In This Issue:

Visual Data
Systems Seminar
Wilmington NC
September 22

About Us

Visual Data Systems is a leader in Internet marketing, technology consulting and World Wide Web design. As a pioneer in Internet business, we've logged more than a decade of achieving customer satisfaction and Internet innovation.

Visual Data Systems offers a wide variety of products and services that can be customized to fit your unique business needs. Let our experienced professionals polish your ideas and dreams to create your distinctive Internet presence.

At Visual Data Systems, there are no barriers. Just Innovations.

News & Events

Catch Visual Data Systems at the upcoming Conferences:

RMS Users Conference Wilmington, NC, September 22-24

Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) National
Orlando, Florida October 11th - 15th

August 2003 • Volume 1, Issue 3

President's Corner

Over the past 10 years we have been clearly focused on delivering value to our customers. As leaders in this industry, we are continually pushing the envelope with new and innovative technology for your industry. While we remain hands-down the industry leader in developing dynamic websites for the vacation rental industry, we continue to devote resources and funds toward developing new technologies that will impact your business. In this issue of "The Visual Exchange" we are excited to bring you:

• IT Infrastructure Explained
• George Volsky's amusing analysis of Gaylord Entertainment's upcoming merger with ResortQuest
• A summary of our new and improved hosting facilty
• New product highlights including Owner Self Promotion, OwnerNet™ Multi-Property Login, Vacation Package Manager, and Premium Promotion online reporting.

As I talk to customers, I am always asked two questions:

1. What should I be doing that I am not doing?
   
   If I had to pick one big impact product that everyone should participate in, it would be Premium Promotion. The results that we have produced over time have been astonishing. This service in concert with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) activities can yield the exposure and traffic that you need to bring guests to your site. PPC is a great opportunity to shape your traffic as your season develops, increasing or decreasing your monthly budget as needed. PPC can be quite cost effective as well. If you take your brochure production cost ($50,000 for example and this is probably low), printing cost ($2/unit) and shipping cost ($2/unit) for a mailing of 30,000. You come up with a unit cost of around $5.66. In many markets PPC opportunities are much less than this and they bring highly qualified ready-to-buy prospects to the site. So if you are willing to send a brochure for $5+ dollars you should be willing to invest in PPC as well.
   
   Premium Promotion is an ongoing and dynamic process that is a partnership, not pure magic on our part. Customers that are experiencing the best results with this service are the ones that read each report monthly and heed our recommendations for site updates, paid submissions and PPC opportunities.
   
   If you are not subscribed to this service you need to be.
   
   
2. What's next?
   
   There is a buzz phrase running around the business journals called "Customer Relationship Management" or CRM. Simply put, CRM is the plan and practice to maximize the lifetime relationship with your customers. I have spent many hours emersed in journals and books to gain a thorough understanding of CRM. With this knowledge in hand, I am finding ways that we can apply some of the principles to our industry. The practice of CRM is maturing and we can benefit greatly from others' failures and successes. At our seminar on September 22 in Wilmington NC, we will be talking more about CRM principles and how technology can be part of the solution.

Other News

I am very delighted to report that our new division, Infrastructure Solutions, has been making a big impact on many of our customers in its few short months of life. We established this division to help with the ever changing needs for network, server and security consulting/specification/implementation. Please let us know if we can be of assistance in any of these areas.

Please join us on September 22nd in Wilmington. We promise to make the most out of your investment to be there!

Thank you for your trust and continued support,

Paul Herman
President

Visual Data Systems, Inc.
10760 Hickory Ridge Road, Suite 312
Columbia, MD 21044

Phone: (410) 964-8665 ext. 215 • Fax: (410) 964-5668
Email: info@vdsys.com • Web: www.vdsys.com

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Copyright © 2003 by Visual Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.