Social Networking: putting the pieces together... new ebook, marketing week in review

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  One of my favorite things about working online is the amazing surprises and benefits that come from out of nowhere. Many of our virtual friends quickly become real friends with all the benefits that come with real friendships... trust, comfort, familiarity and wanting to do things together.

 This past month I've been more than blessed with invitations to work with some of my online friends on several very cool projects. Most are works in progress so I can't talk about them yet but one project that happened recently was through my connection with Active Rainer Ricardo Bueno

Social Networking: Putting The Pieces Together

 What happened was that Ricardo messaged me through LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago asking if I'd like to contribute an article for an ebook he was working on about How To Build a Community Around Your Blog.

 By using the trust he had created online through networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Active Rain, in just a few short weeks Ricardo invited, organized and leveraged some of his online contacts into a project and product that will benefit not just Ricardo, but also his audience/readers and the contributors.

 This was very smart and actually, very easy to do and to duplicate. One of the benefits of writing consistently high quality posts in a blog is that eventually people will notice you. It takes time but the trust and respect you build up over time is well worth the effort you put into writing consistent, top quality content. Here is a post by Ricardo about his ebook project...

  Ricardo's post  On Blogging & Building Community... 

 The topics covered in the new ebook include:

Never Underestimate the Power of the Interview by Todd Carpenter

Social Media: You Don't Need ALL The Tools, Just The RIGHT Tool by Daniel Rothamel

Building A Community Around Your Blog... Dont be DORKY! by Jennifer Allan

How To Build A Community Around Your Blog by Valeria Maltoni

Blogging From a Marketing Junkie's Point of View... by marti garaughty 

The Do's and Don'ts of Blogging by Missy Caulk

Real Estate Blogging Is A Contact Sport by Jeff Turner

How I'm Building a Community Around My Blog by Nick Bostic 

You can download Ricardo's new ebook here

 As another excellent example of using leverage and contacts, take a look at a post from earlier this week by Dawn Maloney titled Be loved, create a BLOG for your farm! 

 You can see a live example of how Dawn is using the leveraging of talent concept on a local level in her blog The Steeplechase in Munroe Falls, Ohio 

 Think about how much more you could be doing with your online and social networking contacts and even the subscribers to your blog here on Active Rain.

 Reference: Active Rain Subscriber Information- All I Had To Do Was Ask!?!   by Katerina Gasset

 We are swimming in talent, prolific writers, movers, shakers, techies and so much more. All you have to do is put it together and watch it happen.

 Most people would be thrilled if you asked them to help out with a project. They get exposure, your readers get a cool ebook, a community blog, a town screensaver or whatever and we all benefit. Just put your social networking pieces together and it will happen.

Speaking Of Ebooks...

 In his post The Blog Post That Changed How I Do Business, Jason Todd shared an excellent link & resource with us about an ebook by marketing guru Seth Godin.

 What Every Good Marketer Knows  If you know anything about Seth Godin, you know this is a must read! Here is the download link for the ebook. Thanks Jason!

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- The Art of Monotasking  by Pam Winterbauer

- Trulia Widgets. Are they stealing your Google juice?  by Bryant Tutas

- It's OK To Get Personal!  by Ricardo Bueno

- 8 smart ways to find new customers  by Sonja Babic

- Target Marketing... A Different Perspective...  by Karen Anne Stone

- MySpace Marketing 101  by Lindsay Pendleton

- Strategic Steps to Brand Yourself!  by Dan Woodworth

- Active Rain & Twitter Saves Agent (and Me) From Potential Ethics Violation!  by Laura Monroe

- Abandoned Real Estate Blogs - Is It a Growing Trend in Our Industry?  by Bobby Carroll

- How Much Social Capital Do You Have? Or Are You Overdrawn?  by Gail Robinson

- Myspace and Facebook and Twitter O' My!  by Justin Williams

- After Evaluation of Competing Video Services, I Tested Vimeo- Here's the Result  by Chuck Willman

- You Publish.com / Home Staging Power Point   by Maureen Henry

- Increase your Real Estate blogs readership & SEO through Topix.com  by Bill Gassett

