More user information in replies

One of the biggest challenges we all face with online classifieds is dealing with scams and fraud. To that end, we've just added new information to the message you receive when someone responds to your posting.

We now recommend that people sign in to franglo before they respond to a posting. That way, when you get a response you'll see whether the sender is a registered franglo member or not. People don't have to sign in to respond to a posting, but we recommend it because it helps build trust.

As always, we recommend that you avoid high-risk things like wiring money, sending cashier's or bank cheques, money orders, and dealing with distant buyers/sellers. For more information about identifying and avoiding fraud, see http://www.franglo.com/fraud.

New UK and Ireland sites!

Now that we've got the site relaunch out of the way, we're planning on rolling out localized franglo sites for a wider swath of the world, starting with Europe. So today, we've launched the UK and Ireland. We're counting on our regular users to get the word out and help get some postings up there soon! The more postings there are, the more useful franglo is for everyone.

http://unitedkingdom.franglo.com
http://ireland.franglo.com

Welcome to a new franglo!

If you are a regular franglo user, you'll notice that we've just given the franglo.com family of websites a pretty significant facelift. We're excited about this redesign because it brings a more modern, colorful, and appealing look to franglo, but also because the interface is designed to be easier to navigate and use. Some of the new elements include:

• more ways to find the postings you're interested in;
• greater visibility for featured postings;
• improved accessibility across platforms and browsers.

Of course, everyone's taste is different and you may have comments or criticisms. We'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to contact us anytime. Sinply click the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

Get added visibility for your Featured Posting

We've just launched a new way to get added visibility for your Featured Posting. As you may know, the Franglo email newsletter goes out each week with a list of recent Featured Postings as well as other information. The newsletter is sent to over 8,000 Franglo users each Tuesday.

The subject line of the email newsletter is traditionally chosen at random from among the posts included each week. Having your posting title used as the newsletter's subject line brings much more visibility to your posting. You can see a list of recent newsletters and subject lines by clicking here.

For the first time, we're offering Featured Posting customers the ability to pay an additional fee of 99 euros to have the title of their Featured Posting used as the subject line of the newsletter. If you would like to give your Featured Posting a big visibility boost, this can be a great option!

We've already sold out for June 2008, but dates in July and beyond are still available.

Notice some changes?

You may have noticed some more or less significant changes on Franglo.com this week. Yes, we've changed our logo slightly and have made it consistent across all country sites. And yes, there's now a big ad space on the top of Franglo.com pages. The new ad space is our latest attempt to offer advertisers value and results without distracting our users from the most important contact on Franglo, the classifieds. And we also made some less apparent changes to the design, making the pages a little lighter and easier on the eye.

If you're paying attention you'll probably see a lot more changes on Franglo in the coming weeks. We're working hard to add features, improve functionality, and make the service more useful for everyone.

We'd love to hear your thoughts. If you have comments, criticisms or even praise... please feel free to email us.

Newsletter archive

Franglo This Week is sent each Tuesday to thousands of expats and internationals. If you were wondering what was in the last issue, or want to have a look at older issues of Franglo This Week, you can now access an archive of the current and past newsletters.

Simply visit http://www.franglo.com/thisweek/.

New prices

The Franglo Network has been growing rapidly, and now counts for more than 40 websites in 10 European countries. That means that traffic to our classifieds service has been growing too, and all postings are getting more exposure.

Featured Postings have always been a great value, ensuring that your ad gets the most visibility, the best placement, and the maximum number of hits. We've recetly raised prices to help cover expenses and to reflect the increasing value of Featured Postings on the Franglo Network.

The new prices for Featured Postings are:

• €14 for two weeks for individuals / €21 for businesses
  
• €35 for six weeks for individuals / €52 for businesses
• €67 for three months for individuals / €99 for businesses
• €99 for six months for individuals (no change!) / €149 for businesses

Thumbnail images for all Featured Postings

Now when you buy a Featured Posting on Franglo, you get one more benefit... a thumbnail image of your primary image/photo right on the category listing page. Featured Postings now stand out even more, giving you even more visibility.

Featured Postings still include all all the other benefits that have always offered:

Prominence: Bolder, more colorful display on web pages throughout the Franglo Network.

Position: Appear in the "Featured postings" box on the left side of every Franglo page, in rotation.

Priority: Stay at the top of the category listings—don't get pushed down the list as newer postings are added.

Promotion: Get inclusion in at least one edition of the weekly Franglo email newsletter.

