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2011

As part of the unlimited support and training we provide to all Sequoia platform clients, we’ve recently launched a new online User Guide. This easy-to-read “instruction manual” gives you simple, step-by-step directions on how to use virtually all of the tools and features Sequoia offers.

When you are logged into your Sequoia real estate website, simply navigate to the Admin section (back end) and you will see a User Guide link at the far right of the admin panel navigation menu as before. This now takes you to the updated, expanded Sequoia User Guide.

With concise directions and sharp, full-size visual aids, the new User Guide is designed to help you learn not only how to use all of the great Sequoia real estate features, but to really make the most of them. Sequoia is designed to not only make your job and your life easier, but to help your site achieve higher organic search engine results right out of the gate. The more you know about how the Sequoia suite of tools can empower you, the greater your potential for success.

In the coming weeks, we’re also adding video guides to all of the topics covered in the User Guide. Along with the visual aids already in place to augment the written instructions, we’ll walk you through the process with recorded screencasts of the real estate Sequoia platform in action. Each section will feature a short video of exactly the process described, walking you through the written instructions in real time.

Of course, if you feel like anything is missing, we’d love to hear from you so we can improve the guide. If there is anything you’d like to ask a question about or need more detail to fully understand, please don’t hesitate to call or email us!

How Do We Decide Which New Features to Add to the Sequoia System?

The other day, the owner of 2 real estate offices which use the Sequoia platform asked me if he could send me a list of ideas that he's compiled from his agents. These are features and ideas they have for the sequoia platform. Here was my response:

We want all of your suggestions. Here's how the Sequoia New Feature Selection Process works:

1) As feature requests come in, we put them into a Feature Request Log. We probably get about 2 per day, on average. Often, they come in 10 at a time, as I'm sure you're about to send me.

Sequoia New Feature Building Process

2) Once per quarter, we sit down and look at the Feature Request Log and see how many times each feature has been requested. We also consider whether or not a feature actually adds value or is just some wacky request from a nut who's paying us (we have more than a handful of those).

3) We also consider whether or not the feature fits into the mission and direction of the product. For example, if someone wanted us to make an automatic newspaper ad generator, it would be unlikely that we'd build it. We don't believe that making it easier to waste money is going to help any of our real estate clients.

4) Lastly, we consider how much work it will take for a feature to be implemented. Small features, even if they'll add limited value, might get done just because they're low-hanging fruit while features that require 150 hours of our time might need to be scheduled further into the future.

5) Then, we order feature requests based on all this evidence and go to work. Depending on how busy we are and which features we choose to take on, we might get to a feature during that quarter or we might not. Then, 90 days or so later, we look at the list again, add any new requests and go through the process again.

It's through this process that our system evolves, largely informed by client input.

It's important to note that when more clients request a new Sequoia real estate website feature, we're more likely to implement that feature. Some ideas are good, but require a lot of work and maybe only 1 client has ever made that request. So, they wind up at the bottom of the list every time we review it. After more then 6 or 12 months and no more requests, we simply remove a feature from the road map.

New Sequoia Feature Launches: 3/7/2011

While the Sequoia real estate website platform already has the best real estate website features available, read up on the latest in Sequoia feature upgrades for your real estate website!

1) MLS rental listings now show in rentals searches. Our RentJuice clients can now show off rental listings from their MLS in rentals searches! Thanks to recent upgrades to the RentJuice API, Sequoia sites with this component enabled will now show users any MLS rentals that match their search criteria in rentals searches. This can be turned on or off at your discretion in your Settings section.

3) Featured Properties Page Company Listings. You can now choose whether your company’s listings automatically show on your Featured Properties page. Controllable in the Settings section of your Sequoia realtor web design, you can now opt to have all of your listings automatically show up here when listed, or not – for those of you who wish to hand-pick only the best listings to feature!

4) XpressDocs Single-Token Login Tool Integration. For those of you who use XpressDocs for your print advertising needs, we’ve integrated their single-token login tool to the back end of your Sequoia realty web design. Simply enter your XpressDocs account info into your Settings section and your brokers and agents will have access to an XpressDocs login button on their Dashboards, allowing them to access this web-based tool without needing to log in twice!

