MyRealPage: Tech Blog

MyRealPage launches Javascript Data API, pushes the platform to a new level

2009-10-28T10:59:00.001-07:00

MyRealPage has released the first installment of its Javascript Data API. The API is designed to provide web designers and developers with richer tools to create dynamic and highly customized content on MyRealPage websites.

As of this release, web designers and developers will be able to interact with MyRealPage Virtual Office Website (VOW) through the javascript calls. For example, it is now possible to signup and login a user into their VOW account; display their saved searches, favorite categories and listing email alerts, and more. It is also possible to obtain blog posts and listing information from the website owner account in order to create dynamic “feature” widgets. These tools will make it possible to build widgets and user interface elements by 3rd parties using data from website owner’s services. Combined with MyRealPage Custom Template support, the API will also make it possible to incorporate dynamic data-driven elements inside static HTML.

Here is an example of how one would interact with MyRealPage Javascript API:

mrpapi.loadVowService( function() {

mrpapi.getCurrentVowProfile( function( profile ) {
displayProfileInfo( profile );
} );
});

function displayProfileInfo( profile )
{
...
}

[UPDATE] We have also included an easy to use Template support for javascript. It makes it possible to store small template files in MyRealPage WebDrive and retrieve them as needed and then merge them with javascript data. This makes it even easier for designers to separate the code from the presentation and have more control over the look and feel of the resulting web views.

The full documentation for the API is coming but if you would like to get a jump start, drop me a line to: bill-<at>-myrealpage.com

New Image Editor for MyRealPage Website and Listing Photos: fully integrated right inside your Private Office

2009-10-14T22:22:00.001-07:00

Check out the new image editor which we have integrated for website and listing photos. It’s the work of the good folks at pixlr.com. The image editor is incredibly well written and sports functionality you would expect from a desktop software. It’s very fast and responsive and offers a lot of very advanced features. (For easy and fast cropping and resizing, you can continue to use our other built-in image editor).

DESIGNER COOLNESS ALERT :

What’s really cool about this editor is it can actually edit PSD files: yes, the Photoshop files (it also supports a PXD format which is its own slimmer and smaller version). We have also included support for the ability to upload and edit PSD and PXD files right from your WebDrive. As a designer, it may be possible for you to package a simple banner like file with just a few layers such as text and main graphic and let your client change the text as they see fit! The text layer can include built-in effects, such as shadow, inner glow, etc. Then, they can simply save it back to their MyRealPage WebDrive as a jpeg or png. Not bad for a banner editor out-of-the-box. Can you think of other uses? Let us know!

-- Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

A bunch of small cool features: Street View opt-out, Google Map fine-tuning, CoolIris all-out browsing

2009-10-13T13:49:00.001-07:00

We have put together a few smaller features that we thought you may want to know about.

Google Street View Opt-out

We released Google Street View on Zero Day when it came to Canada. Today we added a little update to allow you to disable Street View either for all listings on your website or for an individual listing. Google Street View car may have passed your listing when there was a construction or the view just isn’t right: now you can choose to disable it.

Google Map fine-tuning

MyRealPage applies a “best effort” technique to determine your listing’s location. Even so, sometimes, due to a rural address or some other circumstances, it may not be possible to accurately establish a listing’s location on Google Map. Sometimes, the location is half a block away from where it needs to be. Now, you can fine-tune your listing’s location yourself, without resorting to handling long decimal numbers for longitude and latitude. You can simply drag-and-drop a listing marker in an integrated Google Map in your Listing Editor in the Private Office:

CoolIris for Cool Browsing:

MyRealPage has also done some tweaks in its Listing RSS feeds. As a by-product of it, we now fully support CoolIris browser add-on. Why would you care? There may be an interesting way to use this feature. If you are a broker with a street-level windows or mall office, you may want to set up one or two TVs and showcase your office listings in your windows. It would be interesting to see if CoolIris could be suited for such a showcase. Check out the video below:

We hope you will enjoy these features.

-- Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

Google Street View comes to MyRealPage listings… automatically

2009-10-07T14:16:00.001-07:00

Today Google launched Street View in Canada. Today we are also launching Google Street View for MyRealPage listings. All MyRealPage listings already get automatic mapping with Google Maps, Google Earth and WalkScore. Now, Google Street View is added to this list. Of note are the following points:

Google Street View link will only show up if Street View is available for the area in which the listing is located
Google Street View link will make the best effort mapping the property by going through several geomapping steps.
Google Street View is automatically available in “My Listings”, Office Listings and Search Results, as well as in List views when the listing can be viewed on the map without navigating into Listing Details.
Google Street View will benefit both customers who subscribe to Listings-only and to Listings+Website products

Hope you enjoy this new feature!

