http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/blogs/morgan-carey/27671/show/

After working diligently with Google we have some great news! Google has granted us an extension of maps version 2 until early November, 2013. Google mentions in their blog post that they have created a javascript wrapper for "simple maps" that might make for easier updating - however, the kinds of maps that REW uses are far from simple and so the consensus is, anyone using version 2 maps after November will likely have broken websites (any part where mapping exists, including on a CMS page that has an IDX snippet).

The fix - you must upgrade to REW's 4.2 backend

Again, I have covered this in this post: http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/blogs/morgan-carey/27671/show/ and also included commentary / estimates for common upgrades.

I know November seems a long ways away, however please realize you must get your request to upgrade in early as there are over 10 thousand man hours potentially required to upgrade all REW users, and there is no guarantee we can get all of them done before the November deadline.

"What about 4.3? Can't I just wait for that and then upgrade so I don't have to do it twice?" A lot of people are asking me this, and my answer is DO NOT wait for 4.3!

Why, you ask? Because 4.3 beta will not be done until "at least" late June / early July. We then need time for testing and once tested, the installs will first be on LEC 2013's then on REW Summit users' sites and finally on a first come first served basis.

Just getting the LEC's done could push us to September, and then we would only be able to get started on the REW Summit people before the deadline - this would leave everyone who did not upgrade to 4.2 and waited for 4.3 with broken maps and many potential errors on their site for quite some time.

So again, I re-iterate, do not wait until 4.3 comes out - even if it comes out when we hope (and that is not guaranteed, as it is software and can have last minute issues) - you will likely not get your upgrade done in time.

Reasons to upgrade to 4.2 now:

#1: You will be covered on the maps issue, and have the latest technology

#2: Upgrading to 4.3 will be much faster, easier and less expensive if you already have 4.2

#3: If you upgrade now, you will be given priority over non upgraded users in the queue (because we can get yours done faster)

#4: There will be a discount offered to those already upgraded to 4.2 if they want to upgrade again to 4.3

#5: You might not even want / need 4.3 - chances are you will (because it's awesome) but 4.2 is a huge enhancement already over previous versions - social media registrations, who's online, all kinds of good stuff in there.

Some folks have said the only reason they never upgraded to 4.2 was because of the double opt-in for AOL etc. - we have a solution for this as well - we can hook your mail up to a third party service as part of your upgrade and you would not have to have the double opt-in, or we can put you on a special non-opt-in server.

Hopefully everyone upgrades ASAP so we don't have a huge backlog as we get closer to November - we will not be able to get everyone done if that happens, and we certainly don't want anyone to have non-functioning / partially functioning websites while they wait.

I welcome your comments / questions:

The problem:
Version 2 Google Maps is going to be cancelled as of May 19th, 2013

What this could mean:
This could mean that any older websites using version 2 Google mapping could see any part of their website that uses Google maps cease functioning and / or potentially show an error message. We say "could" because we cannot predict for sure what will happen, but we are recommending that you do not take any chances.

The solution:
Simply put, if you are running an older version of Google maps you need to upgrade your website.

The "recommended" upgrade is to the current 4.2 backend. Not only will this fix the issue (all new 4.2 installs use Google maps version 3) it will also unlock many new features that will help you be more productive, and manage your leads better.

After discussing with the team we have come up with some scenarios, baseline estimates and some ways to save $ on the upgrades.

4.x Estimates

4.2 to 4.2 patched: Approx 1 hour

4.1 to 4.2 upgrade: Appriximately 2 hours

4.0 to 4.2: 4 hours for standard upgrade

On all upgrades, labor will increase if customizations exist that need to be replicated or if customizatons create conflicts that need to be resolved.It is best to allow yourself a few extra hours just in case (even if you customizations are minor). Please note, almost ALL rew customers have customizations (this is the reason we cannot easily just do a find and replace, and each customer requires personal attention to resolve conflicts).

For sites with MAJOR customizations:

Obviously there will be far more conflicts with large, custom sites with hundreds of hours of customizations. There is no standard estimate for these sites, so you must go to the sales@realestatewebmasters.com to request your estimate or just approve a "just get it done" project.

For large sites on 4.x (0-2) (with large estimates) there are alternatives:

4x Patch: We are writing a patch for 4.0, and 4.1 that will be essentially a "new" version of 4.0 or 4.1 with the only change being maps. So instead of an upgrade to 4.2 (with all the goodies and new features) it would simply be as you have it now, but with the new maps. On average this would likely take 5-10 hours.

Disable Maps: We can disable the Google maps which should on average only take a programmer 1 hour to find all the spots and disable.

Older than 4.0 what can you do?

For sites older than 4.0 there is really no standard estimate. Your sites are many years old and have been due for an upgrade for just as long. My personal recommendation here (if you are not highly custom) is to just upgrade to whole new site (and framework) because likely both your site and your backend need updating anyways.

