By now, most of us have heard the term SEO. You might even know it stands for Search Engine Optimization. But, what exactly does that mean? If your response is along the lines of something about showing up in Google, you’re on the right track, but there is so much more! SEO helps your website be found, read and favored by search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Many of us shy away from SEO because it sounds confusing and hard to manage, but it’s not. With a few tips, you can take control of your SEO!

To prove our point, we asked Amado Candelario, SEO Manager of Apartments.com, to host the Apartments.com Training Series Live! webinar on search engine optimization. In this 30 minute session, Amado covered a lot of ground, explaining why SEO is crucial for small business web design, how to implement an SEO strategy and what to avoid. The recorded webinar is available for you to view here. A few of the highlights from the Q&A session are: Read More

Raising the rent is a necessary reality in the life of a property manager.  If you never raised rents, you’d be out of business before too long.  With retention as a primary goal for many property managers, tackling this topic with residents is a difficult and uncomfortable conversation for many to have.  However, we learned last week, during the Training Series Live! webinar, hosted by Sarah Greenough (@SGreenough), SVP and CMO of Princeton Properties, there are ways of having these conversations.  The key to communicating a rent increase is to deliver the news in a confident, positive manner while keeping the resident’s perspective in mind.

Here are five tips Sarah covered to prepare you when having the talk with your residents: Read More

Headed to the National Apartment Association Conference in Boston this year?  When you attend a big educational conference like this, it is easy to become overwhelmed with the excitement of the show and the knowledge you’ll acquire.  Here are a few tips on how to make the most out of your trip to NAA:

1.  Plan ahead – With so many educational sessions to choose from, it’s not efficient to decide which ones to attend on the fly, so be sure to check out the show program before you travel.  Make a plan with your coworkers to divvy up the schedule to get the most out of the sessions.  Not going with anyone?  You’re bound to run into someone you know or meet someone else traveling alone.  Don’t be shy to swap notes with a friend!  Read More

Last week’s edition of Training Series Live!, hosted by Karen Courtright, Research Director at Slack and Company and Susan Bryant, VP of Marketing at Apartments.com, unveiled a comparative research study, reviewing what multifamily professionals perceive to be true about renters, versus the renters’ actual apartment search process, attitudes and behaviors. 

It turns out what consumers are doing isn’t exactly what we on the property side think they are doing!  As someone who works in the multifamily industry and is also a renter, I was particularly surprised by some of the results.  In addition to highlighting the key findings from yesterday, I’m sharing some of my ever so helpful ah ha! moments:   Read More

We are delighted to announce the launch of the first ever Apartments.com Training Series Live! webinar on reputation management was a success!  The 30 minute session was presented by Ben Watson, vice president of marketing (a.k.a. Social Media Ninja) from HootSuite, a popular social media management system.  The attendee registration was full and we had a lot of great feedback come through! 

If you missed it, you might have some unanswered questions running through your head, like: Read More

Apartments.com is excited to announce the launch of its first-ever webinar series, entitled Training Series Live!  In response to the positive feedback we received on the current classroom-style Apartments.com Training Series taught by our very own Advertising Consultants, we are expanding our curriculum to better accommodate you with live webinar sessions. 

Apartments.com Training Series Live! is a compilation of 30- 45 minute live webinars – at no charge!  We’re expanding on popular topics within the Apartments.com Interactive Multifamily Marketing and Socializing Your Community curriculum, plus covering a variety of important topics taught by experts in the industry such as: Read More

You’ve heard it a million times – first impressions are critical because they are the most lasting!  It takes only seconds for renters to evaluate your staff and your community, and their original thought can be hard to reverse.  But no pressure!  From the outside passer-by to the face-to-face communication, below are tips to help you deliver a great first (and lasting) impression at your apartment community.

1. Keep your landscape well maintained:  Set a schedule for your maintenance crew to trim the shrubs, pick the weeds, mow the lawn and plant flowers.  If your team  does not have time to whip out the gardening gloves, visit your local nursery for ready-made flower containers, hanging flower pots or window boxes to quickly and affordably dress up the entrance to your community.  Read More

Moving into a new apartment can mean so many decorating opportunities for enthusiastic residents!  While hanging pictures, painting walls, putting up window treatments or even stapling the area rug in place (EEK!) might be exciting and innovative to residents, it could mean disaster for your maintenance team.  Here are five tips you can share with residents to help them decorate within the guidelines of the rental agreement, ensuring a happy living situation at your community

1.)    Offer to do it for them – Whether it be painting or hanging items on the wall, give your residents the VIP treatment—and avoid potential disaster–by offering up your professional services.  Before a new resident moves in, ask them if they would like to pick out a new color for the apartment and offer to paint as long as they front the supplies.  As a result, your happy resident will feel more at home, while you control the quality of the paint job. Read More

Although it’s not always top of mind, homelessness is everywhere.  On my morning run, I pass the man singing My Girl.  On my way out the door, I see the woman selling newspapers outside the grocery store and then the man who sits just outside of the train station every morning, wishing everyone who passes by a wonderful day.  That’s already three people affected by homelessness and I’ve only gone a few blocks from my apartment. 

Volunteering is a passion of mine but what can I possibly do for someone living on the street?  Lucky for me, I work at one of the greatest companies;  Apartments.com.   From helping families in need through the Ellen DeGeneres Show, to the Campaign to Help End Homelessness, I’m thankful to work for a company that gives back and really cares.  You can join us in the fight against homelessness.  Here are some ways you can replicate the efforts and make a difference in your community:  Read More