The new “hub” of your appraisal business

Appraiser websites have a bad reputation. Some of you say, "I don't need to advertise," or "it won't help my business," or "I don't have time to mess with a website." And many of you have been burned by someone else's expensive website that didn't actually "do anything."

We're changing all of that. With our new Appraiser XSites, you'll have a tool that's more than a website and just as vital as your formfilling software. Just as digital cameras and EDI changed the way you do business, so will XSites. In fact, your XSite will become the new "hub" or your business.

XSites' new "My Office" area is your dashboard to run a more efficient business. It puts all of our timesaving tools at your fingertips. From there, you can build your site in about 15 minutes and make it complete with online ordering and credit card processing.

You'll log into your XSite daily to manage tasks like order tracking and client communication. It integrates seamlessly with other products like WinTOTAL so formfilling is done faster. Your website is now more than just an online yellow page ad. Now your website works for you, boosting your efficiency. It "does something." Actually, it does a lot of things.

Your clients find you through your XSite, type in subject property information and place an order for an appraisal report. You download the information into WinTOTAL, and every step of the way, status is relayed to your XSite which in turn keeps your clients notified through email and mobile notifications and daily status reports - inspection appointment made, inspection completed, report completed. The completed report is delivered through a secure area of your XSite.

You manage your many orders in their various stages through the XSite Order Manager, the next generation of Mercury Desktop. It's a snap to learn, and you are able to receive online orders from your XSite's order form. Your existing customers will love the convenience and confidence from placing orders on your site and receiving status messages. Custom delivery plugins for major lenders and management companies reduce the amount of phone tag by making sure your reports conform to your client's review guidelines before they're ever transmitted. Specialized delivery plugins like sure receipts avoid the pitfalls of sending appraisal reports as attachments and give you instant notification when a client receives your report.

Imagine a whole range of mobile tools integrated into WinTOTAL and your Enterprise level XSite. Subject property data, such as flood determinations and location maps, are available in the field. WinTOTAL Aurora comps information from your comps database is available in the field, too, when that's released. All of this information at your fingertips is organized, analyzed and uploaded into WinTOTAL with little or no rekeying once you're back in your office. You can check for new orders, send status reports to your clients, check your e-mail, schedule appointments and more, all in the field.

You receive payment via credit card, either on your Enterprise-level XSite when your client places an order, or at the door with a mobile device if the order is C.O.D. Merchant account application fees are included with your Enterprise XSite, and applying couldn't be easier. Once you have an account, no more worrying about bad checks or non payments.

This is all coming true in the coming weeks. In response to strong customer demand, we're making different levels of XSites available, to accommodate the different needs of our appraiser customers. Everyone who owns an XSite now gets a Professional level XSite for free. You may upgrade to Enterprise level. Customers who have taken advnatage of our Elite bundle get an Enterprise level XSite for free. Appraisers who are new to online business generation and management and who want to get their feet wet can opt for a Standard XSite, which includes XSites Order Manager, themes to choose from, client logins, report delivery and 24/7 support.

Professional and Enterprise users get detailed, intuitive contact and schedule management tools. Place pre-built lead capture forms ("Contact Me") on any page of your website with just a click. When a prospect submits their information, it's automatically added to your new CertMail contacts database. Your prospects receive an instant, customizable auto-responder message from you and the lead information is sent directly to your e-mail address. You get detailed web traffic statistics, so you can see who's finding you, how they got there and what pages are most popular on your site. And you'll have access to the new XSites User Forum, where you can exchange ideas, upload documents or "chat" with other appraisers that use XSites to help manage their business. Using the built-in search tool, you can search the forum for certain keywords and phrases and/or search a specified date range. You can also view an alphabetical listing of all the forum members.

And Enterprise XSites will also include multilingual content - hand translated, pre-written content pages for non-English speaking clients and customers. You get a Flash-based, color-coded, completely customizable service area map. Custom Flash intro creation, up to 17 mortgage calculators to complement the great pre-written content on every XSite, and a header animator are also Enterprise features users can get excited about.

Meanwhile your Appraiser XSite does everything you've learned a website should: It markets your services as a professional appraiser in your area. But it does that in more ways than simply "being there" to be happened upon by search engine users. With XSellerate marketing tools, your Enterprise XSite is a hub that helps you drum up business from current, past and potential clients and customers. E-mail campaigns are created and managed. Online brochures are created. You affirmatively take steps to draw clients and customers to your "public" office/storefront - your XSite. You don't just sit around and wait for them to find you on Google™.

You're busy and don't have time for "marketing" and "advertising." We've been working long and hard to make your Appraiser XSite the hub of your business. It's not - has never been - just an online brochure. It's how you work, communicate with clients, bring in new business, conduct the business you have efficiently and profitably.

Whichever level you choose, you'll never have looked so good to your clients. You'll never have been more productive and profitable. And your website will become more than the flag you plant on the Internet - it'll represent and function as the way you do business.

More exciting details are forthcoming in the next two weeks.