I will not charge any customers (1.0 through 4.x) for a "brand new install" of whatever non custom product they are using (which includes 4.2 and fixed maps) you will only need to cover the cost of labor to get it running. For example if your old website is a template with IDX we will give you a new 4.2 template + IDX with no setup fees. If your old website is an LEC 2009 we will give you a new LEC 2009 with no setup fees etc

The labor costs going this route: The only things you REALLY need REW for is to integrate your logo (1 hour) do a bit of IDX compliance on your new site (1 hour) and if you hae a lot of users on saved searches, you might want to have us recreate those for you in the new system (2-3) hours. So you could have a brand new site for less than the cost of an upgrade

The options below are things that can be done by yourself or ordered through REW (for billalbe time) depending on whether you want to save $ or not.

Content transfer - you could do your own content transfer (copy paste) which will reduce the time spent on the upgrade.
Snippet recreation - you can also recreate your own snippets saving even more $
Lead transfer (basic) - this is free anyways (we do it as part of the site live)

For large custom sites that do not want to upgrade (because it's not cost effective) and are unwilling to replace their sites:

The only solution here is to apply what is referred to as a "hot fix" - basically this is having someone from the REW team go through every bit of code that involves mapping and try to hack it to work with version 3. It can be done, but each site will be different in terms of how long it takes.

How to order your upgrade:

You need to send a request to sales@realestatewebmasters.com requesting an estimate for your upgrade. We will provide it as quickly as possible and we will need you to approve the estimate in order to get you into our production queue. The faster you approve the project, the faster we can get you going.

OR

You can send an email to sales@realestatewebmasters.com stating you approve the upgrade "whatever it takes" - please be advised, in doing so you are waiving your ability to dispute any balances owing. We of course will be as diligent with "whatever it takes" projects as we would be with those where estimates have been provided.

Hours booked for upgrading to 4.2 will receive a discount of $25 per hour off of the standard retail price.

NO CUSTOMIZATIONS MAY BE REQUESTED DURING THIS PERIOD

For those of you who could not possibly upgrade your site to 4.2 in a timely manner (because of how custom your site is) the alternative is to approve the team to "patch" your version 2 maps to version 3. However please be advised, this has never been attempted and may be quite time consuming / costly.

Time is of the essence:
Although some upgrades might only take 2-4 hours (4.1 to 4.2 with no customizations for example) others might take 20-30 hours (extremely custom sites) and this change will potentially effect over 1000 websites, so waiting will mean you are at the back of a very long queue and we might not be able to complete your project before the switch over.

LEC 2013 mockups now available! (And there are some awesome deals below)

At the end of this month, we will be launching our LEC 2013 (limited edition custom) pre-sale (REW Summit attendees get early access). Mockups are ready to go, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and we have already sold 30 markets prior to even announcing the mockup officially. If you want an LEC 2013 and your are in a popular market - you need to act fast or it will be gone.

Would you like to see it?

You can view a sneak peak right here - awesome, I know right?! :) - LEC 2013 is scheduled to have all markup completed by June 2013 (just a few months away, this is a pre-sale)

Update - REW LEC 2013 is ahead of schedule, we hope to have a working model for testing by the end of the REW Summit this month. I am brining Michael, Phil and Andy from the R & D team to make this happen.

And how about some LEC 2013 highlights?

LEC 2013 is a fully responsive design (adapt to all major devices including iphone, ipad, samsung etc).
The design is "market exclusive - if you buy in your major city, you lock out the competition (you will be the only one to have it).
It comes with the newest (not even released) REW 4.3 backend - (highlights below)
Map search improvements - I am working on a new map search interface for the IDX - LEC 2013 will be the first to showcase this.

Some more highlights?

• Lender integration - comes with the ability to integrate with your lenders, share marketing expenses and access to leads for a zero base / cost on the platform (Already done!)
• ISA module (inside sales associate) also knows as the lead coordinator module
• Mobile lead management - lead assignment and management via the CRM on the go!
• Mobile IDX - provide your visitors with access any time, anywhere - some really cool tools.
• Coming soon listings! - Show off your listings before they hit the market / MLS - used as a great listings tool (we all want more listings right?)
• Agent roster module - Included!
• Integrated (SEO friendly IDX) - Included!
• Multi user, built-in blog - Included
• Quick search, featured listings, featured communities, testimonials, full CMS, full CRM - the list goes on and on - INCLUDED!!!

The bottom line folks - this is the most feature rich, current LEC we have ever produced and it is going to sell fast! Get yours today!

How can I order my new LEC before anyone else? (And get access to the other promotional discounts)

Well, if you are coming to the REW Summit - you can order right now! Some options are

• Post a comment right here in my blog (I want the LEC!) and we'll get you an invoice (remember it is first come first served and it's actual payment that counts)
• Email billing@ or sales@ realestatewebmasters.com - "I want to be invoiced for the LEC 2013" (existing customers)
• Email your favorite sales person: Patrick, Niki, Allison, Courtney, Jeff, or Myself
• Call in 9-5 Monday to Friday PST - (Toll free) 1-877-753-9893 or 1-250-753-9893 locally.

