Enabling Dwellicious for single property web sites

Dwellicious currently works best with a couple dozen of the most popular real estate search portals – see an up to date list here.  We’ve created a special indexer for each of these sites so that when you bookmark a listing there, we can properly index the listing data.  We check back to the bookmarked page periodically so that we can notify you when changes are made to the listing – when the price changes, photos are added, the listing goes off market, etc.  We’re adding more indexers for more popular sites all the time.  But what if you want to make your single property web site work with Dwellicious?

Single property web sites typically have a unique url representing that unique property – like ‘123mainstreethuntingtonbeach.com’ (hurry – it’s not taken yet!).  It doesn’t make any sense to have you e-mail us begging to make an indexer that will work with every one of these unique domains you come up with, so we’ve provided a simple way for you to embed the listing data directly into your page.  You can see the details at our developers page – it involves embedding something called a ‘JSON array’ into the page source.  It’s actually easier than it sounds.  Dwellicious looks for that array if it doesn’t recognize the domain name, so you can control exactly what information Dwellicious indexes.

That developers page also has information about adding the Dwellicious “chiclet” to your listing pages, so you can make it super easy for your users to bookmark your listings.  A chiclet is a graphical link to create a bookmark, similar to links you see on articles to “Digg” or “Delicious”. Here’s an example of one of ours:

For a great example of a single property web site, see http://www.6599ecarnegieave.com .  Sterling Guelich built this site for Realtor Tony Dove.  He added both the special listing data (the JSON array) and the Dwellicious chiclet to encourage consumers to bookmark the listing and to ensure the listing data is always accurate and up to date.  Nice job!  I’m guessing the great web page helped Tony get this one sold.

Dwellicious Enterprise – looking for interested brokers

Both Dwellicious and Dwellicous Pro have exceeded our expectations so far – sign ups and usage are increasing steadily every day, we are now hosting over one thousand bookmarks, and good articles continue to appear in the blogosphere.  On the development side, we’re now moving onto the next phase of the product – Dwellicious Enterprise.

We’re now looking for three brokers interested in working with us – to give us input on the exact feature set and integration.  The way it is designed right now is as a replacement for the traditional “Save Listing” feature on IDX sites.  Your web admin needs to be involved to set this up, so you have to have some level of control over your site, but the steps are very simple and integration can be accomplished in a few hours.

Steps:
1.  You create a CNAME for your domain that points to dwellicious.com – something like “mysavedlistings.yourdomain.com” or “dwellicious.yourdomain.com”.
2.  You change your “Save Listing” link to point to the addbookmark function at this new url you created above.  I will provide exact details for the link.
3.  We create a stylesheet and indexer customized for your site.

When a user visits that new url, we display special branding and styles customized to match your site, and all the features of Dwellicious are available for the user.  Users can bookmark listings on your site, and they are encouraged to do that, but they can also bookmark listings on any of the other portals we are compatible with.  In the end though, they come back to your site to view all their bookmarks.  An Enterprise Dashboard is available for the site admin and company managers to provide overview of all the bookmarking activity on the site – you’ll gain insight into what listings consumers are bookmarking and what sites they are searching.  The Enterprise Dashboard is similar to the Pro Dashboard, but with a wide view of activities related to your domain.

If you are a broker interested in Dwellicious Enterprise, contact me – dan at dwellicious dot com.  I will work with you and your web admin to ensure the product fits into your system and adds enhanced functionality for your customers.

Dwellicious now works with…

Dan has been busy, Dwellicious now works with the following sites.

homefinder.com
sdlookup.com
zipvo.com

and…

estately.com
johnlscott.com
cbbain.com

If you have any suggestions please drop us an email! siterequest at dwellicious dot com

Dwellicious Pro in the news today!

W&R Studios and Realtor.com Partner on Launch of Dwellicious Pro
http://rismedia.com/wp/2009-01-19/wr-studios-and-realtorcom-partner-on-launch-of-dwellicious-pro/

Dwellicious offers home for home search results
http://www.inman.com/news/2009/01/20/dwellicious-offers-home-search-results

Dwellicious Pro and Realtor.com

This was leaked at the Inman Connect conference in New York City. But we only got permission today to issue the press release.

