tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37727935009783571482024-03-13T16:05:17.266-05:00HOAInTouch.com Product BlogHOAInTouch.com is the easiest way to create
your hoa website! <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com">Try it today!</a>HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-50903309892162106682009-02-03T23:23:00.001-06:002009-02-03T23:23:16.839-06:00Changes To Pricing Plans<p>Moving forward with the changes we announced in the <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-2009-newsletter.html" target="_blank">January newsletter</a>, last night we released a number of updates to our <a title="HOA websites pricing plans" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/pricing.aspx" target="_blank">pricing plans</a>. As we <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-2009-newsletter.html" target="_blank">discussed in the newsletter</a>, we really struggled with this decision but, given the current economic conditions and general softness in the online advertising environment, feel it is necessary to ensure that we remain a viable service for our existing and future customers. With that said, we want to reassure you that we aren't going anywhere! These are preemptive changes we are making to ensure we will be able to weather this economic storm.</p> <p>Last night we also released <a title="HOA websites content moderation" href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2009/02/greater-control-and-flexibility.html" target="_blank">stronger moderation features</a> for the Community <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">News</a>  and <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">Events</a>  modules as well as <a title="HOA websites content moderation" href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2009/02/greater-control-and-flexibility.html" target="_blank">increased control over resident email notifications</a>. Community administrators and content moderators now have complete control and final approval of <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">news</a> and <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">events</a> that are published to their <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA website</a>. They also now have <a title="HOA websites content moderation" href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2009/02/greater-control-and-flexibility.html" target="_blank">greater control</a> over when residents receive email notifications. </p> <p>Below are the new <a title="HOA websites pricing plans" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/pricing.aspx" target="_blank">pricing plans</a> as of 02/02/2008. The most significant changes were to the Free plan. If you are affected by these changes, we welcome you to continue to use the free service and have provided a special coupon code - UPGHOA01 - to <strong>save 50% off the first month</strong> should you choose to upgrade. However, if you feel that our service isn't a good fit for your community right now we certainly understand and hope you will keep us in mind if your needs change. </p> <h2></h2> <h2><a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA Website</a> Pricing Plans</h2> <p>*<em>All paid <a title="HOA websites pricing plans" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/pricing.aspx" target="_blank">pricing plans</a> include content moderation and email notification features.</em></p> <p><b>Ultimate Plan</b></p> <ul> <li>Unlimited Residents </li> <li>Unlimited Groups </li> <li>2GB Document Storage </li> </ul> <p><strong>Premium Plan</strong></p> <ul> <li>Up to 500 Residents </li> <li>10 Groups </li> <li>1GB Document Storage </li> </ul> <p><strong>Standard Plan</strong></p> <ul> <li>Up to 250 Residents </li> <li>5 Groups </li> <li>500MB Document Storage </li> </ul> <p><strong>Basic Plan</strong></p> <ul> <li>Up to 100 Residents </li> <li>3 Groups </li> <li>250MB Document Storage </li> </ul> <p>We also still have the Free plan with up to 25 residents and 1 group but no document storage, email notifications or content moderation.</p> <p>If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes please feel free to contact me personally at <a href="mailto:mitch.rupp@rdcweb.com">mitch.rupp@rdcweb.com</a> or by phone at 913.710.8103. </p> <p>Thank you for your time and we truly appreciate your business.</p> HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-1801755869864483802009-02-03T22:40:00.001-06:002009-02-03T22:40:35.498-06:00Greater Control And Flexibility<p>Last night we released a number of changes that greatly increase the content moderation capabilities of our <a title="HOA websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA websites</a>.  Additionally these changes also provide community <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">administrators</a> and <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">content moderators</a> greater control over when residents are sent email notifications.</p> <h2>New Moderation Features</h2> <p>First let's look at the new moderation features. In the past, residents were able to post <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">news</a> and <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">events</a> directly to their <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA website</a>. This was great because it removed barriers to getting them involved and helped to engage the community. </p> <p>Unfortunately, it also enabled residents to email every other resident in the neighborhood without a filter. Needless to say, this made some HOA board members and property management companies nervous.  </p> <p>Now residents are still able to add <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">news</a> and <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">events</a> but they are first routed though the community <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">administrators</a>  and <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">moderators</a> for approval. When residents post new items an email will be sent to <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">administrators</a> and <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">content moderators</a> notifying them that an item is pending their approval. </p> <p>After following the link provided in the email notification, <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">administrators</a> and <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">content moderators</a> now have the opportunity to preview and edit <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">news posts</a> and <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">community events</a> prior to publishing them to the site. Once approved or "published" the items will then appear on the live <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA website</a>.  </p> <h2>Optional Email Notifications</h2> <p>As <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">administrators</a> or <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">moderators</a> are approving the item they also have the opportunity to optionally notify residents of the <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">news</a> or <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">events</a> via email. Prior to yesterday this was the default behavior and there was no way to prevent the email notifications from being sent. We made these changes for two reasons.</p> <p>First, not all <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">news</a> or <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">events</a> are important enough to interrupt the residents. Too much communication and residents become annoyed and start to tune it out. Not enough communication and residents are not engaged and participation declines.  