Craig's Classroom

Come to Class - But Watch Out for the Homework

Sat, 11 May 2013 08:06:46 -0700

Life has given me a pretty full schedule lately and I haven't had too much time to blog over the past few months.

I've got plenty of posts lined up in draft mode so don't think I've gone away! :)
More great stuff coming soon.

Meanwhile, when you come to Craig's Classroom, I promise to teach you something useful! But beware of the homework! I'll get you with it every time I'll expect you to apply what you've learned.

Here are some recent blog posts in case you missed them the first time around

Adding Social Media Icons
in Your Blog Signature

If you have a blog, you should consider putting icons with links to your other sites in your blog signature so people can easily follow you on your other sites.

Does Google Count You
as an Established Author?

Are your pages getting extra perks on the Google search results pages? In this post we talk about Google Authorship

Chromatize Your Gmail -
Some Cool Things You'll Get

Google Gmail is a very popular mail host. It is what I use for mail, how about you? Well, if you are using gmail check out a couple of very cool features of having gmail in the Chrome browser.

I Know of an ActiveRain SECRET Page - Let Me Take You There

Browsing and discovering new members of ActiveRain can be fun. Or maybe you have subscribed to somebody and you missed one of their posts otherwise. There is a page on ActiveRain that you can only get to if you know the URL. On the page there are some great ways to search for content. Let me show you how.

Mobile App Spotlight - Flipboard News Reader

Here's an app recommendation for you to browse recent news and blog posts on your mobile device. It has a great graphical interface that makes it very interesting to "flip" through what's new.

Facebook Ticker - See Your Friends Interactions

On the right side of the facebook window is an interesting view of activity by your friends that you might otherwise miss. What are they "liking" - what are they "commenting" on? Who is online right now. The ticker will show you.

About the
Author

Craig Daniels is a Technology Manager residing in NYC who specializes in applied technologies in the fields of Architecture and Real Estate. Craig focuses on finding the best uses of tech as can be used to help a business be more successful. He is keen on always seeing the perspective and viewpoint of his audience and he tailors his teaching to be easily understood. He teaches by means of this blog, online courses and webinars, as well as one-on-one remote sessions with persons located throughout the country and beyond.

Adding Social Media Icons in Your Blog Signature

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 06:35:37 -0700

How is your social media presence? Likely, because you are on ActiveRain, you have a pretty good social portfolio for your business because we are discussing strategies here all the time! I'm pretty sure you are on Facebook and Google Plus and LinkedIn. Many have Twitter and Pinterest accounts. If you have an active YouTube channel, kudos to you because so few are doing it and yet it is something consumers love! Perhaps you use Foursquare also. Do you enjoy photography - I'm sure you have Flickr and/or Instagram pages.

With all of the above sites to curate, why wouldn't you want an easy gateway to share these sites with those who come to visit your blog? The best place to do so is in your blog signature, the block of text that shows up on the bottom of each of your posts.

Let's add some social media icons to our signatures! Let's talk about how.

Finding the Icons You Want

There are quite a few sites where you can download icons. The icons come in all sorts of shapes. You can search google images for free social media icons. My criteria in selecting an icon batch is (1) they are free (2) they do not require attribution (3) they have the pixel size I need and (4) they have ALL the social sites that I want to link to.

Point (4) is actually harder than it sounds. Some sets might be missing a pinterest icon or a foursquare icon and then I re-continue my search!

A Good Icon Set

I found one set of icons that met my criteria on a site called contentfrog. They have shared the icons that they created with others to also be able to use. They gave an adobe illustrator file and a pdf file for us to extract the icons from. I have taken the extra step of extracting the icons to graphic files in two different sizes (larger/smaller). There are two variations of the twitter icon also shown below. I personally like the bird symbol twitter icon the best. I also prefer the smaller 48 pixel sizing, but see for yourself.

64 pixel sized icons

twitter alternate icon

48 pixel sized icons

twitter alternate icon

Setting Up Your Blog Signature

If you want to use the icons above, select the icon row above for the size you want and copy it to the clipboard. (tip: click your mouse in the white space just in front of the first icon, hold your mouse button down as you drag over the top of them all. Release the button and they will be highlighted. Copy to clipboard via Ctrl+C on windows/Command-C on a Mac)

Head over to where you can edit your blog signature information. On ActiveRain, you get to that page by clicking your name in the upper right side of the page and choosing "Blog Settings" On that page you will see a box for your signature. Paste the icons from your clipboard there.

Next, we have to select each of the icons in turn and create hyperlinks to our specific landing pages for each social site. After selecting an icon, click the link button on the toolbar at the top of the editor box.

In the icon rows that I created above, there are nine icons. If you are not truly active on a social media site, it is better to leave those icons off. Consider you link to you "YouTube" page but somebody goes there and there are no videos uploaded. That would be a bad experience and you may lose their interest!

Whether you use the icons above or choose others, having icons in your blog signature is a great way for others to get to know you better through your other channels on the web. Getting to know you better is the desired prerequisite to the step of actually contacting you!

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Does Google Count You as an Established Author?

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:09:51 -0700

Have you noticed the Google search results pages sometimes has the photo of the person alongside the link. When a person searching for information has a whole page of possibilities to choose from - which one will they choose? Most likely they will pick the topmost result. HOWEVER if one of the lower results grabs your eye based on the difference of an author's photo and stats - the latter item may be the one that actually gets the clickthrough. Do you see the advantage here? Are you leveraging it on your blog posts? You need to be. Let's talk about how to do it.

Google has given us some simple guidelines how to get this done for your pages. Here's the checklist:

1. You need to have a Google+ account

2. Your profile photo needs to be a clean headshot or it will be rejected - no logos and no photos where your face is a tiny speck in the overall picture

3. Your Google+ About page needs to have an entry in the "Contributor To" category of the Links section that points to the site where your blog lives. In fact you may have several entries in that list. Your ActiveRain blog URL, your outside blog URL (if you are using an outside blog), your main web page or WordPress site should also be listed there as applicable.

