FEXPOCRUZ 2006 – Site of our Official Launch

We will be officially launching our three principal websites at the Feria Internacional de Santa Cruz (FEXPOCRUZ) 2006 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia from 22 September through 1 October. It’s the first of many public shows that we’ll do inside and outside of the United States. 

You may be thinking “I’ve never heard of this event…why there?…Are you off your rocker?”    Perhaps, but according to the US Government’s Commercial Service, 450,000 people will visit FEXPOCRUZ over 10 days from all over Europe, Central America, Brazil, Argentina, and other parts of South America (some of our major market focus areas). To give some idea of scale, the 2005 FEXPOCRUZ had 2,200 exhibitors from 20 countries. There is also non-trivial US representation in terms of visitors and exhibitors. Part of the reason for the US participation (as well as our particular interest) is that FEXPOCRUZ is the only trade show in Bolivia that is certified by the US Department of Commerce.  In all, it seems like a good place to start.

It doesn’t hurt that I am already in the area, have multilingual employees and support infrastructure available locally, and will simply extend my current stay just beyond the end of the show dates. 

We have contracted for plenty of internet bandwidth so we can easily demonstrate the sites’ capabilities, have actual listings for customers to see in their supported language of choice, and provide online/offline video of properties located worldwide.  If you’ve been following our blog, we’ve been busy signing some contracts with various real estate agencies that give us rights to display, translate, and otherwise use their video to help sell their properties. Want to join us?

Our goals for FEXPOCRUZ 2006 include the following:

– Flagship Websites: Introduce our flagship language websites in Spanish and Portuguese as easy and familiar entries to the US commercial and residential real estate/timeshare market and to get people to visit our websites

– Web Engine: Demonstrate the capabilities of the ForSaleByLocals(tm) web engine and its application to real estate and other listings oriented markets

– Contacts and Contracts: Make contact and initiate property data sharing, listing translation, and/or real estate video deals with international real estate agencies, builders, lenders, commercial real estate specialists, other service providers, and independent agents.  We’ll also have a great opportunity to meet individual property owners as well and get their feedback on our sites.

– Potential Members: Sign up standard level members at the show and potentially sell premium level memberships to interested parties as well

– Shared Participation: Offer opportunities to highlight YOUR properties by way of our supporting video site, various video multimedia presentations, and CD/DVD giveaways throughout the show. (more on this in a later blog post or, if already interested, contact us at the numbers or email on this blog)

There are probably almost 100 buildings and pavillions in total at the event location. On the FEXPOCRUZ site map above, the arrow marks our approximate booth location. We’ll be located in Building 4 (International Pavillion #1) directly facing the entry/exit to Building 7 (US Pavillion).   As you can see, FEXPOCRUZ is a huge event.

 We’ll focus primarily on our principal Spanish site (casacomprar.com) and our principal Portuguese site (repousos.com).   About 35-40% of the exhibitors in International Pavillion #1 are from Brazil.  That should ensure a high mix of Portuguese speakers in the pavillion which makes it a perfect location for our portuguese-oriented services.  For info, Brazil has huge commercial participation in this event in many different areas – like Argentina and some other countries, they even have their own separate pavillions exclusively for their own exhibitors. The US also has their own pavillion at FEXPOCRUZ and (fortunately for us) it’s in the building directly in front of the entry where our booth will be. 

Launch is always exciting. I’m actually glad to have an event in which to participate that happens to coincide with our official launch.  If, by chance, you happen to make it to FEXPOCRUZ, please stop by and see us. Also, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed to keep up with the latest information about the show.

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