TOPS Home E-Zine
Issue #23 - January 2004
January 2004: Inside TOPS Home
1)
Welcome to TOPS Home!
2)
Impress Your New Clients
3)
See What We're Cooking Up
4)
Update Your CAI Logos
5)
New Features on Your Web Sites
6)
Keep them Coming Back
7)
Create a Maps Module
8)
How CAN SPAM Affects You
Read this issue and archived issues of the TOPS Home E-Zine online at:
http://www.topshome.com/topshome/Administrators/TOPS_Home_ezine.htm
Welcome back to TOPS Home, the web site e-mail magazine (e-zine) for the TOPS Community Web Site Service. We slaved all month to have this many exciting and helpful articles for you.
Susan Sanders kicks it off with a missive to bring your associations into the Information Age. Then we give you a hand in doing just that with a recipe for success in our Board handout: "You're Going to Love What We're Cooking Up For You!" This is a great handout for those board members who have been reluctant to get a community web site in the past. For those of you who are having trouble getting residents to go to the site, we have included a handy customizable article that you can copy and paste into your community newsletter to encourage residents to log in to their association site.
Our Support department is also cooking with instructions on how to create your own maps module, and if you haven't already updated the CAI logos on your site, we will be happy to help you out with that, too. Andrea then shares her insight into the new federal spam law, CAN SPAM. You can't afford not to read this article if your organization regularly sends out email!
It's been a busy month for our programming department, as well! We made more than 11 new updates to the community web site service in January, including several updates to the TOPS 2000™ program files. Read a detailed list in the What's New section.
As always, enjoy your reading, and if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us. We look forward to speaking with you!
TOPS Web Sales: (800) 556-7852 WebSales@topssoft.com.
TOPS Web Support (800) 899-5689 WebSupport@topssoft.com.Impress Your New Clients!
Now that your Association Management Company has successfully brought on those new clients for 2004, how about further impressing them with the complete professional services provided by your management company... offer your new clients an interactive community web site service! What better way to let them know that your managers and staff are committed to the continuous development of their community... In 2004, you've got to be ONLINE!
Rock, Paper, Computers...
Stone Age. Industrial Revolution. Information Age. OK, we skipped some steps. But information has become a vital association asset. And the way your associations handle information can be critical.
It's 2004 and people expect more than they did way back when. They're buying gifts online, they're booking airline tickets online and they're banking online. It's time for their association to be an online as well.
Residents see the value in an association web site. They can immediately print community documents, submit online forms, view pictures of the kid's neighborhood activities, and so much more. It makes living in their association easier. Therefore residents are more readily willing to comply with association rules and regulations
Board Members see the value in an association web site from a volunteer perspective. The built in capabilities of a web site include being able to email everyone in the neighborhood important information, as well as having a separate area to store community documents so everyone has access to a copy of the Clubhouse Reservation form or ARC request.
Property Managers see the value in an association web site from a management perspective. Just think, there is a problem at the pool and it needs to be closed. Instead of receiving 50 phone calls, an email can quickly be sent explaining what is happening. Manager after manager will tell you the sites are not a drain on the managers but rather become an important communication tool in the neighborhood!
We encourage you to spend just 30 minutes this month getting a web site online for each of your associations. The small amount of effort you put forth this month will be paid back tenfold by mid-year. If you need information on bringing your associations into the Information Age, give us a call at 1-800-556-7852 and we'll get you started!
What's Cooking?
This month, we have created a flier in MS Word that you can customize, print out, and distribute to community officers at board meetings. "Cooking Up" showcases some of the features that will be added to the web site service in the next few months, and encourages board members to get a web site for their own association to take advantage of these features. This is a great one to give to those board members who have been reluctant to sign up for community web sites in the past. "You're Going To Love What We're Cooking Up For You" is located in the downloads section of our web site: www.TOPSHome.com/topshome/Administrators/downloads.htm.
To customize the handout, simply download and save the MS Word document, find and replace the words 'Your Management Company" with your company's name, update the web site address at the bottom of the page, and VIOLA! Instant marketing materials to hand out at this month's round of board meetings.