Every community is different and we now enable you to find the right balance for your <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA website</a>. </p> <p>Secondly, these changes now allow <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">administrators</a> and <a title="HOA websites roles" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles" target="_blank">content moderators</a> to send residents email notifications when <a title="HOA websites news" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">news</a> or <a title="HOA websites community events" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">events</a> are significantly edited. Previously, if a change was significant enough to warrant a new email notification the item would need to be deleted and the edited version re-posted as a new item.</p> <p>We hope you enjoy the greater control you now have over resident email notifications and the content published on your <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA website</a>. Both of these enhancements came directly from our <a title="submit feedback" href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com" target="_blank">feedback</a> forum so please keep the ideas and votes coming. We are listening to you!</p> <p>Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!</p> HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-20622853745879632512009-01-28T02:16:00.001-06:002009-01-28T02:16:08.394-06:00January 2009 Newsletter<h2>Table of Contents</h2> <ol> <li>Spread The Word </li> <li>You Have A Voice </li> <li>Life Just Got A Little Richer </li> <li>New Groups & Committees </li> <li>Site Sponsors </li> <li>Calendar Archives </li> <li>Upcoming Changes </li> </ol> <h2>Spread The Word</h2> <p>As a small, self-funded internet start-up we don’t have much of an advertising budget so we truly rely on our customers to help get the word out. If you find <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/" target="_blank"></a><a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com" target="_blank">HOAInTouch.com</a></a> useful please tell a friend (or ten!). They will appreciate being more connected to their neighborhood and we will love you for it! If you have a blog please consider giving us a quick shout out or if you are into Twitter toss us a tweet.</p> <p>Speaking of blogs and Twitter, if you want to stay up to date on what we have going on you can subscribe to our <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">product blog</a> via <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">email</a> or <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/hoaintouch" target="_blank">RSS</a> updates or follow us on twitter at <a title="Follow us on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/hoaintouch" target="_blank">@hoaintouch</a>.</p> <h2>You Have A Voice </h2> <p>We are very excited to let you know that we have partnered with UserVoice, a company providing a new twist on user feedback, to provide a forum for our customers to request new features, submit bug reports and help control the overall direction of the service. To get started simply click the blue feedback button aligned vertically on the left side of the window. </p> <p>To get the ball rolling we have seeded the <a href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com/" target="_blank">feedback forum</a> with some of our most requested features. Feel free to vote up the ones you would most like to see or to add entirely new ones. We hope you enjoy this new feature and we look forward to hearing from you!</p> <p><a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/12/you-have-voice.html" target="_blank">[Read More]</a></p> <h2>Life Just Got A Little Richer</h2> <p>One of our most requested features has been the ability for users to richly format the content posted to their community. In December we released enhancements to our Community News and Community Events modules that allows residents to format the content of these items and their comments.</p> <p>The new rich text/html editor enables content authors to change the font face, size and color of the text as well as providing the ability to make the text bold, italic or underlined. The new editor also allows for the creation of ordered and unordered list and hyperlinks.</p> <p>As we have all heard at least a few times, a picture is worth a thousand words so check out our <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">product blog</a> for some <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/12/life-just-got-little-richer.html" target="_blank">screenshots</a> showcasing the new feature using the Community News module. </p> <p><a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/12/life-just-got-little-richer.html" target="_blank">[Read More]</a></p> <h2>Groups and Committees</h2> <p>I must confess that I have never been super happy with the Groups & Committee feature, so we decided to throw it out and rebuild it - nearly from the ground up. I am very pleased to let you know that earlier this month we released a new <a title="hoa website features" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">Groups and Committees</a> module of <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/" target="_blank">HOAInTouch</a>. </p> <p>This release contains several new features – namely public groups and group member titles - as well as enhancing existing features by improving ease of administration and usability.</p> <p><a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2009/01/groups-and-committees.html" target="_blank">[Read More]</a></p> <h2>Site Sponsors </h2> <p>The mission of <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com">HOAInTouch</a> has always been to <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-does-my-hoa-need-website.html">improve the level and quality of communication</a> in your homeowner association. To that end, we are constantly striving to find ways to improve and create a better experience for your residents.</p> <p>Based on a combination of <a href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com">customer feedback</a> and an evaluation of the current and future market conditions for local online advertising we have greatly reduced the amount of advertising present on each page. This makes for a much cleaner design with dramatically less “noise” and the site loads much faster. Certainly a better experience for our customers.</p> <p><a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2009/01/site-sponsors.html" target="_blank">[Read More]</a></p> <h2>Calendar Archives </h2> <p>In December we also released a small update to the Community Events module that allows residents to browse prior community events. </p> <p>On each Community Events page there is a new Archives tile on the right of the page that provides links for each Month / Year and indicates the number of events for that month - i.e. December 2008 (2). Clicking the link will display all of the events that occurred in the given month. </p> <p><a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/12/calendar-archives.html" target="_blank">[Read More]</a></p> <h2>Upcoming Changes </h2> <p>We are extremely excited about a number of changes we have coming in February. We will be providing enhanced moderation for our Community News and Events modules as well as greater control over system notifications. We have also started work on a new classified ads module that will provide residents with a great place to advertise their goods and services.</p> <p>Lastly, due to the current economics conditions and general softness in the online advertising environment we are going to be making a handful of changes to our Free plan. Namely, we will be removing the document library feature and email notifications of news posts and calendar events. Additionally, a number of upcoming features will only be available to paid subscriptions. </p> <p>We really struggled with this decision but feel it is necessary in order to ensure that we remain a viable service for our existing and future customers. If you are affected by this change, you are more than welcome to continue to use the free service. We have also provided a special coupon code below to save 50% off the first month should you choose to upgrade. However, if you feel that our service isn't a good fit for your community right now we certainly understand and hope you will keep us in mind if your needs change. </p> <h2></h2> <h2>Upgrade and Save</h2> <p>Use coupon code UPGHOA01 to save 50% off your first month of any upgrade!  