I posted recently in the forums that I often receive phone calls from angry people threatening to sue me for defamation because of something someone posted in the forums about their company.  Today was one of those days.  I explained that our forums are unmoderated and we do not remove forum posts.  I was told that the matter was being referred to their attorney.  

Thus, it seemed like a good idea to explain my position on our potential liability for the things our users post.  My position - we are not responsible for content submitted by third-parties. 

We have greatly expanded our services over the past few years and there are several ways that our members can use Source of Title to further develop their business.  Business has slowed down significantly for most of us. It is a great time to start thinking creatively and using some of our free services to stand out from your competition.  I'm going to share with you all some tips to do just that.  Many of you are probably already aware of some of these ideas, but I'm sure everyone will learn a thing or two from this special blog.

Communication is the cornerstone to any good business relationship.  That is why we decided to launch a new, FREE service on Source of Title - to help you keep your clients informed with important announcements regarding your company, your services, and the counties you cover.  Through our Bulletin service, you can post timely announcements and your clients can subscribe to them.  This allows your clients to subscribe and aggregate their vendors' bulletins on one easy to access Web page and keep informed.  Best of all - its completely FREE!  It is a great benefit you can offer your clients and it won't cost you, or them, a dime.

Our enhanced listing sales are down about 10%.  It is not really surprising... business is down and people are cutting expenses.  Sadly, advertising is one of the first things to get cut when revenue is declining.  However, in slow times, advertising can be more important than ever.  I thought I would take this opportunity to make a few observations about the benefits of an enhanced listing on Source of Title. And, why I believe that advertising with us can help you pick up new clients, even in this turbulent market.

We are always trying to come up with new ideas to help our users.  We currently have a new service in development that we hope will improve client/vendor communications.  The idea came to me during this holiday season when we began to get several individual client requests for county holiday schedules.  Typically, abstractors send out mass emails with their holiday schedules, but I thought it would be nice if there was a place to aggregate those kinds of announcements for all of the companies here on Source of Title.

The types of announcements do not have to be limited to "holiday hours."  There is a need throughout the year to keep clients, or vendors, informed of pertinent information regarding business associates or changes at the county offices.  For example, a bulletin can be posted for things like due dates for taxes, computers going down for maintenance, new county conveyance procedures, vacation schedules, changes in counties covered by a company, etc. 

So, for my blog today, I thought I would provide a brief explanation of how this new service will work.  We will, of course, provide much more detailed information when we are ready to launch the service.