When we were planning to sell some office furniture before our move to the new vFlyer office this week, the first thing we did (of course) was create a flyer, fill it with photos of cubicles and swivel chairs, and post it to Craigslist. Craigslist, as many of you know, is the most popular classifieds website in the country, so it’s an obvious place to post this kind of flyer.

A few days after we posted it, we received an email from “craigslist.org” notifying us that our post had been flagged and removed. We had gotten a few spam emails previously from people who either claimed they wanted to buy our items but needed some personal information from us first, or that had nothing to do with the post at all. When I opened this email, however, I immediately thought that it was an authentic message from Craigslist. It referenced the post, after all, and had all the trappings of an official Craigslist email.

Upon closer inspection, though, I noticed that there was an option to remove the flag from the listing, which Craigslist doesn’t support (why would Craigslist allow people whose posts have been flagged to immediately re-post them?). Also, mousing over the links in this email showed URLs made to look like Craigslist links but that would actually go to a completely different website (“accounts.craigslist.org.user.authentication.login.atlanticaquasport.com” is NOT the same as “craigslist.org”). So, I immediately sent this email to my spam folder where it belongs. Done and done.

I’m relating this rather unremarkable story because so many vFlyer users post their flyers to Craigslist and probably receive these types of “phishing” emails. Here are some tips to remember when you receive an email related to a Craigslist post:

• Be skeptical. Craigslist doesn’t send people a lot of emails. If it’s not an email you were expecting (for instance, the self-publishing or post confirmation email), there’s a good chance it didn’t actually come from Craigslist.
• Don’t believe offers of protection from flagging or restoring a flagged post. They are fake.
• Look at the sender’s email address. The name may say “Craigslist”, but the email address could be a Gmail or AOL address, or an address of some other domain. Even if the email address ends in “craigslist.org”, don’t immediately assume that it’s from Craigslist.
• If there are links in the email, mouse over them without clicking so that you can see the URL (that is, the web address of the link). If the URL doesn’t look right, don’t click the link.
• NEVER give personal information such as your name, address, phone number, or social security number in an email to someone you don’t know.

For more information on avoiding email scams, take a look at this page from the National Consumers League’s Internet Fraud Watch.

In today’s market, building a strong online reputation is increasingly important. So many people begin their search for housing, cars, services, and other products on the web now that your web presence becomes as vital to your brand as the manner in which you conduct business.

The moment you sign up for a vFlyer account, you are instantly given a live, stand-alone website called an Account Profile. This page serves as your listing inventory, displaying links to all of your published vFlyer listings in real time and making it easier to cross-sell your listings to prospective customers. For many vFlyer users, the Account Profile becomes their website, and there are several things that users can do to optimize their Account Profiles:

• adding contact information, a photo, company logo, a description of the business, and (for business subscribers) links to external sites
• applying a custom theme to it (again, only for business subscribers). This is especially effective if you have a custom branded theme such as this one.
• adding search and sort functionality, which enables prospective customers to more easily find listings that fit their criteria
• mapping a domain name to it, made easy through our Domain Plus service

Your Account Profile is, by default, also integrated into your flyers through the “More Listings” or “View Other Flyers” link, another reason to make it look sharp.

So that’s the skinny on the Account Profile. If you want a more detailed tutorial on how to set it up, here’s a new video we added a couple weeks ago:

Setting Up Your Account Profile

If the past decade were a color, it would no doubt be green. Green is everywhere now: in supermarkets, on television, and of course in the auto industry. This week, we’re highlighting an awesome custom theme created by The Green Car Company, an innovative and environmentally responsible auto dealership located in Bellevue, Washington. The GCC specializes in diesel vehicles for biodiesel use, Volkswagen TDI vehicles, smart cars, bikes, and parts and service for eco-friendly cars. They also have one of the coolest dealership websites we’ve seen in a long time.

