RealHome.com Tops Gomez Rankings; Hits E-Business 100
news.moneycentral.msn.com
October 23, 2000 7:49:00 PM ET
STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- RealHome.com(R), the home buyer and homeowner consumer advocacy site, shot up again in objective rankings released last week. Gomez Advisors, the web's leading authority on measuring consumer e-commerce experience, named RealHome.com as the #1 ranked site for Novice and First Time Home Buyers, who represent over half the annual home buying market. This was the second time in a row RealHome.com garnered top honors for the category. Additionally, RealHome.com moved up to the #3 ranking overall of all home listing aggregator sites for Fall 2000, ahead of companies such as GMAC Real Estate, Century 21, Prudential, and Yahoo. Separately, InfoWorld magazine, the influential trade publication, announced that RealHome.com has been ranked among its elite e-Business 100.
"These awards confirm the industry buzz about our company's growing strengths, especially right now in the area of B2B content and transaction syndication," stated Richard J. Roll, founder and CEO of RealHome.com. Indeed, Peppers + Rogers Group recently published an article suggesting that new economy companies pair with RealHome.com, particularly in the areas of home-related content and services, in order to push ahead their own growth strategies.
RealHome.com is affiliated with the American Homeowners Association (AHA), which contributes expert content and consumer knowledge to the site. The company is becoming known for innovative features such as the RealHome University. This interactive service provides expert guidance to visitors in all areas of home owning, home buying, and home maintenance. With more than 100 available on-line courses and a unique "Create Your Own Course" feature, RealHome.com's educational content was rated "best of breed" by Gomez Advisors, spurring large companies to start contracting the content for Intranet pages.
Recently, RealHome.com partnered with Opinonware.com to provide interactive polls and surveys on the site. The on-line polls allow users to give opinions which are instantly tallied in real time in response to questions related to home living, enhancing the user experience on the site. Also, recently launched was Real People, where RealHome.com members can see profiles of actual RealHome users, and learn how they have used the site to assist them, and share beneficial lessons learned on topics such as home buying and home maintenance. RealHome.com has also recently partnered with Business Objects, BOBJ, the world's leading provider of e-business intelligence solutions, to leverage RealHome.com's website data both inside and outside the enterprise. "This new partnership enhances our ability to continually monitor and improve the user experience," said Roll.
Also eternally popular are the sweepstakes that RealHome.com sponsors. The last sweepstakes, entitled "Win a Real Home," concluded on September 30th, and attracted 1.5 million entries. The winner of a fully equipped real home, as selected by an independent judging organization, is to be announced shortly. Another sweepstakes, "Win A Dream Remodeling Project or $25,000 Cash" has proven also popular since its launch, confirming yet again that RealHome.com has devised a proven success formula.
For the company, all this success translates into a 65% increase in page views over the previous month, and a 33% increase in monthly gross revenue.
About RealHome.com, Inc.
RealHome.com, Inc., based in Stamford, Conn., connects homeowners and homebuyers with a comprehensive range of competitive home service providers through its flagship website, realhome.com. The privately held company is affiliated with the American Homeowners Association (AHA), the nation's leading homeowner organization, which operates the ahahome.com website.
PC Data Online has ranked RealHome.com as one of the Internet's fastest-growing sites this year and Gomez Advisors has ranked RealHome.com among the top three home buying sites. RealHome.com is a one-stop solution for homeowners providing unbiased education, research tools and e-commerce services to buy, sell, finance, insure, own and enjoy a home. In addition, RealHome.com offers a vibrant, e-community -- or "virtual back fence" -- through which consumers across the country can share life experiences and aggregate their buying power.
More information on the company can be found at realhome.com. |