Update Your CAI Logos
If your organization is a member of CAI National or a local chapter, you may have received a notification from CAI that they have revamped their logos for 2004. CAI offers the new logos for every chapter on their web site, but they are not in a web friendly format. The good news is, we have already downloaded the logos and converted them to a web compatible format for you!
If you would like to have the new logos added to your web site, please send an email to websupport@topssoft.com with your web site address and the names of the chapters that you would like to display on the site. If you wish to have the logo(s) added to a particular page, please let us know that as well. We will update sites on a first request first served basis, so please be patient.
New Features on Your Community Web Sites
The following updates have been made to all Management and Community web sites in the month of January:
- Added a link so web site administrator can view a list of all participants in a survey (but not view how they voted)
- Added a feature to save each email bulletin to a special "Recent eMail Bulletins" category in the Announcements area. This allows for online review by residents and re-use by web site administrators. This feature can be turned on/off for each community and the number of days that you can view prior eMail bulletins in Announcements is adjustable (defaults to 30 days)
- Do you need to add someone to your email bulletin distribution list; but they're not a member of your community and you don't want to allow access for them to login to the private side of your web site? You can enter an entirely hidden profile to your address book - just contact us at websupport@topssoft.com.
Another helpful use for this feature enhancement is if you have a resident who has left the community who has created topics on your message board, you can use this enhancement to delete their profile from your address book, but leave the message topic live and active on your web site.- Added a "security level" to eForms which controls what security level sees and can fill the forms out. It is a "equal to or less than" security level meaning if you set a particular eForm for security 50, anyone with security 1 to 50 will be able to use it....not JUST 50.
This functionality replaces the "public" option that used to exist on eForms...if you want an eForm public now just set it to security level of 100. Speaking of which, any existing eForms will be converted to a security level of 98 unless they had the "public" flag set, in which case they will be converted to security level 100 so this shouldn't "break" any existing eForms.- Added a "Short Ad Title" field to the Classifieds feature in order to avoid having to use the first 40 characters of the full ad text as the "link" to the ad. The first 40 chars will be pulled from the ad text into this new field for initial population so everything will look the same until an ad is edited or a new ad is added.
- Added code to "trim" any spaces from around an email address entered by a resident before it is used in eMail Bulletins....this is to avoid the emails not being sent by our newest mail server.
The following changes were made in TOPS 2000™ program files. You will need to run the Internet Updater and select "Community Web Sites" as the module to check in order to receive these updates:
- Made a number of data corrections to the upload program to ensure names are uploaded and listed correctly on Community Web Sites.
- Corrected upload files so quotes are no longer duplicated in uploaded data.
- Corrected issue with community specific upload settings - individual settings may now be set and saved for all communities.
- Corrected an issue with the random password scheme to correctly generate passwords.
- Added code to retain user names and passwords so that rebuilding the owner access database no longer causes that data to be lost.
Keep Them Coming Back!
Many associations publish a community newsletter for their residents on a regular basis. In this section of the TOPS Home Ezine, we'll provide an article each month that you can publish in your newsletter (or in an email bulletin) to help promote your web site and let your residents know just how great their web site is, and how easy it is to sign on and get informed! Just customize the article by inserting your community web site domain name and cut and paste it right into your newsletter! If you have an article or idea you'd like us to pass on to other community web site administrators, please let us know--we get many of our best ideas from you!
Have You Logged in to Our Community Web site Lately?
One of the easiest ways to see the comings and goings in the community is to go to our web site www._______________.
It's a fantastic resource for resident discussions, referrals to area services/businesses, upcoming events, clubs, classifieds, announcements, community news, and more! You can even check your current association dues balance and view the last 12 months' history. Plus, the Board sends quite a bit of information via e-mails so if you haven't received any community wide e-mails lately it could be that your e-mail address is not entered, it's incorrect, or your mail box is full. Please log on so you won't miss out on important announcements and information.