4. Each site where you are posting your content needs to have a link to your Google+ page. For your ActiveRain blog, this is simply done by editing your AR profile. One of the entries is on your profile is for your Google Plus URL. (see the post Google Authorship on your ActiveRain blog for more info). If you are utilizing an AR outside blog or a WP blog, you will want to consider including a Google+ link in your blog signature. A blog signature is a block of text that automatically shows up on every one of your posts. Many choose to attach the link to a icon/button but you can also simply attach it to text like "find me on Google+". One important special thing not to miss about this link that you put in a signature block is that you need to append the following parameter text at the end ?rel=author

5. Make sure your full name is on your page, preferably preceeded by the word "by" to help Google realize who the author of the post is. Your name needs to exactly match your name on your Google+ profile. Your name should be in your blog signature so it appears on each of your posts. (note in my own case I did not use the prefix "by" but Google figured it out anyway - you will be able to test your own case in the step below)

6. Once all the pieces are in play, test out one of your pages to validate you have done it right. Go to the Structured Data Testing Tool page and paste a URL to one of your blog posts. See if it passes.

That was the birdseye view. Now let's look at a few of the details that you will need to know to help in the steps above.

We can start with your Google+ Profile page. There are several sections that you can edit. Look for the "Links" section and click the "Edit" text at the bottom of the box. Find the "Contributor to" subheading and add links to the pages where your content resides. Each link you add will have two parts 1) what you want the link to say and 2) the URL to the page.

On the ActiveRain side, be sure and edit your profile and make sure the Google+ URL is entered in the corresponding box. Additionally, if you want a Google+ link in your signature (which will make sure your outside blog gets the authorship requirement), you will need to know how to edit your blog signature. In the upper right of the ActiveRain pages you will see your name just above the menu bar. Click your name for a pop down menu to appear. Click "Blog Settings" to get to a page where you can edit your signature. This is what will appear at the bottom of every one of your posts.

Your Google Plus URL will be needed so you can create a link on your AR blog or wherever else you are posting your content. If you go to Google+ and then click the profile button on the left navigation bar, you will see the URL at the top of the window in the address bar. Select the text from the beginning up through a very long list of numbers. Don't select the entire URL, stop immediately after the numbers. Copy that to your clipboard.

Head over to your AR blog signature and create your link to your Google+ page. You can use a button icon like you see I have below or you can just type text like "Find me on Google+" and then link the text. Paste the URL that you have on your clipbaord and then
be sure to type this parameter at the end
?rel=author
(important note: there is to be no space between the last number
and the ?rel=author text - it needs to be together)

After we have all the pieces in place, let's check out our results using the Structured Data Test Tool. Go to one of your actual blog posts and copy the URL from the address bar into your clipboard. Paste the URL on the test page and see what your results are.

Congratulations on your status as a Google recognized author!

Now how's that list of yours going? You know the one called "my long tail keyword goals" None of this authorship exercise will mean anything unless you are writing articles to actually be found by. Head over to blogging boot camp if you want help on that target.

this post was last edited on 3/12/13 to include more information
about the Google+ authorship option via the AR profile page

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Chromatize Your Gmail - Some Cool Things You'll Get

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 08:28:08 -0800

I know that many of you have a Gmail account. I do too! There are lots of great reasons to use Chrome as your choice of browsers, but there are some great specific reasons related to Gmail running in Chrome to also consider.

First of all, you can run any of your favorite websites as if it were a standalone desktop app. You can see my taskbar on the right. The gmail website is running in special app mode and it even gets its own icon.

Email is important to me so it is running on my desktop all day long. I simply minimize it when I'm not looking at it. A chrome window in "app" mode loses the tabs bar and the address bar and simply gives a cleaner interface with more space for the specific site information. Notice how that looks below.

In order to take any website in to 'application' mode (like in our case, Gmail), click the Chrome settings button (right side of window, in line with the address bar), then choose Tools, then 'Create application shortcuts'. You can choose to drop the icon on your deskop, or taskbar, or both. In my case, I have my gmail pinned to my taskbar since it is always there!

Once you do this, you will see your current browser window drop off the top bars and it will now look more like typical app that your are running on your desktop.

A second cool feature of Gmail in Chrome is that you can have the option to pop up a notification box whenever new mail arrives. The pop up will appear in the lower right of your screen and will tell yoiu the basics of who is emailing you and what the subject is. Then you can decide to go read it right away or wait til later.

To turn this feature on, notice the setting in the diagram below:

Gmail = awesomeness, Chrome = awesomeness - together like chocolate covered strawberries. Bon apetit!

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I Know of an ActiveRain SECRET Page - Let Me Take You There

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:31:26 -0800

Hey there, I see I piqued your interest! Who doesn't like to hear a good SECRET!

There is one page on ActiveRain that I visit every so often because I think it allows some interesting browsing of the site. The thing is... There is (at the moment) not a single menu link top or bottom that will take you there. We call it an "orphan" - there once was a path there but somewhere along the way it got left behind.

I'll take you to the page in a moment but let's talk first about what you can do when we get there.

First, when you signed up for ActiveRain you told the community the type of work that you do. Are you an Agent, Inspector, Home Stager, or handle Mortgages? Woudn't it be cool to search for other posts by similar sub-industry?

Secondly, every time you make a blog post there are all these questions to answer before you submit. You have to do tags and mark off groups and fill out this this thing called "categories". Maybe you filed your post under tips and advice, or ActiveRain community, or market reports, or perhaps even humor. Now how in the world can you find OTHER person's posts about these same topics? Maybe you want to get inspired for your own market reports. Maybe you just want something a little off topic for a good distraction.

Ok - NOW follow me to the secret page that helps us surf through ActiveRain with these interesting search filters applied.

You need to go to activerain.com/blogs

- Yup that URL is right under your nose all day but there is no menu link to get there. Once you do get there, BOOKMARK it for future reference.

Now let's test it out. Let's search for some recent market reports to get ideas for your own blog:

Now let's search for blog posts by home stagers. Perhaps you'll get ideas for blog posts of your own or discover someone else in your industry you haven't yet connected with. Secondly, we can add one additional twist tell it to sort the results by posts with most comments. These are surely "must read" types of posts.

Now I could give you the direct links to these posts, but now that I've taught you how to fish, you can go find them yourself and many more worthy posts for you to read.

What I also like about the search results from this SECRET search page is that it shows the posts in full view and not just the synopsis paragraph view like in other blog rolls. This allows you to really go surfing and I'm sure you will see some posts that you would otherwise have missed.