For those of you not coming to the summit Promotion starts: Friday, March 29th, 2013 -

Again - anyone attending the REW Summit can have access to LEC 2013 AND the promotion below right now!

So what is this promotion all about? Show me the deals!

The promotion offers discounts on all responsive LEC's with the exception of LEC 2013 - (so 2010 through 2012) you can find LEC pricing below. Also during this promotion we have discounts on our new premium templates, our fixed cost products, our IDX's templates and more! Here are the items on sale:

Fixed Price Products:
25% off all modules
60% off IDX

LEC Pricing (all LEC's are now responsive):
2013 $10,000
2012 $7500
2011 $6500
2010 $5000
Plus applicable hosting / MLS fees.

Premium Templates:
$3500 this will include a FREE Upgrade to responsive design once ready.
***Note***
Clients must NOT customize their PT prior to the responsive launch or we will not be able to offer them the free upgrade.

Special Template Package Deal:
Template, IDX and Quick search $999 (~70% off retail)

Additional Discounts for Summit clients only
Additional 10% off upgrade modules
All custom labor booked "prior" to promotions end receives a $25 per hour discount from retail labor price (note these discounts must be claimed by actually attending the event)

Some amazing websites are being retired (saying goodbye to LEC 2008 and 2009)

LEC 2008 is probably my favorite LEC of all time. Why? Because it was the very first production LEC I created, and it launched a whole new movement of quality across the entire real estate space. I have seen it work wonders ever since for our customers and I have seen some folks do some great customizations to it and make it their own. Examples http://www.markzproperties.com and http://www.mckinneyhomerebate.com - A testament to this site is the fact they over 5 years later, they are still live and productive. Sadly though, it is time we retired this design. As great as it looks STILL - it does not lend itself well to new technologies and browsers (it can't be made responsive, and does not render / function well on things like ipads designed "after" it was released. Could it last a few more years as a purely PC based site - yes. But for REW, we need to maintain the highest standard, and so I am retiring it. Those of you with LEC 2008 should seriously consider upgrading your sites during this promotion or very soon.

LEC 2009 he very first "pure search LEC" - removed the focus from the old school slideshows, pretty pictures (that sold realtors on buying the site more than it sold users on real estate) - again an instant classic. Again being retired. Examples http://www.nashvillesmls.com and http://www.waterfront-properties.com I am sad to see it go :-(

But progress must be made! Responsive / feature rich / mobile / fast! Those are characteristics of the new "best of breed" real estate website, and of course - as we have done for nearly a decade - RealEstateWebmasters.com is leading the pack.

Rules / terms of this promotion:

*** LEC's are on a first come, first served basis. You must pay in full (unless you have negotiated a payment plan with your sales person) in order to reserve your site.
*** LEC 2013 purchases are non refundable as you are removing our ability to sell during peak season in that market.
*** Labor discounts for summit: must pay regular rate, difference will be applied as a credit on account once attendance at summit has been confirmed.

If you have questions - please let me know below in the comment box (they might not show up right away if you aren't logged into your blog, please only post once, I will approve each day by the end of the day)

Thank you as always for supporting Real Estate Webmasters.

We have tons of new upgrades / features rolling out including the 4.2 REW backend, LEC2011 (LEC6) responsive retrofit, premium templates and much much more! This promotion is also the only time in recent memory that our SEO / SEM services will be a part of the promotion. So if you are planning on making 2013 the year that increases your leads and conversions to make more money (and work less) than ever before - start your year off right with products and upgrades from Real Estate Webmasters.

Want good karma? Share with friends (PS I will add extra deals if we get to 1000 shares!).

How about some details? You got it!

• All fixed cost items are 50% off
• Responsive LEC's (2010, 2011, 2012) $2500 off
• LEC's 2008, 2009 $5000 off
• REW Standard templates 100% off (just pay the hosting)
• New premium templates 50% off!
• PPC setup FREE with minimum 1 month management (no commitment or contracts)
• Custom labor $25 off PER HOUR!
• And finally SEO packages - purchase 3 months and get the 4th month free (6 months SEO gives you another free $5000 SEO work)

Promotion will start today and end 12 business days from now which is Friday December 14th

I leaked the promo already to REW Summit attendees just this week on my Facebook and we have already received tons of orders. So please don't wait as we handle orders on a first come first served basis and custom hours are limited.

There are a few quick rules for this promo:

#1: Promotions apply to new work only
#2: Orders must be received and paid in full by Friday, December 14th at 4 PM (12 business days of XMAS :))
#3: Existing balances must be paid off (excluding authorized payment plans) prior to purchasing new work.

What are you talking about? 4.2? Premium templates? A responsive 2011? WHAT!!!

Have questions? We have answers!