This code is good through the end of February 2009.</p> <p>Thanks for your business and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!</p> HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-80331301075043920732009-01-18T16:43:00.001-06:002009-01-18T16:43:59.940-06:00First 30 Days Are On Us<p>I am pleased to announce that the first month of any new, <a title="hoa website pricing" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/pricing.aspx" target="_blank">paid subscription plan</a> is now free!  This change gives our customers an entire month to get their community setup, residents registered and take the site for a spin at no cost and no risk!  This is in addition to our 90-day money back guarantee!  </p> <p>With zero risk, why not <a title="hoa website" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/" target="_blank">create a website for your HOA today</a>? Use coupon code <strong>JAN200901</strong> when setting up your community and get 20% off your first month! This offer is good through the end of January 2009.</p> <p>Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!</p> HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-62160445348985360542009-01-18T16:41:00.001-06:002009-01-19T00:47:32.924-06:00Coupon Codes<p>We pushed out an update to our subscription payment process today that enables us to accept coupon codes. Customers can enter a coupon code when creating a new community or upgrading their existing free subscription by entering the coupon code on the Subscription Payment Setup screen. </p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:3c6af7d6-074e-4882-b95b-e62995d0fd2b" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SXKTkMq5oFI/AAAAAAAACCI/4u8EWzeLGns/s800/coupon_code.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="133" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SXKTkMq5oFI/AAAAAAAACCI/4u8EWzeLGns/s400/coupon_code.jpg" width="400"></a></p></div> <p>Enter code <strong>JAN200901</strong> to receive 20% your first month! This offer is good through the end of January 2009.</p> <p>Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!</p> HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-69594091786249952202009-01-14T01:24:00.001-06:002009-01-14T01:24:40.394-06:00Groups and Committees<p>I have a confession to make. I have never been too overly excited about our <a title="hoa website features" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">Groups and Committees</a> feature of <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/" target="_blank">HOAInTouch</a>.  I mean, it worked but it just felt a little “off”. The interface always seemed a little clunky and inefficient - kind of like it was bolted on instead of being a first class feature of the application. </p> <p>I must admit it was my least favorite part of the application and, while we haven’t received any specific <a title="submit feedback" href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com" target="_blank">feedback</a> on it, the usage <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics" target="_blank">statistics</a> appear to confirm that our customers agreed. </p> <p>So we decided to throw it out and rebuild it - nearly from the ground up. I am very pleased to let you know that tonight we released a new <a title="hoa website features" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">Groups and Committees</a> module of <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/" target="_blank">HOAInTouch</a>. </p> <p>This release contains several new features – namely public groups and group member titles - as well as improving on existing features by improving ease of administration and usability. Let’s take a look at the improvements to existing functionality and then we will present the new features.</p> <h1></h1> <h2>Group Details Page</h2> <p>One of the biggest annoyances with the original design was that the group details and group members were on separate pages. This never really made sense and required residents make an extra, unnecessary mouse click to view basic group information.</p> <p>To help illustrate the issue, below are screenshots of the group details and members pages before the update.</p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:ea8bf86c-ecd5-4fe7-9d89-768a84e67b26" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW1x6psDcLI/AAAAAAAACAY/brYVx5hMd4Q/s800/group_details_old.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="120" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW1x6psDcLI/AAAAAAAACAY/brYVx5hMd4Q/s400/group_details_old.jpg" width="400"></a></p></div> <p><em>(Group Details Page)</em></p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:7d623339-9e22-49c5-bbd3-a13893c5b13d" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW1x64XazJI/AAAAAAAACAg/3-KUQxaaSmQ/s800/group_members_old.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="273" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW1x64XazJI/AAAAAAAACAg/3-KUQxaaSmQ/s400/group_members_old.jpg" width="400"></a></p></div> <p><em>(Group Members Page)</em></p> <p>As you can see, the group details page was pretty thin in terms of content. Frankly, there was no new information presented that wasn’t already available on the groups homepage. Additionally the group members page wasn’t much better. We were consuming quite a bit of space to communicate a small amount of information. Yuck.</p> <p>So the first thing we set out to improve was the presentation of the group members. We wanted a way to provide more information in less space. After tossing around a few design ideas we settled on a tabular grid format. Not only does this design provide a concise means of displaying the data, it also allows residents to sort the data thereby greatly improving usability for groups with many members. </p> <p>With the new design taking up so much less space we decided to merge the group details and group members pages - thus eliminating the extra click to get to the member information. Yes, it is a small change but I feel strongly that small details like this really matter and are what separates a good application from a great one. Below is a screenshot of the new group details page. I am really happy with how it turned out and I hope you agree!</p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:f84249b7-a917-4b1b-ab40-2de2c8ef0789" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW100QAkvGI/AAAAAAAACAo/sYygsnsyqh0/s800/group_details.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="246" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW100QAkvGI/AAAAAAAACAo/sYygsnsyqh0/s400/group_details.jpg" width="400"></a></p></div> <p><em>(New Group Details Page)</em> <br /></p> <h2>Group Administration</h2> <p>In the original design we allowed anyone to update the group description and add or remove group members. With the new ability to create public groups (more on this later) we thought it was best to move all of the group administration functions into the Administration section.</p> <p>This move not only makes it much easier and quicker to manage groups but also ensures that community administrators maintain appropriate control over group details and members.</p> <p>Below is a screenshot of what the Add Group Member widget looked like in the original design. </p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:c735167a-f17c-46bf-9d3a-ea79e65ad9f5" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW118yvXYII/AAAAAAAACBA/UOKX8ooRFUU/s800/group_add_user.