MyRealPage adds Virtual Tour links for your listings on MLS®

2009-09-23T15:23:00.001-07:00

Some time ago, we have launched a Media Center for our listings that offered a compact and attractive way to showcase your listings: hi-res photos, videos, virtual tours, as well as Google Map, Google Earth and WalkScore. Now we are making it possible to link to this Listing Media Center on its own, without the rest of the details. Why would this be useful? This can serve now as an external Virtual Tour link which you can submit to your Real Estate board to be part of your listing’s information. You can use MyRealPage Private Office to “decorate” your listing with hi-res photos and videos and you may find that you don’t need to have external hosting for your virtual tours (which of course you may still do: the choice is yours).

This external Virtual Tour link can be generated in the “More…” tab in your Listing Editor, and you can even configure it to include the link to your main website and/or your contact details along with a contact form: please ensure though, that this abides by the rules of your Real Estate board as some disallow branding information in external virtual tour links.

Do you have ideas or suggestions? Send us an email to support-<at>-myrealpage.com or post your comments there.

Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

MyRealPage adds CoolIris to its Listing Photo Galleries

2009-09-21T14:13:00.001-07:00

MyRealPage has added another great looking gallery to its array of Listing Galleries to provide the best possible showcase for your properties. This one is from CoolIris (http://cooliris.com). CoolIris is more than just an image gallery, it embraces an entirely new approach to browsing the web through rich media, such as images and movies. However, the component we used – the image gallery – is also very attractive and slick. The gallery below shows you a sample presentation in CoolIris of listing photos. (try dragging around and clicking in the gallery below)

You can choose CoolIris to be your default gallery through “Listing Options” under “Listings” tab in your Private Office. We hope you will enjoy this new addition to MyRealPage support for rich media in your listings: it’s available to everyone with Listings subscription.

Special thanks to Peter Colak of http://homesproperties.ca for seeding the idea to incorporate CoolIris into our galleries!

Have a comment or a suggestion? Drop us a line in the comments or at support-<at>-myrealpage.com.

--Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

MyRealPage QR codes for Listings and Contact Info = Mobile Coolness Factor

2009-09-09T01:03:00.001-07:00

Have you heard of QR codes? These little things are basically a variant of barcodes. (Here is a link to a QR wiki age) What is interesting about them is that many smart phones, such as iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre have applications that can scan and decode them by using the built-in phone cameras. Decoded QR codes can be many things, such as URLs, contact records, etc. So we thought, why not use the QR codes to make it easier for mobile users to access listing information and your contact details on the go.

Here is a hypothetical scenario: imagine that someone is walking by your freshly planted “FOR SALE” sign for a property you have just listed. She notices the QR code with “LISTING DETAILS” caption nicely attached to the sign. Being a hip mobile savvy user, she pulls out her iPhone and scans the code; and within a few seconds she is looking at the full details webpage of your listing, complete with all the photos, contact form, etc. She also notices your phone number and next to it another QR code that says: “SCAN THIS FOR MY CONTACT DETAILS”. She does just that and instantly sees the QR reader create a contact record with your details and ask her whether she wants to add it to her Contacts. All this has happened without your lead typing a single character into her phone.

Think about the possibilities now. You can print a QR code at the back of your business card, on your listing materials, anywhere where you can save your leads some typing and increase your mobile coolness mojo! :)

The official announcement for this feature release will be forthcoming on MyRealPage official blog, but this little post is a special sneak peak for those who follow :)

Here is a quick schematic of how this works for Listing Details:

And the same but for Contact Details:

Here is where you will find your Listings’ QR Codes:

And your Contact Info QR Code:

Do you have comments or suggestions? Do you know of a creative idea to use the QR code? Let us know! Post your comment here or send us an email to support-at-myrealpage.com

(BTW, did you like the nice shadow effects on the images above? I created this post in Windows LiveWriter which I use now to publish to MyRealPage blog (check our latest support of the API) as well as the ones hosted by Blogger. I am very happy with this software: lots of great features: check it out!)

UPDATE: Helpful link for Blackberry users who want to install a barcode reader: http://www.beetagg.com/supportedphones/

MyRealPage adds "Retweet" button to blogs

2009-08-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

We have just added a neat little feature that allows you to automatically include a "Retweet" button on your blogs with MyRealPage. Just choose to show the "Retweet" button in your "Blog" weblet and it will show up for all blog posts. The button is powered by tweetmeme (http://tweetmeme.com) and the URL shortening is done by bit.ly (http://bit.ly).