The sales team will be patrolling this blog for comments and we will provide answers to any questions you have daily throughout this promotion. Also feel free to contact your assigned sales person directly (but do come here first as your question may already be answered and sales will be smoking busy). Don't know who your sales person is? Feel free to email sales@realestatewebmasters.com for answers, or call our toll free number at 1-877-753-9893 and request to speak to sales and you will be routed to the next available rep.

Please post your questions, comments and orders below in the comments section and we will be right back to you. Please keep in mind, if you are logged into your REW blog account, your comment will post immediately; however if you aren't logged in, your comment will be saved for review, but won't be posted until we review it so please either create / sign into your REW Blog account (it's free) or don't worry, your comment (and answers) will be approved within 12 hours - no need to post again.

Happy Holidays everyone - we look forward to working with you towards your best Real Estate Sales year EVER!

Morgan Carey, CEO
Real Estate Webmasters

We covered a lot of ground at the summit including:

• PPC management
• Search engine optimization
• Lead follow up
• Web performance optimization (WPO)
• REW backend systems
• New REW products

What stood out the most? Closing more deals!!!!

Many of the sold out crowd were very experienced REW users, with quite large databases of leads, great traffic, and quite a few had large teams or even larger brokerages. A challenge they all shared (and every reader of this blog shares) is closing more of the right kinds of deals from the leads we already have. We need to improve our follow up systems as sales people and REW's backend needs to evolve with these improved systems in order to help agents using our backend to maximize their closings, and help our brokers stay on top of agents, holding them accountable to the system, and providing better tracking and training opportunities.

4.2 Feature add-ons and Launch

During the summit we demo'd the REW 4.2 backend and many of the new features. During the presentation we also received many great suggestions for future releases, however due to the fact that many of them are quite easy to conceptualize and incorporate, I have decided to delay the launch of 4.2 until the end of October so that I can sneak into 4.2 many of these requests that would have otherwise had to wait for future version releases.

Some of the feature requests I am "hoping" to get done:

• When a saved search is manually created or edited by a lead, there should be an option (checkbox) to have the agent assigned emailed with the details so they can follow up. Saving a search is a lead quality signal in our scoring system and is worth notification.
• Ability to edit or delete call notes. (Currently you can only add them)
• Give agents the ability to delete leads (only admins can currently) but have this option turned "off" by default
• Turn "require password" off for users by default on install (most of our members don't feel users need a password to create an account, it's just one more thing for them to forget.
• A next and previous button for leads while in the details screen (IDX)
• A single click ability to turn a recent search (via the backend) into a saved search for your users. (Notification will need to go out to the user that you have done so, and they will have to accept it, similar to autogenerated searches.)
• Copy an IDX snippet as a starting point for a new snippet
• Automatically import brokerage listings into CMS listings manager (by broker ID)
• Rewrite URL's for "manual" listings so they are more like IDX listing URL's
• Show originating keywords on "summary" page of leads instead of having to go to the visits tab
• Have a new lead flag for "Paid" vs. "Organic" on main screen
• New settings panel: "I want to be CC'd on" with checkboxes for each things we allow you to be CC'd on.
• Lead messages pop up (front end) - leave a message for your lead in the messages section and have it pop up a notification when the lead returns
• Address form autoresponders so they go to assigned agent (they currently come from super admin)
• Checkbox in settings to have "auto unassigned" simply go back to super admin, and not get reassigned automatically
• If email is changed on "bounced" emails (you probably manually fixed a typo) allow the lead to be re-subscribed
• More data in the "lead notification" email (recent properties, full contact info, last search etc.)
• Single click from email to login directly to lead details page for that lead
• Text option for lead details (same single click to lead details from mobile)
• Bulk unassign leads from groups.

Please note that there are literally hundreds of other suggestions and improvements that we have received and many of those are still in the design stage for future releases (this list is not exhaustive) so if you don't see your suggestion posted here, it may still show up in future releases. We of course need to cut each round of R&D off at some point so that we can launch a new version for our great customers.

Also note: Not listed here are any / all of the improvements ALREADY in 4.2 (such as social connect registration, who's online and many other features demo'd at the Summit).

Estimates for 4.2: We are NOT estimating upgrades to 4.2 until it is complete however, you may email sales@realestatewebmasters.com to get your name on the list for estimates to upgrade. **REW Summit attendees are "first in line" for upgrades. If you attended the summit, Allison will include an invitation to get your name on the priority list when she sends out her thank you letter.