The GCC’s custom theme matches the branding on its website perfectly. I love their logo and the font they chose for the header text. Also, using different shades of green is a nice touch (and fitting!).

As I’ve said before, branding is key in online marketing. vFlyer’s Theme Editor provides an easy and effective way to incorporate your branding into your listings. Try creating your own branded theme today, or contact us and we can have our in-house designer create one for you.

In our Custom Theme of the Week series, we’ve mostly highlighted themes that have a very different look from the 15 or so standard themes we offer (usually because they match the branding of the company or individual). But what about those users who like the way our standard themes look but also want to add their branding to the theme? This week’s custom theme illustrates how this can be done. It comes to us from Jerry Jennings at Westgate Property Management in Nashville. Jerry’s custom theme looks very similar to our Carrot standard theme: same background, fonts, and colors for the most part, all of which can be achieved through the Theme Editor. It also displays a simple, elegant branded header with the Westgate logo and slogan, a nice integration of an attractive standard theme with the branding capabilities of a custom theme.

Jerry’s flyers also show high-resolution, well-staged photographs, an essential for excellent internet marketing of real estate and rental properties. The vFlyer online marketing service enables you to upload up to 26 photos per flyer, and the better the photos, the better the ad.

As always, keep those custom theme submissions coming. We love seeing all the great custom themes that our users have created. What a talented bunch!

Facebook just passed the 500 million users mark, so if you haven’t already done so, now’s the time to get social online. A Facebook Page is a quick way to create a social media presence for your business. We recently introduced a Listing Application for your profile or Page that allows vFlyer subscribers to easily display all of their listings on Facebook. Today I’d like to point out a nifty application that will allow you to show off an extra-special listing on your Facebook Page; it’s called Static FBML. Here’s an example of a listing posted to Facebook using Static FBML:

Here’s how it works:

Static FBML creates a new tab on your Page that accepts and renders HTML code. Once the application is installed, you’ll be able to post HTML code directly to your Facebook Page. To use this tool, go to the Static FBML Facebook Page and click the “Add to My Page” link to install the app. Copy and paste the HTML code for your flyer; I recommend using the “Blog” format, available when you use a custom theme on your flyer. You can give your new tab a title, like “Just listed”. Visitors to your page who click on this new tab will find the HTML code you entered automatically rendered – in this case, into a full-color, professionally formatted flyer.

There are myriad uses for this little application – you can add multiple “FBML” boxes to your Page to highlight your hottest listings, or devote a single Page to each listing, as suggested by Ross Hair. Whatever your approach, we’d love to hear about it; comment below or drop us a line at support@vflyer.com, and let us know how Facebook works for you as a marketing tool.

This week’s featured custom theme comes down to us from Hood River, Oregon, where our friend Maui Meyer and Copper West Properties are located. Copper West Properties is a company that’s very much tied to the Hood River area and that connection to the place is a big part of its company identity. They created a wonderful custom theme that not only incorporates the branding from their website but also captures the landscape of Hood River. I especially like the backgoround image of a topographical map of the area they use. It makes perfect sense for a company for which its location plays such an essential role.

Nice work, Copper West!

We’re planning to feature some themes for the summer in the next couple weeks, so if anyone has a summery custom theme they want featured, send them to us at support@vflyer.com. And if you haven’t done so, now’s the time to check out vFlyer’s branded listing tools and create your own custom theme today!

Around this time last year, we introduced a great new feature called Flyer Labels. It seems some users, perhaps with their minds more on summer vacations than managing their flyers, may have missed it. In any case, flyer labels allow users to give individual flyers a label that’s different from the flyer title. The label has no effect on the flyer itself; the only place it appears is on the flyers page in the user’s vFlyer account. This can be an invaluable feature for vFlyer users who have a large number of listings and need an easy way to keep track of them. For instance, a Realtor may have 15 flyers in her account; instead of having to remember that the flyer for 123 Main Street is the one titled, “Stunning 4BR/3BA Victorian in Great Neighborhood,” she can simply label that flyer with the address. It’s almost too easy.