Read the full story here: Automatic "Retweet" buttons on your blog

"Take it from someone who really knows..."

2009-08-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

I got this today from our Customer Support. These sorts of emails make my day! :) I should start publishing more of them. I do like the metrics that follow the "...someone who really knows..." Really shows that they do!

"Take it from someone who really knows.

Having been on the supplier end of real estate web sites since 1998, four months ago I began my own real estate career. It was a no-brainer that I chose MyRealPage to provide my web services. The power of their offering at the price they offer it is remarkable in itself.

Tech support is prompt, courteous and thorough. Customization allows me to evolve the content that benefits my search ranking and brand exposure while the user interface allows my prospects to conveniently search for properties at their leisure.

In the first four mouths I have had 892 unique visitors with 1,400 separate visits. The month over month growth is averaging over 50% and it’s accelerating. The website is on track to host over 300 unique visitors in its 4th month. These are 300 prospects that are likely NOT going to my competitors’ sites.

I have 7 leads turned into client prospects on the website, 5 more called me directly and I listed my first million dollar property from my website 3 days ago. All this in the first 4 months, what will happen in 4 years?

If you ask me about which web site company to choose, MyRealPage is my top choice.

Rebecca Benedict – www.benedictdevlin.com

Coldwell Banker OnTrack Realty Red Deer"

Got an idea or experience you would like to share with us at MyRealPage? Send me an email or post it here.

MyRealPage widgetizes its entire Listings and IDX product: beta

2009-08-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

MyRealPage plug-and-play listings for WordPress, Blogger, Point2Agent, Joomla, Drupal, or any other website. Pop it in like a YouTube video: simple as that!

Have you ever wished you could pick-and-choose how your website should look and behave and where your website should be hosted by simply picking the best-of-breed plugins and widgets? Ever wished you could avoid the "all-or-nothing" vendor lock-in with some of the providers of real estate websites?

To those who did: we heard you and that's why we have taken our entire Listings and IDX product and condensed it into a series of embeddable code snippets, much like YouTube videos. And much like YouTube videos, you can now simply embed any section of your Listings with MyRealPage into any page on your website hosted on WordPress, Point2Agent, Blogger, Joomla, Drupal, or any other*. Isn't that what the Web2.0 mashup promise was about? Except, in our case, the typically small "widget" is a full-blown smart application with lots of features, pages, forms, galleries, google maps, walkscore, etc: all rolled into a single line of embeddable code. How is it better than "framing" an IDX, you may ask? Here is a quick list:

Fully integrates into a "hosting" page with a single line of javascript code
Eliminates ugly double scroll bars or very tall pages that try to work around the ugly double scroll bars
Back button support on most modern browsers
Full CSS support to fine-tune the listings look-and-feel to match your website's.
Auto-boxing support: you can configure our Listing pages to auto-box themselves into your website when invoked directly (e.g. from emails)
Separate code snippets to embed "Your Listings", "Office Listings", "IDX/VOW Search", your Pre-Defined Searches, and your Pre-Defined Forms. Each of these can be on a separate page. It's easier than ever now to create a section of your website dedicated to a neighborhood and plug in your relevant Pre-Defined searches there (remember, you can create as many of these with us as you like; for free!)

We hope this new product feature will be of most use to those who subscribe to MyRealPage "Listings-only" product (which incidentally includes iPhone/Android mobile support) and also to those who maintain more than one website and want their listings to be on all of them. Our listings pages integrate seemlessly with the websites we host ourselves, but we do recognize that there can be many reasons why you may decide to host your website elsewhere or have more than one. We also recognize that many take this decision very seriously: I found that it's especially true for those who embrace WordPress. This new feature is designed to support your choice and ultimately give you more freedom and let you avoid various forms of vendor "lock-in".

Here are a few examples of our Listings running on various platforms:

WordPress (bare-bones installation)

Blogger Example

Point2Agent Example

I would also like to thank all of our early adopters who installed the widget and provided us with very valuable feedback and observations. It helped us make our first release better. Thank you!

Let us know what you think!

