Apartment Blog

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                         

Contact:                                                                                                                           
Meredith Mobley                                                                               
Marketing Communications Coordinator
meredith.mobley@forrent.com
Phone: 757-351-7366
Fax: 757-961-4827

ForRent.com’s “Ready2Move?” video contest awards $10,000 to Dallas apartment renter

NORFOLK, Va.-(July 1, 2009)-Justin Spence got the call of a lifetime on Friday from ForRent.com^®. He entered his video in the apartment listing service’s nationwide online video contest and after months of anticipation, found out he was the $10,000 grand prize winner.

Spence, who works for his family’s radiator manufacturing business, is also a part time videographer. Under the weather and in the process of moving, Friday’s call could not have come at a better time. When asked how he felt about winning the $10,000 grand prize, he yelled, “Holy Moly! I think I just got a better kick than any kind of medicine could give me!”

ForRent.com launched the “Ready2Move?” nationwide video contest on April 1. The contest asked apartment seekers to create a short video and tell ForRent.com why they were ready to move for a chance to win $10,000.

Spence did just that. He and his wife created and starred in the one-minute video “$1,200 a month and No Pool?” The video depicts a conversation between Spence and a buddy, who is living lavishly in a Dallas apartment community, while Spence is desperately searching the classified listings for an apartment. The friend recommends ForRent.com as an apartment searching resource. When speaking about the benefit of the site’s functionality he boasts, “…you’re not gonna find that from some dude’s Web site in San Francisco.”

“This year’s contest was even more popular than last year. With the number of submissions more than doubling, the judges had a challenging time selecting the winners,” said Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions.

In addition to the grand prize winner, three finalists were selected to receive an iPod Touch^®:

• Neehar and Renee Gupta, Indianapolis, for “The Answer is Clear“

• Bart Baker, Winnetka, Ill., for “Ready 2 Move“

• Chandra Farnsworth, Olympia, Wash., for “See Brent“

ForRent.com even rewarded viewers just for voting. Patrick Freise, a rising senior at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York, is $1,500 richer after being selected in a random drawing from 4,798 voters as the voting sweepstakes winner. With his earnings, Freise says he plans to buy his girlfriend a nice birthday gift.

Spence credits the popularity of his video to promoting it on social media Web sites like Facebook and Myspace, “I personally use Facebook and MySpace a lot. I’m a strong believer that social networking is the new media to advertise your products.”

ForRent.com worked with Vitrue, a social media company, to launch its second annual nationwide video contest. A panel of judges watched all 123 videos and selected the grand prize winner and the three finalists based on five criteria: creativity/originality, overall quality/appearance, relevance to the contest theme, promotion of the ForRent.com and or For Rent Magazine^® brand, as well as the total number of user generated Internet votes received. In total, more than 24,000 votes were received.

To see all videos submitted for the “Ready2Move?” video contest, visit http://contest.forrent.com/.

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results.  For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable apartment search from more than 50,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 98 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55^TM Housing & Resource Guide, and Apartamentos Para Rentar^®. For Rent Media Solutions operates four additional Web sites: ForRent.com^®, SeniorOutlook.com^TM, CorporateHousing.com^®, and ParaRentar.com^TM.  For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

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This past March we posted an article titled ‘Marketing to Hispanics‘ where we briefly mentioned mobile marketing. This month we would like to expand on that topic as we take a look at mobile Web sites, text messaging and mobile applications to reach the Hispanic community.

According to comScore m:metrics, 71% of Hispanics consume content on cell phones compared to the market average of 48%. Nielsen’s recent ‘Mobile Advertising Report’ highlighted that Hispanic data users are more likely to recall seeing ads on mobile phones (41% compared with 30% of non-Hispanics) and more likely to have responded (22% vs. 13%). Therefore, mobile marketing to the Hispanic demographic is an opportunity to experience growth in this slowing economy.

Having mobile capabilities like text messaging is ideal for these consumers to find you.  Especially since many Hispanics will first experience the Internet via their cell phones because of limitations of Internet on a home computer. In addition to having your Web site available on mobile devices is the need to offer a Spanish translated site. Many Hispanic consumers are bilingual, but there is a sizeable market that still communicates primarily in Spanish. To effectively target these consumers, mobile initiatives should include Spanish language media as a key component of the mobile marketing mix.

According to Jose Villa, author of MediaPost’s blog, ‘10 Things You Should Know About U.S. Hispanics‘, “Hispanics are still a part of the honeymoon phase.”  Meaning, they are not burned out and therefore, are more likely to respond to advertisements from companies on their mobile devices.  In addition to mobile Web sites, text messaging and mobile applications are essential.