It's easy to update your user profile and/or change your e-mail address. Simply follow these directions:
- Go to our community web site at www._________________
- Choose 'Resident Login' on the left hand side
- Enter your user name and password
- Click on 'User Profile'
- Verify or change any of the information you would like.
- Press the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom of the form.
Use Your Web site!
If you are new to the neighborhood or just have never logged on before you can do it here as well. All it takes is a simple request and you should have a resident login access within 24 hours. Stay in touch with your community and log on!
Visit Your HOA Web site at www. ____________.
If you have a method of drawing visitors to your site that has been successful for you, please take a moment to share it with your fellow community web site administrators. You can send your tips to websupport@topssoft.com.
Creating a Maps Module
When TOPS Software releases your new management or community web site, one of the default items on the public side of the site is a "Map" link. By default, this link directs the visitor to an outside online map provider such as Yahoo Maps or Mapquest. If we did not receive a map address from you in the initial paperwork, this link may not even go to an actual map, but rather points to the homepage of the mapping site.
While it is good practice to provide an address for this link, a number of associations have chosen to take this a step further by creating a custom 'Maps' module. This module can be created easily by the administrator. Some of the content we have seen other customers use includes: printed step-by-step directions from common landmarks or major intersections, scanned map images, Plat Maps, and of course, a link to an outside online map service. If you would like to create your own map module, follow these directions:
- Log in to the site as administrator.
- Under "Admin Only" on the left side, click "Edit Modules"
- Create a new module called Custom Sections (or Admin Only)
- Click Back on Edit Modules, click on the new Module, and create a new category called Maps or Directions.
- Click Back on Edit Modules, click on the new Module, Click Maps, and click Add, Edit, delete Maps.
- Add new items, one for each type. (Map, Directions from North, Directions from South, Plat Map, etc...) Include the content in each item.
- For an online map link, go to your favorite map program (such as http://maps.yahoo.com or http://www.mapquest.com) enter an address in the community and zoom in/out to get the map you wish to use. Then copy and paste the link from the address bar into the Hyperlink field in the new item in your map module.
- For printed directions in a word processing document, copy and paste the directions into the text editor of the new item in the map module. If you do not already have printed directions, use the same map program as above, click 'Get Directions' and enter a major intersection as the from point.
- For a Plat Map or printed map image, first scan in the image so you have an electronic version. Size it in a graphics program to get it to a reasonable size for the web, and then use the insert image button in the text editor if the new item in the map module. Browse to the image on your computer, click 'Upload', and after the 'Upload Successful' message appears, locate the image name in the list below, and click the insert button to insert that image into the page.
- Once your map module is ready, send an email to websupport@topssoft.com requesting that the new module replace the map link on the public side of your web site.
The public side of your association web site is an important tool for potential home buyers and community affiliates. Unfortunately, many associations ignore this section of their web site in favor of the private features. A custom map module is one of the many ways that you can improve the public side of your web site, increase your 'online curb appeal', and thus promote your community to this important demographic.
Is there a feature that you would like to learn more about? Send an email to websupport@topssoft.com with your suggestions for our next Feature Teacher.
What you need to know about CAN SPAM
Please note that this article is not a substitute for legal counsel. You should consult your lawyer if you have any questions or concerns regarding CAN SPAM.
You may have already heard about the newest Federal Internet law to hit the books. CAN SPAM stands for "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003". The act was passed by the 108th Congress, and went into effect on January 1st, 2004. Like any new legislation, CAN SPAM has both pluses and minuses, mainly because any attempt to regulate undesired emails is bound to affect some legitimate emails as well.
For the most part, communities and management companies conducting regular association duties are not affected at all by the law. However, you should take a few moments to understand exactly what is covered by the law, and make sure that you comply.
The first part of the act consists of a number of definitions that clarify what emails are and are not covered by the law. According to CAN SPAM, there are essentially two types of business email, and all email falls into one of these two categories:
- Relationship/transactional emails: Most of your emails likely fall into this category. Under this definition are any messages sent to facilitate a business relationship, complete a transaction, deliver goods or services, release product updates or upgrades, share safety or security information, notify of changes in service, or give periodic account information.