* Most of website platforms, open-source or otherwise, are supported, as long as they allow you to embed your own javascript (and if they don't, you are probably on the wrong platform :)

MyRealPage publishes new Listing thumbnail views

2009-07-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that with the most recent update to our Listing thumbnail views (Search Result pages), we have completed our overhaul of the Listing product templates. We created a long list of what we wanted to see in the new templates and agonized over a lot of minutae and after many teleconferences and heated discussions, this last update is out. I will leave it up to you to judge if we managed to improve on the old templates and by how much. Among the many things we wanted to achieve were:

Tighten up the templates to make the listing information more prominent
Continue to capture the visitor's attention with the prospect of signing up
Make listing information more structured and predictably placed
Make navigation easy and predictable
Create and expose various viewing options to address different preferences for larger, smaller, more graphic or more location oriented presentations
Maintain the high interactivity of our pages, so that the visitors don't need to lose their viewing or scolling "context" unnecessarily
Show the visitors the many tools they can enjoy when they sign up; make tools work "in-place" so the visitors can avoid needless round-trips to the form pages
Make the pages look GREAT!!!

The list is much longer actually, but I will spare you the rest.

Of course, you can also pick which template you would like to select as "default" for your own listings, your office listings and your search results. Most templates can be configured with your choice of items per page and you can even hide the template selector tabs, if you decide that your selected template will do "just fine" with no further options for your visitors.

In addition, it's now very easy to hook up your own css to the listing pages. You simply provide your custom CSS URL in the Listing Options in the Private Office and off you go. Your css will be injected last, so you will have the final say in how the elements on the listing pages look.

There is another cool product announcement coming shortly; initially especially interesting for the "geeks". Stay tuned!

Read the official product release on the MyRealPage Company Blog

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/billskrypnyk

MyRealPage listing searches on Blackberry: an update

2009-07-22T11:32:00.001-07:00

Our latest iPhone and Android mobile application received a very warm welcome, and along with it a keen interest in a Blackberry version. We promised to update you on our plans in that regard and hence this post.

I am happy to say that we are proceeding with the Blackberry version and have started the development. We normally don't like to advertise any future product development or post any release timelines (many in software industry follow that rule). Our development cycles are short and we try to release often. But, as promised, we do want everyone to know that the Blackberry version is in development now and has high priority.

If you are curious to learn more about this application and some of the thoughts that went into it, read on:

First off, I wanted to note that our iPhone and Android application was not designed to simply move our search forms into a smaller screen. In every region we serve, we offer 4-5 different search forms which are appropriate to the region, i.e. listing attributes, areas, subareas, neighborhoods, etc. Few people would notice that because they would only see their regional forms, but anyone that saw our listings in, say, Edmonton and Greater Vancouver would immediately see what I am talking about. So, we know search forms well but we thought that the major appeal of a modern smartphone was not the ability to submit web forms, but rather the ability to geolocate the user and display listings nicely mapped to the current location. Maps and geolocation are at the heart of our iPhone and Android application.

The iPhone and Android application were developed in response to the new features that have very recently become available on these smartphone platforms (we haven't tried it on Palm's WebOS, but it may actually work as well, as the underlying technologies are very similar. Anyone with Palm Pre out there to help out? :). Blackberry did not provide these features and hence it wasn't included. Now, we think we will be able to implement most of the functionality that is sported by our iPhone and Android application on the Blackberry as well, but it will require some Blackerry specific development and "work-arounds". However, we are committed to leveraging the geolocation and mapping capabilities of the Blackberry platform as well.

There are a lot of things cooking right now in our development. Mobile search is far from the only one. Stay tuned!

MyRealPage iPhone and Android app graphics

2009-07-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a couple of graphics here that our designers have put together to let our clients create more visible and attractive links to advertise the iPhone and Android application from MyRealPage. Feel free to insert these graphics into your website and link them to a page of your choosing where you can create your own "case" for the mobile application. Remember that if you host your website with MyRealPage the URL for the application is [your-domain.com/m]. (If you are a listings-only customer, send yourself the email from the "Get iPhone/Android URL" link on your search page, to get the URL).

Download PSD (Photoshop) file

MyRealPage iPhone/Android listing searches get first reviews

2009-07-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

MyRealPage's iPhone/Android application has been out for about a week now. We wanted to share a few comments we have received from our customers so far.

Will Wertheim (agentwill.com) writes:

"Many times I have clients who want to check out an area they are unfamiliar with. Being able to have a GPS-like device on their phone that gives them all the listings nearby and will follow them as they move around really makes this an outstanding service. Feedback from my clients has been filled with excitement and astonishment. And to top it off it makes it easy for the client to contact me, either through text, email, or a call right [from the application]. This really is the next evolution in property search."

Norm Fisher (www.teamfisher.com) writes on his blog:

"If you’re a real estate geek with an iPhone or an Android device you’re going to flip over this terrific little application.

...

