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/.

###

Last year I wrote about the Bottled Water Debate and the stats about how consuming water from packaged water bottles was bad for the environment, you can read it here. When I was sitting on my plane from Miami to Atlanta, delayed from my glorious vacation in Key West, Florida, I stumbled on an article in the Delta Sky Magazine regarding American’s love affair with water bottles. It goes through the trends of Americans and their water bottle consumption.

We went from drinking from water fountains at schools, homes and parks to spending almost $6 billion in water bottles alone in 2007. It all started with beautiful green French water bottles that arrived to the United States in 1976. From there the trend materialized. Many more makers started entering the field and sleeker designs appeared; sales skyrocketed and our landfills have increased in size.

Though there was a ripple in water bottle sales in the mid 80s, sales didn’t actually take a decline until last year. I’m pleased to say that according to The Nielson Company, total U.S. sales (excluding Walmart) in bottled water from 2007 to 2008 dropped 3.6%.  This can be attributed to many things such as the economy; no one wants to spend money on bottled water when there is perfectly safe drinking water at home! The ‘going green’ movement is also another motivator. Americans have become much more concerned with the environment and the ‘carbon foot print’ we leave on it. In response, companies are coming out with ‘eco-shape’ bottles, reducing emissions in their manufacturing processes as well as with home purification systems.

Even with a drop in sales, water bottles will always have a presence in America.  According to Tom Lauria, vice president of communications for the International Bottled Water Association, this leeway extends for emergencies like Hurricane Katrina and the need of joggers. Or, “You’re on an airplane. You can’t just go to the tap.” There is a time and place for everything and the key is always moderation! In places where tap is accessible, it should be used. And when it’s needed, bottled water is an option.

So for my flight back home, my bottled water is suitable. But when I return home to Norfolk, Virginia tap water it is!

Source: “Has Our Love Affair with Bottled Water Gone Tepid?”By Jennifer Vogel. http://www.deltaskymag.com/ May 2009

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/.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           

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

Jennifer Drinko promoted to director of business initiatives for For Rent Media Solutions^TM

NORFOLK, Va.-(May 13, 2009)-For Rent Media Solutions, a leading apartment resource for searching apartments nationwide, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, has announced the promotion of Jennifer Drinko to director of business initiatives.

“As the director of business initiatives, Jennifer will help streamline communication about new product rollouts and conduct sales training with employees. This will allow for a seamless way in which we can educate our employees about our new tools, so they may effectively tailor a marketing solution for property managers,” said Terry Slattery, president, For Rent Media Solutions. “Jennifer is uniquely qualified for this position. She has a tremendous understanding of our entire company as well as our suite of products and the needs of our sales organization. As she has done in the past, I am sure she will continue to excel.”

Drinko has been with For Rent Media Solutions since 2003, when she joined as a customer service representative. Since then, she has seen tremendous grown within the company, particularly in her most recent position as customer service manager, where she oversaw the training of the support and sales staff in local For Rent Magazine^® offices. In this role, she also assisted with the creation and implementation of new products and initiatives and managed the customer service team responsible for all production and activation of all Internet advertising for For Rent Media Solutions.

In her new position, she will oversee company-wide product training, improvements and processes. She also will plan and manage new product and product improvement releases as well as develop and distribute communication of product rollouts and processes.

“For Rent Media Solutions is dedicated to providing solutions that bring our clients more LEADS^TM and resources, making advertising decisions simple, as well as more tools that allow them to have control. Our company has always been a progressive, forward-thinking company in the ever-changing multi-housing industry,” notes Drinko. ”Through my new position, I look forward to spreading the company message, and facilitating the spread of industry knowledge among employees.”

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/.

                                                                        ###

Take a gander at the photos below; here are a few For Rent Media Solutions’ employees celebrating St. Patrick’s Day! How will you celebrate this year??

The corporate Marketing Department in Downtown Norfolk, Virginia had a St. Patrick’s Day Pot-Luck lunch. Everyone dressed in their GREEN and flashed their pretty smiles!

And heres Mary Christenson from the Phoenix, Arizona office. Mary greeted everyone with the Luck of the Irish. There was some wonderful Irish music, from jigs to Irish drinking songs, and Mary’s sweet smile complements her shamrock earrings and shamrock necklace!

And in Edina, Minnesota Mandy Thompson, Emily Erickson, Jennie Robles and Kristy Jordahl are posing with the For Rent Magazine. On the table are all our fun little For Rent friends who are taking place of all our advertisers who could not be in the photo! Lovely ladies….

However you celebrate this year, For Rent Media Solutions wishes you a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Have fun and be safe!

As a product of For Rent Media Solutions™, a division of Dominion Enterprises, ForRent.com offers more than 50,000 apartment community listings nationwide. With so many advertising clients and apartment renters across the nation, we wanted to provide a detailed look into our headquarters and highlight what we do here! Without giving away too much, during the tour we dive into our sales department, customer service, Community Theater® team and, of course, marketing department. It is our hope that this video will provide a more personalized view of our company as well as the entertaining bunch that work here!

So take a look….

Thanks again for taking the tour! Anytime you’re in downtown Norfolk, don’t forget to stop by and visit your friendly apartment enthusiast!