[RonnieG]

The "beta" version of our new Colorado Metro Brokers franchise site, for which I was on the IT Steering Committee, finally went live on 1/8. re: http://www.ColoradoHomeStop.com. It has a long way to go yet, and is being released a little bit at a time, so as to not get penalized by Google for too many pages all at once. Before anyone mentions that "stop" has kind of a negative connotation, please note that our initial URL was to be http://www.ColoradoHomePlace.com, which is now 301'd to the final url, but we were overruled by our advertising committee, because of the stop sign that is our main logo, and is used in a lot of our other media advertising.

Our committee was pretty happy with the initial release, and Google indexed a few pages of the site within just a few days. However, I am interested in what this group thinks about the site, especially the map based home search and property details presentation. Franchise listings can be enhanced by the office or by the listing agent, to include multiple agent branded virtual tours, unlimited high res photos, and more descriptive information than what is available from the IDX feeds. Franchise listings are highlighted on the map display.

The final site will have IDX feeds from every Colorado MLS, and will also have agent sub-sites that will use the same search technologies, and will be somewhat agent customizable "template" sites that we will be able to assign our own domain names to and market as our own. I wouldn't do that as my main or sole web site, but as a supplement to my other sites. The agent back end includes integrated activity calendaring for the agent and for transactions, team scheduling, comprehensive prospect management/CRM, agent customizable drip email system, a company store for logo branded supplies and marketing materials, and team and office prospect and client management and performance tracking functions.

This site was custom built for us by a 3rd party vendor, so I have no personal interest or investment in the site, other than helping write the high level specs we submitted to multiple vendors for proposals and bids.