Not a Sequoia client yet, but like what you see? Contact us to get started on your own real estate website design today, and to have access to all the features above and much more!

Sequoia Site Launch: Tory Row Real Estate, 12/21/2010

Tory Row Real Estate came to Boston Logic looking for an upgrade. They added themselves to the long list of real estate firms who have taken advantage of our Modified Theme realty web design package for the Sequoia platform.

Starting with one of our standard property web design themes, our team worked with Tory Row Real Estate through several rounds of revision to get them the site they wanted. The result, with minimal investment, Tory Row now has a uniquely branded real estate website.

The new Tory Row Real Estate site is clean and modern, and gives users easy access to the many tools that make the Sequoia platform the best in the industry.

By far our most popular design package, the Modified Theme lets you alter one of our standard themes through several rounds of revision. Home page layout, color schemes, global elements such as headers and footers, and many more elements that can be changed to suit your needs and brand identity.

Contact a member of the Boston Logic sales team today at 617-266-9166 to learn more about this great way to make your new Sequoia site unique and targeted at your specific audience.

Tory Row Real Estate is a leader in Cambridge apartment rentals, with a further specialization in apartment and home rentals in the surrounding areas of Arlington and Somerville.

Holiday Special Offer: Sequoia Agent Websites for $50/month! 12/6/2010

real estate agent websites

Special Holiday Offer for Real Estate Agents

For a limited time, Boston Logic is offering Sequoia Agent Sites for just $50 per month! Agent Sites consistently produce leads, traffic, and search engine ranking - now at half off the regular price. Don't delay - get the competitive advantage of a Sequoia Agent Site before this great offer expires!

Regular Price: $100 / month

YOUR PRICE: Only $50/month if you sign up before the end of 2010!

Do the math - You save $600!

The best part? We're constantly improving and upgrading the Sequioa platform. Your website will receive these upgrades automatically for FREE, so your personal website will always have the latest features and be using the best technology in the industry. It's like leasing a car that never gets old!

This offer expires January 1st, 2011.

Contact Boston Logic to get started today!

New Realtor Web Site Design Launch! Sherrygrancey.com: 8/12/2010

Sherry Grancey wanted to employ one of our expertly designed, ready to deploy themes, but she had a unique problem.

Sherry is a Gibson Sotheby's agent, and Sotheby's has strict rules about how their brand can be represented on the web and in print. In order to get Sherry the site she wanted and also comply with Sotheby's regulations, we changed fonts, colors, and logo positioning on the template Sherry knew she wanted to use.

Compliance with brand identity standards is a necessity for many agents, and Sequoia's real estate website designers are ready and able to make sure the custom real estate website design theme you want will comply. If your agency requires certain fonts, colors, or logo placement, we will be happy to incorporate them into the theme of your choice. Of course, we will also work with you to choose a theme that will respond as well as possible to the changes - Sherry Grancey's Theme looks right at home with Sotheby's corporate colors and fonts.

The following quote is a testimonial from Sherry:

"Boston Logic was immensely patient and hands on in helping me with my new website. I was skeptical due to a previous bad experience with a real estate website designer, but Boston Logic's staff listened to my concerns, answered my questions and provided the training I needed for someone like me who is clueless regarding web technology. I would recommend them highly."

Sherry Grancey is an agent with Gibson Sotheby's International Realty. She specializes in distinctive city and waterfront properties in Boston and Charlestown.

Town Pages Improve Your SEO & User Experience

If you’ve started reading any of the blogs here or at RealEstateSEO1.com or BostonLogic.com, then you know that for a successful SEO campaign, unique high quality (and keyword-rich) content is king! But how do you add that type of valuable content to your real estate website?

LEVERAGE WHAT YOUR ALREADY KNOW:

One of the easiest ways to leverage your expertise in the real estate industry - and provide your real estate agent website design with keyword-rich content that is useful to search engines and visitors alike - is by adding Town Pages. Town Pages are pages with a paragraph or so you create with helpful information about an area, and dynamic search results you control by setting criteria when building the page. If your offices' websites for realtors currently does not include town pages, you can upgrade your website to include town pages for only $20 per month!