Now about the SECRET part... hehe - well like I said the path to get there was unintentionally orphaned and Bob Stewart and I have talked about this. I know the devs must have this in their task list to bring it back to the spotlight. Meanwhile, don't miss it - it is a good find!

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Mobile App Spotlight - Flipboard News Reader

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:47:38 -0800

On a recent poll that I held, I asked "What mobile phone are you currently using?" I'm an android guy (galaxy nexus, current phone) but I had a hunch that you my readers (mostly real estate based) are using iPhone. Hunch verified. (see poll results below)

However, I am encouraged by the rise of Android. The quality of the phones are so much better and the number and quality of apps is constantly improving. Whether you are either Android or iPhone, I think they are both great choices. If you are thinking about Windows phone or are thinking about the new BlackBerry models... I hesitate to recommend these. It is not for the lack of an excellent user interface, but for lack of useful apps available to you. Time will tell if this story changes tune in time.

So based on the poll results, let me offer this post as an application spotlight on an app that I like very much called Flipboard.

Flipboard is a news reader app that lets you see all your favorite sources of information in a great looking format on your phone. You can set up the basics like Facebook, Google+, Twitter to get you started. I like to add my Google Reader newsfeed also. There are a ton of channels to also link to such as Tech (one of my favs). Choose from many others like Sports, Photos & Design, Living, Entertainment, and Travel. These channels curate articles from many popular sources and you can discover new places on the web to add to your favorites.

Below you can see a handful of screenshots that I took from my phone on a recent day. To flip through the articles you swipe your finger (right to left to flip a page on a tablet, bottom to top on the smaller screen of your phone). It works both for android and your iOS devices and it's free!
(links above to take you to the respective app pages)

So there's an app recommendation for you - go check it out!

About the
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What Type of Mobile Phone Are You Currently Using?

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:54:34 -0800

What type of mobile phone are you currently using as we start a new year?

Are you an Apple iPhone user?

Are you a BlackBerry hold out because you must keep your keyboard?

(BB10 just announced - time will tell if RIM can pull a comeback...)

Are you an Android user?
Nexus devices are great, Jelly Bean is yummy!

Have you picked out a Windows phone?

or do you still have a plain OLD cell phone?

take just a few seconds to click the link below to make your selection in a survey that I created - once you pick your choice you will see the results

let's see what the pulse is!

click here to make your selection

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Craig's Classroom - Teaching You Tech

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 08:36:55 -0800

In this post, I wanted to recap some of my favorite teaching posts from the past year. Perhaps you saw some but missed others. Check out my little catalog of favorite posts from the past year. There are three slide pages below so be sure to flip through the pages.

Do you want to know how you can create a presentation of your favorite posts just like this one. Stay tuned for a future post coming soon! You know where to come to learn cool new tech tips! Meanwhile, this list should keep you busy for a while :) enjoy!

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Facebook Ticker - See Your Friends Interactions

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:07:10 -0800

Facebook has an optional sidebar panel that you can turn on that gives you an interesting perspective of what your facebook friends are up to at this very moment. The regular newsfeed shows things that your friends post. However the "ticker" panel on the sidebar shows their other real-time actions like commenting on posts and liking posts.

This gives you more content to browse that is oftentimes relevant to you as well. Your friends are your friends because you share common interests - so I find there is often interesting things going on in the ticker feed as well.

You have to have your facebook window wide enough (or maximized) for the sidebar button to appear. It will be in the lower right corner of the window like you see below.

The sidebar is split top and bottom where the top is the "ticker" and the bottom is the chat window. Depending on your feelings about chat, you can turn chat entirely off. However you can also restrict your chat availabilty only to certain people and not be visible to your ENTIRE friends list. I like that latter option and I'll post more about that topic sometime. If you dig in a little to the chat settings you'll see that option.

The top and bottom has a horizontal split bar that you can drag up or down to re-proportion how much you want to see of either the ticker or chat list.

One feature about the ticker that I like is that you can hover over the items and the corresponding post that someone interacted with will pop up. Then you can decide to click on it or not if you want to see more.

There you have it - the ticker - another facebook feature easily overlooked. I like it. Give it a try by turning it on. What do you think?

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Which ActiveRain Yearbook Page are You On?

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 13:51:21 -0800

Another year closes, another one begins...
Which year did you join ActiveRain in?

I just re-stumbled upon the roster pages for ActiveRain wondering which new blogging superstars will show up in our new year. Time will tell! However the past years read like a school yearbook. The ones that stuck to it, applied what they learned from the community, and blogged away have created names for themselves. Let's take a look:

Class of 2006

Class of 2007

Class of 2008

Class of 2009

Class of 2010

Class of 2011

Class of 2012

I know you are like me and see so many familiar faces here. Maybe it is just me, but who are these people in 2012?? I know 35 out of the 36 people in the prior years but ZERO for 2012. hmmm. That's odd. I guess we just haven't crossed paths YET.

Each of the images above is clickable to take you to the page for that year. Can you find yourself? Let's all make 2013 a blogging year to remember! :)

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New Year Here - RENEW Your Blogging Skills - Blogging Boot Camp

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 13:55:38 -0800

Have you been blogging for 1 year, 10 years, 1 day or somewhere inbetween? If you think taking a "blogging class" is just for the newbie, then I say "think again!" When is the last time you attended one of the ActiveRain University Classes? If it has been over a year, then I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you take a refresher! Cold and nasty winter weather out the window? I say grab a HOT cup of coffee and a notepad and get to LEARNING something NEW!

Bob Stewart, first-class instructor, takes you on a tour of how to create a checklist of essential things that you should be doing to maximize the return on your blogging efforts. Bob teaches a recurring course that you can either attend the live webinar classes OR watch the pre-recorded sessions on the ActiveRain YouTube channel. I have created the three linked buttons below to take you to his most recently recorded "Blogging Boot Camp" Sessions. Each session is under 50 minutes long. I guarantee you it is time well invested!
Enjoy!

Session 1

How To Get Your Blog Posts to Rank in the Search Engines

watch

Session 2

Understanding Keyword Phrases and Unlocking Their Secrets

watch

Session 3

Creating Calls to Action for Maximum Effect in Your Blog

watch

Tip: These videos are best watched in full screen mode and at the 720 HD setting. To get these settings, notice the diagram here and the buttons to press on the YouTube Toolbar.