New REW Products:

On top of the major improvements to the backend / 4.2 system we are also working hard on new products. Some of these things are already in production / nearly complete and others are newly formed ideas that we had the opportunity to brainstorm at the Summit (see how much you miss if you don't attend the Summit? ;-)

Here are the projects that have been approved as priorities after our focus group:

1-3 months

• Native IOS APP (iPhone): Our customers universally agreed that having a "native app" in addition to our already full featured "web based" mobile app was desired. Andy and I went over specs for this yesterday; we bought some new Mac hardware (yeah pro with retina display!) and we have already started building the app. I hope to have something to offer folks by Christmas. Version 1.0 will be very similar to our existing web based app in terms of functionality, but with IOS native controls. We will post for feedback (and likely sneak in some improvements) and from there we hope to launch a full time arm of our R&D department dedicated to mobile / tablet based technologies.
• Single Property Websites: I have already been working on this product with one of our high end brokers Surterre Properties and we should have a demo of the first skins / styles again before Christmas.
• Premium Templates: Somewhere between a fully loaded template and an LEC there is room for new products. We have already beta tested these sites in some test markets and response is very positive; look for an official announcement on premium templates with lower than LEC setup fees, and optional no setup fee with PPC management options. (These are available now.)
• Open House Module: Create, Edit and Delete open house information via the new Open House module. Includes snippet for page creation and works in conjunction with the IDX listings import.
• Navigation Panel Control (new products only): New REW products will launch with the ability to turn on and off elements of your navigation such as left sidebar, right sidebar, footer, all etc - you can use this feature with upgraded websites but must mention you want these templates developed as part of your upgrade.
• New iframed IDX: Not only are there new designs available - our iframed product will now be available as a "broker model" with multi user lead management and the brand new 4.2 backend.

3-6 months

• More responsive products: LEC 2012 is already fully responsive (the first and ONLY fully responsive website / IDX product in our industry). Within 3 months LEC 2011 and 2010 will have responsive versions available and within 6 months there will be several other responsive options.
• Intelligent lead assignment: Allows brokers to custom tailor the "kinds" of leads assigned to agents based on a number or criteria.
• Lifestyle Listings Search: Partnering with onboard informatics, we have access to their proprietary "lifestyle listings data" - they have asked us to create an affordable "per website" module that ties into our IDX product.
• Optimize your own IDX: Access the entire normalized data sets and create custom titles, meta data, file rewrites and more.
• Improved Lead Scoring: Additions to the REW proprietary lead scoring system takes into account many more action items when sorting and scoring leads.
• Agent Scoring System: Broker centric lead scoring system (similar to our existing system) allows agents to be rated based on performance and required actions in the system.
• Mortgage Lending Integration: Many of our brokers partner with lenders and would like a separate module to allow lender lead access.

6-12 months

• REW Chat: Fully integrated consumer facing chat system including logging data to lead manager.
• Multi Site Backend: Feeds normalized lead data from multiple sites into REWLeads.com for more powerful data collection.
• Multi Language System: CMS specific integration for multilingual sites.

Addressing bandwidth (available labour):

REW is quite large (nearly 50 developers and support staff) but even so, our demand currently exceeds our supply when it comes to filling the hundreds of custom requests we get every month. Our problem is available space - we literally have not been able to add developers due to the fact that our existing facility is jam packed with talent. To address this I am pleased to announce that our interim facility is slated to be completed in just 1 month (November 1st, 2012) and will allow us to seat another 24 skilled and creative team members. It will take a month or two to get new hires up to speed, but come 2013 I promise there will be much less of a wait time to get projects into the queue, and faster completion on projects.

You said interim?

Yes I did: I wanted to get more staff in here quickly so I bought a "second" building, however the real REW Expansion is a much larger project and we have been working since the beginning of 2012 to design and build what will become REW's consolidated final facility by Jan 1, 2014. This facility is 15,000 square feet in the heart of the downtown core and should allow us to expand at a much faster pace as needed for the future and attract an unlimited amount of new talent. I am very excited to be able to take on this project, and it is because of the continued support and patronage of all of you, our amazing REW customers (our partners in this) that we are able to continue to improve our staff and products for the benefit of us all.

NEW REW HQ 2014

So I will end with a THANK YOU! Thank you to all REW customers, and a special thank you to all of you who made it out to Miami for the REW Summit - you are the trailblazers and you are genuinely appreciated. We hope you feel listened to and valued (because you are) and I am glad you are a part of what we do.

What is the REW Summit?
For those of you new to Real Estate Webmasters, the REW Summit is an event we hold over two days, focusing on advanced education for our existing / potential customers and providing an amazing networking / sharing opportunity for those agents / brokers and vendors looking to gain a competitive edge on the web.

Our classes (listed below) typically focus on several key areas universally important to our customer base. These areas include search engine marketing (SEO / SEM / PPC), lead management, social media, and of course Real Estate Webmasters products & technology training.

It is also an opportunity to help build the next versions of our products. The last session is typically ablaze with commentary, questions, suggestions, and brainstorming all focused on how to improve our already amazing CRM tools & back office technology.

