Rental Property Management Websites – Propertyware

How Property Managers Can Improve Business Relationships Using Software Tools

Marc Eiting — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

Property management is a “people” business. The better their relationships are with owners, tenants and vendors, the more successful and smooth life is for property managers. But fostering good relationships doesn’t depend wholly on a sunny personality. In addition to making you more efficient, today’s software tools deliver benefits that directly impact how you get along with the people you interact with each day. Here are some of the ways they do this.

Better maintenance makes for better relationships

Maintenance is at the top of the list of critical roles for property managers, and handling it in a timely manner with good communication all around can put a smile on everyone’s face. You probably won’t be able to consistently accomplish this using sticky notes and phone calls. That’s a recipe for irritation and misunderstandings. But when you manage maintenance online, maintenance tasks are perfectly coordinated, with owners, tenants and service people on the same page all the way through to completion. Scheduling and status of work orders, responsibilities and costs are clear and understood by all. It’s a sure way to better relationships. For an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction, you can have a contact center to back your busy people and take maintenance calls, freeing up staff for other responsibilities.

Paying accurately and on time has payoff

What happens when you receive an invoice? If you’re like many property managers, it goes into your inbox or a file and you get to it when you have time. This is, of course, an invitation to mistakes and late or missing payments. An online accounting system not only saves time in managing all those invoices and the accounts payable process. It reduces paper, saves storage space in filing cabinets and helps ensures everyone gets paid accurately and on time. That’s a good way to keep your service providers happy, loyal and responsive.

Property inspection apps reduce misunderstandings

Inspections can be a source of misunderstandings, not to mention a huge time-sink. But a mobile property inspection app lets you conduct move-in and move-out inspections right there at the property on a mobile device, attaching digital photos to the items on the list so everything is tightly documented. No more trips back to the office for data entry. The reports are immediately available to owners – no more waiting for the mail. Mobile inspections with online access to reports have proven to be a major owner-pleaser.

Access to information makes for happier tenants and owners

Maintenance and inspections are just two of the many areas where software improves communication, and better communication improves relationships. In discussing what makes a good property manager, The Cooperator says: “a property manager needs to be able to listen and communicate, as well as be proactive and involved, current and knowledgeable.” A big help in keeping everyone in the loop without a lot of time and effort is the use of tenant and owner portals. Some property managers have reported that the Propertyware Owner Portal is so impressive at first sight that it has resulted in signing up new owner/clients on the spot. What they love is not having to call, email or visit the office to stay on top of what’s going on with their properties. Maintenance issues, financial information, reports and all of the things they want to stay on top of being right there in the owner portal, accessible 24 hours a day. Tenants enjoy 24-hour access to information about maintenance and other issues as well – particularly when it’s coupled with the ability to make payments and service requests online. It’s another great example of software smoothing the relationship between tenant and property manager, and eliminating possible sources of misunderstanding.

Developing strong business relationships is key to long-term growth

Better business relationships pay off in two important ways. The first and most obvious is that frequent “issues” between you and your owners, tenants or service people will directly impact your growth and profitability. But there’s another benefit that even if a bit more subtle is likely just as important: job satisfaction – both yours and your people’s. The headaches that good software tools eliminate are the same ones that lead to compromised job performance, a stressful work environment, and employee turnover. A property management business that runs like a well-oiled machine using the latest software is a satisfying, upbeat place to work. When your owners, tenants, and service people are happy, it’s a whole lot easier to be happy yourself. Take a free online tour of Propertyware today.

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How Your Property Management Website Helps Brand Your Business

Marc Eiting — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0000

A business is more than a collection of people, a building, or a product—it’s a brand and a culture, as well. As a business manager, you know how important it is to have a property management website that draws in new opportunities. However, it’s the way you interact with tenants, owners, and properties on the ground that builds your business into a strong brand.

Your Property Management Website Articulates Your Brand

One of the more modern ways to tell people who you are as a business is to develop and maintain a property management website and social media presence. In this digital age, digital curb appeal is very important. Your website must look professional and put together, with SEO that draws in both local readers and those curious about issues in the property field. With relevant content, you can use your website blogs to establish yourself as an authority in the field. However, you must make sure that your business is not all looks with no substance. According to Search Engine Land, “too often, we silo our various marketing campaigns instead of viewing them as a cohesive strategy. SEO, listings, reviews and social media all work together to build your brand.” Consider who you are as a business first, and then bring your website into alignment. Your tenants and owners need to trust you to care for their home.