To label a flyer, click the Flyers tab, then click the pencil icon next to the flyer title. Simply type the label in the field that appears.

Want to know more? Learn about the many other features of vFlyer’s do-it-yourself online marketing solution.

I’m pleased to announce that vFlyer has become a member of MITS (Multifamily Information and Transaction Standards), the apartment industry data exchange standard. The committee and members of MITS have developed a series of standards that facilitate better interoperability between apartment communities and vendors, leading to more accurate data and time and cost savings. vFlyer has already developed MITS compatibility to import property and floorplan data to automatically create listings, thus enabling apartment communities to leverage their existing data with vFlyer’s comprehensive marketing service. We plan to assist efforts to continue to improve the standards and develop a greater level of MITS support in current and future services. Learn more about Property Management Marketing solutions.

One sector that so far hasn’t been represented in our Custom Theme of the Week series is self-storage providers, more and more of whom we’ve seen utilizing vFlyer’s suite of marketing tools. That ends today, however, with a really nice custom theme from Accountable Management out of Lutz, Florida. Accountable manages self-storage facilities across the Sunshine State and advertises each one in a different flyer. They’re able to maintain a consistent look and brand in all of their vFlyer content through their custom theme. The header image, which comes from their website, combines a sleek, almost minimalist look while managing to include plenty of relevant information, such as their phone number and website address. I also love the color palette they use; the tan and light blue work quite well together.

Well done, Accountable Management, and kudos to you for being our first self-storage Custom Theme of the Week!

As a side note, we’re putting the finishing touches on a new video tutorial on custom themes, so be on the lookout for it next week.

At vFlyer, we love it when service providers take advantage of the branding capabilities we offer through the Theme Editor. It’s so important for service providers to distinguish themselves from their competitors, and the first way to do that is to create a strong, indelible brand for themselves. That’s what Pat Connolly, proprietor of Sound Prodigy Mobile Disc Jockey Service in San Diego, has done. He’s created a very personal brand centering around a caricature of himself, which is the first thing you see when you visit his website. It’s an effective approach; the next time a friend of mine in San Diego asks me if I know of any DJs in the area, the cartoon image of Pat will be the first thing that pops into my head.

Pat’s custom theme matches the branding and look of his website. In fact, it utilizes the same header image on his site (slightly resized), making for a seamless integration of his vFlyer content and the rest of his web properties. Pat also utilizes vFlyer Voice, our phone-based voice narration technology that enables users to add narration to their photo slideshows right from their phone. It’s a great feature that more users should take advantage of!

We’ll be back next week with another great custom theme. In the meantime, have a safe and happy 4th of July!

It’s official: summer is here! To ring in the new season, we’re spotlighting a very summery custom theme this week from Brian Long of Sea Coast Executive Properties in sunny Encinitas, California. Brian’s custom theme says summer to me: the bright blues and yellows, the sun-and-sea feel of the branded header, and the sandlike page background he uses. This is the vFlyer equivalent of a trip to the beach. It’s a well-integrated theme that, like most of the other great themes we’ve featured, prominently displays the most important information in the header.

Great job, Brian, and thanks for bringing a bit of SoCal sun to us up here in the foggy Bay Area.

Seasonal custom themes are a lot of fun to make and can be an effective marketing tactic. Try creating one this week using vFlyer’s custom theme toolkit. If you have a summer-themed, well, theme, feel free to let us know. Who knows, you may be one of the lucky ones to see your theme on our blog!

This week, we’re featuring another custom theme created by a vFlyer designer based on the user’s existing branding. In this case, the user is Gregory J. Spalasso, founder and principal of Gregory Preston Development Group, an Architecure Planning Construction firm in San Ramon, California that specializes in high-quality custom homes.  Gregory contacted us earlier this week requesting a custom theme based on his website;  our designer was able to produce two versions of his custom theme that same day. Gregory’s website is spectacular and perfectly suited for a vFlyer custom theme; I love the elegant,  minimalist look of the logo and the use of different shades of gray throughout.

