eNeighbors Stats: 5/15 – 6/13

Posted on June 14, 2007 by Phil

We are showing excellent positive growth patterns, and we continue to get positive feedback from our customers on how much they love using the tool, and how it makes communicating with their neighbors so easy.

Traffic data:

69,847 page views – 27% increase (over last 30 days)
7,482 visits – 36% increase (over last 30 days)
5 minutes avg visit duration – 5% increase (over last 30 days)

17 neighborhoods online
1,708 registered users at 1608 unique addresses

With 6,659 potential addresses in the neighborhoods that have signed up so far, we are at 24% adoption rate for our entire resident base.

The newsletter adoption rate is holding true as well with only 12 residents (out of 1708) opting out of receiving the email newsletter.

Total user-generated content since launch (about 3 months):

News posts: 198
Events: 124
Groups: 41
Classifieds: 259

Keep in mind that some of these neighborhoods have only been using their site for less than a month so far.

Overall, we are in really good shape. If we hit our goal of 50+ neighborhoods by the end of the year, we could easily be at 700,000 page views per month from 15,000 registered users in early 2008.

Build or buy?

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Chris Stock

Someone asked me why they should subscribe to eNeighbors instead of building their own neighborhood website. I get this a lot, so I thought it made sense to publish it here.

Here’s why you should subscribe to eNeighbors, instead of building your own neighborhood website:

Permanence – Even if you have the technical expertise to build your own website, what happens when you move? eNeighbors will always be there to support your neighborhood.
Updates – eNeighbors continually makes improvements to its product. Subscribing to eNeighbors ensures that you get the latest and greatest.
Convenience – Why hassel with hosting, domain name registration, backup, and security? Let us do the work for you.
Support – We provide e-mail support for your entire neighborhood.
Savings – For $82.99/mo. you get access to a proven product with a robust feature set, world-class email support for every resident of your neighborhood, and you can reduce the cost of neighborhood communication by eliminating your costly newsletter.
Registration – Building a website is one thing, getting the neighbors to use it is another. Our registration process will get the majority of your neighborhood online.
Certainty – eNeighbors has a proven product with a tested user-interface. You know exactly how much it will cost and that it will work.
Money Back Guarantee – We’ve never had to refund a client yet, but if you aren’t completely satisfied with eNeighbors, we’ll refund your money in the first 30 days of use.
Why wait? – eNeighbors can have your site up within 5 days. Building your own site will take months.
The Network – When you sign up with eNeighbors, you join a network of other neighborhoods that also use our service. Our customers provide us with valuable suggestions that you can take advantage of. For example, one person told us they want the ability to post classifieds in other neighborhoods. Great idea.

Ultimately, eNeighbors is more than a website, it’s a communication solution for your neighborhood. Does your neighborhood really need website? Not really. You need better communication.

eNeighbors: High Relevancy

Posted on June 12, 2007 by Chris Stock

Transparent Real Estate has a good post on hyperlocal websites as it relates to the real estate industry.

To sum it up, eNeighbors has the most highly relevant user-base to which a realtor can advertise.

Let me stress that eNeighbors is not a tool for realtors. Our customers are neighborhoods and their residents. Of course, that’s what makes us such a desirable target for realtors.

I’ve had several realtors ask me if they can pay for their neighborhood to get an eNeighbors website and my answer is always no. In order for a neighborhood website to be of value, we must establish a relationship with the board of directors or other neighborhood leadership.

However, if you’re a realtor and you want to get your neighborhood online. I would suggest that you email the board president and let them know about eNeighbors. Ask them to consider it at their next board meeting and forward them the eNeighbors website address – www.eNeighbors.com for more information.

Once the neighborhood is online, you can advertise for free in the classified section if you’re a resident. You can also sponsor the website to maximize your exposure whether you’re a resident or not.

eNeighbors Mailer

Posted on June 11, 2007 by Chris Stock

eNeighbors is taking the hassle out of mailing website Welcome Letters to your neighborhood. We can now complete the mailings on your behalf.

Not only does this make it more convenient than ever for your neighborhood to “go online”, but it may also save you time and money.

You have two options: (1) Postcard, or (2) Security Envelope.

	Postcard ($0.75/piece)	Envelope ($1.09/piece)
100 pieces	$100	$134
300 pieces	$250	$352
500 pieces	$400	$570
1000 pieces	$775	$1115

*All prices above include the $25 processing fee. Note that special circumstances may exist that alter the quoted prices.

If you’re new to eNeighbors you can learn more about our sign up process on our website.

eNeighbors Features: Classifieds

Posted on June 9, 2007 by Phil

We’ve recently put together a small sales team and subsequently developed some training materials to get the guys up to speed on all the features of eNeighbors. So, I thought I’d follow suit here on the blog and post a series of entries tied to the different features that eNeighbors offers a neighborhood.

First, there are 5 core communication features that we offer:

1. News
2. Events / Calendar
3. Groups
4. Classifieds
5. Bulletins

In addition, there are other more standard web features:

1. Online Resident Directory
2. Contact Form
3. Architectural Request Form
4. Resources (this is for all your HOA documents)

The first feature, I’ll cover is Classifieds since it has been our most popular so far. As of this morning, there have been 253 classifieds posted on eNeighbors from about 15 different neighborhoods in the past 10 weeks.