Many thanks to Realtor.com who really stepped up to the plate. These guys are true leaders. I can tell you from speaking with them are really committed to this industry and fostering innovation. They don’t get too much credit, but they should.

W&R Studios and Realtor.com partner on launch of Dwellicious Pro.
New tool gives agents and brokers a way to engage with web savvy buyers and sellers via Dwellicious.com. First 100 sign-ups will be paid for compliments of Realtor.com®.

Boca Raton, FL (January 18, 2009) — Web-software company, W&R Studios, announced today that it will be launching a new web application, Dwellicious Pro, designed for real estate professionals that work with it’s recently launched social bookmarking site, Dwellicious.

“The recently launched Dwellicious.com is a great way for buyers and sellers to organize, share and discuss real estate online. Dwellicious Pro gives agents and brokers a way to engage and track their clients,” said Greg Robertson, co-founder of W&R Studios.

Dwellicious Pro gives real estate agents and brokers a branded Dwellicious Home Page, plus a full dashboard to see where their clients are looking for real estate and what type of properties interest them. Dwellicious Pro users will be given statistics, charts, and graphs on client searching behavior, bookmarked listing prices, changes in prices to bookmarked listings, and even a simple sales pipeline report. Brokers and agents will have a simple way enhance bookmarks and monitor their syndicated listings through Dwellicious Pro.

“With Dwellicious Pro we wanted to accomplish two main objectives” continued Mr. Robertson. “The first was to put the real estate agent and broker back at the beginning of the home search process and second to provide a new way for agents and brokers to engage with today’s web savvy consumers,” concluded Mr. Robertson.

As part of the launch promotion of Dwellicious Pro, Realtor.com® is paying for the first 100 subscribers to Dwellicious Pro.

“We think Dwellicious is a great idea, and we want to foster innovation in our industry,” said Curt Beardsley, Vice President of Product Marketing at Realtor.com®. “Realtor.com® has by far the most inventory, and our listings are updated an average of 48 times per day. We think Realtor.com® is the perfect place for consumers view listings, and is complimented by Dwellicious and the ability for consumers to share and interact with this data,” stated Mr. Beardsley.

The first 100 real estate professionals who visit Dwellicious.com/pro, sign up, and enter the promo code RCOM will have the first 3 months charges waived, compliments of Realtor.com®.

“We are thrilled to have Realtor.com® participate in the launch,” said Dan Woolley, co-founder of W&R Studios. “It really shows Realtor.com’s® leadership and commitment to this industry by creating an open environment where innovation can thrive.”

Dwellicious Pro is available on a pay as you go, monthly subscription basis. For more information on plans and pricing visit http://Dwellicious.com/pro

About W&R Studios
Founded in 2008, W&R Studios (http://wr-studios.com ) is a privately held web software company. W&R Studios focuses on creating the next generation of web-based software solutions for the real estate industry. By providing a “less is more” approach to software design, elegant user interfaces, and using the latest in agile programming, W&R Studios’ software applications are at the same time powerful, yet accessible to everyone. Co-founders Dan Woolley and Greg Robertson each have over 15 years experience developing and marketing software solutions.

About REALTOR.com®

REALTOR.com®, where the world shops for real estate online, is operated by Move Inc., (NASDAQ: MOVE) and is the official Web site of the National Association of Realtors®. Ranked as the #1 homes-for-sale site, REALTOR.com® currently offers potential home buyers access to over four million property listings, as well as the most brokers and agents. It also provides Realtors® and the home sellers they represent with the Internet’s largest real estate marketplace, reaching more than 6.6 million consumers in September 2008. Agents and companies have the power to customize REALTOR.com® resources to maximize their brand and productivity.

REALTOR® and REALTOR.com® are registered trademarks of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark, which identifies a real estate professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. All other trademarks appearing above are the property of Move Inc., or of their other respective owners.

###
Any questions? Please contact Greg Robertson at W&R Studios.
greg@wr-studios.com 714.240.3895

This software kills fascists!

So I was watching the “We Are One” concert on the Lincoln Memorial. Fantastic. Great performances. I just loved the ending with Bruce, Pete Seeger, and son singing the old Woody Guthrie tune, “This Land Is Your Land”.

