With our syndication and re-syndication network covering nearly 40 different websites and some 300 news media websites, we are constantly involved in what’s happening in the world of listing data standards.

That’s why we strive to actively participate in the RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard) research community.  We enjoy attending and joining in on RETS workgroups and discussions at annual RETS meetings.

This year we are pleased to be able to attend the next round of RETS meetings and workgroups, starting with the first event in Chicago, on March 23-25th.

Three senior Point2 team members are heading off to Chicago to spend three days jam-packed with information, discussion, and collaboration where our very own Jay Pepper-Martens, recently elected to the RETS Syndication Workgroup Committee for 2010, will represent Point2 as the committee’s Vice Chair.

So, why am I leaving?  My husband and I have decided to take some time to pursue some personal goals and do some volunteer work in a foreign country – Dominican Republic.  I’ve been with Point2 for six years now and in that time I’ve developed some great friendships, learned a lot, and grown personally.

When I first started at Point2 in 2003 I was working part-time as an office assistant, when the company was just under 50 people.  I bought fruit and washed it for our 2:30 fruit snack every day.  My personally invented job title was ‘Executive Fruit Washer’.  I also answered the phones for part of the afternoon.  That was my job and I loved it.  The Office Assistant now works full-time doing way more tasks than I ever did, and I can’t imagine how she does it, and does it so well!

Later that year, I was able to expand my horizons and joined the Customer Support team (as Customer Care was called at that time).  I was thrilled to be able to learn something new and do more.  During my first few months in Customer Support, Point2 released a ground-breaking new feature that changed the real estate industry - Handshake.  We were a small team of 4 at the time, providing support for a membership of just over 18,000, and now the Customer Care team is much larger to accommodate our steady membership growth and support how extensive our product has become in the past 5 years.

When I made the move from Customer Support to the Marketing Team about a year and a half ago, I was ready for something different.  I wanted to do more writing and I was pleased to be welcomed into the team as a Content Developer.  I feel like I’ve grown so much in the past year and have been proud to contribute to one of the greatest teams I’ve ever been part of.  The ideas that come out of this department continue to astound and humble me, and the collective level of skill and knowledge that the Marketing Team has is enviable.  Leaving the Marketing Team is definitely bittersweet.

Above all, some of my greatest experiences about working at Point2 have been because of the people.  I’ve made some excellent, life-long friends while at Point2, who I know I will remain friends with even though I will be in another country, far, far away.  From sharing weight-loss strategies with the President,  playing Rock Band and Jenga with people I only just met, to having a laugh over a beer with some of the girls, my experiences with the people of Point2 have been stellar.  I can honestly say that in my entire history of employment that I have had the best boss, worked for the best company, and felt like I was part of something real – and it all happened at Point2.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say out loud that I’m going to miss you, Point2.  I want to say thank you to everyone who has made my experiences at Point2 amazing and unforgettable.  And I wish Point2 and everyone that makes it great, continued huge success into the future.

Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be back.

Each of the 30 entrants paid $10 into the pot and the winner would donate the winnings to a charity of their choosing.

The in-house weight loss challenge has wrapped up.

The winner was the very svelte Lacey Petch, a Customer Care Team Lead.  She was able to successfully lose and maintain her weight loss.  The charity that Lacey has decided to donate the $300 to is Children’s Health and Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan.

“I feel fantastic and hope that all participants are feeling great about themselves too.  I’ve chosen to donate the money to this charity because kids should never have to suffer, but sadly they do, so I want great treatment for them.” says Lacey.

Thank you to all who participated in our healthy challenge and congrats to Lacey for beating the rest of us out in what proved to be a fairly close competition.

Hopefully everyone has followed the advice we posted last week which lists ways to create your listings so they get noticed.  Now that your listings have all the rich content that buyers are looking for, it’s time to begin advertising your listings everywhere possible.

I mentioned in point #13 of that post to use the Point2 Exposure Engine to syndicate your listings everywhere.  You are probably already taking advantage of this amazing exposure for your listings.  If you aren’t already syndicating your listings, you should start now.  Our User Manual can help you get started with syndicating your listings now.