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Are You Getting a Windows 8 Computer Soon? Do This FIRST

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 11:51:45 -0800

Windows 8 is here and it is a big interface change! The next computer that you buy will probably have it installed (that is unless you are going to or staying with Mac). It is essential that you get to know Windows 8 a little first if you want your user experience to be a good one! Invest a little time learning the new interface before you turn on your new computer and you won't be COMPLETELY LOST when you do!

Here's the new start screen as we can see from the windows website:

Yes windows 8 is designed to work both as a tablet (touch) interface (shown above) and as a desktop interface. What you see above is the windows start screen and the square and rectangular tiles that represent the different apps that you can launch. This new windows interface (sometimes called the 'metro' interface) is radically different from previous windows versions... however if you've used a smartphone (who hasn't) it really isn't all that foreign! We will just call it a 'modern' interface for windows.

Now I personally don't have windows 8 yet (I will update my computer very soon, I hope!) so I'm sharing my observations from an outside perspective at the moment!

From what I have seen and read, I do LIKE the new interface. Also, there is a more traditional desktop view that many people will fall back to (and apps that aren't updated to the new windows interface will fall back to this traditional desktop view). If you are working on windows 8 on a desktop computer for the first time, prepare to be confused, just a little, UNTIL you learn a handful of new (and ESSENTIAL) tips to navigate in a new world!

The corners of the screen are important. Move your mouse to the top left and you can switch between your opened apps. Bottom left corner will let you jump back to the start screen whenever you are in a running app. Another way to toggle between the new start screen and the traditional desktop view is by tapping the Windows key (a great little shortcut to learn).

In Windows 8, you if head over to the top right corner and from there move the mouse downward you will reveal the 'charms bar.' (Windows Key + C is also shortcut to this bar). This is where you can search, share, or work with devices and settings. If you click on search and look in the apps category, this is where you will see ALL the apps installed on your computer.

In earlier versions, we had a start button that would show us everything (you will notice we no longer have a 'start button'). However, one very neat trick that would be hidden unless somebody tells you is... just start typing while on the start screen to start a search for one of your apps. Type "word" for instance to find Microsoft Word or WordPad. From there you can right click it and add (or pin) it to your main start screen for easier future clicking.

Windows 8 is really very cool in my opinion. My concern is that Microsoft is not doing enough to teach new users how to use it and most of the tools would otherwise seem hidden. This can really put off new users, especially non-techy ones. If you doubt it, watch a few minutes of this video for a new user frustrated with windows 8.

Lifehacker website has a great notes page on "How not to Get Lost in Windows 8". I highly recommend that you go there to check it out. Additionally, they created the short getting started video below:

Microsoft has created a how-to page full of topics and answers to questions that new users will have. My disappointment with Redmond is they make us read lots of text when they should have made nice instruction videos for all these things! Instead we have to go searching YouTube for help in starting off (bad decision by Microsoft team on getting a smooth transition!) I might just have to record some of my own training videos to help people out. Stay tuned, we'll see!

Bottom line is... for you to be happy in Windows 8 is make sure you do a little homework FIRST and your experience will be a much better one!!

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HTML in Your ActiveRain Posts - It's Easier Now!

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:44:36 -0700

The recent update for ActiveRain now allows you easier access to the HTML view on your blog posts. There used to be two tabs WYSIWYG and HTML to switch back and forth. BUT before you clicked on a tab, you had to save the post (to Draft) and then go back into the edit mode and then pick the tab to change views. That was a lot of extra steps!

Now we have an HTML button that will pop up the HTML view. You can make your edit and then close the pop up view to see the immediate change.

Now the question,
why would you want to go to HTML?

There are certain types of things that you can embed in your blog posts where you get the source code from other sites. Two of my favorite things to embed are YouTube videos and Google Maps. Once you get the source HTML code from these sites copied onto your clipboard, you come back to AR and post it (in the new HTML view).

HTML code can be a little intimidating when you don't know how to read it (it really isn't so bad once you understand). Don't sweat it, you DON'T HAVE TO LEARN HTML to use it. You have your snippet of code waiting on your clipboard, you just need to give yourself a bit of placeholder text to know where to insert it. I like the phrases "MAP HERE" or "VIDEO HERE" (tip: caps helps it to stand out). Put this text in your blog post in the normal view. When you switch to HTML view, just look for the placeholder text and simply highlight the text and then paste the HTML code to overwrite the placeholder text. That's it. Close the HTML view and check out your results.

Thank you ActiveRain for implementing new updates to make our blogging easier!

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Posting to ActiveRain Channels

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:01:59 -0700

ActiveRain blogging platform has several means to help our posts get more visibility. For instance we can post to groups. Those visiting the groups page will have opportunity to see our post if they haven't yet subscribed to us and would otherwise not have seen it. When somebody subscribes to us, we have the highest probability of being seen as it shows up in the subscriptions news feed. (To learn more about subscriptions, see my post "You've Subscribed - NOW WHAT?")

Inside the walls of AR, we also have a means gain visibility by categorizing our posts into "Channels" and "Topics" (if you are familiar with Wordpress, this is similar to "Categories") For instance you might write a post for someone new to the home buying experience and categorize it in the Consumer Channel titled "Home Buying" and the topic "First Time Home Buyers". Another post that you write might be for your peers about your experiences creating community videos. So you would file that under
Professional >
Technology and Tools > Video.

As you can see here on the ActiveRain site, at the top navigation bar above, there is a link to Channels. Your peers will pick the professional topics and consumers will pick the consumer categories.

Besides the link in the above navigation bar to channels, your categories are extremely useful on your outside blog page. These channels show up as clickable links in a sidebar widget. If somebody lands on your outside blog via a web search, your widget is offering them an easy way to see all that you have written broken up into categories. When they click a link, it takes them to a page that lists all your matching blog posts. If you have a diversified blog, you have a great opportunity to show them your expertise and hopefully get a new contact from it.

I have created a one-page reference sheet that you can download and print. It shows all the channels and the sub-categories. I highly suggest you print it and highlight the channels that you plan to write posts for. You won't choose all of them. However, pick your "buckets" to fill and start filling them. This also will give you a diversity of posts and make your blog more interesting!