- Commercial emails: If the primary purpose of the email is to promote a product or service or content of a web site for commercial purposes, it is a commercial email.
Relationship/Transactional emails
Relationship and Transactional emails are not regulated by the new act. However, there are a few guidelines you should follow even in this type of email:
- Do Not Use Fraudulent Headers: Basically, this means you should send emails from a valid address, with a descriptive subject line that applies to the content of the email.
- Disclose a Physical Address: The recipient of the email should be able to quickly and easily identify the sender of the message. The easiest way to do this is to include a physical address for your organization in your signature file.
- No Open Relay Mail Servers: An important note for those of you who host your own email through an exchange server, or other internal mail server: In addition to penalizing the people who fraudulently send email through open servers, the law penalizes the owner of the open server as well. If you are hosting your own mail server in house, ask your mail administrator to make sure it is not an open relay server (meaning anyone can send mail through it without prior verification from the server).
Commercial Emails
There are a lot more regulations for people sending out commercial emails. I recommend you read the law for more information on this (there is a link at the end of this article). However, here are a few tidbits that may help:
- An email is not considered to be commercial just because it contains commercial elements. Thus, if you include a link to your management company site, it is not automatically a commercial email unless the primary purpose of the email is to solicit business. However, even one (!) unsolicited commercial email counts, so be very careful when sending solicitations to a list of names with whom you have not had prior contact.
- Advertising is OK. If you send out your community newsletter via email, you do not have to strip out all of the ads in order to comply with the law. It is perfectly acceptable to include paid advertisements in informational email content, as long as the advertisement is not the sole purpose of the email.
- Provide opt-out options. Unlike the Opt-in policies of many of the state laws that preceded CAN SPAM, the Federal act adopts an opt-out policy. (This is why many Internet marketers are calling it the 'You Can Spam' act.) It is not illegal to send Spam. However, the Spammer must be open and honest about who they are and what they are offering, AND they must provide a way for the recipient to request never to receive emails from them in the future. Remember that relationship and transactional emails are not included in the law, so you are not required to comply with this part of the law unless you are sending commercial emails soliciting business.
However, if a homeowner requests never to receive email from the web site again, it's a good idea to make them happy, even of you are not required to do so by law. So how can you insure this happens? One way is to utilize the Email Bulletin feature's Categories. Instead of sending all of your web site emails to all residents in the address book, you can create a series of categories, such as Important Announcements, Community Events, Newsletters, Reminders, etc. Then, encourage your residents to go to the Email Bulletin area of the web site, and check the boxes for the categories to which they wish to subscribe. When you create announcements, add events, or send email bulletins, make sure that you only send to the appropriate category, instead of the entire address book.
Ultimately, the only surefire way to insure that an owner never receives an email from the web site is to simply remove the homeowner's email address from their user profile. A simple note at the bottom of your email bulletins containing instructions on how to remove their email address from the User Profile should be enough to cover any Opt-Out requests.CAN SPAM is designed for your protection, and as long as you stay within these few guidelines, you should be able to successfully conduct your business without ever running afoul of this law.
Read the full text of the law online at: www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html
Did you know that TOPS Software will provide you with a free
community web site CD demo? Follow this link to apply for your free demo today!~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~
Here is a list of some of the most common contact data for TOPS Software:
Department
Contact
Phone
Software Sales
Nicole Sezov
800-760-9966
Web Site Sales
Susan Sanders
800-556-7852
Technical Support
Jeanne Plennert
800-899-5689
Web Site Support
Brandon Kelley
800-899-5689
Accounting
Cande Estrella
301-869-8144
Designed by TOPS Software, LLC. Copyright© 2001-2004
364-C Christopher Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 2879. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Previous
Experience TOPS Interactive Web Sites for Yourself!
Contact TOPS Website Sales
websales@topshome.com
1-800-556-7852
Copyright © 2000-2002 TOPS Software, all rights reserved.
Please contact TOPS Software at info@topssoft.com,
or visit our website at www.topssoft.com.