XSites

This just in: It’s tough being an appraiser in 2010. We all know why. The question is: How do you adapt? First, take a look at your business model. Click to view..

You inspected the property, gathered the data, and wrote a professional, first-rate report. You delivered that report on time, as promised. There’s just one thing missing: Your payment. Click to view..

Now that the XSites Desktop’s Energizer plugin is well established as an effective, proven means of creating a website that’s more search engine optimized, all I need to do is go down our list of XSites ranked by Energizer score to find some great sites. Click to view..

For years, we’ve told Appraisers to customize their XSite pages to get better search engine rankings. And for years, this approach has worked for appraisers who do it. Even so, may appraisers don’t believe they can effectively customize their content, so they don’t try. This spring, we’re introducing a solution to that problem. Click to view..

In the Appraiser XSite Wizard, there are dozens of pre-written pages you can add to your site. But which ones do your visitors really want to see? Click to view..

Your Appraiser XSite contains a powerful, easy-to-use statistics package that will tell you everything you need to know about your XSite’s performance. Click to view..

Though every appraiser with an XSite can be on the Mercury Network and tap into the flow of the tens of thousands of orders being placed per month, we still have some appraisers who haven’t turned on their profile, or haven’t filled it out completely. This is a critical oversight that could be costing you new income. Click to view..

Getting your website ranked highly in a search engine is a little like pasta sauce. There are many ingredients, but no exact quantities or formula for success, and even a less than perfect result will be better than nothing in the short term. It’s not as if the web is going away or that fewer people will be looking for appraisal services online in the future. So, let’s talk about what goes into making your website a success when it comes to search engines. Click to view..

This edition’s Appraiser XSite spotlight leads us to Alex Olmo of SunbeltAppraisal.org, a customer making all the right moves when it comes to web marketing and running a business. Alex’s site design is simple and inviting, yet rich in content that attracts search engines. Click to view..

Sites that had sent out an XSellerate campaign in the past 30 days received 3 times the hits than those that hadn’t and received 40% more leads. Click to view..

Too many appraisers mistake a website as a mere yellow pages ad or online billboard when the reality is a website should also play a key role in how you service your clients and run your business. Since we’re smack dab in the middle of our 23rd successful year in business, let’s point out 23 ways an XSite will help you be successful, too. Click to view..

It’s been my experience that originators look at the process of ordering, reviewing, and receiving appraisals as inefficient. The problem isn’t appraisers, however, who are on the leading edge of mortgage technology. Lenders don’t seem to take advantage of technology to decrease the inefficient, often manual, processes. Despite readily available technology, many originators and AMCs do it the hard way — fax or e-mail the appraiser an order, call daily for status, request the appraisal via e-mail and hope it gets to them, call again if it doesn’t, call again if there are questions about the report, and then manually type the information from the appraisal into the loan software. Later, if there’s a question and the originator can’t find the PDF, they call the appraiser again for a copy. Sound familiar? Click to view..

The release of XSites Desktop, featuring the Energizer plugin, has a lot of people looking at their XSites and seeing how they measure up. (For more details on the Energizer, see our article on XSites Desktop on page 6.) Our beta members were all comparing their scores and bragging about how they were able to boost them. So, it seems fitting this month to take an actual appraiser’s site and do a before and after — not just improving the XSite Energizer score, but boosting its appeal to search engines and website visitors. The objective here is to demonstrate simple things ordinary people can do to have a more effective site. In other words, we didn’t get our graphics department involved or recruit anyone for copy editing. Click to view..

In the April issue of AppraisalPress, we published, “Is Your Website Getting Orders? 3 Ways To Keep From Missing Out”. We wrote it for people that were about to give up on the web because they weren’t getting orders on their XSite. Click to view..

We just released the XSites Desktop, bringing many of the core XSites tools directly onto your PC. Before XSites Desktop, your XSite was like a coworker, but in another room or another building, so it wasn’t always convenient to seek her advice or help. With XSites desktop, it’s like she’s sitting at the desk right next to you. Click to view..

In the middle of a challenging market, appraiser Anthony Lamandre is htting some of his highest income levels ever. Anthony was kind enough to share his time and explain the tactics he's been using that have lead to his continued success. Click to view..

An appraiser’s website should be informative and educational. We’re happy to keep our customers from reinventing the wheel when it comes to things like an appraiser glossary, what different designations may mean, a home buyer checklist, etc. Our pre-built content is one of things customers tell us they like the most about XSites. Sometimes people start with our pages and customize them a little, and other times, what we’ve provided works just fine. Click to view..

A great blog goes a long way to increasing your non-lender business, boosting search engine rankings and establishing yourself as the real estate expert in your area. Here are five quick tips: Click to view..

I love it when a customer does something original with an XSite. It’s inspiring to see customers do things out of the box with their business and then extend that innovation onto the web. So, when we found Hillary Koester’s www.TaxAppealExpress.com, I knew we needed to spotlight her efforts. Click to view..

As the Appraiser XSites Product Manager, I often browse through customers’ sites and look for anything out of the ordinary or innovative. Recently, I came across www.PointerAppraisal.com, owned by Russell Kitzberger, and immediately noticed a lot of things they were doing right. Click to view..