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="274" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW118yvXYII/AAAAAAAACBA/UOKX8ooRFUU/s400/group_add_user.jpg" width="400"></a></p></div> <p><em>(Add Group Member)</em></p> <p>And this is the new design for editing group information and group members respectively.</p> <p></p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:dee3097a-b3dd-49d8-b228-4fb83c95bd38" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW118h6ON7I/AAAAAAAACA4/YcNhPwkl1Gk/s800/admin_group_details.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="297" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW118h6ON7I/AAAAAAAACA4/YcNhPwkl1Gk/s400/admin_group_details.jpg" width="400"></a></p></div> <p></p> <p><em>(Edit Group Details)</em></p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:5143c984-d246-4328-9fa3-e2232b7a9f80" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW118NLKjXI/AAAAAAAACAw/2DF3ZGIlvsI/s800/admin_group_members.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="175" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW118NLKjXI/AAAAAAAACAw/2DF3ZGIlvsI/s400/admin_group_members.jpg" width="400"></a></p></div> <p><em>(Manage Group Members)</em></p> <p>Much cleaner, much nicer, much better. </p> <h2>Public Groups</h2> <p>One area of the <a title="hoa website features" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">Groups and Committees</a> module that we have received quite a bit of <a title="submit feedback" href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com" target="_blank">feedback</a> on is the lack of visibility of groups for guests/visitors and neighborhood residents not signed in to the <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">HOA website</a>. </p> <p>For example, several communities requested the ability to allow any visitors of the website to view their Board of Directors committee so that potential homeowners could contact them with any questions they might have. </p> <p>I am pleased to announce that <a title="hoa website features" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx" target="_blank">Groups and Committees</a> can now be marked as public which will allow visitors and residents not signed in to view the group details and members. See the new  <em>Edit Group Details</em> screenshot above to see how to enable this feature.</p> <h2>Group Member Titles</h2> <p>Lastly, we added the ability for community administrators to add a title or role description to each group member. This will greatly assist residents in understanding how each group member fits into the larger group/committee and who they might need to contact with issues or questions. Refer to the new <em>Edit Group Members</em> screenshot above to see this new feature.</p> <p>Overall this was a pretty significant release – one of the largest since we initially launched in November of 2006. I dramatically better about our Groups feature and can now consider it a first class feature of the system. I hope you agree but either way <a title="submit feedback" href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com" target="_blank">let us know what you think</a>! Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood! </p> HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-57606790647287057522009-01-13T10:27:00.001-06:002009-01-14T01:31:40.554-06:00Site Sponsors<p>The mission of <a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com" target="_blank">HOAInTouch</a> has always been to <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-does-my-hoa-need-website.html" target="_blank">improve the level and quality of communication</a> in your homeowner association communities. To that end, we are constantly striving to find ways to improve and create a better experience for your residents. </p> <p>As we have <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/local-advertising.html">previously discussed</a>, our business model has always been to partially subsidize the cost of our subscription plans via advertising. Today that changes somewhat.</p> <p>Based on a combination of <a title="submit your feedback" href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com" target="_blank">customer feedback</a> and an evaluation of the current and future market conditions for local online advertising we have greatly reduced the amount of advertising present on each page. </p> <p>Previously we had three large ad sections, a horizontal section across the top just below the menu tabs, a vertical section to the right below any tiles and a second horizontal section at the footer of the page. We would fill this inventory from a variety of sources including <a href="http://www.google.com/adsense" target="_blank">Google</a> and other national ad networks, as well as <a title="site sponsors" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/partners/advertise.aspx" target="_blank">local advertising</a> and in house ads.</p> <p></p> <p><em></em></p> As of tonight all three of these sections have been removed. In their place we have added a small, text only <a title="local advertising, site sponsors" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/partners/advertise.aspx" target="_blank">Site Sponsors</a> section in the lower right corner of the page (screenshot below). This makes for a much cleaner design with dramatically less “noise” and the site loads much faster. Certainly a better experience for our customers. <p></p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:51CF81A4-8F44-4a2c-8837-198C090B9994:c1a334bb-032b-46ec-ade4-c86ce2d4c25c" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW1G1XmlBjI/AAAAAAAACAQ/f9ZYhtUuWDE/s800/site_sponsors.jpg" atomicselection="true"><img style="border-right: 2px; border-top: 2px; border-left: 2px; border-bottom: 2px" height="319" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SW1G1XmlBjI/AAAAAAAACAQ/f9ZYhtUuWDE/s400/site_sponsors.jpg" width="190"></a></p></div> <p><em>(Site Sponsors)</em></p> <p>This change in direction is also a win for our advertisers. Moving forward we will no longer be utilizing Google - or  any other ad networks - and will only be displaying our own <a title="local advertising, site sponsors" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/partners/advertise.aspx" target="_blank">local advertising</a>.  We are also limiting the number of sponsors per community to four and will only be displaying two ads per page. This decrease in inventory and competing advertisers will translate into increased page views and prominence for our local advertisers.</p> <p><a title="hoa websites" href="http://www.hoaintouch.com" target="_blank">HOAInTouch</a> is a tremendous opportunity for local businesses to advertise online and know that they are reaching their target market. If you are a real estate agent, lawn care provider, roofer, plumber, handyman, etc. please <a href="mailto:sales@hoaintouch.com">contact us</a> so we can get your business in front of local homeowners. For only $25 per month you can reach homeowners in the neighborhood of your choice while they are already thinking about their homes. </p> <p>Thanks and, as always, <a title="submit feedback" href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com" target="_blank">let us know what you think</a>! We will see you ‘round the neighborhood!</p> HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-63877963363109069702008-12-05T23:37:00.003-06:002008-12-05T23:47:08.408-06:00Calendar ArchivesWe released a small update to the Community Events module tonight that allows residents to browse prior community events.<br /><br />On each Community Events page there is a new Archives tile on the right of the page that provides links for each Month / Year and indicates the number of events for that month - i.e. December 2008 (2). Clicking the link will display all of the events that occurred in the given month. Below is a screenshot to better illustrate.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SToQy3F4u5I/AAAAAAAAB_w/I2u8xPEV6x0/s1600-h/calendar_event_archive.