[Channels reference page PDF, right-click and "save as" to download a copy]

Besides channels, we also need to mark our posts with tags. My next post will show you best practices on how to tag your posts as well of how you can leverage your tags. Stay tuned!

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Hello My Smartphone - What's New With You?

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 06:09:07 -0700

A little bit of competition with the makers of smart phones is (some of the time) a good thing for consumers. [I had to rethink and backtrack on that thought a minute. Competition is what gets them to sue each other for rounded corners on icons and pinch to zoom gestures. They might as well patent breathing too. Ok so let's not go there, it is a complete waste of time!]

What I had wanted to write about was the type of competition that innovates new ideas and features. Both Android and iPhone have recently come out with updates. For Android, some models are able to get the 'Jelly Bean' update also known as Android 4.1.(The previous version was called 'Ice Cream Sandwich' v4.0 and before that was "Gingerbread" v2.3 -- Honeycomb v3.x was in between but mostly getting ready for tablets only -- Googlers like sweet things apparently! Whether your phone is able to update either to 4.0 or 4.1 depends both on your manufacturer and carrier to agree that the update is ready to go on your specific phone. Your phone will alert you when it is ready to update!)

If you have an iPhone, or are getting an iPhone 5, you will be able to see the latest iOS 6. The Apple v. Google competition heats up in 6 as Apple has removed Google Maps and the native YouTube App. If you want the YouTube App you are able to download and install it (fortunately). However the Google Maps app is, at present, not available. It has to finished being developed and then submitted to get through the apps approval process. Meanwhile, users are complaining about Apple Maps not being nearly as accurate! I'm sure it will be fixed soon enough. However it is something to consider about if you should update now or wait a while.

If you would like to see a list of features for either of the updates, you can click on the images below to go to the 'what's new' pages for both Android and iOS.

And...
if you are still using BlackBerry, my condolences. Here's a text version of Angry Birds that you might like playing :)

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO SEE WHAT IS NEW IN EACH...

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Video Series [#1] - Introduction

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 06:59:38 -0700

[originally posted 2/1/11 - updated edit of content 9/23/12]

If you are investigating how to expand your online presence in effective ways, then you should consider video. A recent ActiveRain video contest got a lot of people thinking about this medium and also diving in with their first attempts. Great! Now that you have done so, it probably opened up a whole new set of technical questions...
and you know those are the kinds of questions that brings you to Craig's Classroom! :)

You don't have to dive into video with a gigantic investment. Cameras are now reasonably priced. And what about software requirements? Although it is possible to upload directly from your camera to YouTube, you are going to have a lot more control and produce a better presentation if you spend even just a little time with video editing software. If you are on a Windows PC, a good place to start is Windows Movie Maker. (If you are on a Mac, take a look at iMovie.) Windows Movie Maker is a free app and gives you a good toolset to work from. Once you become a little more adept, you will recognize the limitations of this software and will want to make a small investment in a better video editing app. For under $50 you can have a very capable application. I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio for my video editing projects. It is a very capable editor but has a little steeper learning curve. In my online video class (see bottom of this post), we demonstrate in our training videos how to use all three apps Windows Movie Maker, Sony Vegas Movie Studio and iMovie for Mac.

Let's go over some of the basics that regardless of the software that you use, there are some basic concepts that you will need to think about that will enhance your video presentations.

Clips are the building blocks that you compose your video production from. You will upload your video clips from your video camera to your computer. Clips will often be edited to take out the parts that you don't want to use (can you say bloopers and outtakes?). Also video needs to be trimmed down quite a bit so your finished product does not go on and on and on. Attention span of your audience is not that long. You need to make your point and do it in an interesting way. Clips can also be composed from still photos that you have taken. You can very effectively add stills into your videos to create a more rounded presentation. I'll show you how to do this.

Animations are what put a little dynamic action into a still photo. For instance if you zoom in or pan over a period of a few seconds, you can make a still photo come to life in an interesting way.

Transitions are the "in-betweens" of moving from one clip to another. A straight cut is one way to do it when you have a next scene that is very much a continuation of the last. However, if the next scene is a total shift, it is usually good to transition to it with something as simple as a dissolve transition. This is over a very short span of time where one scene fades out while the next fades in. Transitions can also be what are called "wipes" where you actually see a line pass over the old scene as the new scene comes in. It can be horizontal or diagonal or even in various shapes (circles, squares, hearts, etc). Transitions can also have some animation effect such as a "page turn".

Once you get into editing your own videos, you'll be paying much more attention to the videos that you watch. Watch a documentary on TV for example and see how they handle transitions. Watch a movie, are they doing "hearts" or "page turns"? nope! Does that tell you something if the professionals do not use these types of effects?

You have control of your audio in your video production. Unless you have a lapel mic, you will want to consider doing a voice-over track in the post-production phase. The lack of quality of your audio is one quick way to turn off a person viewing your work. Your editing software will allow you to merge the audio track into your finished video. Also, you will be able to add a music track as that is one key way to add more interest into a video.

Video software will also let you add titles into your production. At the very start of your video you should introduce your topic with a short clip where your topic is shown as title text. You can use a simple light text on dark background (or dark on light) and you can also do some other variations which I'll talk about. Titles can also be used in the middle of your video if you want a short visual break between subtopics.

Captions are useful to add to your clips. This is text that you overlay onto your video that corresponds to the audio track. If you were doing a community tour on video for example, you could label each of the landmarks by caption text as you go from scene to scene. It makes a deeper impression on the mind to hear and see something that may be new to the listener.

Credits are what video editing app calls what you put at the end. We'll call it "branding reinforcement" and "call to action". Don't leave your viewer without a "what comes next" answer. However, one caveat, just keep in mind how your video is to be used. If your video is to be incorporated into your IDX 'virtual tour' your MLS is going to require that specific name and/or branding is left OFF.

Well there you have an introduction to some basic concepts universal in video presentations and video editing.

If you are ready to get serious about using video in your marketing plan, consider coming to my premium online class called "Video Essentials for Business." That link will take you to the page to tell you more about the class. The class is a set of pre-recorded training videos to teach you what you will need to know to produce quality videos for your YouTube channel. I hope to see you in class! :)

To read more posts about video editing, check out my list of posts in this video series

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You've Subscribed - NOW WHAT? [updated version]

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:52:47 -0700

One of the early things that you recognize on this ActiveRain blogging network is that is a very good thing to SUBSCRIBE to others. Subscribing is a way of saying, "you have very interesting and valuable content and I want to make sure to see your upcoming posts too!" Members of ActiveRain can subscribe to other members. When you do that, your "Blogs" page comes alive with activity with lots of good stuff for you to read each time that you check back in. When I first joined AR, I wrote a post called "You've Subscribed - Now What?". This is going to be a newly revised version of that post with certain insights that I've gained along the way since then!

