1ParkPlace or Diverse Solutions?

Mark Ryan, Broker, CRS, ABR just recently wrote a great question that is so detrimental to our business. Making decisions that will effect our online presence and ways to reach out to prospective clients using IDX solutions. As he is deciding what IDX platform to use he poses the quesiton below.  I thought I would share my response as I am a huge fan of Diverse Solutions.

If you find yourself in the corner and trying to decide which direction to go, do as Mark did and ask those that are using the products.

I, personally don’t promote spamming up someones comment section (Sorry Mark) and had no intent, but I write with a lot of passion when it comes to Diverse Solutions.  Not only do they provide great features, the consumers can do the following on your own site/s with so much ease!

* Unrestricted access to all properties

* Receive property updates for your searches via Email

* Save your favorite properties * Add your own notes to listings

* Create and save your personal searches

* Keep track of properties you’ve viewed

* Receive updates through a RSS reader

Via Mark Ryan, Broker, CRS, ABR:

WHAT TO DO???

Ok, it looks like they are both good but can anyone give me input after having used both?

How about the good and/or bad of each for the one  you use?

How was the set up if you were the FIRST in your MLS to set up?

What I LOVE about both is the ability for spiders to index the rss feeds… that is WHY I am looking to go with one of them… So, unless there are other IDX providers out there I know I want one of these… IF there are other options WITH the RSS feed and ability for spiders to INDEX the post… please let me know.

Thanks and looking forward to hearing a lot of great feedback!

Here is my response:

Mark - I personally can say many wonderful things about Diverse Solutions!! I, like you searched out several options with 1ParkPlace &; Diverse Solutions and others. After trying many and working with the customer service reps with several of the companies mentioned above, there is no question there is a huge difference in my opinion.

I went with Diverse Solutions for several reasons, the look, the ability to customize and the flexibility of the features was the highest priority.  Obviously I wanted ease of usability for my prospective clients too!

The fact that Diverse Solutions is constantly working to improve it’s product is appealing to me as well. Most recently this week they have rolled out a new update and the newly added features are fantastic.  Staying in the front of the pack in the IDX industry is a high priority with DS and I’ve seen the progress they are making daily. Surely something to keep an eye on!!

You mention RSS Feeds, I use these to death, a great feature you don’t get with most other providers!!  I have them built into my blog pages, I send them out to my buyers, I place them within the body of my emails, posts and various posts within Activerain too!

The modules are awesome and I love the ease of use to pop one into a page. I have my Diverse Solutions Search IDX Page on two sites and pay one price!! I use the links everywhere, in fliers I create and the search results I get are picking up dramatically!

The Admin control panel is so user friendly and helps you keep all your contacts so organized. The Agent Chat is so awesome and it sends vistors comments to my cell phone (SMS) with a text if I’m not at my computer.

The card and newsletter program, email campaigns and all the added features are so amazing. All this in one place is fantastic.. The best part for me is that the support is above and beyond what most companies are willing to offer in the technology field. I am all about Diverse Solutions and if you need any questions answered personally please don’t hesitate to contact me direct …

I know several associates and brokers that use it and I believe I can speak on their behalf, that Diverse Solutions is on the cutting edge and leading the pack for IDX solutions for us Real Estate Professionals!  Best of luck in your decision! (sorry for the lengthy essay here, but I truly am a huge DS Fan)

Candace Robinson (comment response November 13, 2008)

If you have any questions regarding Diverse Solutions and would like some help setting up your blogs, websites or other sites, please don’t hesitate to contact me direct at 480.202.3558 or Candace@AZREBlogs.com

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The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging

Blogging can be easy if you like it. However, blogging nowadays is more of a business than a hobby, so besides liking the subject you write about, you must also consider if your posts will interest other people. And, in order to keep that interest, how many hours will you have to dedicate to your blog each week. Spending time on your blog can be a very serious question that you can only answer.

The following presentation shows you 25 styles of blogging, what each of it means, how hard will it be to make a successful blog with that style, how much effort will you have to put in and what are the results you can potentially reach.

Diverse Solutions Comes to Arizona - ARMLS Tech Fair

For those of you that didn’t make it by the ARMLS Tech Fair on August 21-22 this past week, there is no doubt you missed some fantastic vendors that are moving and shaking in the real estate technology field.

If you haven’t put technology on your ‘to-do’  list to investigate for your real estate business then I’m here to tell you shouldn’t waste anymore time!

I personally am a gadget junkie and anyone that knows me personally will tell you that I love working on the Internet, love trying and testing new gadgets and can always find me on my computer!  I’m all about learning new technology that will help my real estate business. Fry’s Electronics in Tempe is a hot spot of mine along with www.newegg.com!

Jay, Jonathan and I were invited to be guests of Diverse Solutions a vendor that offers the dsSearchAgent IDX solutions for real estate professionals. I have nothing but good reports from my clients that find my Search Phoenix MLS page with the dsSearchAgent mapping system is a breeze to work with and very user friendly.

The added modules and upgrade features available for agents and brokers is pretty slick. If you haven’t take a stroll on Diverse Solutions website, I encourage you to do so! I think once you share this product with your clients, I am confident they won’t be looking anywhere else!

Some of the features you will enjoy are the instant, single page interface so that your visitors spend less time waiting and more time searching.  A complete custom RSS feeds that can be created by you, assistant or your visitor.  You will also find integrated Google Steet View in the property details of every single property (when available).  Built in flash slideshow with the option to view full size photos and not jumping off the page!  Complete color customization so the the IDX solution perfectly matches the colors of your websites.

One of my favorite features is the dsAgentChat® dialog chat boxes so visitors can chat live with you while actually searching the MLS.  If you aren’t near your computer then you get a SMS text message direct to your cell phone and able to text a response immediately!  Isn’t technology fantastic!!

The ARMLS Tech Fair turned out to be a blast hanging with Robert Luna and Corey Kozlowski with Diverse Solutions, Jay and Jonathan.

If you are interested in taking a test drive or want more information visit ARMLS site here.  If you have any questions or thoughts about how the dsSearchAgent IDX works or other features, send me an text/chat request and I will be happy to give you my testimonial personally!

Stumbleupon - Social Media Marketing

One of the topics I hit fairly hard in my talk about Social Media Marketing at the last Arizona Real Estate Bloggers Network Gathering was the use of Stumbleupon as a way to introduce people to your blog who don’t already know about it but are interested in the general topic of your blog content.

As an example, if your blog is about Phoenix Real Estate you would be able to introduce it to people who are interested in Real Estate and to people who are interested in Phoenix or live in or around Phoenix Arizona.

If your blog is about a totally different topic, you would be able to show it to people who have indicated that they are interested in that topic.

To see a list of the topics on Stumbleupon that are currently hot and getting a lot of “air time,” you can visit the hot topics page.  The larger the the size of the phrase, the more active that topic is.  The hot topics list might give you some great ideas to incorporate into your blog posts because it gives you an idea of what most of the people on Stumbleupon are browsing right now or recently.

The Popular Tags List includes Recently Hot Tags as well as Most Popular All Time.  Go get some blogging ideas.  There are plenty of them there.

Thank You

Bill Austin