This application is brought to me by MyRealPage, the most kick-ass home search tool for MLS listings on planet earth, perhaps in the solar system." (Thanks, Norm :)

Ben Chimes (benchimes.com) writes:

“The new iPhone app developed by MyRealPage is quite simply outstanding. As a real estate professional who considers himself to be on the cutting edge of technology, I have been consistently frustrated with the both the quality and consistency of property information available to mobile users

"The ability to incorporate the iPhone's GPS system to find active listings nearest to your current location is an added plus that I have actually found to be more useful than I originally thought. For example, when I have clients that are in from out of town, I can give them an iPhone to walk around the city with. Anytime they are in an area that they like, they can pull up the map to show them what listings are available in the neighbourhood. With one click, they can email me any listings they are interested in and, with one click, I can call the listing agent to set up an appointment for them. It's almost instant!

"This is future of real estate and the future of information sharing. And I have to say... I love it! To try it on your iPhone go to www.benchimes.com/m"

Thanks very much for taking the time to comment on our new product!

Do you have a feedback regarding our iPhone and Android listing searches? Feel free to post your comments here. We certainly welcome all feedback. Help us make this application better!

MyRealPage adds two new weblets to its website arsenal: Folding Sections and Blog Navigation

2009-07-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Please welcome two new weblets to our website arsenal: Folding Sections and Blog Navigation. In case you haven't heard: weblets (think widgets) are the little building blocks out of which all MyRealPage websites are constructed. What gives our sites their flexibility is the ability to "assemble" your pages from various useful weblets, such as "Menu", "Banner", "Contact Info", "Quick Search" and many more. Even blogs and your page content are weblets. Weblets can be added, removed and dragged-and-dropped on the page to rearrange its look-and-feel. They can also be individually configured as appropriate to what each weblet does.

Today, we have released two more weblets which we hope you will find useful:

Folding Sections

Folding Sections is a useful weblet if you would like to include a lot of content on your page but don't want to overwhelm the visitor with all the information. Folding Sections will allow you to organize your content into sections which can be "folded" and "unfolded" (collapsed and expanded). This may help make the page less cluttered and still provide all the information you intend to keep on the page. This weblet will let you provide the heading, a short introduction text and specify whether you would like the section to be initially expanded or not.

Blog Navigation

Blog Navigation is a useful weblet if you decide to put the links of your blog archives, categories and links to other blogs on a page sidebar. Because each weblet is given a rectangular space to occupy, until now the blog navation links have been "floating" inside the content of your blog. Now you have much more flexibility in how you would like your blog navigation to look. Of course, as you would expect, you have the ability to fine-tune which links you would like to show. Subsequently, you can uncheck all navigation link in your blog weblet configuration to disable any "old-style" navigation.

Oh and another thing...

Our last updates to the Listing Details pages (read New Listing Details pages on MyRealPage websites) included a change which caused the Listing Details pages to display all available listing information in public searches (Reciprocity) and hide the actual values, instead displaying a "Signup for access" link. This was done to increase lead conversion paths on your website by displaying the wealth of listing information that would be available for signed-up members.

Today, we have introduced a setting which allows you to control the display of those "advertisement" links on your Listing Details pages. If you choose to display only available information (as per the rules of your local Real Estate Board), you can opt to do so: the choice is yours!

We hope you will find these updates useful!

--Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

MyRealPage brings listing searches to iPhone and Android

2009-06-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

This one is a very exciting release for us! This is truly a testament to the power of the HTML5 standard and our commitment as a technology company to promote it. The story of how MyRealPage has come about to produce the iPhone/Android application is interesting in itself but it probably deserves a separate blog post. Here, I would like to introduce this new slick member of our product family.

MyRealPage's iPhone and Android application was built as a direct result of leveraging one of the most exciting new capabilities of HTML5 spec: geolocation awareness of the browser. In fact, the stimulus for this application came in large part from the Google I/O 2009 conference. This is as new on iPhone as the 3.0 version of the iPhone OS. We have chosen to deliver the smart phone experience via a web application instead of the native app due to a number of reasons, but most importantly, the web application will allow us to update and change this product very easily and keep it closely in sync with the demands of our client base (native applications would require constant installation updates. Compare that to the decision Google made to make many of their applications available through the web on iPhone). It is also reasonable to expect that the web application experience will continue to improve rapidly on these mobile devices.

It's easy to access your mobile application. If you are customer of MyRealPage, all you need to do is go to: "

http://[your-domain.com]/m

" (you can also use the "Mobile Inquiry" form at the bottom of your Search form screen to send yourself the URL directly to the phone). If you are not a customer, become one!! :) (All you need is a Listings-only subscription: you don't even need to get the whole website, if you decide to leave your current site where it is). You can read the full list of features of this application at MyRealPage Listing Search hits iPhone and Android on MyRealPage company website.