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 209px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/SToQy3F4u5I/AAAAAAAAB_w/I2u8xPEV6x0/s320/calendar_event_archive.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276548379386100626" border="0" /></a><br />Hope this helps! Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-53498917081441503032008-12-05T01:31:00.005-06:002008-12-05T02:21:16.768-06:00Life Just Got A Little Richer<div>One of our most requested features has been the ability for users to richly format the content posted to thier community. Tonight we released enhancements to our Community News and Community Events modules that allows users to format the content of these items and their comments.</div><div><br /></div><div>The new rich text/html editor enables content authors to change the <span style="font-family:verdana;">font face</span>, <span style="font-size:180%;">size</span> and <span style="color:#990000;">color</span> of the text as well as providing the ability to make the text <strong>bold</strong>, <em>italic</em> or underlined. The new editor also allows for the creation of ordered and unordered list and <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">hyperlinks</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>As we have all heard at least a few times, a picture is worth a thousand words so below are some screenshots showcasing the new feature using the Community News module.</div><div><br /></div><div>The first screenshot is a news post that was created before the new editor was available. </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276211019489376738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 164px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/STjd97iqeeI/AAAAAAAAB_Y/qg7fj2hAF18/s320/news_post_rich_text_before.png" border="0" /> </div><br />The second screenshot is a shot of the news post in the new edit screen.<br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276211374442763858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 227px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/STjeSl2JVlI/AAAAAAAAB_g/xo3_HRO3z8I/s320/news_post_rich_text.png" border="0" /><br /></p>Lastly, a screenshot of the updated news post with the richly formated content.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5276211377735173922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 199px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/STjeSyHHhyI/AAAAAAAAB_o/aKNigb24t-I/s320/news_post_rich_text_after.png" border="0" /><br />As you can see, the resulting news post is formatted much cleaner and is more aesthetically pleasing. It also more easily conveys the critical pieces of information such as the web address, due date and contact information.<br /><br />Hope you enjoy this new feature and please <a href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com/">keep the feedback coming</a>! Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-5607361319623054042008-12-03T01:00:00.006-06:002008-12-03T01:17:17.771-06:00You Have A VoiceTonight we pushed out an update that I am very excited about. We have partnered with <a href="http://www.uservoice.com/">UserVoice</a>, a company providing a new twist on user feedback, to provide a forum for our customers to request new features, submit bug reports and help control the overall direction of the site.<br /><br />To get started simply click the blue feedback button aligned vertically on the left side of the window.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/STYxTcuk6II/AAAAAAAAB_I/--1FdB7G1RY/s1600-h/uservoice_feedback.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/STYxTcuk6II/AAAAAAAAB_I/--1FdB7G1RY/s320/uservoice_feedback.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275458223709939842" border="0" /></a><br />This will open the feedback window which allows quick access to the forum and provides the ability to quickly submit a bug.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/STYxjgdW6vI/AAAAAAAAB_Q/2P0TlJla5CE/s1600-h/uservoice_feedback_dialog.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tzQCrLtfzo4/STYxjgdW6vI/AAAAAAAAB_Q/2P0TlJla5CE/s320/uservoice_feedback_dialog.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275458499589368562" border="0" /></a><br />To get the ball rolling we have <a href="http://hoaintouch.uservoice.com">seeded the feedback forum</a> with some of our most requested features. Feel free to vote up the ones you would most like to see or to add entirely new ones. We hope you enjoy this new feature and we look forward to hearing from you!<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-71517013840575460532008-11-20T01:34:00.003-06:002008-11-20T01:42:33.375-06:00Safari CompatibilityTonight we pushed out a few updates to resolve some funkiness we were seeing with the Safari browser. As a reminder, <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com">HOAInTouch </a>supports all of the major browsers including:<br /><ul class="features"><li>Internet Explorer 6+</li><li>FireFox 1.5+<br /></li><li>Safari 3+</li><li>Opera 9+</li></ul>Hope this helps and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-26897745640738832312008-11-19T00:49:00.003-06:002008-11-19T01:16:30.010-06:00Still HereJust a quick post to let you know we are still alive and well. You might not have heard from us in a while but we have been busy continuing to improve <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com">HOAInTouch </a>and providing homeowner associations with a great website and communication tool for their residents.<br /><br />Earlier this week we pushed out an update to improve the performance of the site as well as improving compatibility with Firefox 3. This was a significant update that took quite a bit of time to implement and touched literally every page of the site. Since it was more of an infrastructure enhancement you really shouldn't notice any visible difference - other than the site loading faster of course - but we feel it was worth it and will allow us to leverage some pretty cool stuff moving forward.<br /><br />Stay tuned as we plan to make several other enhancements to the site before the end of the year and are excited to get your feedback. As always, feel free to <a href="mailto:sales@hoaintouch.com">drop us a line</a> and let us know what you think!<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-3208066696369177942008-04-26T01:33:00.000-05:002008-04-26T01:37:55.305-05:00Local AdvertisingOur business model has always been to partially subsidize the cost of subscriptions via advertising. To date we have used national ad networks such as <a href="http://adsense.google.com/">Google </a>to fill our ad inventory. However, as of last week we are now able to host and publish our own ads.<br /><br />This means your community can now have local advertising that is inherently more <strong>relevant</strong> and <strong>useful</strong> to your residents. <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com </a>is a great place to <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/partners/advertise.aspx">advertise </a>for realtors, lawn care, painters, banks, restaurants, etc. Really any business that wants to attract local customers is a great candidate.<br /><br />So why is this good for you? Starting May 1st, any community that refers two or more advertisers will be automatically upgraded to the <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/pricing.aspx">Ultimate plan </a>absolutely free! Contact us at <a href="mailto:sales@hoaintouch.com">sales@hoaintouch.com</a> for more details or if you have any questions.HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-24435292602668393892008-04-26T01:23:00.002-05:002008-04-26T01:33:47.497-05:00Unlimited Users For All CommunitiesAt the beginning of the month we <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/march-statistics.html">alluded to some major changes </a>in the works that would make <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a> an even more compelling choice for communities looking to (re)connect with their neighbors.