Results: Typically 10 times to 25 times as many hits as standard postings, and sometimes much more (your results, of course, may vary).

Welcome to The Paris Times

The Paris Times (http://www.theparistimes.com) is an online newsmagazine covering selected cultural events, local news and debates and features magazine-type stories, literary works, and profiles of Anglophones living in Paris.

With Anglophone contributors from all over the world, The Paris Times jouralists have solid experience with writing and the press... and expatriation. The approach is both foreign and French, allowing for a wide range of points of view. With a unique tone and format, The Paris Times participates in a new, attractive trend: the free with value.

We would like to welcome The Paris Times and its readers to the Franglo Network.

Welcome to Essonne Image

We would like to welcome Essonne Image (http://www.essonneimage.co.uk) to the Franglo Network. Essonne Image is a great meeting place for English speakers, native or not, who live in the Essonne département (91) of France.

Welcome Lost in France

Lost in France (http://www.lost-in-france.com) is a leading online resource providing a wealth of information to people living in, visiting, or buying property in France. Lost in France offers comprehensive information and useful tools — everything from fact sheets and forums to news and personal blogs.

We would like to welcome Lost in France and its user community to the Franglo Network, and we invite anyone who is not yet familiar with Lost in France to visit the website.

Welcome LG2G

The Legal Guide to Germany (http://www.lg2g.info), aims at helping citizens of other countries, either living in or coming to Germany, in gaining a reliable orientation toward their every day legal rights and responsibilities in Germany. We would like to welcome LG2G visitors to the growing Franglo community in Germany.

Welcome to Paris Soirées

Patricia Laplante-Collins created Paris Soirées events to bring Americans, expats, hip French and the international community together in a global meetup, in Paris. We would like to welcome Paris Soirées (http://www.parissoirees.com) to the Franglo Network!

Quick find by posting ID

Did you know... If you are looking for a specific Franglo posting and you know the posting ID or reference number, you can find it quickly — just enter the posting ID or reference number in the search box and go.

Welcome Spain & Portugal for Visitors

We'd like to welcome the newest member of the Franglo Network, Spain and Portugal for Visitors (http://www.spainforvisitors.com).

With detailed text on topics including cities, activities, culture, travel, employment and much more, Spain and Portugal for Visitors offers a wealth of well-researched information for expats and tourists alike.

The Spain and Portugal for Visitors website includes Franglo-powered country-specific classified sections for both Spain and Portugal.

Get huge exposure for just 149 euros

We've just introduced a new advertising format and new pricing in order to make advertising your company or service on Franglo as affordable and effective as possible. The compelling new half-banner format appears on virtually every Franglo.com web page and includes two lines of text below the banner to add detail and peak interest. See:
Here's the bottom line: A half-banner for one month costs just 149 euros, and we will never sell to more than five advertisers at a time. That means your ad will appear on 20% of all Franglo.com page views. Want more info? Click here to contact us.

Welcome to The German Way & More

Welcome to The German Way & More (http://www.german-way.com), the newest member of the Franglo Network.

The German Way & More is a comprehensive website dedicated to language and culture in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. You can find detailed information about a wide variety of topics, from the Autobahn to Women's issues, and everything in between. The site also includes the informative free email newsletter, WebNotes, and excerpts from Hyde Flippo's excellent books, The German Way and When in Germany, Do As the Germans Do.

The German Way & More website includes Franglo-powered country-specific classified sections for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

New country sites for Austria and Portugal

We're very happy to announce the launch of two new Franglo country sites: For Austria and for Portugal. You can visit these new Franglo country sites here:

Austria: http://austria.franglo.com
Portugal: http://portugal.franglo.com

Franglo now offers country-specific classified ad websites for nine European countries, as well as regional mini-sites for each of France's 22 regions. We're pleased to welcome expats and internationals in Austria and Portual to the Franglo community.

Limited time: Newsletter advertising special

If you have never advertised to Franglo's international community of expats and Anglophones, now is a great time.

Each week, the Franglo email newsletter is sent out to an affluent community of Anglophone expats and internationals. We're currently offering very attractive "introductory" email advertising rates that will deliver your business message directly to over 9,000 Franglo users.