Let's use the example of me signing on this morning to see what has happened since I checked in last night. I go to my "Blogs" page first and this is similar to the "inbox" analogy if we compare it to getting email. This view shows you the order of the persons with new content, newest on top and each blog entry is time stamped. So we see that we have some "late night" bloggers and some very early bloggers too! (BTW, there's a group called "Late Night - Early Morning at ActiveRain" (founded by Vegas Bob) - I think these friends of mine should all join! :)

So I see that the lights are on all hours at the house of ActiveRain! Our "inbox" view gives an idea of who has been posting recently, but it doesn't tell us what they have written about. So I usually head next over to the link that says "Subscribed". In that view, we will see post titles and introductory descriptions. That way, we can pick and click the posts that sound most interesting to us.

There is another view of your subscriptions that you may or may not know about. It is called the "Social Blog" view. What is great about this view is that it lets you see whole posts without needing to click in, click out, click in. It is such a timesaver! It really is great for seeing all that your AR friends have been up to. We all know how much hard work goes into each of our posts. I love to see the hard work and great information from others. You are bound to see things that you would have otherwise missed in this view! The way to get into the "Social Blog" view is to go to "My Home" and then notice it on the left-hand sidebar menu. Since it is a favorite way to view, I have also put it onto my AR custom toolbar for easier access!

And though I have MANY MANY worthy subscriptions, the twelve gold stars from this morning's check in that you see above are Andrea, Dorie, Ginny, Karen, Barbara, Jay, Kathy, Michael, Cheryl, Laura, Kristine, Richard - I highly recommend you check these folks out and consider subscribing yourself! :)

Finally, one other way to watch your subscriptions is to use a RSS reader. My favorite reader is Google Reader. This is a great way to see all the recent articles in an easy to read list view so you can see what you might otherwise have missed if you weren't watching at the moment that it flew by on the newsfeed. If you want to learn more about using RSS, see my article RSS Feeds in Google Reader

Keep in mind that "Members Only" posts will NOT show up in RSS so they will not be visible from the RSS reader vantage point.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go check out these different views of your subscribed to bloggers and go see what new and interesting articles we have next to read! =)

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What’s New in Movie Maker 2012

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 10:40:11 -0700

Microsoft has just made available the updated version of Windows Essentials. It is the ‘2012’ edition. This package was formerly, titled ‘Windows Live’ as a set of free tools that you can download and install to your Windows computer. They are now branding the updated version of the tools without the ‘Live’ part of the name. It is now called 'Windows Essentials’. This means that Windows Live Movie Maker is now just simply ‘Movie Maker’. This new version will be tightly promoted with the upcoming October release of Windows 8. It will in fact only work with Windows 7 and Windows 8.

When you install the package, you can choose all the tools or just some. For me, I’m interested just in the photo and video tools. Windows movie maker has been a decent entry in the video editing choice list, and it is really hard to beat the FREE price point. With the new 2012 edition, they just made it extremely more compelling. The list of added features is impressive.

Movie Maker (2012) now has up to three audio tracks. So you have the audio associated with the video plus option for music track AND voiceover track. Also, they have added waveform display back into the editing. When you are editing video, looking at waveform is extremely helpful to tell you where the clipping points are when you are trimming video.

Also in the 2012 version, MP4 is the default output format. Before the only option was WMV (windows media video) which isn't as globally compatible as the mp4 format (H.264 encoding) is.

Add video stabilization to the equation and this tool is looking very good!
A fuller list of new features is available on the microsoft blog post.

Important note: older computers (like my laptop, grrr) may not be able to utilize the 2012 version. It requires a newer video card and also Windows 7 (or Windows 8 soon). The application depends on some newer technologies that older computers and windows versions are not able to keep up. (I guess after 5-1/2 years, maybe I should update my laptop finally??)

Video is a powerful marketing tool for your business. How is your YouTube channel looking these days? I have just opened an online class called “Video Essentials for Your Business” where we teach you all the fundamentals that you will need to get your videos out there for people to see. In the class we teach Windows Movie Maker, plus Sony Vegas Movie Studio, plus iMovie. So you have a choice which editor you like best! The training is in pre-recorded classes so you can watch any time day or night, according to your pace.
Will I see you in class? :)

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Video Essentials For Your Business - New Course Announcement

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:36:54 -0700

Craig's Classroom - you know the name from my blog. My classroom also has a premium channel where you get to sit with me (virtually) as I can specifially "show you how" to leverage various tech tips and techniques to help you in your business.

For this channel, I'm happy to announce that admission is now open in my second course

"Video Essentials for Business"

(Graphics for Bloggers was my first offered course, and registration is open for both).

In my video class, I help you over the hurdle of producing videos that you can post to your YouTube channel to market yourself as the one that people want to turn to when they need professional services! I know you love watching videos, we all do. Better yet, how much would you love having people watch YOUR videos! You first have to have videos out there to watch.

In the course, I take you first through all the essential basics so you have the foundation stepping stones properly laid. There are plenty doing video poorly, I'm not going to settle for that! Once past that we get into some more comprehensive topics. So this course is for all skill levels.

Need a little inspiration of what you can do with video? Check out my inspiration page for ideas of what you will also be able to accomplish when you are through with my course.

I am a Windows PC and Android kind of guy. I have invited as guest instructor, Debb Janes who is a Mac with iMovie and iPhone kind of gal. Together we team up and have all the bases covered for you no matter where you fall in the scheme of things. In the course, I teach Windows Live Movie Maker and also Sony Vegas Movie Studio and Debb teaches iMovie. All along in the course, I will be teaching core concepts and techniques both in camera usage and for video editing. We also cover SEO, google loves videos in search engine results. Most people do SEO wrong, you won't be one. YouTube is also the second largest search engine where people look for answers.