1. Classifieds are free

2. It’s so easy to post a classified, you can do it in about 2 minutes. All you have to do is click “Post a Classified”, type up your ad, preview it, and then click “publish.” Your ad is instantly added to the site for everyone to view.

3. The top 3 most recent classifieds appear on the Home page.

4. When you post a classified, it is viewable by anyone in your neighborhood that has registered on the website.

5. There are 4 different categories you can post to:
– For Sale
– Wanted
– Neighborhood Services?
(things like babysitting, pet sitting, yard work, etc.)
– Professional Services
(things like, Mary Kay, tax services, house painting, etc.)

6. Finally, each classified post is automatically put into the eNewsletter and sent to every neighbor that has chosen to receive the newsletter either daily, weekly, or monthly.

Browsing vs. Searching vs. Sharing

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Phil

The other day, Techcrunch ran a guest post from David Sacks (founder and CEO of Geni and previously the COO of PayPal). I’m going to attempt to summarize his point in one sentence:

Locating content on internet portals has evolved from browsing to searching to sharing.

And today, Facebook has this latest stage of “sharing” figured out way ahead of Yahoo and Google who are still in the search phase of allowing users to locate info on the web.

Ultimately, the sharing phenomenon is more about “pushing” content rather than “pulling” it since the content is recommended by your trusted sources (i.e. your friends list).

So, given that this is the eNeighbors blog, I’m obviously going to tie this into our long term vision and content model…

eNeighbors is building a hyper-local network of neighborhoods, and our registered user base is tied to a physical location (as opposed to the 18 different profiles you have on MySpace under various aliases and which MySpace can offer no data at all about where you really are on the planet).

Once this network is in place and has enough adoption, it inherently creates the ultimate local platform for local business advertising and referrals since the users all live in the same area.

The sharing concept of trusted content becomes extremely important when you are looking for someone to fix your roof or the best real estate agent in your area.

So, instead of going to Ask.com or Yahoo Local to find service providers in your area where you have to search at the city level or metro level, eNeighbors will be able to provide neighborhood-level information on service providers, and on top of that you’ll be able to get trusted referrals from your neighbors that have actually used the service.

I’m telling you, the top down approach to these search portals has to go, people. Demand better (and more relevant) information.

The power of positive feedback

Posted on May 24, 2007 by Chris Stock

Because positive feedback is rare, it’s powerful when it happens. Complaints or negative feedback almost always outnumber positive feedback. There’s no doubt that the “squeaky wheel gets the grease”, at least in the US. It’s almost cultural for us to analyze and evaluate every experience and product and give feedback. Complaining is what we do to get better service.

Positive feedback is unnatural. You have to be really satisified to make the effort to tell someone how happy you are. So when I get a little positive feedback, it means a lot to me.

The following feedback was submitted to the Nottingham by the Green board of directors in regards to classified ad posted through eNeighbors:

“Thank you so much for providing this great service. I have already posted an ad and received feedback. This is a great tool for everyone concerned. Thanks again.”

-Paul and Debbie L. of Nottingham by the Green

Happy Birthday Phil!

Posted on May 23, 2007 by Chris Stock

Phil is part of the founding team at eNeighbors. He has dedicated every spare moment of his time passionately pursuing the eNeighbors vision.

I have known Phil for the better part of 9 years and during that time I have worked for him and with him on a number of projects, from Sprint, to our web development company, and now eNeighbors.

What impresses me most about Phil his is intellect, work ethic, and incredible ability to communicate complex concepts to anyone. Most people see Phil’s talent in the design work that he does…you can quickly assess his capabilities as a designer simply by looking at his work. But once you get to know Phil as I have, you learn that his talent goes far beyond what you see on the screen.

Phil’s contribution to eNeighbors is immeasurable, and I am grateful for having him along for the amazing ride of entrepreneurship with all it’s ups and downs. There’s nothing like sharing in the struggle of pursuing a common dream.

Take a night off and have a happy birthday Phil. (No conference calls tonight!)

The Neighborhood Challenge

Posted on May 22, 2007 by Phil

Being part of a neighborhood board of directors is a tough job. It’s usually voluntary, so getting that extra effort not only from yourself but from the other board members is a challenge especially since the rewards are only intrinsic in nature.

Anyone that’s ever worked as a project manager knows how difficult it can be to manage a group of people who don’t always see eye to eye on every issue. Additionally, there are a number of community needs that constantly must be met.

I just finished putting together a great outline of these challenges and the corresponding solutions that eNeighbors offers to help conquer these challenges. My hope is that this document will help clarify how valuable the eNeighbors service is to neighborhoods and more specifically managed communities.

Here is the list of challenges addressed in the PDF:

– Communication
– Time Management
– Sense of Community
– Safety Concerns
– Architectural Compliance
– HOA Documentation
– Board Member Turnover
– Privacy of Information
– Community Value

View and download the PDF here

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