest Web application of services that ADVANCED ACCESS has developed to improve and increase your presence on the Internet.  Replacing the former version called HomeFINDER, QuickHomes® will provide a number of additional upgrades and improvements that you will come to appreciate and utilize as a great lead generator for those visitors who land on your site.  More choices, more control, more customizing and more leads...all at your fingertips...as QUICKLY as you can... QuickHomes®, another innovation brought to you by the staff at ADVANCED ACCESS.  

Who qualifies for the FREE QuickHomes® upgrade?  Anyone who currently owns our HomeFINDER product will receive this free upgrade automatically!  You will be notified by email as soon as your upgrade has been added to your website. 

If you don't have HomeFINDER, what does our FREE upgrade mean for you?  If you are using MLS data stored at ADVANCED ACCESS for your MLS IDX searches, your upgrade will automatically be added to your website.  Even if you don't have the HomeFINDER program, consumers will have the benefit of the enhanced searches now available in the program, including Search Wizard and Map Search.   If you are currently using an outside source for your MLS IDX searches, everything will remain the same. 

QuickHomes® is available in designated MLS' throughout the country, and is offered in all areas in which ADVANCED ACCESS hosts the MLS/IDX data.

Click Here to View ADVANCED ACCESS MLS Service Areas!

With a retail price of $399.95 per year (or $39.95/month), as a valued ADVANCED ACCESS customer, your price for QuickHomes® is ONLY $299.95 per year (or $29.95/month)!

If you have any questions about QuickHomes®, contact our SALES staff TOLL FREE at 1-800-335-1563!

We wish you the best of success with the QuickHomes^TM FREE upgrade.  As always, we appreciate your business and support, and welcome your feedback on the product. 

Give Your Website Some Springtime Sparkle

Spring arrives this year on March 20, 2005.   The first day of Spring, also known as the Vernal Equinox, is one of the four major seasonal changes every year. This is a time where the number of hours in the day and night are equal, and the changing weather can lift the spirits of all of us.  Spring marks a time of renewal, both in nature and in our homes.  

If you think your website is looking a bit dreary, why not brighten it up just in time for the Spring season?  New styles are being added regularly so you can change the look of your website.  And the good news is....it's easier than ever!

Our "Flex Design" Classic Package 3.0 makes it SIMPLE to give your website a brand new look.  Choose from a comprehensive selection of world class designs.  You will find our latest designs in your Virtual Office in the Design Center.  To locate our most recent styles you can view some of the choices under the "Latest Additions," or the "New" categories. 

Pictured above are a few of our NEWER  designs.   We offer LOTS more attractive styles for you to choose from to change the look of your website.  And, with our Classic Package 3.0, you have more power and versatility in choosing your own graphics, colors, text and fonts for a truly custom presentation. 

Check your virtual office to view the selections available for many of the holidays, seasons and events that occur throughout the year. 

Looking for some new business?  Send out a Holiday or Seasonal IntelliC@rd™ to one or more of your address books!  We offer COLORFUL and GRAPHIC  Intellicards™ that you can send to your clients and prospects to welcome the new season, to remind someone of Daylight Savings Time, or for St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Passover, or any of the upcoming holidays.  Sending holiday or seasonal e-mail greetings to your clients and prospects will keep your name fresh in your prospects' minds and will give them a reason to return to your website.

For additional information about the Classic Package^TM  3.0 website or Intellicards™ e-mail marketing system, please visit our website or call us toll free at 866-518-1571.

ADVANCED ACCESS Named Recommended
Vendor By InternetCrusade

InternetCrusade^® -- an industry leader in electronic publishing, e-Mail solutions, web hosting and training - has named ADVANCED ACCESS as one of its recommended vendors for website development to its 60,000 plus customers and clients.