In real estate video, it has been surveyed (NAR 2009) and 73% of sellers responded they would like their agent to use video in marketing their home, yet only 1% of agents were using video. Those numbers are a few years back, but the gap is still enormous - the potential to fill that gap is yours to take!

By the end of the course, you will have produced two videos to post on your YouTube channel along with the aid and guidance of your two coaches.

Will we see you in class? I hope so! :)

http://techzmx.com/classroom/video-essentials.php

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Google Plus - Don't Accept the Default Thumbnail!

Mon, 28 May 2012 06:44:00 -0700

Once you create a new blog post, what is the next thing you should do? Syndicate! Get the news out there to your feeds such as Facebook and Google Plus (and twitter too if you are there!) I find myself often jumping to blog posts to read that I just would not have found any other way.

Now welcome to Craig's Classroom, let me see if I can teach you something new today!

When you post a link to google plus, it offers a "default thumbnail" graphic as well as a snippet of article text which is approximately a couple of sentences long. Have you noticed however, that the default graphic is NOT the right choice for your post? It shows your avatar in most cases. This is NOT the lead-in graphic that you want for your specific post. The article is not about YOU!!

But don't worry, the solution is extremely easy and was hiding right under your nose!

As you hover over the graphic, notice that there are two arrow buttons that let you scroll through other choices for the thumbnail. It will show you the other graphics from your blog post to choose from. You are using nice graphics in your posts aren't you??

Once you have updated your thumbnail, the next thing you should do is put a little extra bait on your hook (we are fishing for readers!). Write a nice little introductory text to get people to want to click to read more!

Now finally, one last thing as more incentive to you. The google plus app on the smartphones was recently updated to a fantastic new interface. It shows the article thumbnails very large (full screen width) and overlays the intro text on top. Now what do you think this feed looks like if you DO NOT change your thumbanails? Well -- have a look below what I'm seeing now. And it is happening with pretty much ALL MY AR BUDDIES. :) (so you aren't alone)

I'm hoping that after you guys read this, the tide will soon turn!

(PS - Facebook thumbnails for your posts has the same principle to apply - however Facebook and AR aren't playing well together at the moment as far as thumbnails - see my related post "Is Facebook Doing This to Your Posts?" for more information how to work around it)

See you on google plus! I hope you learned something new today.

I'm doing my job if so!

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Composition - Don't Just Point and Click - Photo Tips

Sat, 05 May 2012 07:21:05 -0700

When you take photos, do you give a few moments of thought to asking the question "is there anything I can do to make this a better shot?" Or are you just a point and click kind of person?

A few moments before you click can go a long ways to improve a shot. Ask yourself questions about lighting. Where is the sun? Are my shadows harsh. If I move around will it improve? Should I be closer or farther away? What are the elements in the foreground and background - will they add interest? Too many things in one frame can be distracting. What do you really want to focus on?

I was recently in a local park on beautiful spring day and took the two photos you see below. The first was just a quick impulse snap. The second was after having given thought to composition. See which one you like better? :)

Learning about the rule of thirds can also aid in improving the composition of your shots so they have more interest. You can google it for more info. Here's one rule-of-thirds article though to get you started on that research.

Chase Jarvis is a well known photographer. He has coined the phrase (including an iPhone app) saying "the best camera is the one you have with you." I really like that saying. The photos above weren't with my Canon, they were simply my android phone. The quality (clarity) is not fantastic. But if you enjoy photography, you'll constantly be looking at the world around you in the thought of how can I take this shot in the most interesting way? If you have your phone in your pocket, why not take the shot. It is good practice and your photo journal will grow. Your actual experiences will make you a better photographer.

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Look Ma No Cables - Google Plus Instant Upload

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:34:53 -0700

Isn't it great to have a camera with you all the time - yes I'm talking about the one on your phone. The current generation of phones take decent pictures. You can capture moments to remember as easily as reaching in your pocket (or purse) for your phone and click away! But besides viewing the photos just on your phone, you want to see them nice and big in a slideshow on your computer screen and share the best ones.

You know how it goes though. Dig out the good old USB cable and go through the hoops to find and copy the files from your phone to your computer... turns into "... I'll just do it later" (turns into way later or never). Well let me introduce you to the instant upload feature in google+ app on your phone (Android/iPhone).

Your photos are automatically instantly uploaded to "the cloud" for you and all you have to do is go to your google+ photos page to view them (look ma! no USB cables!). Important to note, these photos are visible ONLY TO YOU (they are not public, don't worry). Instant upload also includes any video clips that you have taken also.

After viewing them online, you can pick the best shots and share them to your google+ friends simply by clicking on specific photos to SELECT THEM and then clicking the share button (or you can click the "add to album" button to create a little more organized container to share the photos by). Either way, your friends will be able to experience some of the great moments from your day.

To get started, you first need to install the google+ app on your phone. Once you have installed it, go into the settings screen on the app to check a couple of things. First, make sure that "instant upload" is turned on. Next, set to upload when on wi-fi only if you are concerned about going over your carrier data quota for data used. This way works just fine. When you are home (or your other favorite hot spot), that is when your photos will be uploaded to the cloud. That's also the time you are at your regular computer anyway and the time that you want to view them on the larger screen. (note: I have found that usually 5 to 10 minutes from when I am on my hot spot, I can go online and find them. The app also notifies you when the new photos are up.) Android, the uploads happen in the background automatically whether google+ app is running or not. On an iPhone, I understand that you may have to simply open the G+ app for the photos sync to initiate. (iPhone users, I'm sure you will test and let me know how that goes!)

Now iPhone, I realize you have "Photo Stream" as a part of iOS 5. This is good too. Once you have set it up, your photos instantly sync to all your devices (including your Mac or PC computer). Once they download to your computer, they are kept without expiration. However, these files are only kept on the cloud for 30 days and caps at a count of 1000. Google has you on that feature though. For Google, there is no time expiration or total count to max out at. In either case, there is no cost for these services and you should be using one OR both. Now you at least you know you have a choice (but you don't have to tell me that you didn't know about photo stream already, you can keep that your little secret)

Photos in the cloud, what WILL they think of next? :)
I do hope that you learned something today.

Thanks for spending time in Craig's Classroom!

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Facebook Lists - or Are You Just Drinking Out of the Firehose?