Among the most notable things are:

Native GPS-based geolocation
The application will automatically search nearby listings within up to 1km radius
It will continue to search nearby listings as you "pan" the map
It can "follow" you as you walk or drive and automatically update the search results
It provides full VOW access, signup and contact capabilities
It provides full Listing details, including all the photos
You can make a phone call or send an SMS message directly from the contact forms
And more...

I would also like to highlight a few less evident things.

This mobile application will also work on your desktop or laptop computer. It will work even better if you are on a Wi-Fi. It will try to geolocate your browser, even though it doesn't have a GPS. I highly recommend using Chrome or the new Safari; Firefox will also work quite well (note that Internet Explorer is not supported; did I just say that?! :) I also highly recommend installing Google Gears. Now let's see how this application can extend beyond the smartphone. Considering that even if the application "guesses" your location wrong, you can always enter it manually through "Set Location" dialog; you can "position" yourself anywhere at all! This means that you can use your iPod Touch, or your net-top, web-top (or what-not-top) just as effectively. Sitting in a cafe on a Wi-Fi would be just fine.

This is a very new space for MyRealPage. We are going to fine tune and refine this application even though we went to launch with several times more features in it than originally planned. We hope you and your customers will find this application useful and fun!

UPDATE: Check out the FAQ on iPhone/Android listing searches here: FAQ: MyRealPage iPhone and Android mobile listing application

Completely overhauled Listing Details pages on MyRealPage websites

2009-06-18T22:28:00.001-07:00

There has been a bit of a lull on this blog but not because everyone went on vacation. We have been, in fact, pretty busy and have just pushed out a pretty major update that introduces a whole new set of Listing Details pages. These have been completely re-built from ground up. There are two new templates: a Regular one and a Photo-Centric one. The Regular one is designed for the display of listings that come from sources other than your own. The Photo-Centric, on the other hand, was designed to showcase listing images: something that you, as a listing owner, have control over. MyRealPage provides great tools to manage your photos: you can opt to have our system completely disregard the auto-imported images from the MLS® board and use your own. Your photos can be up to 800x800 pixels in size!

Both the Regular and Photo-Centric templates provide animated "lightbox" effects to show the high-resolution photos in their full glory: something that hasn't been possible before.

We have also changed the way that Reciprocity (public search) pages look. MyRealPage now displays all available field names in each listing information, but hides field values (this is dictated by MLS® board rules, not by us, of course). But by providing the view of what information is available in the listing, the visitors are given a better motivation to sign up for VOW (Virtual Office Website) access and become a well-qualified lead.

Read the official release post here:

New Listing Details pages on MyRealPage websites

There are more updates coming, and one that is going to be pretty exciting. Watch for the news next week!

MyRealPage publishes more options for Predefined Searches and Forms

2009-05-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

We have provided "self-serve" Custom (Pre-defined) Searches and Forms for some time now. In case you haven't used this feature, I highly recommend to check it out. (This feature is available in regions with public searches).

Today's update adds the ability to attach a short description (HTML or plain text) to each Pre-defined search and/or form. This make it possible to better communicate the purpose of the search or form; or even provide some helpful hints.

As a refresher, Pre-defined Searches give you the ability to create your own searches based on a number of criteria from a number of available search forms and then save the search and name it. Each predefined search gets its own URL which can be connected to any link or image on the website. It's a great way to advertise "featured" listings or special sub-section of listings in a particular area or category.

In a similar fashion, each of our search forms can also be customized by pre-selecting criteria that, perhaps, better reflect your specialty. For example, you may choose our Google Map Search form as your default public search form (Reciprocity) and zoom into a particular area (or even draw a selection on the map); and pre-select condos or houses, if you specialize in those types of properties; as well as pre-set price, etc.

Being able to add short descriptions further enriches these features.

For the official release, please go to:
More options for Pre-defined Searches and Forms

MyRealPage pushes more updates; better team support

2009-05-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

We have just released more updates to the listings. Continuing in the vein of boosting the product usability, we have also addressed a nagging problem that has been with us for some time.

We have had many requests from teams of two realtors who wanted a special way to display their contact information. Teams of two are in a special spot, because there are just enough people to want to have both always visible. We have dealt with these requests by extending some of our internal systems to accommodate them. Now, we have moved those extensions into a fully functional "self-serve" options that can be located in the Listing Options section of the Private Office. The teams can now provide up to 2 contacts with photos. Both will always be shown in listing searches and details. We also show both contacts for craigslist postings.

We have also tackled the Navigation Controls. They are now easier to use, crisper and shorter on text!