"Advanced Access is a firm with a long track record of providing real estate professionals with innovative design, excellent service and Websites that provide value to their customers," said Saul Klein, President of InternetCrusade. "Over the past several years, many members of our online communities have reported excellent results with ADVANCED ACCESS web sites. We have personally spent a great deal of time researching a number of Web design companies over the last few years and found that ADVANCED ACCESS consistently excels in overall customer satisfaction." 

InternetCrusade is a San Diego-based company that was founded in 1995. The firm is the exclusive provider of the REALTOR e-PRO^® certification course and a member of the National Association of REALTORS^® (NAR) VIP Alliance Program. InternetCrusade's principals have more than 100 years of combined real estate industry experience.

"ADVANCED ACCESS is proud and honored to be considered one of InternetCrusade's recommended vendors," said Kristina Davis, CEO of ADVANCED ACCESS.  "We have known 'The Crusaders" - Saul, Mike and John- for many years - and we have long admired their high-quality products and their commitment to providing the finest in technology education for the real estate industry." 

The exclusive REALTOR e-PRO^® certification course is NAR's only technology certification program and is presented entirely online and certifies real estate agents and brokers as Internet professionals. Because of its innovative design, students are able to complete the course at their own pace, when and where they want, via any Internet connection. The course is designed to help REALTORS^® stay at the leading edge of technology and identify, evaluate and implement new Internet business models.

InternetCrusade is also the provider of the Certified e-PRO Trainer program. Trainers must meet rigorous requirements that demonstrate expertise, knowledge and skills in four main areas: Training expertise, e-PRO^® program expertise, real estate industry expertise, and technology expertise.

For additional information about the Certified e-PRO Trainer program, please visit Internet Crusade's website, or click here.

A Day in the Life of AA's Network Engineers
"Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Hackers"

At ADVANCED ACCESS, we are committed to protecting our clients' security with state-of-the-art systems to host your websites.  Our Information Technology Department plays a vital role in understanding how changing technology needs to evolve to meet changing business needs.

Some days this is more challenging than others.  Our Network Engineers must occasionally play the roles of security guards...protecting our customers against attackers who try to create havoc in a hosting organization.

As the internet grows so does the user base.  In turn, there will always be the 10% who try their hand at hacking.  Hacking is defined as to use one's skill in computer programming to gain illegal or unauthorized access to a file or network. The most common forms of hacking are brute force attacks where the user gains entry to a terminal through the internet and forces a logon using password lists. Password lists contain a string of common passwords such as admin, administrator, password, 12345qwerty, etc.  This is a time consuming procedure for the hacker.

ADVANCED ACCESS has a Cisco PIX firewall that doesn't allow that type of hacker "traffic."  Traffic can be described in layman's terms as a freeway.  This freeway does not accept everyone and the cars must hold valid licenses. This means that we are secure from "script kiddies" and hackers.  The critical Cisco PIX is the most targeted aspect of any true hacker.  They will want to gain access to the PIX in order to send unwanted traffic through our network so that they can gain access to terminals and servers.  If a hacker can control the PIX they can control what is allowed into the network.  The PIX is extremely hard to hack and uses strong passwords which are nearly impossible to break.  It would take a brute force attack tens of years to come up with the correct password unless an exploit is used.  At this time there are no known exploits for the PIX.  

On the whole ADVANCED ACCESS is very secure and continues to grow in various techniques to thwart would-be hackers.  Some of the ways we do this is by breaking the AA network infrastructure into several domains such as Core and Advanced.  We also use strong passwords that utilize characters, symbols, and numbers.  We secure our server room from unauthorized access. We also ensure that users only have access to what they actually need.  This would also explain why IT personnel are hush about the infrastructure and always seem to ask their colleagues, "Why do you need that?"

ADVANCED ACCESS is subject to occasional attacks, but not by a hacker.  We are on occasion attacked by an individual with a program also known as Warez.  The offender sends search requests to our servers at about 10k/second.  At the time of the attack they hop from IP to IP to 'mask" their location.  This makes it more difficult to stop such attacks.  As new IP's pop up we ban them so that they cannot pass-through the PIX.  Our Server Engineers consider these types of attacks as simply an annoyance.  The attacks don't accomplish much other than slow things down a bit until we reset their connection.

