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Q: What is LakeSearcher.com?
A: LakeSearcher.com is an internet advertising service operated by Outsell Media, LLC. Our focus is on lake and waterfront properties throught the US. In addition to property catagories for Lake Homes, Lake Lots, and Lake Area Property, we have added property catagories for Rivers, Streams, and Log Homes as requested by our sellers. Sellers simply pay a nominal fee which is as low as $24.00 per 6 months to advertise a single listing. Larger advertising packages are available. Buyers use the service for free. We do not collect any commission or referral fees. All property inquiries are sent directly to the seller to handle.
Q: Why should I advertise my lake property on LakeSearcher.com?
A: LakeSearcher.com is focused on lake and river property throughout the US. It is a new start-up website with increasing traffic. Becuase the site is not loaded with tens of thousands of listings, your listing will get more exposure. We also work very hard to keep our advertising rates affordable, whether you have a single property to list or you are a real estate professional with many listings to advertise. If you are serious about selling your lake property, we suggest that you post your property listings on at least 3 paid websites. You can usually do that for less than the cost of one week of classified ads in a major newspaper and get online exposure for 6 to 12 months or until your property sells depending on the website. Buyers like to "surf the internet" and do not stick to one website. We feel that LakeSearcher is a great website and a great value and should be part of your marketing mix.
Q: How do I write a good ad which gets buyers attention?
A: All good ads start with a good Ad Title. Your ad title needs to describe your property using 50 characters or less. We suggest including a quick catch phrase and include the lake name and either the city or state. Your property ads will be indexed by the search engines and can be found by buyers even if they are not visiting LakeSearcher. Next, include as much information as possible but no so much that the buyer will not have any questions for you. Remember, the goal of the ad is to get the buyer to contact you. Include good photos. Our packages include either 10 or 15 photos, but if you need to show more photos to tell the story of your property, we don't mind if you upload a few more. We have also added a video feature which plays property videos or your agency ad if your video is hosted on either YouTube or Google Video. Becuase on-screen video tours are a new phenomenon, you do not need to have a professional quality video. A video can be created on many digital cameras, cell phones, and video recorders and uploaded to YouTube or Google Video for free.
Q: What is meant by a "Premier Ad"?
A:  Premier Ads simply display a star and sort at the top of the property pages. Several of our larger ad packages include Premier Ads in the price and our single property package for $24.00 is a Premier ad. There are many ways for a buyer to search for and sort property on LakeSearcher so a Premier ad is beneficial to stand out, but not necessary for success.
Q: What is meant by a "Basic Ad"?
A: A "Basic Ad" is currently only available in our "3 Ad Pack" for $39.00 for 6 months. It offers the same features as our premier ads except it includes 10 photos and does not sort to the top of the listings pages.
Q: Why does my ad display a photo that reads "UNDER CONTRACT"?
A: If there have not been any photos uploaded into the system, the default "UNDER CONTRACT" photo appears. All property listings should have photos. If a sale is pending, you can either disable the ad so it stops displaying or you can delete the photos and the "UNDER CONTRACT" banner appears. Of course, when a listing is sold and closed, you should delete the ad.
Q: Can I advertise the same property in more than one category?
A: Yes you can. We offer 8 different property catagories. You may have a great property that is a "Lake House" and happens to be a "Log Home" and you would consider it a "Trophy Property". In that example, we would suggest placing the listing in all three of those catagories to get maximum exposure. We would also suggest tailoring each ad to the catagory you are placing it in.
Q: How do I update or remove my ad?
A: You can access your account at anytime to edit, disable, or delete your ad. Simply login to your account and click on "My LakeSearcher" and login to your account to edit, delete or disable your ad.
Q: How do I pay for my ad?
A: The program will require you to pay for your ad before it is placed. We accept American Express, Master Card, Visa, or Discover. All payments are processed through Authorize.net which is the most secure payment processor online. We do not see your credit card information and we do not store it on our system.
Q: What if I forget my login or password or have trouble loggin in?
A: Your login is your email address that you registered with. If you do not remember which email address you used, you can contact us and we would be happy to look it up for you. If your email address has changed since you registered with us, contact us and we can change it for you or you can edit it from the My Lakesearcher page. If you have forgotten your password, click here to enter your email address and your password will be emailed to you right away.
Q: I uploaded my photos, but they do not appear in my ad?
A: The most likely cause is your photo file name contains the "#" symbol which our database reads as an instruction to "stop". You will need to rename your photo file before attemting to upload them. For example, a photo file named "123 Lake Avenue 001.jpg" should upload just fine. The same photo file with the name "123 Lake Avenue #1.jpg" will not load and a square with a red "X" appears in your ad. Simply change the name of your photo file and upload it again.
There is also a 1 megabyte size limit to your photos. If you are attempting to upload files larger than 1 megabyte, the system will not accept them.
Fuzzy Photos: If you resized your photo yourself and shrunk the image, our photo software will be unable to expand the image to the ideal size and your photo will appear fuzzy. We suggest that you compress your photo files so they are below 1 megabyte in size and upload the file. Our program will automatically do the rest.
If you continue to have toruble with your photos, email the photo files along with the title of your ad to support@lakesearcher.com and we will take care of the photo upload for you.
Q: What is the best size photo to use?
A: We recommend that you submit photos that are 667x500 pixels in order to get the best and biggest possible photos for your ad. There is also a limit of 1 mb on the file size (in bytes) of the photos. Our program has a built in photo editor which will resize your photos to fit properly, but if you want the sharpest photos possible, submit them as 667x500 pixel files.
Q: What formats are allowed for photos?
A: Your photos must be in either .jpg or .gif format to load properly to your ad. Also, your file name cannot contain the "#" symbol as part of the file name. If your file name contains the "#" symbol, you will need to rename your file before trying to upload it. If you are receiving an error like this when trying to upload photos:
ERROR: exec( )error:
then your photos are not in the correct format.
Q: How do I load my property video onto LakeSearcher?
A: If you have a property video, you need to load it onto either YouTube or Google Video in order to play it on LakeSearcher. Both services are free, but you will have to establish an account if you do not already have one. Once the video is loaded onto YouTube or Google Video, then place the video URL link into the Property Video field when you are creating your ad. You can add a proeprty video at any time by editing your ad. Alternatively, you can email your video to us along with the title of your ad and we will load it using our acocunt and link it to your ad.
 We accept most major credit cards which are processed through Authorize.net, one of the most secure online credit card processors. We do not see your credit card information and your credit card information is not stored by us.
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