Archive for the ‘michaelsaunders.com’ Category
Posted by Beth Ward on August 25, 2010
Michaelsaunders.com now features rich neighborhood profiles, community videos, local real estate market data and improved property search functionality
SARASOTA, Florida—(August 17, 2010)—Michael Saunders & Company, the leading real estate company on Florida’s Gulf Coast, announces the premier of its new web site, michaelsaunders.com. The distinctive new site combines consumer-centric design and ease of usage with the compelling neighborhood content, market data and advanced property search capabilities that buyers and sellers need to make important decisions impacting their real estate goals. The new site is now live at michaelsaunders.com.
“When we opened our first office 34 years ago, we did so with the commitment to deliver an outstanding real estate experience to every customer who passed through our front door,” said Michael Saunders, company founder and CEO from her headquarters in downtown Sarasota. “Times have definitely changed; with today’s “front door” very often being the home page of our web site. The new site renews our commitment to an exceptional experience no matter which portal a customer comes through.” (more…)
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Posted by Michael Saunders & Company on August 18, 2010
Yesterday michaelsaunders.com was re-born after more than 14 months of intense labor. Needless-to-say, re-developing the site was a labor of love involving not only our technology, marketing and management teams, but also the most nationally prominent interactive communications and web design agency in the real estate industry. More importantly, it involved significant input from our clients, customers, and agents.
For the fifth time since it debuted 15 years ago michaelsaunders.com has been completely made over to provide users with an online real estate experience more befitting of today’s vastly improved web technology. Combining up-to-the-minute market conditions by city with a simpler, more advanced property search function, the site has been extensively tested by many of the industry’s leading experts—with additional improvements the direct result of their participation.
In the end, however, it was the input of home buyers and sellers—along with our own agents—that mattered most. These will be the site’s most frequent end-users—and its toughest critics. So far, we’ve received raves about its wealth of relevant content and user-friendly design.
Specifically, here are the three major features that users find most relevant:
- A simple, straightforward search function that includes property information delivered directly from the MLS—including big bold photography.
- Up-to-the-minute market reports—compiled by Altos Research—a company that pulls statistical data from a variety of sources, including city property records, to deliver local market conditions for incorporated cities. While traditional data sources still rely on months-old or incomplete data, we now provide visitors to michaelsaunders.com with a clear, concise view of current market conditions.
- Neighborhood pages filled with content to help facilitate important real estate decisions. These pages combine real estate listings with High Definition community video tours, local business reviews, a library of area photos; and much more.
Obviously the best way to find out about michaelsaunders.com is not by reading about it; but by visiting the site yourself and sampling its features. As always, we welcome your comments, criticism and suggestions for improvement. It took a lot of hard work to re-birth this “baby” and we want to make sure its just right.
Email us your comments at editor@michaelsaunders.com.
Posted by Michael Saunders & Company on August 17, 2010
It’s with great excitement that we announce the all new michaelsaunders.com, an entirely updated version of the web site we first introduced in 1995. The new site was launched earlier today and you are cordially invited to be one if its first visitors.
Three major new features make this newest version of michaelsaunders.com as ground-breaking today as the original was back then:
• A simple, straightforward search function that includes property information delivered directly from the MLS. In conjunction with our striking new “Gallery” display feature, this makes for a much more visually compelling search experience.
• Up-to-the-minute market data provided by Altos Research, an award-winning company that monitors millions of properties in order to deliver the most comprehensive database of local market conditions available. While traditional data sources rely on months-old market data, we now provide you with a clear view of current conditions that can be understood at a glance.
• Neighborhood pages filled with content to help facilitate your important decisions. The new michaelsaunders.com features neighborhood pages combining real estate listings with High Definition community video tours, local business reviews, a library of area photos; and much much more.
Michael Saunders & Company was among the first brokerages in the industry to recognize the massive potential of the Internet. Since 1995 we have issued no less than three complete makeovers as technology improved and consumers sought still more timely and relevant content to guide them in their real estate experience.
As always, your input is extremely important to us. Please enjoy your first visit to the new michaelsaunders.com and let us know how you found the experience.
Posted by Michael Saunders & Company on May 11, 2010
The New MSC You Tube page! Visit us at: youtube.com/SarasotaRE
Perhaps nothing is more puzzling, misunderstood or causes eyebrows to twitch faster than the concept of blogging. Tell someone you publish a regular “blog” (the term derived from the contracted form of “Web log”) and they’re just likely to back away from you slowly for fear that you will suddenly erupt into a rant. An understandable reaction, since some of the earliest bloggers used the online genre to express personal points-of-view on a variety of different subjects. Some ranted more than they raved; and their readers—if they had any—often ranted back.
Business-oriented blogging, on the other hand, involves less personal angst. The ideal blog is an online amalgam of news, features and other information of specific interest to your readers. In the case of thesaundersblog.com, the central theme always involves real estate in Southwest Florida, a subject that interests many different people for many different reasons.
A modern blog typically combines text, photographic images, and video content; along with links to other blogs, Web sites; or other media related to the main topic. The ability of readers to post comments in an interactive format is one of blogging’s most important and useful features, but is never mandatory. Readers can read that which interests them most, post comments wherever they see fit; or simply remain anonymous as they browse for information. The idea from our perspective is to put as much useful content out there as possible so that our readers can cherry-pick what they want, weigh-in with any comments or suggestions, or request more information.