Landlord Management Software Makes Organization Easier

One of the most important elements of who you are as a brand is your ability to stay organized and provide exceptional customer service. As your property management business grows, staying organized becomes more and more difficult. Use tools such as landlord management software to keep your business processes running smoothly. These processes involve everything from repair and maintenance schedules to connecting with and paying owners and vendors. You want to brand your business as an organization that’s on top of its game and build strong relationships with customer service that’s always well-coordinated.

Rental Property Management Software Helps You Communicate

According to the Houston Chronicle, “regular communication with your customer base allows you to adapt and grow so you can continue to meet its requirements.” Become known as a business that cares about its customers, both tenants and owners. Using tenant and owner portals, you can clearly articulate the rules of a property, keep a visible record of what your tenants owe, and help tenants and owners manage their finances online. Rental property management software helps you make communication part of your business brand identity.

Your Actions Help You Become a Respected Resource

As a well-organized business that communicates in a way that’s helpful to owners and tenants, you become a resource in your community. Through website content or by providing information in person or over the phone, you can become known not only as a competent business but as a trusted resource. Consider how you can brand your business in this way by developing all of your business systems, from your property management website to your communication strategies. As you develop your property management business brand, connect with Propertyware. We’re here to help you create a business brand that’s strong and vital. With the help of our property management software, you can be the organized and accomplished property management business that you aspire to be. Sign up for a free tour today and see how Propertyware can work for your business.

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7 SEO Tips for Property Management Websites

Marc Eiting — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 23:41:08 +0000

Excellence in property management may place you ahead of the crowd, but can prospects easily find you online? While some of your tenants come to you through word of mouth, others are scouring the internet for opportunities to rent. When you are managing your property management website, help prospective tenants find your business. Following SEO tips for property management websites can help drive traffic to property listings and expand your business. Here are 5 ways property management professionals can leverage the power of SEO.

1. Know Your Keywords

How can your customers find you? To leave a trail for your leads to follow, you don’t need breadcrumbs, you need keywords. Examine the keywords that drive customers to your business, and develop your website content around these words. From your home page to your blog posts, the words on your website need to echo the words that prospective tenants use when they’re looking for properties online. Use Google’s Keyword tool to find words or phrases with low competition and high search volume, and use them in your text, headings, and photo descriptions and captions.

2. Get Local

When prospective tenants are looking for a place to live, they’re looking at local listings. Using local keywords at your property management website can be extremely helpful. Consider targeting keyword phrases, such as ‘Miami homes for rent’. You can also improve your local SEO by creating ‘places’ pages for Bing, Yahoo, and Google. You’ll need to fill out information such as the address of your business. What if your business information is incorrect? Forbes says that “It is possible that your business is already listed somewhere by someone else, but don’t panic! All you need to do is claim this listing, often referred to also as a citation.”

3. Be Consistent

Computers love consistency, and when the search engine bots are scouring websites for content, they need to find that your business information is the same on every website that they visit. Make sure that the way you write your contact information on your home page is the same as the way it shows up in Google’s local search pages. Consistency makes it easier for web searchers to recognize that you’re the same company.

4. Link Up

Adding links to your content is a way to increase your standing in the search engine rankings. Connect with other companies that can promote your work and link to your site. Don’t just link for the sake of linking: according to the Staples blog, “Google is getting better at giving exposure to good content and punishing sites that do bad link building, so you don’t want to inadvertently get yourself in trouble by doing the wrong thing and lowering your rank.” Place your company onto online directories. The more quality links you have that return back to your site, the more respectable your site looks in the eyes of search engines.

5. Be Sociable

While social media connections aren’t SEO, the two go hand-in-hand. Social media sharing is an opportunity for your website to get more followers and more people who link to your site, and that improves your search engine rankings. As you create your social media profiles, make sure that your business information is consistent with that on your website and your local listings.

6. Go Another Step

Fresh content adds keyword opportunities to your site and makes your website seem up to date. Don’t just edit your site, add content to it on a consistent basis. By creating a blog or other documents that visitors can download or use online, you create opportunities to use more keywords, and your website seems updated and vital.

7. Analyze, Analyze, Analyze

As you learn more about SEO and how it relates to your website, continue to analyze your results and change the way you manage your property management website. Use Google Analytics to understand your website and your keyword results.

“We have about ten times more leads through Propertyware.” – Jerry Ryan, Resource Property Management

Are you developing your property management website? Propertyware can help. Contact us to get a free quote or to take an online tour today.