The information on these pages can be what you would tell someone looking for a new home in the area in question; you can talk about the demographics of the area, the great amenities, the architecture, the public transportation, etc. Basically anything you think clients would find useful or interesting. In addition, information on properties in the area such as average price, number of properties on market, and more is automatically added to the page.

HOW TO CREATE A TOWN PAGE IN THE SEQUOIA SYSTEM:

1. Log into your website. Click on the 'CMS' (Content Management System) Tab.

2. Select the 'Pages' text link from the sub-navigation menu.

3. From the 'Pages' menu, click on the 'Create New' button with the green plus sign icon. Then fill out the form in the 'Create Page' pop-up window that appears.

4. Fill in the Town Page information:

a. Name: This is your internal reference for the page- visitors won't see it. We recommend including the words 'Town Page' at the end so they are easy to find in the Pages Menu.

b. Path: This is the URL your clients will see in their navigation bar and it is also used by Search Engines to help rank your site. Make sure you use a keyword you want to rank for ('Fenway Apartments', in the example above).

c. Redirect URL: Leave this blank for your Town Pages unless you want to redirect your visitors to a different page on your site.

5. Page Content:

a. Page Header: This is the headline of your page that visitors will see when they land on this page. Make sure it is relevant, and utilizes one or more of your keywords.

b. Body Content: This is where you enter that paragraph of useful text you created. If you are pasting your text from a Word Document or Text Pad/ Notebook program, make sure to use the appropriate pasting option from the tool bar. You can edit the text within this box much like a Word Document, changing text with Bold or italic styles, adding hyperlinks, etc. using the icons in the tool bar.

6. Meta Data: This section is where you enter your SEO Title, Description, and Keywords as covered in our earlier email about Optimizing Your Pages. Remember to make sure your Title and Description are readable to a viewer and not a rambling list of Keywords.

7. Don’t worry about the ‘Footer Content’ or ‘Who Can See This Page’ for this lesson. The default settings are fine.

8. Hit the 'Create' Button when you are finished!

9. Your new Town Page will now appear on your 'Pages' list. Ta-Da! Congrats! You've just created your first Town Page!

You can now link to this page, using the URL you created, from blog posts or other pages that mention the neighborhood. The more relevant internal links your site has, the better for SEO and user experience. For example, if you mention something about Fenway Condos for Sale in your Fenway Apartments Town Page, make the words 'Fenway Condos' a hyperlink to a Town Page about Fenway Condos for Sale. If you talk about the Fenway's proximity to another neighborhood, link to that Town Page, too! Your potential client might not be sold on the Fenway area and you can keep them looking on your site longer by providing them with helpful links to other information they might find useful. To automatically boost SEO for your site, be sure to ink each of your Town Pages to dynamic (c0nstantly updating) Property Search results!

LINKING YOUR TOWN PAGE TO DYNAMIC CONTENT:

By linking your Town Pages to a Sales or Rental Property Search for that area, you will create a page with not only great text for visitors and search engines, but also a page with constantly updating information, which is great for SEO! We recommend making a Town Page for every area you want to increase your Sales or Rental activity in, to help improve your real estate online marketing campaign.

1. From the 'CMS' Tab, select the 'Town Pages' link from the sub-navigation bar.

2. Click the blue link for a 'New Town Page' from within the Town SEO Pages Menu.

3. The 'New Town Page' popup window will appear. Select the Town Page you just created from the 'CMS Page' dropdown menu.

4. Select the 'Search Type' you want associated with this page (Sales or Rentals).

5. Then select the search parameters for the listings you wish to show to visitors on this page, such as price range and the location (Fenway in this example). Be sure not to leave the price range blank or it will cause errors on your page or lead visitors to believe there are no listings available in this area.

6. Click the 'Create Page' button at the bottom of the screen once you've entered all your information.

Your new Town Page now appears in your Town Pages menu under the 'CMS' Tab and is linked to a relevant search to keep your page constantly refreshed with new information and no more effort on your part!

You're ALMOST DONE! Now you just have to make it so visitors can find your new page without knowing the URL through real estate website marketing. The best way to optimize your new Town Pages is to create a link to it that can be clicked on from any page of your website. This will ensure that users and search engines can find it!