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 10:12:37 -0700

If you have joined Google+, you'll know what circles are. It is a way to group your friends-family-associates into groups. When you post something, you can share with the world ("public") or you can limit who you share with by applying only to a circle. Inversely, if it feels like you have subscribed to SO MANY people and you look at your main feed, it is like drinking water out of a fire hose, then circles are also great. You can say filter (OR LIMIT) the newsfeed to only show posts from a particular circle. For me, circles include groups like "Tech" or "Real Estate" or "Photography" and so on.

Facebook has been able to do this type of useful "share with limited" and "show limited" types of modes also, but the user interface is poorly designed (inserting my opinion). It is not obvious and intuitive enough. They have made it slightly better since Google+ came along, but it still is not great in user friendliness yet. Thus, let me take you on a quick tour to highlight some things. Once you see it, it will make MUCH MORE SENSE. :)

First, notice on the left sidebar, you have a Friends section. Hover your mouse there, what do you see? A LINK that says "more"

So unless you stumble upon that link or have somebody show you, this is missed!

Once you go to "MORE" you can then see lists! You see the default lists, plus you add your own custom lists by clicking on the "Create List" button at the top.

On the lists page, you also have a pencil icon next to each list. This will only give you the options to delete a list or add it to your favorites. If you want to manage who is on the list, you need to click on the name of a specific list to go to the feed page for that list.

As you can see below, on a list page, the upper right of the page is a "Manage List" button (then choose the "Edit List" option). When you do that, a pop-up window appears. At the top of the pop-up, choose "Friends" to display and then you can go through your entire friends list to click to add new people into the group. (This is MUCH faster than going to each friends home page to add them to the list from there).

Once you have gone to a list page, it will show up on the left sidebar under "Friends" section as a recent visit for easy recall again later.

If you want to give it a permanent place on the left sidebar, click the pencil icon next to the name and "add to favorites". The favorites list lives at the top of your left sidebar and makes it easy to revisit these pages again now that you have worked so hard to collate your info into manageable chunks.

Facebook comes with a default Family List and Close Friends List. Now you know how to use these lists and create more of your own! Sometimes you feel like you might share more of your life (photos, thoughts) if you knew it wasn't going out to every acquaintance, client, and Joe that you don't really know too well. If you want to share something with a limited set of people. Simply go to the page based on the list that you created. The post box on that page will default to send ONLY to that list of people. Now you can share different parts of your life that would be interesting to more specific people!

Also, having lists allows you narrow your incoming feed down to better not miss something that your only-two-posts-a-week-friend said a few days ago. Special friends and family get put into key lists, when you get to that list, you catch up on their lives that would have otherwise been washed downstream by the people that post many times per day. If you only ever looked at your main feed, this would be true! Try it. You'll be surprised how many posts you would have otherwise missed!

So Facebook lists give you a very useful way to read and share. I hope you find this useful and your FB experience might take on a whole new look and feel!

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Just a little video test results post Mar 21 2012

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:00:25 -0700

Working with video brings a whole new set of challenges, we can call them "hurdles" because one by one you can master them. There's the lighting, the audio, what settings on the camera and more. When it comes time to take your footage, what order will you put your clips in? What parts do you want to "trim" out? How do I insert photos and my videos together. What is involved in a "voiceover" track to do a narration? Have I piqued your interest yet?

Video might seem intimidating, but my upcoming "Video Essentials" online class will help you over these hurdles so that you can add video to your online marketing presentation repertoire.

AUG 2012 - POST UPDATE: The online class is now ready for admissions! You can see the class information page for more information and to sign up!!

After some test runs, I came up with this "video journal" little test run. Not perfect, but progress and I'll take what I learned and apply it on the next time I hit record :)

(don't be too harsh, this is just practice footage - but enough to make Richard Yates proud I hope)

Well here's the test video I shot at the end of the day (android phone, lavalier mic, no editing software... just straight youtube upload)

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Gold Star Welcome - Angie Nwanodi

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:01:14 -0700

Hey folks. Did you have a great weekend? It is starting to feel a little like spring here in NY and I'm ready for that! :)

I'm busily preparing the outline for my next online course Video for Business Essentials. If you are interested in video for your business and didn't see my questionnaire, please check out that post as I'm still looking for input.

Meanwhile, Angie Nwanodi has been taking the classes in my previous course Graphics for Bloggers 101, and let me tell you this student has just launched herself into the blogosphere in a great first step.

Check out that presentation and her first blog post! (I'm so proud)
And 3-2-1... and we're launched

Please do me a favor and
head over to her first post and give her a big welcome!

She gets a gold star in Craig's Classroom :)

Nice work Angie

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Craig's Classroom

Come to Class - But Watch Out for the Homework

Adding Social Media Icons in Your Blog Signature

Does Google Count You as an Established Author?

Chromatize Your Gmail - Some Cool Things You'll Get

I Know of an ActiveRain SECRET Page - Let Me Take You There

Mobile App Spotlight - Flipboard News Reader

What Type of Mobile Phone Are You Currently Using?

Craig's Classroom - Teaching You Tech

Facebook Ticker - See Your Friends Interactions

Which ActiveRain Yearbook Page are You On?

Class of 2006

Class of 2007

Class of 2008

Class of 2009

Class of 2010

Class of 2011

Class of 2012

New Year Here - RENEW Your Blogging Skills - Blogging Boot Camp

Session 1

How To Get Your Blog Posts to Rank in the Search Engines

Session 2

Understanding Keyword Phrases and Unlocking Their Secrets

Session 3

Creating Calls to Action for Maximum Effect in Your Blog

Are You Getting a Windows 8 Computer Soon? Do This FIRST

HTML in Your ActiveRain Posts - It's Easier Now!

Now the question, why would you want to go to HTML?

Posting to ActiveRain Channels

Hello My Smartphone - What's New With You?

Video Series [#1] - Introduction

You've Subscribed - NOW WHAT? [updated version]

What’s New in Movie Maker 2012

Video Essentials For Your Business - New Course Announcement

Google Plus - Don't Accept the Default Thumbnail!

Composition - Don't Just Point and Click - Photo Tips

Look Ma No Cables - Google Plus Instant Upload

Facebook Lists - or Are You Just Drinking Out of the Firehose?

Just a little video test results post Mar 21 2012

Gold Star Welcome - Angie Nwanodi

Now the question,
why would you want to go to HTML?