WARNING: Archival Site
This is an old website that exists for archive purposes only. Visit https://gutensite.com for our real live site, website builder and digital marketing services.
Gutenblog: 2.0
October 2021
October 2021
In the last few months clients have had a growing paranoia about a growing number of ADA lawsuits (Americans with Disabilities Act) for website accessability. There have been reports of "serial plaintiffs" (driven by profiteering lawyers) filing hundreds of lawsuits against small buisnesses in order to extort settlements. These lawsuits have generally not been filed in good faith by disabled persons truly prevented from accessing services (they could call to receive service if they wanted), most likely are not valid against most marketing focused websites, and most are likely not defensible in court (see below), but the fear alone urges businesses to settle, which prevents clear precedent from being established.
To be absolutely clear, Website Accessbility for disabled persons is very important. It's not only legally required (in some cases), it is morally correct, and it's also in the interest of every organization and business to provide services to all people equally.
But ADA ...
September 2021
September 2021
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our system and also stay up to date with the changing technology requirements of each MLS, we have created an entirely new IDX Widget that was released to half our clients back in January.
Now it’s also mandatory that we transition the rest of our Realtor clients as well (i.e. MLS Listing, CCAR, Bridge MLS). This transition will happen October 1, 2021, so you have time to migrate any existing Listing Alerts to other systems (most of you already use these features provided by your broker or MLS organization anyway).
This new widget/system is a major improvement over the old system, it has a modern layout with a beautiful large map (and many layout options), better search filters, and is much, much faster. But there are a few rarely used features (specifically "Listing Alerts" and "Favorites") that we have not yet been implemented on the new platform (because they are used only by a handful of people), so these will be temporarily unavailable ...
January 2021
January 2021
We are getting a lot closer to our 2.0 launch, and in the process we are finishing up the new versions of the functionality required to fully replace all features on the 1.0 system. And we are also porting some of these features back to the 1.0 websites. One important feature for Realtors is the widget to search Properties from the local MLS. Our new widget is much improved and has been working wonderfully for the past 8 months on the websites of the private beta clients using our 2.0 platform (see Geoffrey Nelson's Hillsborough Blog or Steve Lessard). This new widget has major improvements over the old system, it has a modern layout with a beautiful large map (and many layout options), better search filters, and is much, much faster.
The new widget is being activated on 1.0 websites in phases. Starting January 19, all BAREIS and SFARMLS feeds will receive the new widget. This is mandatory because they are phasing out their data feeds used by the old system (and only the new widget ...
June 2020
June 2020
Our 2.0 platform is almost ready for public use! We are finishing up some of the final MVP admin control panel features, working on stabilizing the code and optimizing performance. At the moment we are working with a select few clients who need a new website and are willing to be private beta testers.
We've just finished launching one of these new sites, for a client that has been with us for at least 14 years!
Check it out directly at Geoffrey Nelson's Hillsborough Blog website to see the elegant and modern design, which is mobile responsive with subtle animations and finishing touches. This design is called "Sken" and is free to all users, although Geoffrey has made some minor personal changes to customize it to his taste and communication strategy.
Let us know what you think! And if you are interested in a new website that is modern, beautiful design, built on a robust, enterprise level platform with a powerful API, granular team and visitor user permissions, content ...
February 2020
February 2020
We're happy to showcase another Real Estate Agent website on our new 2.0 beta platform, for Maryann Ernst a Compass Realtor based in the San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula market. One of the features of the new platform is beautiful, conversion-optimized, landing pages with crystal clear value propositions and calls to action (e.g. Look at the Buyers section).
This is a super simple, but elegantly modern website that will certainly impress potential buyers and sellers. And it's a website that will grow with you, as your needs change, guaranteed to stay looking beautiful because the platform empowers you to focus on creating content that supports your marketing goals and to choose from curated design options. This protects the professional look of your website and brand, so you can focus on growing your business.
If you are looking for a new website (or refresh of an old one), we can accept you into the beta class for the new platform on a case by case basis. Website setup for a site ...
February 2020
February 2020
The closed beta period for our new 2.0 platform is advancing successfully through its testing phase. We are proud to promote the launch of a new Real Estate website for Quinton Barnett, a new agent from one our Broker Partners.
Quinton's website is 100% plug-and-play setup, using the updated version of the free Sken template and all the standard functionality. Some of the things you'll notice are the big background video on the home page, as well as several conversion oriented landing pages that are optimized for funneling traffic to specific conversion goals with large Value Propositions and Calls to Action (easy to enable on any page). Our new property search enables easy searching and filtering of both MLS and private property data in one combined feed (or separate if you prefer). There are community pages that also have the filtered search results for that community embedded on the page. The contact form allows the agent to capture leads and automate responses based on marketing ...
December 2019
December 2019
As I mentioned in the last blog, the closed beta for our 2.0 platform has begun (see article for features and more samples). We are proud to announce that we've launched another website, which further demonstrates the beauty and power of our new platform.
Brand New Congress is a non-partisan political organization working with both Democrats and Republicans to repeal and replace congress with representatives who serve the interests of their constituents instead of political insiders who currently exert too much influence over establishment candidates that rely on big money donors and then have to respond with favors. There is even a Netfix documentary called "Knock Down the House" (which features our branding) about the women and men supported by BNC who ran (and won) for Congress in 2016.
This is a pro-bono project that we are passionate about, and are honored to be a small part of the good work they are ...
December 2019
December 2019
It's hard to believe it's been 5 years since we started building "2.0", a complete ground-up rebuild of our platform that will distinguish us from every other website builder and CMS on the market (seriously, no other platform has the features we have built). It's been an over ambitious project for our small team, trying to compete against the high standards set by hundred-million-dollar businesses, using only our very limited resources. But we did it, we're almost there! And it's going to amaze you.
A month ago we launched our first website on this new platform, City Church of San Francisco has been with us for over a decade, and were willing to endure the unpolished beta phase, in order to benefit from all the new features and design. The site is a great example of some of the design and features that are standard on the new platform. Please visit their website and be sure to let us know what you think!
We have launched several other sites since then, and we'll be featuring them in ...
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