And then we let it all hang out!
Let's be honest, I don't pick locations like Las Vegas & Miami Beach simply because they are convenient to get to; I pick them because I know that my customers also want to have a little down time after all of the learning, sharing & improving their business. So this year, the after party will be at the penthouse of the W Hotel from 8-11 after which many of us will be taking the weekend to enjoy South Beach with our loved ones on a mini vacation (which of course is a complete tax writeoff :-)

Who should attend?
Realtors (agents & brokers) who desire to improve their systems & generate more leads & more closings. Often, our larger brokerage clients also bring their back office teams (tech people, marketing dept, consultants etc.) so that they can make the most of their salaried employees and build efficiencies within their teams and companies.

The goal is really two-fold: 1) to educate our customer base so that they can make informed decisions for their business & participate in a more productive / efficient way, and 2) to increase the ROI from every dollar or hour spent on internet activities.

How to attend
We only have 100 seats available for this event and they are on a first come, first served basis. To order your tickets & reserve your spot, just use this form: or if you are an existing REW customer you can also email billing@realestatewebmasters.com and request that they bill your account for the number of tickets you would like.

Tickets are $499 USD per person and include access to both days' classes, professionally catered lunches & access to the exclusive REW event (drinks on us!).

Here are the details:
Link to order form: http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/docs/credit-card-auth-form-rew-summit-2012-miami-beach-fl.pdf

Venue: Miami Beach Convention Center
Dates: Sept 20th-21st

Schedule:
Thursday, September 20th
10:00 11:15 First class: SEO, Post-Penguin (Morgan Carey)
11:30 1:30 Lunch
1:30 2:45 Second class: Lead Conversion (Eric Blackwell)
2:45 4:00 Third class & breakout session (share your best!) (Allison Bauman)

Friday, September 21st
10:00 11:15 First class: PPC (Kim Krieger)
11:30 1:30 Lunch
1:30 2:45 Second class: Code Optimization, Speed and Rankings (Anthony Hatzopoulos) (advanced)
2:45 4:00 third class 4.2 Lead management system (Michael Griffiths) (also suggestions and feedback)
8:00pm 11:00pm Hotel event at the W Hotel, Southbeach.

If you have questions, by all means post them in the comments box below - I will follow up to approve & answer them shortly. Thank you very much for your continued support, I look forward to seeing you in South Beach.

Cheers

Here are some basics:

Q: Who is Real Estate Webmasters?
A: Real Estate Webmasters is one of the largest "custom" real estate website vendors in the world. We are a Canadian company, based out of British Columbia.

Q: REW and CIR?
A: Real Estate Webmasters and CIR Realty have been working together for many years in a preferred vendor relationship to offer the very high end technology to CIR agents at a much lower cost than retail due to the relationship developed between our two firms, and the fantastic support we have received from Lindsey and the folks at CIR.

Q: What is new? What has changed?
A: In the past version of our agreement, agents were limited to only a few exclusive selections of template designs and one core platform to access special pricing. This new agreement will offer agents access to ALL REW Templates and provide a significant discount on any add-ons and residual hosting cost. More importantly, the platform will now join the REW Core fold and have the latest and greatest tools and features such as the REW 4.1 lead management system, mobile IDX technologies and much, much more.

Q: Who is coming? What are you presenting?
A: I (Morgan Carey) will be coming personally to present at CIR. I am the CEO and director of new technologies at REW. My good friend Justin Havre has been gracious enough to allow me to show off some of the work and results we have acheived through that work, and in addition I will be going over the product options, providing a tour of the new backend and answering any questions CIR agents may have. I anticipate many agents will want to know how they can generate more leads from their websites via search engines, pay per click and social media and even more hopefully will want to know how they can use a system such as ours to cultivate these leads into deals once they have been captured. It will be a lot of fun.

Q: How much?
A: Retail for a website and integrated IDX such as this is $3000 USD setup, and $80 per month. Due to CIR's participation in the REW Exclusive Program, CIR agents attending will receive a 100% discount on template and IDX setup (that's right, you pay zero dollars for setup) and instead of the $80 in monthly combined IDX / hosting / website fees - you pay only $50 per month. As an additional bonus any "add on" modules CIR agents wish to access are 50% off, and if SAAS fees are paid yearly (instead of the $50 per month, which is $600 per year) your yearly cost is discounted an additional $100 so you pay only $500 per year.

Q: How can I order?
A: I will have order forms with me at the presentation on Friday including credit card authorization forms. Agents ordering directly at the presentation will be entered into a draw to win their hosting / SAAS fees free for 1 year + $1000 in additional add on modules at no extra cost. So please make it to the presenation if you can. If you can't - Lindsey will have a flyer to distribute that has instructions on how to access our sales dept, or you can always email billing@ realestatewebmasters.com and tell them you are an agent looking to access pricing for the REW Exclusive program through CIR.

Q: I have other questions, where do I get answers?
A: Come to the presentation on Friday of course! However prior to Friday you can post directly below in the comments section, I will approve your questions and then provide the answers inline.

I look forward to meeting you all, and again thank you to Lindsey Smith and especially Justin Havre for helping to put this together for us.

