Month: February 2014

Privacy Policy For Home BuildersAs the BDX continues to expand its advertising solutions we’ve noticed many builders do not have a privacy policy clearly accessible on their website. This is an important if not often overlooked feature for a professional website.

The privacy policy serves as a disclosure, informing consumers of what data can be collected as they visit the website. If your website is designed to capture first party information such as a name, email, address, and/or any financial information it definitely needs a privacy policy that outlines how that data is captured and what is done with it.

Sites that use third party tracking data or vendors such as Google Analytics, Google AdSense, BDX BeBack or CRM solutions also need to have a privacy policy accessible on every page.

How California’s Privacy Laws Affect Your Business– No Matter What State You Are In

The state of California’s laws around privacy policies applies to any website that collects data about Californian residents. The act has a very broad scope, well beyond California’s border. Neither the web server nor the company that created the web site has to be in California to be under the scope of the law. The web site only has to be accessible by California residents. This means that if you build in Florida but have traffic from consumers in California your website needs to adhere to those laws regarding privacy and disclosure.

Fortunately there are several tools and templates available for companies to use to develop their own privacy policy. Your web developer should also be able to help with language and include a privacy policy as a standard part of their operation.

To review privacy policy templates click:  https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/

Last year, recognizing the need to promote the advantages of newly-built homes to home shoppers, BDX and our parent company, BHI, partnered up with one of Austin’s most prestigious advertising firms, GSD&M to create the “Start Fresh. Buy New.” campaign. This initiative was a first-of-its-kind marketing and promotional campaign illustrating the benefits of new home ownership.

Last year, the campaign generated over 1 million website visits, thousands of video views, millions of advertising impressions and earned media coverage in over 360 publications. And now, the campaign has taken the Gold at the building industry’s Nationals awards.

For over 30 years, the Nationals have been recognizing superior sales and marketing achievement in the home building industry. The Nationals is the largest awards program for our industry and BDX was proud to see that our “Start Fresh. Buy New.” initiative won a Gold Award for best marketing promotion/campaign by a supplier/associate.

The campaign includes numerous viral videos, witty digital advertisements, an interactive webpage as well as national and localized home buyer Intel Packets for builders — all helping promote the advantages of new homes. Click here to read more.

As  BDX’s own Melissa Morman stated during her award acceptance speech, “this really is a win for the entire building industry.”

 

 

What’s that in the sky? A bird? A plane? NO! It’s Cupid! Cupid is back again to remind you of all his favorite new features from BDX that he has fallen madly in love with!

FREE Basic Listings For All Builders on New Home Source and Move New Homes

Now every builder can list their communities for free on the leading new home websites NewHomeSource.com and MoveNewHomes.com. These basic listings are a great way to establish a presence on these sites and put your name in front of the over 1 million unique visitors each month to these sites. Signing up is easy! Just visit www.thebdx.com/free

Updated NewHomeSource.com Logo

We’ve given the top new home listing website a makeover! Even though it is consistently the leading new home website, we are always looking for ways to improve NewHomeSource.com. Our latest changes include a new and modern logo and a redesign of some of the major pages on the site to make them more user-friendly.  Fall in love with NewHomeSource.com!

New Home Source TV

New Home Source TV, the companion television program to the leading new home website NewHomeSource.com, provides a glimpse of the latest floor plans, design trends, green features and neighborhood amenities from the hottest new home builders from around the country.  Architects, designers, contractors and other experts will also contribute to the show by highlighting the more subtle benefits of today’s new homes, such as modern construction techniques and the lower cost of living that comes with owning a truly new home.

Interested in being on future episodes of the show or want to know when it’s coming to an area near you? Contact us to put the spotlight on your homes!

NewHomeSource.com’s “Home of the Week”

Each week, we select a “Home of the Week” from active communities listed on New Home Source. Why “Home of the Week”? When we recently surveyed visitors to NewHomeSource.com about the type of new home content they would like to read, this idea was a clear winner!  The “Home of the Week” email is being promoted on every page in the New Home Source Resource Center, with the subscription list growing each day!

New homes have even taken over the homepages of MSN.com and realtor.com as 14 of our Home of the Week builders were featured in a spotlight slideshow. Read more about it here!

So how do we choose the next “Home of The Week”? If you think one of your homes has what it takes, be sure that your NewHomeSource.com listing is up to date with photos of exceptional quality.  Not only will it help you to be considered for the next email, but also will help drive and engage traffic on your listing. If you would like to be considered for Home of the Week and put the spotlight on your homes, contact us today.

We hope you enjoyed this year’s edition of Cupid’s Picks and wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day from everyone here at BDX!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                          New Home Source Professional Launches New Home Data to Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service

MLS will begin incorporating new home community and plan data from New Home Source Professional directly into MLS dashboards and portals

Austin, Texas – February 13, 2014 – Builders Digital Experience, Inc. (BDX) announced today that members of the Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (NEFMLS) in Jacksonville, FL now have access to new home data via New Home Source Professional.