Gregory’s flyer also demonstrates how service providers can collaborate and cross-promote with vFlyer. In this case, he is advertising a house for sale that his firm designed and providing the listing agent’s contact information. In today’s real estate market, this kind of collaboration, coupled with new and creative ways of marketing listings, is essential. vFlyer’s marketing toolkit provides the customizability and collaborative capabilities to make this kind of cooperation very easy. And a great looking custom theme is the perfect finishing touch!

If you’re interested in having vFlyer create a custom theme for you, you can fill out our request form by visiting our custom themes page. And if you have a custom theme that you think deserves to be highlighted, let us know by sending it to support@vflyer.com.

The iPad has indeed arrived, and based on last Monday’s announcement that Apple has sold more than two million iPads since it began selling the device in early April, it looks like it’s here to stay, for a while at least. While it’s not yet clear exactly what place the iPad will take in relation to laptops and digital readers such as Amazon’s Kindle, the enthusiastic embrace of it is surely an indicator to tech companies that they need to make their content iPad-compatible.

For this reason, vFlyer just introduced an iPad format of our listings pages. The iPad format is a Javascript-based version of our Flash-based premium flyer layout. Apple stopped supporting Adobe’s Flash platform for the iPhone and iPad in April, meaning that Flash components in any website will not display on these devices. The Javascript-based version we developed presents the same smooth transitions between photos but in a new iPad-friendly format. Best of all, our system automatically detects when a flyer is viewed on an iPad and displays the iPad version with no additional steps required by the end user.

vFlyer already introduced an iPhone format for its listings last year and we’re excited to roll out this new iPad format. So as we’re all excitedly watching what happens with the iPad in the coming months, those iPad users among us can at least enjoy admiring our users’ beautiful vFlyer ads. To learn more about these and other vFlyer capabilities visit vFlyer Listing Marketing Service.

Happy Friday! Our Custom Theme of the Week is a beautiful theme from Sancerre Apartments, an Alliance Residential community in Kirkland, Washington. I must say, this is one of the best custom themes I’ve seen in a while. It starts with a great evocative logo, for one, which they do a nice job of incorporating into the branded header. I also like how they make their phone number so prominent in the header. While it can be tempting to stuff the header with information, sometimes “less is more” (apologies for the cliche). If you want prospects to call you, then making your phone number large and clearly visible on your header is a surefire way of encouraging them to do just that.

Sancerre’s theme also makes good use of color, with the olive green flyer background playing off the black page background nicely. The theme as a whole gives off an aura of sophistication, which I imagine is just what Sancerre Apartments was going for.

Summer is a great time for custom themes! It’s a chance to get creative, add splashes of color to your flyers, and give your listings a bright, sunny feel. Try creating your own custom theme, or if you want, we can create a branded custom theme for you for as little as $99. Just fill out this form with your theme specifications and our designers will get right on it.

Our Custom Theme of the Week is a theme that we created for Jesus Orozco, Jr, a real estate broker in Denver with a powerful brand: “Jesus Sells Denver Homes”. Talk about an idea that sticks! Using Jesus’s website as a guide, our designer created a custom theme to match, adding touches like a tab displaying his website address. Like many savvy web marketers that use vFlyer, Jesus’s website has a very modern, sleek look and his custom theme gives his vFlyer listings that same look and feel.

Nice work, Jesus (and vFlyer)!

If you’re interested in having vFlyer create a custom branded theme for you, just let us know! You can fill out this form if you have a website that you want your theme to match, or this form if you don’t have a website but would like a theme based on your specifications. Give your flyers a professional and unique look and feel to make them stand out.

And finally, a Happy Memorial Day to everyone!