BEST IMAGE MARKETING LAUNCHES NUMBER1EXPERTS SITE

Released_By: USANews Press Release Network
Date: 6/1/99
Time: 2:12:45 PM

For_Immediate_Release

Contact: Dean Nicolaides Best Image Marketing 10336 Loch Lomond Road - #130 Middletown, CA 95461

Email: dean@bestimage.com Phone: 800-635-9608 Fax: 707-928-5866

BEST IMAGE MARKETING LAUNCHES NUMBER1EXPERTS SITE TO LET BUYERS AND SELLERS FIND A REAL ESTATE EXPERT IN ANY TOWN

MIDDLETOWN, CA - Consumers online can see virtually any house they want. But what of the homebuyer seeking advice? Is it possible to find helpful information about neighborhoods, schools, mortgages - all the details of home buying and selling - within the website of a top Realtor in any community?

That's the question Best Image Marketing asked itself.

Its answer is a newly launched website, http://www.Number1Experts.com, that makes it easy for a buyer or seller to find "the #1 Real Estate Expert" in any town. Best Image drives traffic to Number1Experts.com with "banner" advertisements on Yahoo, Excite, Alta Vista and other high traffic sites, telling consumers they're going to find the full, personal website of a proven real estate expert in any community.

California-based Best Image (http://www.BestImage.com) has specialized for 16 years in personal marketing for Realtors in print media throughout North America. As the Internet exploded, Best Image sought to parlay this promotional expertise onto the Web. Lawrence Schoeffler, Best Image vice president, designed a comprehensive, consumer-friendly website that the company markets to top Realtors via a direct sales force.

From the outset, Schoeffler and Dean Nicolaides, Best Image's president, were determined to create a vehicle for consumers to easily get expert help from a top real estate professional in any community. Considering that 40% of people conducting real estate searches online want a professional's help, as reported by Inman News, it's not surprising that Number1Experts.com has struck a responsive chord.

Now, when consumers find Best Image's banner ad proclaiming, "Find the #1 Real Estate Expert in YOUR Town," they can go in, click on any state and find a region, then a town.

Within each town, the consumer is likely to find a highly experienced, top producing real estate expert - typically a 20-year veteran in the top 1% of all Realtors, averaging $20 million in sales. In addition, the site has an "expert advice library" of hundreds of informative real estate-related articles and an "ask the experts" email opportunity to get answers.

As proof that Number1Experts.com is hitting home, Excite reported that Best Image's banner ad is enjoying the highest average, long-term click rate among all banners across its system - between 15% and 20%. And the click rate on Yahoo reached a whopping 34% during one test period. Overall, the banner is generating nearly 400,000 impressions per month.

Why?

"Because," Nicolaides says, "consumers are willing to bypass their entire search for the chance to go right to the site of 'America's #1 Real Estate Expert' in the town of their choice."

"This debunks the myth that just because consumers have plenty of access to thousands, even millions of homes online, they can make the best decision for themselves without a Realtor," Schoeffler says. "You can look at homes all you want, but you still need expert advice about neighborhoods, schools, new local laws, community developments, shopping, services, special interests, child care..."

Best Image has more than 500 Realtor websites online, with several hundred more in development.