For Rent Media Solutions’ text messaging product allows the Hispanic apartment seeker to send a text message with the property’s unique keyword to the short code 47368 (4RENT). The property keywords can be seen on leasing banners, yard signs at the property, and in Apartamentos Para Rentar® magazines. By texting the keyword apartment seekers will receive a response text message with information about the specific property. Property managers also use the service to send customized messages promoting specials to potential renters, as well as important messages and alerts to their current residents.

“Hispanics are connecting twice as fast as the general market (14% growth versus 7%) adding over a million users per year. In 2008, 23 million Hispanics are online, about 52% of the Hispanic population.”1 Therefore, adding more technology to your business, i.e., mobile marketing, to attract the Hispanic community is very important to the survival of companies in this economy. This Hispanic market is the ideal renter because they are very brand loyal and they tend to stick with what with what is familiar to them. Just like any other consumer, they are looking for an experience.  Provide that for them and have a loyal, growing force supporting your brand. What more could you want?

¹ MediaPosts Engage:Hispanics ‘10 Things You Should Know About U.S. Hispanics’ by Alvaro Cabrera. Thursday, June 25, 2009

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                            Contact:                                                                                                                             Meredith Mobley
Marketing Communications Coordinator
meredith.mobley@forrent.com
Phone: 757-351-7366
Fax: 757-961-4827     

ForRent.com launches free GPhone application

ForRent.com offers most comprehensive line of mobile products in multi-housing industry

NORFOLK, Va.-(June 29, 2009)-ForRent.com, anchor Web site of For Rent Media Solutions^TM, a leading apartment resource for searching apartments nationwide, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, has launched a ForRent.com T-Mobile G1^TM (GPhone) application. The new application is the latest addition to For Rent’s comprehensive line of mobile marketing products for apartment seekers, including the ForRent.com text messaging product, mobile Web site and iPhone^TM application.

With ForRent.com’s free GPhone application, apartment seekers can browse through thousands of apartment listings nationwide. Users can also view apartment descriptions, videos, pictures, and floor plans, save their results, and contact the property. Consumers can use touchable map pins to click on a pin representing a property and go directly to the property’s page. From the map, apartment seekers can zoom in and out to get a clearer view of the property and its proximity to surrounding apartment communities.

The GPhone runs on the new Google Android operating system and applications are distributed in the Android Market, which opened to the public on October 22. Applications are only accessible through the GPhone phone, but can be previewed at the Android Market Web site.

“Mobile marketing is quickly spreading as a leading method of communication used to engage consumers,” says Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions. “According to comScore Media Metrix, consumers downloaded 83 percent more mobile applications in March 2009 than in March 2008. We understand how much mobile Web impacts our consumers’ daily lives and will continue to explore opportunities with other mobile devices in the future.”

While the number of consumers downloading mobile applications continues to grow, comScore shows that, overwhelmingly, the preferred mode for accessing local content on a mobile device is through a mobile browser. In March 2008, 15.4 million mobile Web users accessed information via a mobile browser. By March 2009, that number jumped to 20.7 million. These numbers support the success seen by the ForRent.com mobile site. According to Omniture SiteCatalyst, an online business optimization company, the ForRent.com mobile site received more than 256,000 page views in May 2009.

The GPhone application adds to the already existing suite of mobile products offered to apartment seekers and solidifies ForRent.com as a leader in mobile marketing. Other mobile products include text messaging, launched in June 2007, the mobile Web site, launched in June 2008, and the iPhone application launched earlier this year.

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results.  For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable apartment search from more than 30,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 99 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55^TM Housing & Resource Guide, and Apartamentos Para Rentar^®. For Rent Media Solutions operates four additional Web sites: ForRent.com^®, SeniorOutlook.com^TM, CorporateHousing.com^®, and ParaRentar.com^TM.  For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           

Contact:                                                                                                                            
Meredith Mobley                                                                                 
Marketing Communications Coordinator
meredith.mobley@forrent.com
Phone: 757-351-7366
Fax: 757-961-4827

For Rent Media Solutions^TM launches unique intuitive search function exclusively on ForRent.com

New search function brings “smarter search” experience to leading apartment Web site

NORFOLK, Va.-(May 26, 2009)-For Rent Media Solutions, a leading apartment resource for searching apartments nationwide, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, announces the launch of the all new intuitive search functionality and enhanced search results pages. These features are exclusive to ForRent.com, the company’s anchor Web site. The intuitive search and enhanced search results pages give apartment seekers more control and more relevant results to help them have a “smarter search” experience.