For a limited time, you can advertise in our weekly newsletter for just 349 euros. Here's what you get:

• Graphic: A 120x90 pixel "tile" banner ad - for your logo or other graphic
• Text Message: Up to 50 words of text describing your business and/or offer
• Direct Links: Users can get to your website in 1 click
• Exclusivity: Your ad is the only display ad in the email
• Top Placement: You ad appears at the top of the email message
• Affordability: Reach your market for less that €0.04 per user

For an example of how your ad will appear, see the "Today's Special Offer" box at the top of this webpage.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please contact us as soon as possible. There is only one advertiser per weekly issue, and availability is on a first-come-first-served basis.

New category: [Services] Business

We're happy to introduce a new Franglo category for business services.

Welcome Expatica

We are proud to announce that Expatica.com, a site devoted to happy, healthy living abroad, has become the newest member of the Franglo Network.

Expatica’s purpose is to improve the quality of life abroad and bring the international community together. With a current readership of over 4.8 million yearly readers, Expatica contains some of the most frequent users of international banking services, insurance, travel, luxury cars and real estate services.

Expatica offers country-specific websites for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and Spain, as well as micro-sites for jobs, dating, and housing.

The new Expatica Classifieds, powered by Franglo, is the first to make use of Franglo's new partner integration API enabling a seamless user experience. Expatica members are automatically logged in to Expatica Classifieds without having to re-enter their login email and password.

Visit Expatica: http://www.expatica.com

New partnership integration API

Just for you techies out there...

We're created this API in order to provide an ability for Franglo partner websites to synchronize their member databases with the Franglo system, enabling end-users to access the functionality of both the partner website and Franglo services using the same login credentials and personal information.

For more information, or to request the API specifications, please contact us.

Persistent login

Now, when you sign in to your Franglo account on Franglo.com or via any Franglo partner, you are automatically logged into the full network. You can browse other countries and regions without having to "re-sign in" to your account. A small but convenient improvement!

Black Tuesday

What a week... as some of you may have noticed, Franglo experienced a significant outage this week. The outage was due to a failed disk drive on our web server, and we have been scrambling to recover a backup and restore Franglo. This was the most significant outage that Franglo has ever experienced, and we are now putting in place a much better fail-safe plan so that it never happens again.

Franglo is nothing without its user community. Over the next few days, we will be offering all active Featured Posting customers compensation for the down time. If you had an active Featured Posting on Tuesday, November 6 we will extend your posting expiration date by a week.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact the administrator.

Join us at Expatica's "I am Not a Tourist" Fair

For the third year, Franglo will participate in Expatica's "I Am Not a Tourist" fair at the Carrousel du Louvre, on Sunday 14 October 2007.

Get the information you need from companies and agencies specialised in expatriate services, from banks, investment firms and insurance companies to schools and tax agencies. You'll find information on house hunting, finding a job, immigration and permits, staying long-term, and much more.

Register now for your free tickets, then come visit us at the Franglo stand (number 9) on Sunday 14 October.

For more information, visit the "I Am Not a Tourist" fair website.

Welcome Hobo In Paris

We wecome Hobo In Paris to the Franglo Network.

Hobo In Paris is an online magazine, distributed weekly via email, for all of you hobo expats living in Paris. Hobo In Paris will be your hobo “jungle”—a community of expats living in this extraordinary city.

Hobo In Paris seeks to inform, interact and occasionally even amuse along the way. Look around—and come back often—for expat activities, experiences, insights, stories, rants and maybe even a little helpful information. In other words, pull up a broken crate, open your ears, eyes and bindle and join us by the fire.

Visit Hobo In Paris: http://www.hoboinparis.com

Welcome Paris Voice

The Paris Voice, the webzine for English-speaking Parisians, has become the latest part of the Franglo Network. The Voice is one of the capital's oldest and most respected expat publications, with features and articles written by top journalists as well as a complete local event calendar. We're proud to count the Paris Voice among the Franglo network partners.

Visit the Voice: http://www.parisvoice.com

Take 10% off Featured postings through June!

Now through June 30, 2007, new and existing Franglo users can save 10% on Featured postings of any duration. To take advantage of the offer, you must enter the promotion code TENOFF when you choose a Featured posting option. The promotion code can be used up to three times per user, to get the 10% discount off any new or renewed postings.

New prices

Sorry, folks, but it had to happen sooner or later... For the first time since Franglo launched, we've increased prices for Featured Postings. Today, more network traffic and the continually growing Franglo community make Featured Postings more effective than ever, and you can still get yours for just 11€ for two weeks. Buy 6 weeks for 29€, 3 months for 56€, or 6 months for just 99€. Standard postings are always 100% free.

Featured Postings are a great value because you get more visibility, better placement, and more hits. For more information about everything you get when you buy one, click here.

