ManufacturedHomesToday.com® Newsletter Issue #5
This Newsletter is a chance for the ManufacturedHomesToday.com® staff to share helpful information and updates with our clients. We hope that you find this newsletter beneficial as you continue to use ManufacturedHomesToday.com®.
What's New at ManufacturedHomesToday.com®?
What is New at ManufacturedHomesToday.com®?
Welcome to a New Year with ManufacturedHomesToday.com® (MHT) The growth that this website has experienced in one year is remarkable. Our site is now in 16 states, with over 1,000 listings and is getting 1.5 million hits per month! More traffic means more people are checking out your information!
Changes implemented in the past year to help you promote your business:
- Sales tracking to help manage inventory of homes
- Up to 6 photos on each advertising page for all advertisers
- Up to 6 photos for each home listed, to show off home features
- The "Send to a Friend" email link
- Printable home sales sheets
- Online PDF's of our print publication, Manufactured Home Monthly™, with live links to your ad on the ManufacturedHomesToday.com® website
- Testimonials with links back to your advertising page promoting more coverage
Tip of the Month
Increase Your Sales on MHT with These Tips:
Look at your Retailer and Community Advertising Pages:
- Do they have nice photos? You can add up to 6 photos, so this would be a great place to add photos of models you currently have available, community features, or photos of your friendly sales staff. Use your imagination to catch the attention of potential buyers. Please e-mail up to 6 photos so the staff at ManufacturedHomesToday.com® can create a slide show and upload to your advertising page.
- Do you have a website? If so, make sure that it is linked to your advertising pages on ManufacturedHomesToday.com®. For more information, please see Client FAQ's in the Client Access area.
Read through the "description" on your advertising page: You can now go online and update your
advertising page by clicking the link to "Update Company Profile" in the Client Access area. Check it out
and answer these questions as you read through it:
- Does your advertising page fully describe the services that your offer?
- Are there other services you offer that aren't mentioned?
- What about your company hours, are they up to date and accurate?
- If you take appointments - is that mentioned in your description?
- Do you have additional phone numbers you can be reached at? You can add a cell phone number and one other alternate phone number.
- Are you offering any specials?
Q&A
We will be featuring selected questions from users in each newsletter. Please send any questions to the editor.
Q: How do I publish a new listing?
A: Click on Publish New Listings in the Client Access area. If your drop-downs have not been populated, you will be sent to the populate drop-downs page first. For detailed instructions about populating drop-down boxes, see the Edit Dropdowns (Instructions) in the Client Access area. Once your drop-down boxes are populated, you can go straight to the listings publisher page, fill in the information that is needed, and upload the photos of the home. If you get an error message after you publish the new listing, make sure that all of the required information is filled in. Check the name of the photo as well, making sure that there are no characters other than letters, numbers, and underscores.
Q: Why is the street number and street name required when adding a new listing?
A: The street number and street name serve as references to you, they are not published on the consumer side of the website. This makes it easier to organize your listings. If there is no address for the home you are listing (such as for a sales lot home), we recommend using the number associated with the home and "sales lot" for the street name to identify the listing.
Q: Why is there so much information to fill in for each listing?
A: ManufacturedHomesToday.com® is your 24/7 sales agent. It allows a consumer to browse through listings and develop an interest in the homes that meet their needs. The more information you provide on your listings, the more of a chance you have to pique the consumers interest. Do not be surprised to hear them say "We want to see this one" and hand you a printout of your home listing.
If you ever have a problem that needs immediate attention, please do not hesitate to e-mail us, or call us at (810) 632-0600. No question is too small; we want to be aware of any quirks as soon as possible and keep the site running smoothly.
Website Feature of the Month
More Control Over Advertising PageThe Client Access area has new options that make your advertising experience more interactive. You can now update your company profile, change user administration, and view the amount of time your listings have been up. These new features that give you more control over your advertising pages: instead of contacting us each time you need to change the content of your page, you can now easily update the information yourself.
Update Company Profile
When you click on this link you are able to change contact information, company description, company photo, and logo. The company description area is a great place to keep your customers updated on office hours and any special deals.
User Administration
This area can be used to add, remove or update the users who have access to your company's client access area. This is also the place to go if you would like to change your password or user name.
Aging Feature
Under Update Published Listings and Remove Published Listings there are there are two new columns that list the date that the listing was first added to ManufacturedHomesToday.com® and the number of days is has been advertised on the website. This new feature lets you know how long your listings have been up on the website, and has been added to help you manage your listings.
These new features will give you the ability to instantly update the information on your pages.
ManufacturedHomesToday.com® hopes that you put to use all of the improvements made to the site over the past year. We appreciate your business and look forward to working with you in 2006!