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Posted by Matthew Haber on May 19, 2009
Much of the Michael Saunders & Company Reinvent Yourself 09 conference held last week pushed the notion that the fundamentals of the real estate industry, specifically the way we market property is and will be changing drastically over the near future. In fact if there is a bright spot to the housing and economic turmoil it is that it forces these changes to happen all the quicker: in the same way that higher fuel costs prompt more efficient vehicles, the evolved real estate agent is now leaner and smarter when it comes to marketing your home.
Out, are the single property advetisements in the newspapers and magazines – a quick appeasement for a seller, and not much else. Why would a potential home buyer wait until Sunday to look at one property in the newspaper when they can get instant gratification and look at all available properties on the market at once on the web?
In, are the targeted effects of social networking, otherwise known as the larest ongoing cocktail party on earth. Facebook, with over 275 million active users, now has a population greater than the 4th largest country on earth and is trailing only China, India and the United States in citizens. Bob Corcoran of Corcoran Consulting Inc. outlines some great techniques in a recent article on his website: (more…)
Posted by Matthew Haber on May 18, 2009
Drew Thomas interviews Drayton Saunders prior to Reinvent Yourself 09
Updates from Reinvent Yourself 09:
Drayton Saunders discusses tactics with Drew Thomas of 107.9 WSRZ prior to the event in Sarasota, FL. Hear Drayton’s views on keeping customers on the pulse of the market through new communication methods below:
Drew Thomas interviews Drayton Saunders at Reinvent Yourself 09
Has Florida coming through the worst of the housing crisis? Listen to Steve Harney share his views on the market’s outlook and his call for leadership under difficuly circumstances:
Drew Thomas interviews Steve Harney at Reinvent Yourself 09
Michael Saunders and Matthew Ferrara discuss the connection between the marketplace, the consumer and the agent and what it means for the future of real estate:
Drew Thomas interviews Michael Saunders and Matthew Ferrara at Reinvent Yourself 09
Posted by Matthew Haber on May 15, 2009
Thursday’s ‘Reinvent Yourself 09′ conference was a huge success. With over 400 Michael Saunders & Company agents in attendance this company is now positioned for a huge leap forward. “Every year, we try to bring the best information to our agents,” said company president, Drayton Saunders. “Technology is changing the way business is done, and today is all about that change.”
What's so funny? Michael Saunders, Steve Harney, Matthew Ferrara and Drayton Saunders connect at 'Reinvent Yourself 09'
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Posted by Matthew Haber on May 15, 2009
To complete the conference, Matthew Haber—Director of Interactive Marketing—and David Gumpper—Director of Technology—moderated panels of breakout sessions to address the rising significance of social networking and technology in real estate.
Titled “Expanding Your Friendly Future,” Matthew’s panel included panel speakers Eric Bryn, Marc Rasmussen, and Anand Pallegar. Together, the panel discussed the importance of managing your online reputation through your social networking channels by touting the effectiveness of today’s most popular technology options: blogging, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. “You don’t have to understand the technology,” said Eric Bryn to those who may be unsure of transitioning to a technology-based business. “You have to understand the application of the technology to get the most out of your profession.”
Eric Bryn gestures during the Social Networking panel
David Gumpper’s session, titled “Connecting With My Customers,” highlighted the advanced new features of Outlook 2007. The Contacts feature in Outlook 2007 is actually a full-featured database, where each client contact can be tagged with categorical information, allowing useful mail merge lists to be quickly and comprehensively compiled in short notice. With this, our agents can take advantage of technology to keep in close contact with their clients and enhance their relationships electronically.
Posted by Matthew Haber on May 15, 2009
“In order for the world’s economy to come back, we have to bring it back,” said second speaker Steve Harney about the task ahead of the agents in the room. Also a sought-after national speaker, Steve authors a monthly informational presentation for top professionals titled “Keeping Current Matters.”
Michael Saunders and Steve Harney share a moment at the 'Reinvent Yourself 09' event
Speaking at the Michael Saunders & Company ‘Reinvent Yourself 09′ event at the Chelsea Center in Sarasota, Steve’s dynamic, vocal approach reaches the very back of the room with the strength of his message, which proves both eye-opening and straightforward. “While all other brokers are cutting back on their resources, Michael Saunders & Company is having a conference on enhancing their services. You have proven you are the best.”
Further, Steve challenges the room to work with their customers to price properties with consideration for the market demands. “We have seen a disparity between the sold price and the listed price of the homes in this area,” said Steve. “It is up to you to price your properties realistically to turn this market around.”
“This was the best titled conference I’ve been to in two years,” added Steve in his closing remarks. “We all need to reinvent ourselves to steer through this market.”
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Posted by Matthew Haber on May 15, 2009
Renowned national speaker and trainer, Matthew Ferrara is known for his enthusiastic style. A driving force for applying real estate technology innovation, Matthew has helped thousands of real estate professionals reinvent how the real estate industry works as they take advantage of new and existing technologies. To further complement the day’s theme, Matthew expressed the importance of recognizing the fundamental differences of today’s consumer, and the value behind utilizing technology and social networking channels to reach them.
Matthew Ferrara gets dramatic
In today’s event, Matthew stressed the importance of recognizing the transition from traditional marketing approaches to the more technology-based consumers of today. “One of the most fundamental changes in the market is to always follow the consumer,” said Matthew about the. “When the consumer changes, market conditions change as well.”
In the presentation, held at the Chelsea Center in Sarasota, agents learned how it is now necessary to leverage technology to create competitive advantages in the real estate market. “Social networking is the new prospecting,” added Matthew, “Relationship management is the modern method to gaining the trust of your customers.”