<br /><br />We are very, very excited to announce that we have removed the user limits on all plans! Now all communities – even those on the FREE plan – can add unlimited users and contacts to their community. It has never been easier to improve communication and participation in your neighborhood!<br /><br />To make getting your entire community registered quick and easy, earlier this month we released the new <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/user-import-feature.html">Bulk User Import </a>feature. It is a super, super simple two step process. Just complete a spreadsheet with three required fields (first name, last name and email address) and upload it in your administration section. We will take care of the rest. For more information check out a <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/04/user-import-feature.html">previous blog post </a>on the feature.<br /><br />Hope you are as excited about this change as we are! Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-7739973786713390402008-04-26T01:18:00.000-05:002008-04-26T01:20:35.933-05:00Over 100 CommunitiesThis week we passed a significant milestone! Just five short months after we launched, <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAIntouch.com</a> is already helping over 100 communities communicate more effectively. We couldn’t have done it without your support so THANK YOU! We are extremely pleased to have passed this milestone in such a short amount of time and look forward to our next major milestone – 1000 communities!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-41447161162747076902008-04-02T00:58:00.001-05:002008-04-02T01:06:20.627-05:00Entering Phone NumbersSince we launched in November of 2007 we have always required that phone numbers be entered in the traditional (555)555-5555 format. While a common format it is really a pain to enter phone numbers this way. It just doesn’t “flow” very well.<br /><br />I am *<strong>really</strong>* excited to announce that as of today you can now enter phone numbers in a variety of formats. In addition to (555)555-5555, you can now use (555) 555-5555 (note the space after the closing parenthesis), 555-555-5555 or 555.555.5555.<br /><br />Yeah, I realize this isn’t really that big of a deal but has been a personal pet peeve of mine - drove me absolutely nuts! I am happy now and I hope you can appreciate it even half as much as me. :)<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-64804311760583944252008-04-02T00:51:00.002-05:002008-04-02T00:58:24.361-05:00User Import Feature<p>Today we released a great new feature for <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a> <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles">community administrators</a>. <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/help/faq.aspx#roles">Administrators </a>are now able to easily import all or a subset of the residents in their neighborhood – and true to form it is super, super simple.<br /><br />We will do a full post with screenshots on this feature at some point as well as create a video tutorial but essentially here is the process.</p><ol><li>Download a very simple spreadsheet from inside the administration section of your homeowners association website. Currently the only required fields are first name, last name and email address. Optionally you can also specify the user’s password, home phone number and home address. </li><li>Upload the spreadsheet.</li></ol><p>Yep, that’s it. Two steps. I told you it was super simple!<br /><br />Once the spreadsheet is uploaded we automatically check the data for any errors, create the user accounts and display the results. We also send an email to each new user welcoming them to your homeowners association website and providing them their user name and password. With this new user import feature <strong>+90%</strong> adoption is easily feasible – and possible without your residents having to do anything! How great is that!<br /><br />This is been a frequently requested feature and we worked hard to make it as simple and painless as possible. We are really excited with how it turned out and think you will be too. Try it out and <a href="mailto:support@hoaintouch.com">let us know </a>what you think! If you don’t have a <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com </a>community yet then <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/addcommunity.aspx">create your homeowners association website</a> today and create those neighborhood connections!<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!</p>HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-90044756927116660522008-04-02T00:24:00.003-05:002008-04-02T11:27:56.974-05:00March StatisticsFirst of the month again – time to fire up the ol’ calculator and take a look at some stats. <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a> is now helping <strong>80 homeowners associations</strong> (<span style="color:#009900;">+26.98%</span>) create more active and vibrate neighborhoods! Below are the stats for the month of March 2008.<br /><br />Application Statistics:<br /><br />Number of users: 216 (<span style="color:#009900;">+34.16%</span>)<br />Number of contacts: 303 (<span style="color:#009900;">+31.74%</span>)<br />Number of groups: 27 (<span style="color:#009900;">+3.85%</span>)<br />Number of news posts: 146 (<span style="color:#009900;">+23.73%</span>)<br />Number of community events: 173 (<span style="color:#009900;">+19.31%</span>)<br />Number of documents: 201 (<span style="color:#009900;">+11.05%</span>)<br /><br />Traffic Statistics from <a href="http://analytics.google.com/">Google Analytics</a>:<br /><br />Visits: 989 (<span style="color:#009900;">+20.32%</span>)<br />Unique Visitors: 652 (<span style="color:#009900;">+8.67%</span>)<br />Page Views: 4,013 (<span style="color:#009900;">+26.39%</span>)<br />Pages / Visit: 4.06 (<span style="color:#009900;">+5.05%</span>)<br />Time on Site: 5:14 (<span style="color:#009900;">+34.47%</span>)<br /><br />Wow! What a great month with strong growth across the board. We are really excited about our growth and are talking to more and more homeowners associations every day about the benefits of an HOA website. We also have some really great new features in the works that will make <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a> even more compelling to homeowner associations looking to (re)connect their neighborhoods.<br /><br />March marked the end of our first full quarter as well. Hard to believe we launched just a short four and a half months ago! Big thanks to all of our existing customers – we couldn’t have done it it without you! If you haven’t created your HOA website yet then <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/addcommunity.aspx">give us a try</a>!<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-77810223042637956922008-03-09T23:37:00.002-05:002008-03-09T23:52:31.105-05:00HOAInTouch.com in the PressWe received our March 2008 copy of <a href="http://www.435southmagazine.com/">435 South</a>, a local magazine focused on Southern Johnson County, over the weekend and were pleasantly surprised to find a small article on <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a>! Their <a href="http://www.435southmagazine.com/">site </a>appears to be under a redesign right now so I can’t link to the article but I have included the text below.<br /><br /><em><strong>Local Company Keeps Neighborhoods Connected</strong><br />Leawood-based Rupp Development & Consulting recently unveiled a new product called HOAInTouch.com. This innovative web site gives subdivisions and communities a way to keep in touch like never before. The social network provides a forum for posting news and events, sharing documents and facilitating communication between neighbors. There are four key features to this program: Community News keeps everyone informed on what is happening; Community Events tells what meetings, events, garage sales and such are going on in the area; Community Directory is a great way to keep everyone’s contact info handy; and Local Weather, provided by Weather.com, makes weather information easily accessible at the click of a mouse. To search for your neighborhood or for more information, visit </em><a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/"><em>www.HOAInTouch.com</em></a><em>.