(For those that are *really* paying attention, notice how we replaced the image buttons on our listing search pages with the cool buttons that model after gmail).

Please read the full release on MyRealPage company blog here

MyRealPage redesigns signup and login forms, integrates into public searches

2009-05-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

We have just released new VOW forms. I think we have found an very practical paradigm for displaying our listing forms: the forms appear with "lightbox" effects when the listings are part of our websites, and expand into the page when the listings are used as stand-alone plugins in other websites. We eliminated the need to go to separate login and signup pages, everything is done "in situ" right in the webpage that triggered the form. This means that if a lead is saving a search or making a "favorite" listing, they won't need to go away from the page and potentially lose their place in the website. One can login and/or signup right there. In fact, the signup can be completed from the same form too by copying-and-pasting the verification code that is emailed to the user (the old way to verify the account by clicking the link in the email works too).

There are other changes on-foot that are not visible currently. The listing product is actually undergoing a major refactoring. The main motivation behind this refactoring is to be able to make it pervasively customizable. Here is the main challenge that we have faced with our listing solution for the past several years:

We work with local Real Estate boards who provide us with data feeds; in exchange we have to comply with all sorts of business rules that govern listing access and display for these real estate boards (Consider how different listings look in Calgary and Vancouver and we display all attributes faithfully as a local user would expect; or how different VOW rules are between Victoria and Vancouver).

We need to address all sorts of customization requirements that are driven by our customers. There are many ideas out there as to what the listing solution should do and how it should look; these ideas are largely valid but are often conflicting as different people may have different ideas.

So, what we are faced with is the compounding effect of regional rules multiplied by customization requirements. Can we accommodate both, and satisfy customizations for customers that have opposite views regarding the listings?

The current refactoring is driven by the idea to redesign our listing solution to successfully accommodate both. We are moving cautiously to make sure we don't break things unnecessarily; but we have already had some very significant successes. This new and improved customizable product will also plug in into a larger strategy which is underway but which I will describe once we get closer to its final implementation.

Please read the product announcement here:

MyRealPage overhauls Virtual Office Website forms, weaves into public searches

MyRealPage updates VOW toolbars

2009-04-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

We are continuing to focus on listings as we overhaul the look and feel and the usability of our listing solution. In the process, we are continuing to re-evaluate and find new, more creative ways to expose as many listing tools to our clients' web visitors as possible. The idea is to provide enough incentive for anonymous web visitors to sign up to become users of the Virtual Office Website tools offered by MyRealPage websites (where available). The lead generation remains the primary focus of all the ongoing listing updates.

The new Virtual Office Website (VOW) toolbar and favorite toolbar have been improved in the way they look, read, behave and advertise their capabilities. We hope our clients' web visitors will find them easier to understand and use. Please read the official announcement on MyRealPage company website:

New MyRealPage VOW Toolbar Updates

MyRealPage VOW moves closer to Reciprocity, new search forms

2009-04-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

We have updated the Listings system to bring the rich VOW tools, including signup and login closer to the Reciprocity. Now, the VOW toolbar is permanently visible in all Reciprocity pages and the information and behavior in Reciprocity pages changes to VOW if the user has signed in to use VOW. We believe it makes more sense from the web visitor's perspective to be able to access the same resources as the anonymous Reciprocity user, but with the benefit of the rich tool set that's available to a VOW user, such as the ability to see more information and more up-to-date listings (depending on the region), save searches, organize and annotate favorite listings, be notified about market changes in the saved searches, etc (by the way, VOW users can even send listings to their friends and family who will be able to see the full listing information without themselves logging in).

This listing update was implemented with the focus on optimizing the lead conversion paths in MyRealPage listing pages.

We have also released new search forms for the Greater Vancouver, Northern BC and Fraser Valley regions. The new form available to all three regions is the "Simple" form. It consists of traditional form controls and may be more attractive and comprehensible to some web visitors who prefer traditional controls over the new Web2.0 like features which can be potentially confusing. We have also packaged Google Map Search forms, with their "draw your search on the map" capabilities, for Northern BC and Fraser Vallery for those who do prefer "rich" search interfaces.

It's important to note that these forms can now be fully used by both web visitors to save their searches as well as by MyRealPage customers who would like to create Predefined searches. The flexibility of MyRealPage Listings system truly comes to light when it becomes clear that any available search form in all of the regions we service, can be turned into a Predefined Search, saved, and then linked to from anywhere on a website; and then edited if needed.

Read the official announcement on MyRealPage Company Blog.

More updates are on the way; stay tuned!