Search-engine friendlier URLs

Franglo now generates unique URLs for each posting that includes the text of the posting title. This feature improves search engine indexing of Franglo postings. What does this mean for you? Your postings will be easier for others to find when they do keyword searches on search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Featured Postings clearly marked on account page

Now, when you sign in to your Franglo account, you will see your Featured Postings clearly marked on the "My Account" page. It's just a small improvement, we know, but beauty is in the details. Enjoy...

Housing categories now with Google Maps

We're pleased to announce that Franglo postings in many housing categories now utilize Google Maps. We found that Google Maps offered the best mapping solution—from ease-of-use, to functionality, to clarity—and we are proud to offer this service to Franglo users.

For a limited time: 1-year featured postings

Tired of renewing your 90-day featured posting every time it expires? For a limited time, you can purchase a featured posting for a full year at even greater savings. One-year featured postings are now available in all Franglo categories — a very special price — for new postings and renewals. Get hassle-free results for a full year!

Franglo users get up to 25% off Insider Paris Guides

Franglo users can get up to 25% off Insider Paris Guides. The guides, published by Franglo's parent company Bastille Media Productions, are downloadable electronic guides to Paris and France written by American journalists who live in and love Paris.

To take advantage of the Franglo discount, please click this link and follow the easy instructions.

Welcome France On Your Own

France On Your Own, one of the web's oldest sites for travel to France, has become the latest part of the Franglo Network. Since 1997, France On Your Own has been encouraging and simplifying independent travel to France.

Visit France On Your Own: http://www.franceonyourown.com

New localized sites for Europe

We're proud to announce new localized Franglo sites for Belgium/Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

"Vacation Rentals" category moved

After many user comments and with an aim toward rationalizing the Holidays & Travel and Housing categories, we've moved "Vacation Rentals" under "Housing Offered". All the same postings are there, just in a brand new place. Enjoy.

Welcome Paris Link

Paris Link, the online magazine for Paris People, is the latest website to join the Franglo Network. Paris Link provides news, features, puzzles, blogs, and a forum, as well as monthly audio podcasts—all for an active audience of Paris People.

Visit Paris Link: http://www.paris-link.com

New category: [Employment Offered] Editorial/Translation

We're happy to introduce a new Franglo category for editorial and translation employment offers.

New category: [Services] Financial

We're happy to introduce a new Franglo category for financial services.

New category: [Items For Sale] Antiques

We're happy to introduce a new Franglo category for antiques for sale.

New category: [Events] Literary

We're happy to introduce a new Franglo category for literary events.

Welcome Paris Guardian

The Paris Guardian, an independent online source of news in English for Paris and France, is the latest website to join the Franglo Network. The software programmers, editors, journalists and wire services affiliated with the Paris Guardian all dedicated to producing the best journalism possible.

Visit the Paris Guardian: http://www.parisguardian.com

Welcome Paris-Anglo.com

We'd like to welcome Paris-Anglo.com to the growing family of Franglo Network partners. Paris-Anglo.com, created by Paris publishing guru David Applefield, is one of the longest-standing websites serving the Anglophone community in France. The site features what is perhaps the web's largest directory of English-speaking businesses and services.

Visit Paris-Anglo.com: http://www.paris-anglo.com

Now up to 6 images per posting

Many users have noted that, especially for for housing ads, the limitation of three images per posting really didn't do the property justice. So as of today, we've increased the number of images you can add to each posting from three to six — and not just for housing. You can now add up to six images to your postings in all categories.

Remember, your images must still adhere to the size and dimension limitations. No more than 150KB and a maximum resolution of 640x480 pixels.

Introducing the Franglo blog

I know, I know... everyone has a blog these days. So why not Franglo? Since our launch in November 2004, Franglo has become France's premiere English-language classified ads web service, and there have been loads of changes and improvements along the way.

We are constantly working to make Franglo easier, more effective, and more useful for our quickly growing community of users. Sometimes the changes are immediately apparent (like our redesign last summer) and sometimes the changes are more behind-the-scenes, if you will.

We've started this blog to keep you up-to-date about everything that's going on, big and small. Improvements, changes, news, service issues, general announcements — you'll find all this information on these pages.

We invite you to bookmark this page or subscribe to the blog's RSS/Atom feed to stay informed about new blog posts, and about all that we're up to at Franglo. We also welcome your comments, criticisms and suggestions — some of our most significant changes have been the result of feedback from users.