Intuitive search provides both “Exact” and “Close” matches, based on the user’s search criteria. These features give apartment shoppers more choices, intuitively providing them with results that are relevant to their needs. This means more exposure for the property manager’s listing and a better experience for potential renters.

 ”According to a July 2008 study by MarketingSherpa.com, highly engaged visitors have a conversion rate of about 5 percent, compared to about 0.2 percent of poorly engaged visitors,” notes Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions. “In 2008, we performed a robust series of usability tests with real apartment seekers on eight different apartment Internet listing Web sites, including ForRent.com. From those results, we learned that apartment shoppers felt they had very little control, could not maneuver through the sites and felt the sites did not produce relevant results. We listened to users and redesigned our search functionality to eliminate their complaints and bring a smarter search experience for all.”

Smarter Search: Home Page

The ForRent.com search process has been enhanced in two areas essential to the apartment searching process: the home page and search results pages. The home page is more user-friendly. The prominently displayed search feature includes fields for criteria that most apartment shoppers know before they begin looking for an apartment, making it easy to use with a more natural way of narrowing down what they want. The home page requires users to specify location to search for property listings using city, state or zip code. Auto-complete suggestions will be made available to the user after they have inserted at least three letters. In addition to the required location information, the user can provide optimal search criteria such as price, beds and baths.

Apartment seekers can also access the Advanced Search option from the home page. When an apartment seeker enters a city and state, the site will return any property as an exact match that is within that city’s limits according to the U.S. Postal Service, and any additional properties that fall within the radius entered from the center of that city. The default radius is “Exact”, but users can expand their radius to 10, 20, or 30 miles. The Advanced Search offers users the ability to search by geography, interactive map, property name, and college or military base.   

Smarter Search: Search Results Page

The apartment seeker has more control over their search results in the enhanced search results pages. The seeker can customize the number of results that appear on a page and sort those results according to what is most relevant to them. Video has also been integrated into the search results listings. The “Exact Match” and “Close Match” are features that allow the apartment seeker to view listings that fit their exact search criteria as well as those that almost match. This gives more control to the apartment shopper making them more likely to find a property of interest, which in turn means more LEADS^TM for advertisers. In the search results, users can toggle properties through three view points: list view, photo view or map view. Apartment seekers can also filter listings by video, neighborhood, pets and multiple photos. Because of these enhanced options, property managers have more opportunity to be seen by apartment seekers.

For more information on ForRent.com’s new intuitive search, view the video found here.

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results.  For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable apartment search from more than 30,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 99 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55^TM Housing & Resource Guide, and Apartamentos Para Rentar^®. For Rent Media Solutions operates four additional Web sites: ForRent.com^®, SeniorOutlook.com^TM, CorporateHousing.com^®, and ParaRentar.com^TM.  For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

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The new application offers ease of access for iPhone and iPod touch^® users

NORFOLK, Va.-(April 22, 2009)- ForRent.com, anchor Web site of For Rent Media Solutions^TM, a division of Dominion Enterprises, has launched a new iPhone^® and iPod touch^® application. The free feature offers many of the same functions found on ForRent.com and brings apartment seekers the convenience of searching for apartments in the palm of their hands.

iPhone and iPod touch users can download the application from the iTunes^® Application Store via their phone or the Apple site. Once they reach the site, doing a search for the term “ForRent.com,” will take the user directly to the application.

“The ForRent.com application gives apartment seekers the opportunity to view surrounding properties from the map feature, watch an online Community Theater^® video of the property, and view floor plans-three elements not found in any other apartment search application,” said Brock MacLean, senior vice president of national sales and development, For Rent Media Solutions.

The ForRent.com application lets apartment seekers browse through thousands of apartment listings nationwide. It also allows users to view descriptions, videos, pictures, and floor plans, save their results and contact the property. Consumers can use touchable map pins to click on a pin representing a property and go directly to the property’s page. From the map, apartment seekers can zoom in and out to get a clearer view of the property and its proximity to surrounding apartment communities.

“Businesses understand the marketing power behind having an application on the popular iPhone and iPod touch,” notes Terry Slattery, president, For Rent Media Solutions. “Facebook alone has found that each month, 25 million of its users access Facebook.com via a mobile device. That’s  4 million a day. Since the April 7 launch of the ForRent.com application, it has been downloaded more than 2,500 times-a testament to the need to have instant access to information.”