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3 Things to Include on Your Rental Property Management Website

Marc Eiting — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 16:48:26 +0000

What are the ingredients for a stellar rental property management website? Whether you’re developing a new website or making changes to your existing one, make sure that you have the right elements to attract new leads and keep your tenants and owners happy. Adding specific elements to your site and decreasing others can turn your website into a strong and ever-changing advertisement and portal for your business. As you design a website, make sure that you do the following:

1. Keep It Mobile-Friendly

In today’s mobile world, having a mobile-friendly website is absolutely necessary, but this doesn’t mean you need to hire someone to completely change your website. Use flexible templates that allow you to create a rental property management website that can flex to connect with a tablet or a phone, serving your owners and tenants on the go.

2. Add SEO and Social Media Links

Finding a home is a very social process, often completed by connecting with others in person or online. However, all too often, rental property management websites forget to integrate social media and optimize for the keywords your tenants are using in search engines. Make sure to incorporate SEO and social media connections on your website to make it easier for people to find and share your property listings.

3. Help Customers Get to Know You

What do you want online visitors to know about your business? As tenants search for a new home, they want to get to know the history of their property management company to ensure it is stable and respected. Put together a strong home page, FAQ, and company history page to reassure owners and tenants that you have the experience to effectively work with them. It’s also important to be aware of things you shouldn’t include on your website. Avoiding these mistakes will help your website succeed:

Your Name Doesn’t Reflect Your Business

While this may seem like a basic step, Small Business Trends reminds us that it’s important to choose your domain name wisely: “Make your private domain name something easy to remember. Preferably the name of your business.” If possible, purchase other domain names that are similar and redirect them to your business page, as well.

Your Website Is Too Flashy

Does your website have all of the bells and whistles? While a good-looking site is important, hold off on the marching band. According to Forbes, “in order to be successful on the Internet, you need to focus on marketing your website – not a flashy design.” Concentrate on integrating the colors and style that connect to your brand.

You’re Hard to Contact

How do your prospective contacts get in touch with you? If your website doesn’t have obvious contact or sign up information, it’s hard to answer tenants’ and owners’ questions. Make sure that your contact information is obvious on the home page, provide a contact page, and add an owner and tenant portal including online signup sheets to make it as easy as possible for prospective tenants or owners to sign up with your rental property management company.

You’re Not Very Talkative

While your website doesn’t need to be flashy, it does need to be talkative. Make sure that your site changes over time by adding new blog content. A stale and static site doesn’t attract nearly as many visitors as an active blog that focuses on issues that are of interest to your tenants.

You Forget to Add a Call to Action

You can have the best website in the world, but if there is no strong call to action, you won’t connect nearly as well with owners and tenants. What do you want people to do once they visit your website? Should they sign up for your email list? Add themselves to the waiting list for properties in a specific area? Create landing pages that are specific to different groups and customize your CTA for each audience.

“We have about ten times more leads through Propertyware.” – Jerry Ryan, Resource Property Management

As you create your website, you need to create a foundation for success. Choose strong but flexible web design templates that allow you to easily integrate mobile-friendliness, SEO, and social media links. Get pricing for Propertyware’s digital marketing products today.

The post 3 Things to Include on Your Rental Property Management Website appeared first on Propertyware.

How Great Property Management Websites Can Lead to Business Success

Marc Eiting — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 20:29:10 +0000

When you’re browsing the web, you probably don’t always notice the details of the websites you visit. An excellent website has a great design and useful features, but they may not immediately catch your eye. They’re so good that they make you want to return to the site because it works for you. How can you achieve this kind of success with your own property management website? The key is to design your site for business success.

Look Connected and Up to Date

First impressions matter. According to Forbes, “visuals are perceived in milliseconds and form a general opinion of your website.” Your property management website should be aesthetically appealing and engage viewers. Look through your site at least once per year to check for overall design and functionality, and regularly check your links to determine if any of them are broken. When your website looks competent, you do too.

Be Visually Clear and Well-Branded

As you change your website, focus on creating a clear picture of your brand. According to the Business to Community blog, a custom web design can create a personalized feel for your concept, your brand, and your vision. A website isn’t a knickknack shelf, it’s a place to exercise your minimalism whenever possible. Think of the one or two key messages or actions that you’d like tenants (or potential tenants) to do when they visit your website, then use design and words to transmit these messages clearly. Make sure that your call to action is prominent so that you can encourage people to connect with your business.

Go Short, Simple, and Snappy

Huge blocks of text don’t go over well on the internet. Instead, focus on short, simple statements that articulate what you mean, and provide links to additional information if it’s required. Go for lists and bullet points over text blocks, and make sure that you have headers that are clear and guide your reader through the text. Simple text will make your point and make it easily, guiding your visitors through the process of contacting you or learning more about your business.

Create Valuable Content

You don’t need to have a blog, but a blog can add greatly to the perceived credibility of your company. If you add posts weekly or more often and focus on information that is relevant to your current or prospective tenants, you’ll establish a reputation for being a leader in your field. When it comes time to rent, prospective tenants will know who to call for excellent knowledge and service.