“This Land Is Your Land”- What a great song! It’s such and American song. I went over to Wikipedia and did a little research on Woody.

Two things struck me.

The first thing was on his guitar he had a written the slogan “This Machine KILLS fascists!”

Woody wasn’t just writing songs for writing songs sake, he had an agenda. He had a goal. Beautiful! (Pete Seeger inspired by Woody wrote on his banjo, ‘This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces It to Surrender'”

The second was a quote from Woody about songwriting…

“I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing.

Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.

I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built.

I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.”
—Guthrie on songwriting

If you substituted the word “song” with “software” then you’ll have an idea of what we are trying to accomplish.

New Dwellicious Pro Video!

My wife did the voice over work this time…

Hello World!

From the the 32nd floor of a skyscraper in Manhattan we launched it. We feel like two kids skipping stones at the river’s edge trying to find the perfect rock to make it to the other side.

So, Hello World! We would like to introduce ourselves, we are W&R Studios and this is our new baby, we call her Dwellicious!

New Web Software Company, W&R Studios, Launches Dwellicious.com
Innovative new service targets social networking savvy buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals.

NEW YORK, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Web software company, W&R Studios, announced today that it will be launching a new free social bookmarking site dubbed, Dwellicious. The new site will allow consumers to bookmark properties from around the web and learn more about the property’s valuation, surrounding neighborhood, and schools.

Dwellicious “smart” bookmarks will update users with any changes that are made to the property such as price, new photos, or whether the property has gone off the market. Bookmarked properties can also be monitored via an RSS feed.

Dwellicious will also make it easy for consumers to share and discuss their bookmarked properties with friends, family, or real estate professionals with one click sharing to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

“Dwellicious is a simple but powerful idea,” stated Dan Woolley, co-founder of W&R Studios. “All the latest studies show that now, more than ever, consumers are starting their real estate search online and visiting multiple real estate sites. Also, searching for real estate is a very social process, where at least two people are involved; Maybe your spouse, family member or real estate agent, Dwellicious does a great job of bringing this all together.” concluded Mr. Woolley.

Greg Robertson, co-founder of W&R Studios, will be speaking at the Inman Real Estate Connect conference in New York City where the company plans to formally launch the site. Mr. Robertson will be participating in a panel Thursday, January 8th at the General Session of the conference, titled: “New Kids (and Ideas) on the Block: Innovators from Around the World.”

“We have received an incredible amount of positive feedback and buzz during the beta phase of Dwellicious. We are excited about this launch and hope the public and real estate industry embrace our new solution,” stated Mr. Robertson.

For more information about Dwellicious or to sign up for a free account, please visit http://Dwellicious.com/.

About W&R Studios

Founded in 2008, W&R Studios (http://wr-studios.com/) is a privately held web software company. W&R Studios focuses on creating the next generation of web-based software solutions for the real estate industry. By providing a “less is more” approach to software design, elegant user interfaces, and using the latest in agile programming, W&R Studios’ software applications are at the same time powerful, yet accessible to everyone. Co-founders Dan Woolley and Greg Robertson each have over 15 years experience developing and marketing software solutions.

HAR.com website adds Dwellicious “chiclet”!!

I’ve gotta thank Rene, Sam and Justin at the Houston Association of REALTORS(r) for making this happen.

The Houston Association of REALTORS(r) website is THE example everyone points to of an association/MLS “doing it right”.

Bob Hale is asked to speak at numerous events about the way H.A.R. implemented their website and keeping it on the cutting edge of being Houston’s number one most visited real estate website.

Today har.com was the first to add a Dwellicious “chiclet” on all their real estate
listings!

In case you didn’t know what a “chiclet” is, it’s a name given to the little social bookmarking icons at the bottom of web pages or articles you read on the the web.

They allow you to quickly post that website to the respective social bookmarking service. Here are some examples.

You probably didn't know what they were called, now you do!

This makes it super easy for consumers in Houston, at the har.com site, to add listings to their Dwellicious account. Check it out it works great!

http://dwellicious.com/grobertson/bookmarks/522

Thanks again to Rene, Sam, and Justin!!!

Don’t forget Dwellicious formally launches at the Inman Real Estate Connect conference this Tuesday in NEW YORK CITY!!!