In addition to syndicating your listings, you may want to consider purchasing enhanced listing placement to advertise on busy consumer search sites.

Point2 has partnered with some of our syndication partners to provide enhanced listing placement on some of the highest-trafficked search sites.  We call them Spotlight Ads.

The additional listing exposure and extra visibility from using Spotlight Ads can go a long way to capture the interest of home buyers.

Point2 offers Spotlight Ads through NewYorkTimes.com, Google, Point2 Homes, and HotPads.com.

Spotlight Ad on NewYorkTimes.com

A Spotlight Ad on NewYorkTimes.com provides your listing with placement on their website which has approximately 36 million unique visitors per month.  Your listing also has the potential of  reaching a target audience of active affluent property seekers through the Great Homes network of newspaper sites, 35% of them with an annual income of $100K or more.

Spotlight Ad on Google

The Spotlight Ad for Google actually is a service we provide to book a Google Adword campaign for your listing.  We take the guess work out of the equation and provide you with an automated way to book pre-packaged campaigns with targeted keywords for your listings.  You can purchase Google Adwords in two separate packages, both for 15 days.  The amount of keywords that you receive in your campaign is based on the spend amount, either $30 or $60.

Purchasing Google Adwords this way does not change where your listing is viewed on Google Base as these are two different services from Google.  Instead, purchasing Adwords makes it so that your listing appears when certain keywords are searched in a Google search, in the Sponsored Links areas of the search results. 

Spotlight Ad on Point2 Homes

Give your listings additional prominence on Point2Homes.com by having it placed along the top and sides of the listing pages for State/Province, County, City, and Neighborhood.  It will rotate along with all other featured listings from those areas, and as the pages become more targeted (City, Neighborhood) your listing will show more frequently.

Spotlight Ad on HotPads.com

You can appoint your listings as Featured Listings on HotPads.com using the Spotlight Ad service we make possible directly through your Point2 Agent account.  Featured listings appear on the highest zoom levels in map-search, are given a bold contrasting icon in the search page, and has an expanded blue preview box on the right corner of the map. 

It’s very easy to set up a Spotlight Ad and is a relatively inexpensive investment for advertising your listings.  You can purchase Spotlight Ads directly through your Point2 Agent account.  You can find detailed instructions in our User Manual.

Did you know?  Point2 Agent Premium members receive 2 free Spotlight Ad credits to use every month for any listings they choose to be featured on Point2 Homes.

We are pleased to announce we now offer spam control on your web forms from reCAPTCHA.

This feature was released last Thursday and is available for all members to turn on in your Point2 Agent websites.  By default, reCAPTCHA will be left turned off.   You will want to go in and take a few quick seconds to activate this feature if you are concerned about spam in your web forms.

For instructions on activating the reCAPTCHA feature in your Point2 Agent account, please visit our User Manual here.

For more information about reCAPTCHA and how it works, check out their site.

Please join us in welcoming The Association of Saskatchewan REALTORS® to the Point2 network!

Participants of this Association include the leaders of this initiative The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®, as well as The Association of Regina REALTORS®, The Prince Albert and District Association of REALTORS®, The Moose Jaw Real Estate Board, The Council of Battlefords REALTORS®, The Swift Current and Region Council of REALTORS®, The Melfort Real Estate Council and The Southeast Saskatchewan Council of REALTORS®.

Courtesy of the Point2 Exposure Engine, REALTORS® across major cities and areas in Saskatchewan will now be able to syndicate their listings to some of the highest-trafficked consumer search sites in the industry including Google, HouseHunting.ca, TheRealEstateChannel.ca, TheRealEstateBook.com, ZooCasa.com, HomesZ.com, Oodle.com, and many more.

Way to go Saskatchewan for leading the real estate industry with this initiative!  We’re proud to have you all on board.

Read more about this ground-breaking milestone in our Press Release.

Want to know more about Point2 and what we can do for your MLS?  Visit our website.