MAKING YOUR TOWN PAGE EASY TO FIND:

Did you know that search engines cannot see information in forms, such as the drop down menus used in your property searches? In fact, search engines often only 'crawl' within 3 clicks of your website's Home Page. Search engines and users alike will find it easier to navigate to your Town Page if it is prominently displayed.

The ‘Town Page Footer Navigation Menu’ feature of the Sequoia system offers a great solution to this SEO dilemma, allowing you to create a text link (which search engines DO see) on the bottom of every page of your site (including your Home Page) using the keywords you chose when creating your Town Page. Adding each Town Page to this menu will increase real estate internet marketing presence, SEO, and promote ease of use for your customers.

1. From your ‘CMS’ Tab, select the ‘Menus’ link from the Sub Navigation Bar.

2. Select the link ‘Menu Items’ from the ‘Town Pages’ row on the Menus List.

3. In the ‘Menu Items for Town Pages’ drop down that appears, click the ‘Create New’ button.

4. Creating Your Footer Link:

a. Menu Text: This is the text that will appear at the bottom of your pages as a hyperlink to your new Town Page. Make sure the Menu Text you create is one of your keywords, so, in our example, the Footer link would say ‘Fenway Apartments’.

b. Page: This is where you select the page you want this link to go to. This is why we find it helpful to include the words ‘Town Page’ in the name of the Town Pages you create.

c. External Link: Only use this if you want to create a Footer Navigation Link to a page outside of your website, such as to an affiliated site, instead of an internal link.

d. Click the ‘Create’ button.

You're DONE! Your new Town Page now appears in the ‘Town Page Footer Navigation’ Menu, and in the footer of your website.

Once you create multiple Town Pages, you can change the order in which they appear in the footer navigation by click and dragging the menu item up or down by the green arrows icon to the right on this screen. Below is an example of what a hyperlink for your new Town Page will look like in your Home Page footer.

Now all the valuable content your wrote for your users and search engines is just 1 click from your Home Page, helping you begin to rank higher in organic search engine results for the keywords you are targeting!

Boston Logic offers various SEO and Social Media Services if you’d rather focus on your clients instead of your website! Feel free to contact me with any questions or for more information about our services!

Agent Websites Now Available on the Sequoia Platform! 7/16/2010

For Boston Logic's Agent Sites, we employ the same industry leading technology as found behind our broker web design office sites - in addition to enhance personal real estate online marketing features.

Until now, Boston Logic did not offer a cost-effective solution for Real Estate agents who wanted to have their own personally branded, custom real estate website. Well, so many individual agents asked us to create such a product, that we couldn't say no any longer!

Like our sites for Real Estate Offices, Agent Sites are designed to help you rank in the search engines, leverage social media, produce more traffic, and convert more of that traffic into leads. The difference is ownership - Agent Sites not only work seamlessly with the LogicLeads system of your company's Sequoia site, they can generate their own unique leads which go directly to the agent who owns the site. Aggregating leads from your Agent Site and your office's Sequoia site will increase the amount of business going directly to you.

Of course, Agent Sites have all New Sequoia Features of the best-in-class features that make Sequoia the leading platform in Real Estate agent website design: branded site designs with an unlimited number of pages, advanced lead management, unlimited editable lead capture forms, MLS property search with Google maps, extensive interactive user tools, rental search, and much, much more.

Our websites for Realtors offices consistently produce leads, traffic, and search engine ranking. Positioned at the cutting edge of online marketing and technology, Sequoia sites support next generation marketing campaigns, work seamlessly with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and give offices the edge over their competition. Now individual agents can tap into the power of the best software platform in the industry - by using Sequoia Agent Sites.

Explore the power of your personal brand and the unlimited lead generation potential the web has to offer. To find out more about Agent Sites and the Sequoia platform: web design for realtors, contact Boston Logic today.

New Features in Sequoia Now Live: 6/10/2010

The always-innovating developers at Boston Logic have released four major features now available for Sequoia real estate websites. Check out what's new in web design for realtors, and be sure to contact us on how you can get started on your own custom real estate website and real estate online marketing campaign today!