Make Life Easy for Your Tenants

Retain existing tenants and attract new ones with the customer service that you provide through your website. Answer questions through live chat or through a tenant portal, and provide options for tenants who would like to pay online. You should make tenant resources available online, as well. Ease of access is attractive and will help you retain tenants and get new ones.

Provide Clear Contact Information

With all of your focus on your content, it’s easy to forget one of the most important aspects of your site: your contact information. Make sure that prospective tenants can contact you easily. Place your contact information on the front page of your site, and provide a contact link in the top menu bar as well.

“We have about ten times more leads through Propertyware.” – Jerry Ryan, Resource Property Management

When you’re developing your property management website, you’re creating a business asset. Your website is not only there to give information, it can be one of your most useful customer service tools. When you’re developing your website, Propertyware can help. Sign up for a free tour of Propertyware today.

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5 Tips for Better Password Security

Michael Cunningham — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 15:30:32 +0000

Last month it was Target. This month, Neiman Marcus takes a turn in the media spotlight. The common thread tying these retailers together surrounds high-profile security breaches. These security breaches serve as a reminder to anyone – business or individual – and particularly property owners about the importance of safeguarding sensitive personal information and financial payment data collected regularly from renters and prospects. One of the simplest ways to protect that data is to take password creation seriously. Ah yes. The password. The sentry that guards all that valuable customer and corporate information. If you think of a password as a home security system, you certainly wouldn’t defend your home by asking a five-year old to sit on the porch brandishing a squirt gun. And yet, many people, office employees included, attempt to defend their valuable data by using the most commonly used—and easiest to hack—passwords.

The 25 Worst Passwords of 2013

Helping raise awareness and encourage the adoption of stronger passwords is password management application provider SplashData’s annual list of worst passwords. For the first time since SplashData began compiling its annual list, “password” has lost its title as the most common and, therefore Worst Password. Two-time runner-up “123456” took the dubious honor and “password” fell to #2. SplashData’s top 25 list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online during the previous year. The company advises consumers or businesses using any of the passwords on the list to change them immediately. Your password isn’t “property” is it? If it is, don’t feel bad. Here’s the full list of worst passwords from 2013, according to Splashdata:

123456
password
12345678
qwerty
abc123
123456789
111111
1234567
iloveyou
adobe123
123123
admin
1234567890
letmein
photoshop
1234
monkey
shadow
sunshine
12345
password1
princess
azerty
trustno1
000000

Tips for Creating More Secure Passwords

Here are some suggestions for creating a more secure password. These are only tips and have not been proven to be fail safe. The idea is to stimulate your own inner personal password security system to create a usable, hack-free password that could keep your work and personal accounts secure and free from unwanted visitors (and unwanted transactions).

1. Mix Letters, Numbers, and Symbols

Many websites ask for passwords with a minimum number of characters with at least one number and a symbol. SplashData suggests using passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters. But keep in mind that passwords with common substitutions like “dr4mat1c” can be vulnerable to attackers’ increasingly sophisticated technology. Random combinations like “j%7K&yPx$” can be more secure but difficult to remember.

2. Be Random

Another suggestion from SplashData for creating more secure passwords that are easy to recall is to use pass phrases — short words with spaces or other characters separating them. It’s best to use random words rather than common phrases. For example, “cakes years birthday” or “smiles_light_skip?”

3. Avoid Basing Passwords on Application Used

According to SplashData, this year’s list was influenced by the large number of passwords from Adobe users posted online by security consulting firm Stricture Consulting Group following Adobe’s well publicized security breach. “Seeing passwords like ‘adobe123’ and ‘photoshop’ on this list offers a good reminder not to base your password on the name of the website or application you are accessing,” says Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData. In other words, if your system password includes the word “propertyware” you should change it immediately.

4. Avoid Using Significant Dates

This is a common occurrence in usernames and email addresses. Let’s say you get an email from jennifer4157. A smart hacker will guess that Jennifer was probably born on April Fool’s Day in 1957. And chances are she’s using that number combination in a password. Personally identifiable information incorporated into a username gives a hacker one more clue to guessing your password.

5. Avoid Using the Same Password for Multiple Websites

Avoid using the same username/password combination for multiple websites. Especially risky is using the same password for entertainment sites that you do for online email, social networking, or financial service sites. Use different passwords for each new website or service you sign up for. The rental housing industry is subject to the same risks as any industry that collects sensitive personal information and financial payment data. This type of information is highly valuable and one of the best ways to protect it starts in the leasing office with highly secure system passwords.

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