Looks like it's time for our first promotion of 2012 and as per usual, this promotion is in conjunction with a very exciting new product announcement.

What is the new product, you ask? LEC 2012

LEC 2012 (Limited Edition Custom) is the newest high end regional exclusive launch from Real Estate Webmasters. Previous versions have been called LEC 2, LEC 3 etc., however for this year, we have decided to change the name to better reflect the nature of this product and help users understand the difference between a version 2, let's say, and a version 7. Version 7 (now called 2012) is this year's model and reflects all the latest techniques and technologies available in web design, and takes into account new adoptions such as new browsers (IE 9, Chrome) and of course further addresses the rise of mobile devices (including iPads).

This promotion is a "pre-sale" for LEC 2012 (like we have done in past years). We are at the point now where we have directional mockups approved and the concept and code is already in production. I anticipate the availability for install of this product to be early-to-mid June, but as many of you know (because you have missed purchasing previous years' LEC's), these products sell out very quickly, especially in our most competitive markets. This is due to the nature of this product — we ONLY SELL ONE PER MAJOR CITY — so if you have missed out in past years, be sure to post your order right away, or it may be gone. In fact, we leaked news of this design to certain circles and we have already sold 13 markets at full retail price. I have posted a mockup below to allow you to preview the new site concept (please note, this is a directional mockup only, final product may differ slightly).

Other than a smoking hot design, the latest and greatest REW technology (including REW 4.2, which has not even been announced) what makes LEC 2012 special?

Two words: Responsive Design

What is responsive design, you ask? Responsive design is the process of creating a flexible framework that allows your website to adapt to the device it is being viewed on. This means if you are on a PC with large monitors, you are provided with the best viewing experience for that monitor. Go down to the resolution of an iPad and your iPad automatically renders the site correctly when horizontal, while still maintaining a decent font size, etc. - but what? You want to turn your iPad vertically? All of a sudden iPad tries to compensate again, and you are left with font too small to read and have to zoom in to continue your experience. Responsive design will change this by actually serving a different style sheet (modified design, same content) to the vertical iPad vs. the horizontal. Want to send that link from iPad to your phone to show someone in the car? Once again, the design will adapt and optimize itself for smart phone consumption. It's quite revolutionary and we are proud to be the first large real estate vendor to offer it standard in a product. The graphic below should provide a good visual reference:

This is not to say that your option for LEC 2008 (formerly LEC 2), for example, is a bad investment. They are still amazingly high quality offerings and far superior to other products available on the market today. In fact, from a technologies perspective, LEC's are retrofitted (if new purchase) with technology of today in terms of "what's under the hood". Think of it kind of like a car (a really high end car like a Mercedes SLS class) — if you have a 2008 SLS, you pretty much have the highest end car in your town. However, it might not have the iPod docking feature (or responsive design) of the 2012 SLS (but it still has the same engine and performance). That is kind of how the LEC's work and for reason of simplified explanation, we have decided to change their names. Make sense?

So what's the promo? I want a deal!

During this promotion, we are going to be selling LEC's at a graded rate based on their age.

• LEC 2012 retail $10,000 USD (*note: customers upgrading are eligible for a special discount, see below)
• LEC 2011 (formerly LEC 6) $9,000
• LEC 2010 (formerly LEC 5) $7000
• LEC 2009 (formerly LEC 4) $6000
• LEC 2008 (formerly LEC 2) $5000

For existing LEC customers "upgrading" to LEC 2012, a discount of 20% off the "current promotional rate" will be applied to your purchase of a new LEC 2012. In exchange, you must hand in your existing LEC and allow us to make that version available in your market area. For example, LEC 2008 upgrading to LEC 2012 would get a discount of $1000 off the purchase price, and would give up their rights to 2008 as a trade-in.

Again remember, even the 2008 LEC will be equipped with our newest "under the hood" features such as mobile lead management, mobile IDX, 4.1 CRM technologies and many other great features of newer versions. No matter which version you choose, you cannot go wrong with an LEC product. Please remember, we only sell 1 LEC version per major city, and it is a first-come, first-served process (we must receive payment to reserve your spot). Every time we run an LEC promotion we have multiple orders in many cities, and many customers who aren't quick to make payment miss out on their LEC and end up having to wait another year — don't be that person this year!

In addition to the LEC offerings above, we are also offering the following discounted rates:

• 25% off all "fixed cost" upgrades from our upgrades menu (new or existing customers)
• 50% off the setup on our newest "built-in" SEO spiderable IDX platform
• 100% off the setup fees on our template-based websites

*Standard hosting rates apply

There are a few conditions to this promotion:

• Orders for LEC's (in order to guarantee your area) must be paid for based on the terms negotiated
• New orders cannot be placed if existing balances are past due
• Orders must be placed by April 15th 2012

If you have questions about the new offerings or other items on this promotion, please post in the comments below, or contact your favourite salesperson.