1. You can now set the default rate that appears in the Mortgage Calculator property tool in your Settings tab. This is the number that shows up when the tool is opened - but as always, you can type in a different number at any time. To access, go under the "Search Options / Sales" section, and is called "Default Mortgage Rate".

2. We've added the ability to indicate whether a Town Page should return only Bank Owned or Foreclosed properties. This is true of the back end searches available to agents and brokers only. When you set up a Town Page thusly, the only results you will see are bank-owned (foreclosed) properties.

3. The Contact and Agent, Schedule a Showing, and Email a Friend property tools are all linked to the listing agent. Rather than letting customers choose a preferred agent as in the past, the system now automatically associates any use of these tools with the listing agent if the agent is a user on the site. That means that any agent with a user profile on the site will get leads sent directly to them. If the property was not listed by an agent with a user profile, as in an agent of another firm, the leads will go to Unassigned.

4. If your MLS requires lead email verification (currently the only one we work with is Cape Cod and Islands MLS) you will now have an Unverified Leads subnav item under your Lead Management tab. This lets you view any customers who used the site but did not verify their account in order to view full property details.

Major upgrades to the Sequoia platform released: 6/4/2010

We’ve been hard at work keeping Sequoia sites head and shoulders above the competition. We recently released a round of system upgrades that improve the performance, user experience, and functionality of the Sequoia platform. Among many others, here are a few of the highlights for your custom real estate website:

• Multiple MLS search capability. Now we can display listings from more than one MLS in the same search results view, so brokers and agents who belong to more than one MLS can give their leads access to more properties than ever before.

• The ability to choose which property types are available for public search. Now Sequoia customers can control, through their Settings tab, which property types are searchable, on a per-MLS basis. Don’t want your users searching for commercial listings? Only want multi-family houses on your site? You can choose any or all property types.

• The ability to choose which towns appear on public search forms. Also on the Settings tab, you can now select as few or as many towns as you like from the list provided by your MLS, so you can broaden or focus the area your site represents at will.

• Faster search! We’ve upgraded the technology behind our property tools to greatly increase their speed.

• Multiple sets of search criteria for Daily Email Updates. Both users and agents can set up multiple searches to return results through Daily Email Updates. This lets users refine their results even further, showing them only the most relevant properties for their needs.

• Agents’ own listings can now be displayed on their Agent Details pages! Agents can now choose to have their bio include their exclusive listings.

• Direct-mail friendly lead export. Agents can now export their leads’ names, email, phone number, and address – handy if you want to send postcards or other direct mail pieces.

• Companies can now have multiple offices! Sequoia clients can now enter multiple offices and associate agents with each specific office. Offices can also display any exclusive properties listed by the agents in that office. All office locations can have a full profile and are displayed on a map, just like searched properties.

• Dynamic forms! Our newest optional feature, Dynamic Forms lets you create customizable forms for your users to fill out. From simple lead capture forms and requests for information to full questionnaires and more, you can build your own forms with checkboxes, radio buttons, required fields, file uploads, calendar selections, and much more! You can view all form submissions on the admin panel of your Sequoia site. Contact us to learn more.

New Sequoia Platform User Guide! 5/11/2011

Related Links:

How Do We Decide Which New Features to Add to the Sequoia System?

Related Links:

New Sequoia Feature Launches: 3/7/2011

Related Links:

Sequoia Site Launch: Tory Row Real Estate, 12/21/2010

Related Links:

Holiday Special Offer: Sequoia Agent Websites for $50/month! 12/6/2010

Related Links:

New Realtor Web Site Design Launch! Sherrygrancey.com: 8/12/2010

Related Links:

Town Pages Improve Your SEO & User Experience

LEVERAGE WHAT YOUR ALREADY KNOW:

HOW TO CREATE A TOWN PAGE IN THE SEQUOIA SYSTEM:

LINKING YOUR TOWN PAGE TO DYNAMIC CONTENT:

MAKING YOUR TOWN PAGE EASY TO FIND:

Related Links:

Agent Websites Now Available on the Sequoia Platform! 7/16/2010

Related Links:

New Features in Sequoia Now Live: 6/10/2010

Related Links:

Major upgrades to the Sequoia platform released: 6/4/2010

Related Links:

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