</em><br /><br />Couldn’t have said it better ourselves! We have already noticed an uptick in visits to the site and are very excited about being featured in a magazine focused on our target market.HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-2536875473855276752008-03-04T12:37:00.002-06:002008-03-04T12:51:02.885-06:00February Statistics<p>It is that time of month again! Below are the stats for the month of February 2008.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a> is now helping <strong>63 communities</strong><span style="color:#000000;"> (</span><span style="color:#33cc00;">+40%</span>) in <strong>62 zip codes</strong> (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+37.78%</span>) and <strong>23 states</strong> (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+</span><span style="color:#33cc00;">43.75%</span>) communicate more effectively with their residents and neighbors! We have also had zip code searches from <strong>43 different states</strong> (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+7.5%</span>).<br /><br />Applications Statistics:<br /><br />Number of users: 161 (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+26.77%</span>)<br />Number of contacts: 230 (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+29.94%</span>)<br />Number of groups: 26 (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+13.04%</span>)<br />Number of news posts: 118 <span style="color:#000000;">(</span><span style="color:#33cc00;">+31.11%</span>)<br />Number of community events: 145 (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+36.79%</span>)<br />Number of documents: 181 (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+2.84%</span>)<br /><br />Traffic Statistics from <a href="http://analytics.google.com/">Google Analytics</a>:<br /><br />Visits: 822 (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+68.10%</span>)<br />Unique Visitors: 600 (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+80.18%</span>)<br />Page Views: 3,175 (<span style="color:#cc0000;">-0.19%</span>)<br />Pages / Visit: 3.86 (<span style="color:#cc0000;">-40.62%</span>)<br />Time on Site: 3: 53 (<span style="color:#cc0000;">-9.97%</span>)<br /><br />We continue to experience tremendous growth in our user base (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+26.77%</span>) and communities are really utilizing the <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2007/11/community-news.html">community news </a>(<span style="color:#33cc00;">+31.11%</span>) and <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/02/community-events.html">events </a>(<span style="color:#33cc00;">+36.79%</span>) features. We are very pleased with these growth numbers especially considering we are focused on local markets which are inherently more difficult to grow.<br /><br />Not surprisingly, our site traffic isn’t necessarily following the same growth trend – and this is actually by design. When we set out to create <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com </a>we didn’t want our users to have to constantly check and scour the website to stay informed. Who has time for that? Our goal was to enable them to stay current on the community without changing their current behavior.<br /><br />This is why our <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2007/11/community-news.html">Community News</a> and <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/02/community-events.html">Events </a>features email the residents each time an item is posted. We include all the information in the email and also provide deep links directly to the content so they don’t need to login to view the news item in their browser or <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2007/12/mail-client-integration.html">download the event </a>to Microsoft Outlook.<br /><br />Our visits (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+68.10%</span>) and unique visitors (<span style="color:#33cc00;">+80.18%</span>) growth supports that this is working. 80% growth in unique visitors is phenomenal and extremely exciting. More and more residents are finding the site useful and recommending it to their neighbors. We love to see this and added the <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2008/02/invite-neighbor.html">Invite a Neighbor</a> page last month to help spread the word.<br /><br />Overall, February was a great month and considering it was only our third full month since we launched we are extremely pleased with our growth and how far we have come.<br /><br />See you ‘round the neighborhood!</p>HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-73826887107671050092008-02-22T14:34:00.002-06:002008-02-22T14:49:10.116-06:00Invite a Neighbor!We had (another) small release last night in which we pushed out a new feature to the marketing site. You can now easily invite a friend, neighbor or board member to take a look at <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a>.<br /><br />Just click on the new <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tellafriend.aspx">Invite a Neighbor</a> tab, enter their email address and click the Send button. Super simple. If desired you can also customize the message by modifying the text in the Message box.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169907683852321986"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/mitch.rupp/R78zpamUhMI/AAAAAAAABW4/U5QpyjuXf5M/s400/invite_a_neighbor.jpg" /></a><br /><br />This would also be a great way to invite your neighbors to sign up for <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a> if your community is already setup!<br /><br />Hope you find <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tellafriend.aspx">Invite a Neighbor</a> useful! Thanks for stopping by and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-2166099936473841932008-02-21T11:09:00.003-06:002008-02-21T11:32:42.874-06:00Community Search UpdateWe had a small release last night fixing a couple minor annoyances and a small but important change to the Community Search results page.<br /><br />Previously the only navigation option available on the results page was the Join Now! button. This was intentional and designed to streamline the sign up process.<br /><br />Given the wide range of technical ability of our user base, we continually strive for maximum simplicity throughout <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a>. Unless we absolutely have to provide multiple choices and/or navigation paths we choose not to in order to provide a more simple and intuitive interface.<br /><br />For this reason we made the decision not to provide a link to the community website on the search results page. We feared that members of our communities that are less technically adept might be thrown off by this and have difficulty completing the registration process.<br /><br />With that said, we have had a surprising number of requests to allow users to preview their community website before registering so we changed the name of the community into a link to their website. This link opens in a new browser window so that users can easily complete the signup process when finished with the preview. A screenshot of the change is provided below.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169481717585839282"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/mitch.rupp/R72wO6mUhLI/AAAAAAAABWY/h9eEiK7oB4k/s400/community_search.jpg" /></a><br /><br />This change will also allow users already registered that have forgotten or lost the web address to their community to easily view their community website without signing in.