An interesting note:  The largest hacker consortium comes from Brazil because they have no hacking laws.  Real hackers don't care about Realty sites. A real hacker wants your personal credit/bank numbers. ADVANCED ACCESS is among 3 million other businesses and the chances of being attacked by a hacker are slim.  95% of all hacks are due to poor passwords and most are inside jobs! 

Our Server Engineers are committed to protecting us all from attacks on the server network that hosts your website.  If you have any questions or need more information, call us TOLL FREE at 1-866-518-1571.  We appreciate your business and support. 

Spring Convention & Trade Show Schedule Announced

Our Sales Department is active these days, as the team travels across the country for franchise and association conventions this season.  You are cordially invited to stop by and say hello to our staff when they visit your part of the country during any of the upcoming Trade Shows and Conventions. The following appearances have been scheduled (as you can see, our sales staff is going to be BUSY!)  For more information or an updated schedule, call us TOLL FREE at 888-902-4653 ext. 1008, or send an email to Maria Valderrama at mvalderrama@advancedaccess.com.

We are looking forward to seeing you at any of the events listed below.  Be sure to stop by and say hello - we always enjoy talking to our clients across the country.  And, if you bring a friend or colleague who may be interested in purchasing a website, we have a special gift for you. 

Jane Ellsworth, Sr. Vice President of ADVANCED ACCESS and in charge of the outside sales team, said "...this spring we're busier than ever, with more affinity partnerships being announced on a regular basis.  Our staff is gearing up for a demanding schedule with appearances at shows and expos that we have scheduled throughout the country."   She continued, "...we are excited about these events and demonstrating our newly upgraded product-line, and always enjoy visiting with our clients."

We're looking forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming conventions.

Time to Spring Forward on April 3^th

Daylight Saving Time begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April.  This year, we must remember to set our clocks forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3.

ADVANCED ACCESS offers colorful Intellicards™ to notify your clients and prospects about Daylight Savings Time.  Below are a few examples of our colorful and graphic e-cards.  Why not send one out to your address book today!

Featured Employee of the Month:  Jerry Smith

This month we're featuring Jerry Smith from our Design Department.  Jerry has been on board with ADVANCED ACCESS for five years, having just celebrated his anniversary with the company in February.  Jerry is responsible for many of the graphics you admire in our websites and email pieces, our advertisements, and our logos.  In fact - the new QuickHomes^TM logo was Jerry's design.  We are constantly impressed with Jerry's creativity and talent. 

Jerry was born in Kennett Missouri, and he attended Carthage Senior High School, graduating in 1981.  After he graduated, Jerry studied Commercial Art and Graphic Design at Arkansas State University, where he excelled in his work.

In 1983, Jerry came out to California where he was on active duty at El Toro Marine Base until 1991.  During his tenure in the military Jerry took design courses at the University of California in Irvine. 

After he left the Marines, Jerry worked at Continental Airlines and McDonnell Douglas/Boeing Aircraft in Long Beach as an aircraft mechanic for 10 years before joining with Advanced Access in February of 2000.

Jerry has been married for 20 years to his wife, Renee.  Jerry and Renee have two children - Melanie is 15 and Ryan is 5.  Renee is an administrator with the Los Angeles Unified School District, after having worked as a teacher for 21 years.  Jerry enjoys the time he spends with his wife and kids, which doesn't leave too much time for hobbies.  However, with his artistic nature, Jerry does enjoy oil painting and surfing the net whenever he has some free time.

Jerry enjoys his job at ADVANCED ACCESS, saying "I feel there are great things happening in this company and I'm proud to be a part of it."

We can always count on Jerry for delivering a quality design product.  People like Jerry Smith really make a difference, and we are so proud to count him as a part of our ADVANCED ACCESS team.

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