MyRealPage Overhauls Listing Web Forms, Adds Lead Capture

2009-03-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the focus on our Listings System, we have just published updates to our most commonly used Listings Web Forms, including the "Listing Inquiry" form, "Send this Listing" form and the "Mortgage Calculator" form. The new forms are now much more interactive, visual and fun to use. Along with their rich animation and display, they are also very SEO-friendly and can even be operated by browsers with no javascript enabled. The forms not only present much more relevant information, including listing photos, website owner photos, and cross-links to the inquiry form (all to facilitate the form submission, and generation of a lead); but also, hopefully, web visitors will find them much more fun to use.

Along with the new forms, we have also deployed a new Lead Capture system which makes it very easy for our customers to review and create leads. The lead creation is inevitably a trade-off between a fully automated system which may create too much data and may be in need of constant "pruning" and "cleaning" and a fully manual system which requires too many repetitive tasks. We think we found the golden medium with the simple email friendly links which can either be ignored if the lead is recognized or used to quickly reivew and create a lead in the Private Office. Combined with the Outlook synchronization, import and export functions in the Private Office, MyRealPage leads can become very "portable".

The new web forms, although seemingly unassuming, carry a fair amount of complexity; as they function in an expected way for our broker clients as well. If the account has an Agent Diretory subscription, then agents' photos will be used in the inquiry forms, as well as their direct email addresses. And those agents that have Tier 3 access to the Private Office will also benefit from the One Click Lead Capture. Equally, the new forms will support the "Featured Agent" function which allows all listings inquiries to be directed to one "Agent of the Day".

There are more exciting updates to come. Stay tuned!

MyRealPage listings get their own Media Center

2009-03-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

We have been quiet for the past month, following a flurry of activity in January. There was a good reason for it: everyone was working hard on bringing together a major product update in the MyRealPage Listings System: the new Media Center. Read the Listing Media Center product release on our official blog.

Our Listings System has entered and will remain in the focus of our product development for still some time now. There is a very good motivation behind this: listings are increasingly becoming the pivot for other services and information. Consider that a listing can be viewed from a multitude of perspectives:

Plain data sheet on the property
A showcase of photos, virtual tours, etc.
A place in a community
A financial commitment
Investment opportunity
The list goes on...

Each one of these aspects can warrant a separate data component to do research, provide enriched web experience, etc. We thought it would be great to have a platform into which we can "plug" these additional components; some of which may even originate from 3rd party services...

Our new Media Center and Listing Mapping options are the first implementations of this strategy. We have spent some effort up-front to work out the new architecture for the listings wich would allow us to achieve the wanted "pluggability". The proof is in the pudding: we offer 6 galleries to choose from, 18 video-oriented slots, in browser Google Earth and a WalkScore (which measures how "walkable" your property is).

Take one of these enhancements: the six galleries to choose from... It's certainly more than the original business requirement dictated; but after we got started on the new path, it was so easy to add galleries that we decided not to skip. For example: we added 2 galleries in the 2 days prior to the product launch just to beef up this product. We also provide a "graceful degrading" for our galleries. It's a popular term with the webmaster crowd and simply means that some new flashy feature should be accessible to web visitors who may not have the necessary browser components enabled; such as javascript or Flash. Graceful degrading also plays well with search indexing as search bots usually cannot read "rich" content (javascript, Flash). Taking that into account, our listing photos are accessible for javascript disabled browsers, and, in addition, to flash-disabled browsers as well. If flash is disabled, the galleries are shown in plain javascript one, and if javascript is disabled, then the photos are available as plain image links.

You may also want to check out the Custom Listing Banners. You can now provide your own short text so it appears in a cute ribbon-like banner across the listing photo.

We hope you will enjoy this new product update. There are more to come and we plan to time them closer together from now on.

Several MyRealPage themes get a face lift

2009-02-03T09:55:00.001-08:00

Our graphic designers have been busy at work and have given a few of our themes a face lift:

Theme 602

Theme 605

Theme 606

Theme 609

Theme 610

Theme 611 (cool!)

Theme 615

MyRealPage themes are completely customizable and are composed by our graphic designers using the same WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) tools that we offer our clients. Hence, the themes themselves are fully editable on our users' websites: every element! We are also capable of making theme changes without affecting current websites even though they can always "apply" new themes and experiment. Remember, the theme changes are not visible until your publish the "Site Settings"!

Visit: http://www.myrealpage.com/templates.html

You "play around" with each theme as we are able to produce a fully functional website out of each "preview"! You can even customize it online if you are not a customer; and even if you are a customer, you can experiment in the preview.

Special thanks for Matt. Great work!