New Website Hosting Service from Home Inspector Pro - Need Input!

[Scott Widick]

Do you think you can work with InterNACHIs online agreement in some way.

[Dale Duffy]

Originally Posted by swidick

Realtors from what I have heard dont want all the pictures. Just the comments from the summary.

For that very reason I upload my reports to the client with just the summary and no pictures in it.

Realtors, I always add the pictures with the summary so they have to use more ink.

But I like realtors, so I really don't know why I do that, must be just a habbit....

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Dale, nice touch

Scott, I'd have to run that by Nick and Chris. I could make a feature where you could add an agreement that has to be agreed to before viewing, but that's more to deal with the Home Inspector Pro program that just hosting websites. While the two will be tied together as time progresses, it's not necessary to be using HIP to have the websites. Anybody will be able to get a website.

[whandley]

Originally Posted by swidick

Realtors from what I have heard dont want all the pictures. Just the comments from the summary.

I believe you'll hear from the "Client", that they do indeed wish to see the photos. I often have clients ask that I include all the photos taken. I never do of course as many of the photos are duplicates, poorly lit and or have no relevance to the actual report findings. On a 2000'sf bank owned property I may take approximately 75 photos, but only use 40 to 50 in the actual finished report. I deliver the photos via Photoshop Elements 6 photo sharing system and attach the report as an encrypted pdf file. This allows me to send large photo files without overloading the report. It also makes the report file manageable for my clients who still use dial up internet service.

I also have a grassfrog.com website. I started off with (3) pages of canned content from Roberta. Using her very easy to use Redhat CMS - Content Management System, I've now built my site to over (20) pages and completely altered the original (3) pages as well.

[Russell Spriggs]

Originally Posted by dduffy

For that very reason I upload my reports to the client with just the summary and no pictures in it.

Realtors, I always add the pictures with the summary so they have to use more ink.

But I like realtors, so I really don't know why I do that, must be just a habbit....

Dale, the more I read, the more I enjoy your humor.
Are those posts usually dry or wet humor?
When's the convention??!!

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Will,

Next time I'm visitng my mom down in Laguna maybe I should stop by and show you Home Inspector Pro. You could load 40-50 photos in it without breaking a sweat and the pdf would only be about 2-3 megs. If you're interested, let me know.

Dominic

[Russell Spriggs]

So, I finally found where you've been hiding this afternoon, Dominic!
My thoughts are to have user-filled pages to begin with, or as one package.
Another option - for which you may perhaps charge more- is to have it where you fill it in for them, based on an online questionnaire form you have them fill out. It would seem to me that, with your wizardry, you could push a bitton and everything they filled out from their phone # to the cities / counties they work to the types of inspections they offer, would be instantly loaded into the site.

Hhhmmm, not a bad idea. That actually could be the basic format you provide, and it would still be individualized. The HI could take it a step further by fleshing it out even more.

[Dominic J. Maricic]

That's a possibility and would at least provide a little customizability up front. First things first though, gotta finish getting a bunch of cool templates and useful features all added.

[Dale Duffy]

Originally Posted by rspriggs

Dale, the more I read, the more I enjoy your humor.
Are those posts usually dry or wet humor?
When's the convention??!!

Dry, I don't drink..........

But I do email my clients the report with the pictures in the report, but not the summary.

Realtors, which I seem to dislike many, I upload the report with the pictures in the report, the largest size available (about half a page LxW) usually about 30 pictures to the client for just the items needing repair, the realtor gets every picture I take..usually about 75 FULL SIZE in the report, and in the summary report also.

I even take a few pictures just up and down the street, neighbor kids, etc (if I am asked to send a copy to the realtor) and add them to the realtors report-FULL SIZE......so the client if they choose to print generally has a 30 page report, the realtor usually has a 60 page report with the color jet cartridge half empty...................

[Dominic J. Maricic]

What, no pictures of the neighborhood dog? They could be a mennance the real estate agent should know about!

[Russell Spriggs]

Originally Posted by dmaricic

Hi Guys,

As many of you know, we're going to launch our new home inspector website hosting service in the next few weeks. Of course we're planning a killer deal for NACHI members. I decided to start a hosting service after seeing what a hard time many members were having trying to SEO optimize their own sites.
Dominic

There, I believe, you have the heart of the matter!
I also have a Grassfrog site, and I know there is some info provided by Roberta (and a lot more by you) on this subject.
Just as a lot of HIs are not strong in some (marketing, communication, public speaking, etc) areas, there are others of us who want this ancillary stuff done for us. I personally prefer to spend my time with learning more, networking people & products (HIP, HHN) and marketing than learning the obscurities of the internet world.
I may switch focus at some point, but I don't feel that I have the luxury of time to learn all that needs to be learned.

Your SEO tutorials are quite in-depth, yet simple to understand, from what I've seen, and far more than anyone else has helped us with in the 5 years I've been on this MB. Perhaps, as I get my faster internet connection, I may involve myself with them.
Slow internet connections (being the last dial-up in the phone line in the county, and PC cards in fringe coverage areas) to the point of 5.53 kbps make it very discouraging for myself and, I'll bet, many others to tackle projects that transform a 5 minute operation into an hour - with the very strong possibility of being timed out, and even losing the entire webpage that's being worked on at the time. I've had that happen!

Recognizing that many HIs want and need SEO to be either simple, or done, for them will be key to the appeal and success you will enjoy as this project moves forward.

As you have demonstrated in HIP, you give a lot of thought and planning into any project you undertake. Additionally, you listen to your clients and act upon their requests & suggestions.

I, for one, am looking forward to being on board with this!!

[whandley]

Originally Posted by dmaricic

Will,

Next time I'm visitng my mom down in Laguna maybe I should stop by and show you Home Inspector Pro. You could load 40-50 photos in it without breaking a sweat and the pdf would only be about 2-3 megs. If you're interested, let me know.

Dominic

What is "Home Inspector Pro"?

[Russell Spriggs]

Originally Posted by whandley

What is "Home Inspector Pro"?

Will, it's the only HI software that fits my needs in 5 years.

Click at the bottom of my signature line!

[Dominic J. Maricic]

I guess no one can say that I'm here just to push my software, 747 posts and Will doesn't know that I am an inspection software programmer as well as an educator. My philosophy has been to just be the as helpful of a person as I can and if people feel like it, they will check out the program or they won't.

I'm going back to Colorado in 2 weeks to do 3 more NACHI.TV shows. One of them will be on SEO and how to get your website better rankings, no matter where it's hosted.

[whandley]

Thanks Russ...

As you can no doubt discern from my posts, I'm way old school. I'm working on my 23rd year as Progressive Inspection Service with over 14,500 inspections under my some what large size belt. I still believe the inspector should focus on inspecting the property and not be so concerned with producing an onsight report. I believe the reason for my success over the years has been my attentiveness with the client and total focus on inspecting the property during my time on site. I don't bring a lap top or pda on site, just a simple note book, flash light and a few other field tools. I've been deposed regarding my inspection reports hundreds of times over the years. It just seems to work for me. It wasn't until two years ago that I even had a website. NACHI was my first HI membership and that began two years ago as well. Point is, I'm an old dog and there's only so many tricks I'm still willing to learn.

Reporting software is not one of them....

Thermal Imaging inspection services might be....