<br /><br />We strove to provide a balance between simplicity/intuitiveness and usability. I think we succeeded and hope you agree. <a href="mailto:support@hoaintouch.com">Let us know what you think </a>and keep the feedback coming – we are listening!<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-26523238485389962032008-02-20T16:30:00.003-06:002008-02-20T17:40:53.685-06:00Community EventsToday I would like to take a few minutes and examine the <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx">Community Events </a>feature of <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com.<br /></a><br /><a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx">Community Events</a> was the second feature we implemented in <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a> (right after <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2007/11/community-news.html">Community News</a>) primarily because we knew how badly <a href="http://leawoodfalls.hoaintouch.com/dashboard.aspx">our own HOA</a> needed it. Frequently there would be flyers for events posted on mailboxs that would either get:<br /><br />1. Ripped off by the wind and litter the neighborhood or<br />2. Rained on, become illegible and look terrible.<br /><br />Even if someone was able to read the flyer they rarely remembered to write it down once they made it back inside. Bottom line is the flyers weren't an effective tool in informing the neighborhood or getting the community engaged.<br /><br />With these challenges in mind we went to work creating the <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/tour.aspx">Community Events </a>feature. As always, our goal was to create a system that was simple and intuitive enough for anyone to use but useful enough to fulfill the goal of informing the neighborhood and increasing participation.<br /><br />Viewing an event<br /><br />When you view the dashboard for your community the next five community events are listed on the right hand side. You can also click the Calendar tab at the top of the page to view your upcoming community events.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169196737915815026"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/mitch.rupp/R7ytC6mUhHI/AAAAAAAABVI/ammK7KyXa2Y/s400/calendar_event_list.jpg" /></a><br /><br />From the calendar screen only the name of the event, location and partial description are visible. To view the event details user’s can either click the name of the event or the details link at the bottom.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169196746505749650"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/mitch.rupp/R7ytDamUhJI/AAAAAAAABVY/HNFC9y1NTBA/s400/calendar_event_view.jpg" /></a><br /><br />In the event details page users are able to view all of the event information (event name, start date/time, end date/time, location and description), as well as add a comment (a great way to RSVP) or <a href="http://hoaintouch.blogspot.com/2007/12/mail-client-integration.html">download the event </a>to their local calendaring application (i.e. Microsoft Outlook) and set a reminder.<br /><br />Adding an event<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169196755095684258"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/mitch.rupp/R7ytD6mUhKI/AAAAAAAABVg/m1GiPXw3lj8/s400/calendar_event_add.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Adding an event is super simple and is much like adding an event to Microsoft Outlook or other calendaring application. Simply enter the name of the event, the start date / time, the end date / time, the location of the event and a short description. If it is an all day event (i.e. a holiday, garage sale, trash pickup, etc.) simply check the Add Day Event box.<br /><br />Editing/Delete an event<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169196737915815026"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/mitch.rupp/R7ytC6mUhHI/AAAAAAAABVI/ammK7KyXa2Y/s400/calendar_event_list.jpg" /></a><br /><br />If the user is authorized to edit an event, an edit link provided below the event description on the Calendar page.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169196742210782338"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/mitch.rupp/R7ytDKmUhII/AAAAAAAABVQ/q58OfGfmNNY/s400/calendar_event_edit.jpg" /></a><br /><br />The edit event page is almost exactly the same as the Add Event page with the exception of a Delete button. To delete the event simply click the Delete button and then click Yes when asked to confirm.<br /><br />Event Notifications<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/mitch.rupp/HOAInTouchComBlog/photo#5169196733620847714"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/mitch.rupp/R7ytCqmUhGI/AAAAAAAABVA/ixAhKFEs4Rg/s400/calendar_event_email.jpg" /></a><br /><br />When a community event is added to the system an email is sent to all users in the neighborhood that are subscribed to receive updates. This is a great feature because it enables users to stay informed without having to constantly remember to check the website. Instead they stay informed simply by checking their email – just like they already do every day.<br /><br />By making it so easy for residents to stay in touch with the community you can increase community participation dramatically. Really that is what <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com </a>is all about. Leveraging technology to increase communication and build a sense community in your neighborhood.<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-90802482510292658032008-02-18T23:05:00.003-06:002008-02-18T23:33:21.737-06:00New Email TemplatesOver the last few weeks you may have noticed a change in the emails recieved from <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com</a>. Earlier this month we made quite a few updates to the templates we were using. The new templates are much, much cleaner and do a better job of drawing the focus where it needs to be - on the information about your community.<br /><br />With the new templates we also provide more information. For example, the news and events notifications now include links to view the content in your browser or add comments. Also, the event notification now includes the date and location of the event as well as a link to add the event to your calendar.<br /><br />Finally, we also updated the forgot password template. Previously this email created confusion for some users because the period ending the sentence occurred immediately after the new password. While gramatically correct, this caused some users to be unsure if the period was to be included as a part of the password or not. Now, the password is clearly set apart and should be much easier to use.<br /><br />We worked hard to improve the usability of the emails and hope you like the new templates. Feel free to <a href="mailto:support@hotintouch.com">drop us a note </a>and let us know what you think. Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3772793500978357148.post-65338802501911712342008-02-01T13:36:00.000-06:002008-02-01T13:48:54.057-06:00New Comment NotificationsLast night we released a new feature for <a href="http://www.hoaintouch.com/">HOAInTouch.com </a>- new comment notifications. Now when a new comment is added to a news post or community event the author and any users that have added comments will receive an email notifying them that a new comment has been added.<br /><br />Previously users had to remember to continually check the site to see if anyone had added comments which was a royal pain and not really conducive to facilitating communication. Hopefully these changes will provide a better means to engage the community. Let us know what you think!<br /><br />Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!HOAInTouch.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11880099618198820839noreply@blogger.com0