May 2005 Newsletter
”Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall at last unveil.” - James Allen
ADVANCED ACCESS’ Third Annual Most Impressive Website Contest
Last Year's Most Impressive Website Winner - Larry
Webb
Welcome to the 2005 Most
Impressive Website Contest - our third annual promotion that provides
our valued clients with an opportunity to nominate a website designed and hosted
by ADVANCED ACCESS for a special award. We know many of you
have worked diligently on your website and you deserve to be recognized for your
efforts.
Here's how it works: You may nominate your own
website, or any website hosted by us that you found on the Internet, for one of
the categories listed below. The nomination period will run from May 15, 2005
through June 15, 2005. All nominations will automatically be entered into the
'Most Impressive ADVANCED ACCESS Website' category. Please submit your
nomination into ONE CATEGORY ONLY
(even if you believe your website is the best in multiple categories). You may
submit your nomination here.
Category Selections:
Best Homepage - Also known as “curb appeal.” When you enter the homepage of this site does it WOW you, catch your eye in some way, does it appear colorful and well organized, or is it just plain awesome?
Best Lead Generator - If your website is simply a lead generator for you and you know it, select this option. Please enter some comments that will be displayed on the voting page to let people know why you think your site is the best. (Give us some numbers, tell us how you capture your visitors, etc.) If you see a website that you think is incredibly awesome and does a great job of capturing the users’ information, submit your entry in this category.
Best Use of a Template - Does the site use one of our standard designs, but looks completely revamped? Is the color, style or the navigational buttons and header graphics simply extraordinary?
Best Use of a THEME - In creating a successful website, it's important to define WHO your audience is. When you visit this site, do you find a repetitive theme throughout the pages within? Do you know this site is geared specifically toward a certain market segment such as first time homebuyers or boomers?
Best Use of an AA Feature - Does the site find a unique use for one of the features offered by ADVANCED ACCESS? We consider an AA feature to be any of the sections in the Virtual Office, including slideshows, local partners, favorite links, community links, bulletin board, listings, testimonials, free reports, about page, and more...
Most Original Content – Does the text in this website entice you to explore further within its pages? When you view this website you might be asking yourself, "Who did they hire as a copy writer?"
Most User Friendly - Do find this website to be incredibly well organized, and you know instantly where you need to go to find what you’re looking for?
Submit your nomination in any of the above categories. After the nomination period has ended, the results will be compiled and voting will begin. The winners of our promotion will be announced in the July 2005 ADVANCED ACCESS Newsletter. Good luck to all of the participants, and we look forward to receiving your nominations.
ADVANCED ACCESS Finalizes Agreement With Virginia Association of REALTORS® (VAR)
We are pleased to
announce that we
have reached a final agreement with the Virginia Association of
REALTORS® (VAR). The
Affinity Program
Agreement designates
ADVANCED ACCESS as the preferred
provider of Website services to more than 34,000 VAR members statewide. The Virginia Association of
REALTORS® is currently ranked as the tenth largest State Association
in the country and the agreement now establishes formal strategic partnerships
for ADVANCED ACCESS with a total of seven
State REALTOR® Associations throughout the country.
With
over 34,000 members, the Virginia Association of REALTORS® is the
state's largest individual membership trade association. As a business
advocate, VAR’s main purpose is to help make its members successful through the
services and information they provide.
Their work includes governmental advocacy, risk management, education and
professional development, communication and information, as well as
non-residential services.
Rick DeLuca Joins Buffini & Company
We are delighted to announce that Rick DeLuca, CRB, CRS, GRI, has
joined Buffini &
Company this year to present leadership coaching at Brian Buffini’s Turning Point Retreat.
Rick DeLuca, who also represents ADVANCED
ACCESS products, will present a half-day session to brokers, managers and
trainers on leadership skills, and introduces Brian Buffini’s 100 Days to
Greatness training program.
“This
exciting new program is fundamental to building a winning office culture,
successfully recruiting and retaining agents and being
profitable,” said DeLuca.
One of the most popular speakers in the
Realtor of the Year, Salesman of the Year,
speaker at every national franchise convention and selected as one of the most
popular speakers in North America at NAR conventions, Rick brings his talents to
your market area so you may discover the secrets of implementing technology into
your every day world.
Brian Buffini,
Founder and Chairman of Buffini & Company,
developed and refined a powerful marketing system to become one of the top
Realtors® in the nation. Brian shares his highly acclaimed strategies with you
in a lively, captivating style. Drawing on his own
experiences and time-proven principles, you will be equipped to generate more
business than ever, with less stress and more leisure
time.
Congratulations, Rick, on your new
affiliation!