According to research done by comScore Media Metrics, among an audience of 63.2 million people who accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, 22.4 million (35 percent) did so daily, more than double the size of the audience last year.

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results.  For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable apartment search from more than 50,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 98 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55^TM Housing & Resource Guide, and Apartamentos Para Rentar^®. For Rent Media Solutions operates four additional Web sites: ForRent.com^®, SeniorOutlook.com^TM, CorporateHousing.com^®, and ParaRentar.com^TM.  For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

Video contest and Facebook application launched April 1

NORFOLK, Va.-(April 7, 2009)-ForRent.com, anchor Web site of For Rent Media Solutions^TM, a division of Dominion Enterprises, announced the launch of its second annual video contest on April 1. The “Ready2Move?” video contest asks apartment seekers to tell ForRent.com why they are ready to move for a chance to win $10,000.

“For Rent Media Solutions continues to push the envelope by utilizing social media to engage its users,” says Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions. “We wanted to not only build on the success from last year’s video contest but to take it to the next level by integrating with Facebook. Judging by last year’s success, it is evident this contest raises brand awareness and builds brand loyalty for ForRent.com. We have been able to increase the number of potential renters using the Web site, ultimately delivering more qualified leads to our clients’ properties.”

In 2008, ForRent.com partnered with Vitrue, a social media company, to launch its first nationwide video contest, which yielded a 57 percent increase in site traffic for ForRent.com. This year the contest engages users with a simple question: Are you ready to move? The concept gives users lots of flexibility with their responses and also allows for plenty of room for fun and creative interpretation. The contest will not only live on Contest.ForRent.com but users can also participate directly from Facebook. Taking the contest to Facebook was a natural evolution of ForRent.com’s innovative efforts as over 52 million users in the U.S. alone spend an average of 169 minutes per month (comScore estimates) on the Facebook site.       

“The Facebook application will have essentially all the same features as the video contest site with the added benefit of Facebook integration,” said Brock MacLean, senior vice president of national sales and development. “By tapping into users’ social actions we will be able to utilize valuable word of mouth marketing and spread awareness about our brand organically. A funny and catchy news feed update stating someone is ready to move is sure to get attention and promote viral discovery of not only the contest but our brand.”

ForRent.com continues to increase its social footprint by also syndicating video content to YouTube and joining the conversation with its growing Twitter community. Combined, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter will all be used to spread the contest and encourage fans to enter or participate by voting.

“We applaud ForRent.com’s social media initiatives,” said Reggie Bradford, chief executive officer of Vitrue. “ForRent.com continues to push to be more social and find new ways to engage its consumers.  ForRent.com has taken a strategic approach to get in and get social and now take their efforts to the next level with its integration with Facebook and use of MySpace, Twitter and YouTube to maximize their reach.”  

“Ready2Move?” Video Contest…How Does It Work?

Entrants can log on to Contest.ForRent.com between April 1 and May 27 to submit their video.  Visitors have the opportunity to vote from May 6 to June 24. One lucky voter will win $1,500 just for casting their vote!

The winning video and the top three finalists will be announced on or around June 24.

Want To Know More?

To learn more about ForRent.com’s “Ready2Move?” video contest and to read the official rules, log on to contest.forrent.com.

About For Rent Media Solutions^TM

Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., For Rent Media Solutions is a division of Dominion Enterprises. As the multi-family housing solution for apartment seekers, property/apartment managers and owners, For Rent Media Solutions provides superior products, outstanding customer service, and tangible results.  For Rent Media Solutions is a leading resource for choosing your next apartment for rent, townhouse, condo, duplex, efficiency, studio or loft and provides a free customizable apartment search from more than 50,000 apartment listings nationwide.  For Rent Media Solutions operates For Rent Magazine^®, as well as ForRent.com^TM-The Magazine, and publishes 98 magazines covering more than 190 markets nationwide, including After 55^TM Housing & Resource Guide, and Apartamentos Para Rentar^®. For Rent Media Solutions operates four additional Web sites: ForRent.com^®, SeniorOutlook.com^TM, CorporateHousing.com^®, and ParaRentar.com^TM.  For Rent Media Solutions is a company dedicated to the needs of the apartment industry, bringing prospective residents and apartment communities together.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 45 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 16.7 million unique visitors, and more than 450 magazines with a weekly circulation of 4.3 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 5,400 employees in more than 200 offices nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.dominionenterprises.com/.

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