Numbers for sales:
1-250-753-9893 local 1-877-753-9893 toll free
Current sales people (reminder of who you may be working with):

Niki Techen (product consultant) niki@realestatwebmasters.com
Patrick Phillips (product consultant) patrick@realestatewebmasters.com
James Huck (product consultant) james@realestatewebmasters.com
Allison Bauman (sales manager) allison@realestatewebmasters.com
You can also reach our decentralized sales by email at sales@realestatewebmasters.com

I will be answering product-type questions via this blog so that everyone can benefit from the answers — if you have a question, by all means let me know below.
Cheers
Morgan Carey

Amazing Deals Below! (Free templates, discounts on labor and more!)

• $25 discount on all pre-paid custom labor hours
• 25% discount on any items from our upgrades menu, including LEC's
• $2500 discount on the setup of all LEC versions 2-6 (limit one per market area)
• $1250 discount on integrated IDX 4.1 (our newest, most search engine friendly platform to date)
• Free template setup! 100% discount on any new 4.1 template setup (that's right, free setup! you pay the hosting applies to new hosted accounts only*)
  *This means that the template cannot be replacing an existing REW site. Template "upgrades" do qualify for the 25% products discount, however.

Promotion will start today, Friday December 9th and end Wednesday, December 21st

IMPORTANT! - Tax savings / promo invoicing: Our sales / billing office "may be closed" between December 24th and the new year (they are optional days) - so if you need to be invoiced for anything before the new year for tax purposes please ensure you have requested to be invoiced and made payment no later than December 23rd. All "new" installs will be on the brand new 4.1 platform which does not get released until mid January - orders placed now will go into the queue immediately but should not be expected to begin until 4.1 is launched (your project still gets queued up in a first come first served manner as with all REW production).

Terms and conditions for this promotion:

Payments must be received by 4PM pst on December 21st

Previous outstanding balances must be paid prior to ordering new work, including promotional hours and new websites (with the exception of those on an agreed-upon payment plan in good standing).

Hours and orders can be applied to "new work only" - you cannot apply hours to previously ordered labor or products.

Who: Real Estate Webmasters's most elite customers, new customers and prospects as well as REW staff, R&D team, and special guest presenters.

When: November 16th & 17th, 2011

Where: Palms Resort & Casino, 4321 West Flamingo Road

What: 2 amazing days of networking, classes on internet marketing, REW technology & the launch of the new mobile lead management as well as 4.1 features.

Why: Because we believe in supporting our customers and the power of face time / networking. We also believe that in building our systems and technology, it should be in response to demonstrated need as well as fostered discussion between clients, industry experts and our developers. Oh yeah, and it's a writeoff trip to VEGAS!

Benefits for attending:

• First in line for the November 4.1 augmentation of your existing 4.0 backend (this is a free upgrade outside of any customizations *summit attendees only)
• First in line for the new 4.1 mobile lead manager application
• Invaluable education in search marketing and conversion
• Amazing networking opportunity
• Gourmet breakfast and lunch
• Writeoff mini vacation to Las Vegas!
• First access to the next REW promotion (get ahead of the pack and in the front of the production queue)

The format:

November 16th
8:00 AM to 9:30 - Breakfast
9:30 AM to 10:45 - Class 1 - Search Engine Optimization Recap / Advanced (Morgan Carey)
10:45 AM to Noon - Class 2 - Social Media / Links (Eric Blackwell)
Noon to 1:30 PM - Lunch
1:45 to 3:00 - Class 3 - Advanced IDX modification & other duplicate destroyers post-Panda (Morgan Carey)

November 17th
8:00 AM to 9:30 - Breakfast
9:30 AM to 10:45 - Class 4 (Eric Blackwell)
10:45 AM to Noon - Class 5 4.1 Walkthrough - I will take REW users through the new 4.1 release and explain all the features as well as make recommendations on their use. (Morgan Carey)
Noon to 1:30 PM Lunch
1:45 to 3:30 - 4.1 CRM discussion / feedback & development session: (Morgan Carey)
7:00-bedtime (whenever that is) After party at Morgan's! Mingle and have a great time in the Fantasy Tower Sky Villa with the REW Crew and our best, brightest (and most fun) clients.

Room rates: (assuming 25+ rooms) approx $79-99 plus applicable service fees (booked and paid by attendee)
Group name Real Estate Webmasters or the reference number CAWEB11. The phone number is 702-942-7064 or 866-942-7770. to book your rooms

Summit Tickets are only $499 per person - limit 100 (covers attendence, access to after party AND breakfast and lunch both days)

To purchase your tickets please fill out this form and fax back to 250-753-7209 - or email your request to be invoiced to billing@realestatewebmasters.com

I will be coming to Las Vegas early, Monday November 14th & staying right though to Sunday November 20th and will be available for 30 minute to 1 hour consulting sessions several times all week. Come have lunch with me, and let's make a plan to take your project and more importantly your business to the next level.