NAR Takes Initiative to Resolve VOW Policy Dispute
WASHINGTON (May 14,
2005) – The National Association of Realtors® today took the initiative to
resolve an 20-month old dispute with the Department of Justice over its Virtual
Office Web site (VOW) policy by authorizing its leadership to develop a single,
uniform policy governing the display of Multiple Listing Service data on
Internet Web sites. It also postponed the implementation of its existing VOW
policy until
The new policy would blend
elements of the VOW policy and the four-year-old Internet Data Exchange (IDX)
policy. The policies include differing provisions that allow brokers to “opt
out” of allowing the display of their listings on competitors’ Web sites.
Attorneys for NAR and the Justice Department met Wednesday to discuss
the issue and options for reaching a resolution. Today NAR’s 800-member Board of Directors gave the association’s
leadership the power to explore the possibility of developing a unified rule
that will be acceptable to both sides.
NAR leaders stressed that they
continue to believe that the association’s current VOW policy is legal and that
NAR has not conceded its rights to go to court should discussions with the
government fail to result in an acceptable policy. The board passed a resolution
affirming that listing brokers own their listings and content.
“We hope
we can find a common ground with the Justice Department but we want to make it
absolutely clear that we are reserving the right to defend our policy. Today’s
board action demonstrates that we are entering these discussions in good faith,”
said NAR President Al Mansell, CEO of Coldwell Banker
Residential Brokerage in
The NAR
Board of Directors passed its VOW policy in May 2003 after more than a year of
research and debate within the industry. The action was intended to meet a
pressing need at that time for a clearly stated policy governing the display of
content carried by the nation’s 800 Realtor®-owned Multiple Listing Services on
VOWs around the country.
Today IDX displays of
listings are the dominant method by which brokers share their listings with one
another over the Internet. A 2004 survey of MLSs by
NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Technology found about 27
percent of brokers used IDX, up from about 25 percent in 2003. By comparison,
VOWs appear to comprise a much smaller percentage of
the market, according to industry analysts, though exact numbers are hard to
determine because not everyone defines a VOW in the same
way.
Your Search Begins with QuickHomes®
Recently we announced 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.
ADVANCED ACCESS offers two separate IDX choices to our clients; our regular IDX solution, and our new QuickHomes® product. If you don't recall having one of these features, the best way to check is to login to your Virtual Office, click on Property Tools, and if you have IDX or QuickHomes® as a selection then you are indeed signed up.
QuickHomes® and our regular IDX solution are available in designated MLS' throughout the country, and are offered in all areas in which ADVANCED ACCESS hosts the MLS/IDX data. Currently we have quite a backlog of MLS' that we are in the process of downloading. If you don't see your area in the link below, please e-mail us to find out if your MLS has an available FTP feed for download. Downloading each MLS involves several days to a week to load data into our servers, geo-code it with our new Map Search feature, and get it ready for daily updates, so please bear with us as we continue to add more MLS downloads to our list.
Click Here to View ADVANCED ACCESS MLS Service Areas!
For a more detailed discussion about the latest and greatest features available in QuickHomes®, please review our recent Marketing Tips on the subject.
Recognize Memorial Day with Patriotic Banners and Designs
On Memorial Day,
Originally called Decoration
Day, Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to
our nation.
Shown above are a few of the
many beautiful and patriotic banners available in our graphic library to
commemorate the holiday. In addition to
the graphic banners, you can choose between two Classic Package design styles
(examples below) to devote the home page of your website to this holiday of
remembrance.
In your Classic Package, you can make the
changes directly through your Virtual Office.
To view our selection of graphics, go to your Virtual Office and click on
Any of our customer support representatives would be
happy to assist you in adding the Memorial Day banners or website styles to your
site. Simply give us a call TOLL FREE 866-518-1571 or e-mail us at
support@advancedaccess.com.
Featured Employee: Juan Clark
This month we are featuring Juan
Clark from our Sales Department.
Juan joined the ADVANCED
ACCESS family in April 2002, and currently serves as Regional
Sales Director. He previously served as a Direct Sales Manager and as Director
of Call Center Operations. A native of
Juan
attended
His current
duties include the overall coordination of support staff to the Outside Sales
team throughout the
The
oldest of three bothers, Juan’s brother Michael is in the United States Marines
and was one of the first Marines to cross into
Juan enjoys working for ADVANCED
ACCESS because of the family atmosphere, and also because of the
goal-orientated workplace that allows employees to excel in their field of
specialty. His hobbies include his son Aidan, along with acrylic painting and
Latin music. Juan is also an avid boxing fan, and spends much of his free time
with his girlfriend, Erika Gomez.
As Juan says, “My approach to working with either co-workers or clients is the same, two words sum it up:
Integrity – If you can not find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Respect - Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners. - Laurence Sterne”
We are honored to work with Juan Clark on the ADVANCED ACCESS team of dedicated professionals.
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