Designed specifically for real estate agents, New Home Source Professional has the largest collection of new homes available anywhere. NEFMLS is part of a growing list of MLS’ across the country who are working with New Home Source Professional to bring this new home data to the MLS membership. As part of the agreements, these MLSs have a turnkey, branded “new home channel” on their MLS interface. MLS members can then search and view all builders’ inventory directly from their MLS dashboard through this customized version of NewHomeSourceProfessional.com.

MLS integrations will debut soon for members of the following MLSs:

  • Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS) in the Washington, D.C. metro area;
  • California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS);
  • Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) in Chicago, Ill.;
  • East Bay Regional Data Inc. (EBRDI) in Concord, Calif.;
  • Contra Costa Association of REALTORS (CCAR) in Walnut Creek, Calif.;
  • Bay East Association of REALTORS in Pleasanton, Calif.

MLS integrations are already active and available for members of the following MLSs:

  • Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (RealtyWeb) in Jacksonville, Fla.;
  • Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound Association of REALTORS (JTHS MLS) in Jupiter, Fla.;
  • Austin Board of REALTORS (ABOR) in Austin, Texas;
  • San Diego County Regional Multiple Listing Service (Sandicor) in the San Diego metro area;
  • Regional MLS (RMLS) in Portland, Ore.;
  • Tucson Association of REALTORS MLS (TAR/MLS) in Tucson, Ariz.;
  • Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) in Phoenix;
  • MLSListings in the Greater San Francisco, Calif. bay area;
  • Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS (GLVAR) in Las Vegas.

With 56 percent of home shoppers considering new construction when they start their home search, New Home Source Professional allows agents to serve buyers in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

“In the Jacksonville area, over 60 percent of new homes are sold by agents and our relationship with NEFMLS allows them to bring an unprecedented level of new home information and tools directly to their members,” said Tim Costello, chief executive officer, Builders Digital Experience.

MLSs interested in adding new home community and plan listings to their member dashboard should contact Gary Bush at GBush(at)thebdx.com or 512-651-8919.

About Builders Digital Experience

Builders Digital Experience, LLC (BDX), a joint venture between Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE) and Builder Homesite, Inc., was founded to combine the industry’s leading new home resources under one roof and offer builders innovative online marketing options, streamlined customer service and support, and greater value. Capitalizing on over 13 years of building industry experience, BDX operates www.newhomesourceprofessional.com, the leading new home website for real estate agents, while also providing other services to builders, including advertising and online listings, video production, rich media rendering, mobile search, custom website production and more. For more information, visit www.thebdx.com.

 

 

The International Builders Show (IBS)  kicked off on Tuesday February 4th in Las Vegas.  This is always the most exciting and energetic event for the building industry and Day One of IBS did not disapoint. Whether it was the fact that the show was co-located with the Kitchen and Bath Industries show or the upswing in the market, builders, suppliers and industry VIPs are out in record numbers this year. Here are some of the highlights from BDX:

 

Our booth was hoppin’ — Come Visit Us At C2050!

This year, the BDX booth is in the Next Build section of Central Hall.  Our booth features some exciting new interactive technologies that drew in crowds of people. From Interactive Floor Plans (in HTML 5 of course!) to Kitchen Changers to our newest iPad tool for sales centers our demo stations were in constant use as we showcased these solutions for builders.

The show is always so great because not only do we get to meet new faces and make new contacts, but we get to connect with our loyal clients from across the country: Edge Homes, Payne Family Homes, Warmington, Lennar, Classic Communities, Fulton Homes, just to name a few. One of my favorite things to hear is “Hi, I’m already a BDX client — show me what’s new and cool this year!”

Showing Off NewHomeSource.com and Basic Listings

One of the highlights in our booth this year was a preview of the newly redesigned new home search experience on NewHomeSource.com. Visitors to the booth got an advanced look at the new site which will be debuting to the public in the next couple of weeks. We are also introducing free basic listings at the show. For the first time, builders can get list their homes for Free on NewHomeSource.com and MoveNewHomes.com. These basic listings do not include lead generation or click through capabilities, but are a great way for a builder to have a presence on the country’s leading new home websites. Not at the show but interested in a Free Basic Listing? Visit www.thebdx.com/free to sign up today — the process is simple.

“Start Fresh. Buy New.” Campaign Wins Nationals Award!

The BDX team finished the day off at the Nationals Awards where our Start Fresh Buy New initiative won a Gold Award for best marketing promotion/campaign by a supplier/associate. As BDX’s Melissa Morman said during her acceptance speach, the recognition of this campaign really is a win for the entire building industry.

We were so proud to see our very own Tammie Smoot on stage in her role as Chair for the National Sales & Marketing Council. It was also a fun night to see so many BDX builders, partners and friends nominated for awards. Congrats to all of last night’s presenters, nominees and winners!

AND THAT WAS JUST DAY ONE — we can’t wait to see what the rest of the show holds!