- Created my Signature Electronically  by John Thomas

- Photo Resource At www.istockphoto.com  by Rob Gerichs

- Technology Toolkit: Videos -- The Cure for the Common Slideshow  by Rich Schiffer

- ActiveRain Newsletter coming soon  by Bob Stewart

- Real Estate Agents working together.....a success Story :)  by Kathy McGraw

- Now is an Excellent Time to Re-Commit to Your Writing and Business Goals   by Jo-Anne Smith

- What's Your WHY? Might be merely a verb...  by Juliet Johnson

- A Blog About a Blog  by Tina Merritt

- Should We Stock Pile Food?  by Debbie Severson

 If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

 For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

         TheBlogArtist.com     TheArtOfMarketingYou.com     The Ultimate Closing Gift     garaughty.com

Active Rain calendar, news from geeks & gurus, marketing week in review...

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 Hi everyone... I'm drowning in work & a ton of new projects right now so I'll skip the formalities and get right to the "stuff".

 Following up on my post from last week Pimp Your Blog part 3... using image tiles to speed up your blog , here is a new Active Rain themed image tile that you're welcome to use on your blog.

New Blog Background Image Tile: Active Rain Tile # 2 

 If you're looking for a background image to use on your AR blog, feel free to download Active Rain Tile # 2. This is the second in a series of image tiles I'm doing for the AR community. It's free, it won't slow down your blog and it's a nice way to show your support for the Rain! Here is the download link

 Since it's a new month, here is an AR wallpaper calendar for May 2008. If you're looking to add some spice to your desktop, you can download it here

 I know we're all pretty busy and suffering from information overload and limited time syndrome so here are some of my favorite reads from this week that I think you should definitely check out...

- Video Tutorial: Basics of How to Use Twitter  by Michael Martine aka Remarkablogger

- Twitter As Resource? from Performancing by Raj Dash

- How to Succeed in Social Media  by Brian Clark, CopyBlogger.com

- The Challenges of Creating an Interactive Blog from Lorelle on WordPress by Rachelle Chase

- an  awesome interview with Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.com  by Midori Miller

- "ActiveRain Home Tours Video Contest 2008!"  by Active Rain

- ActiveRain at Real Estate Connect 2008  by Brad Andersohn

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- Your Best Marketing Tools ~ And They're Free!  by Linda Scanlan

- Working the Net or Networking? Which has value?  by Jessica Horton

- Refusing to Work with a Stager Can Cost You  by Emma Vargas

- I Just Got Back From ‘VIRTUAL TOUR HELL' !  by David W. Bolick

- How Real Estate is similar to playing poker... know when to fold em!  by Duane Marlink

- Working ON - Not Just IN - Your Business: 3 Steps to Shifting Your Mindset...   by Julie Escobar

- Tuesday Truths... Fake or Real~ Follower or Leader; Marketing Yourself   by Kathy McGraw

- Generation Next won't be spoiled like Generation Now  by Justin Williams

- Branding versus Ego Advertising...whats the difference?  by Dave "Utah Dave" Robison

- Do you try to be all things to all people? Focus and succeed!!!!  by Paddy Pizappi

- 10 Best Blogging Tips:  by Mirela "m&m" Monte

- Are you Pushy, or do you have Pull?  by Lane Bailey

- Mixpo Versus You Tube! Who Will Be The Winner?   by Katerina Gasset

- Great Tech Tip - Making Banners & Buttons  by Steve Harless

- Using Pictures That ARE NOT Yours  by Sally Cheeseman

- Top Ten Sources for Video Bloggers  by Chuck Willman

- The Long Tail in Blogging Worked  by Missy Caulk

- A Cool Little Thing to Try-- Animate Your Portrait  by Karen George 

- Monday Morning Gifts...An Attitude of Gratitude Contest  by Kathy McGraw

- Newbie doobie doo...... Where are you?????? (Newbies - Please read this)  by Jeff Belonger

-  The Blog and The Spouse - In Our House!  by Brad Andersohn

- "Striking a Balance" - Avoiding the Lop-Sided Blog - Blog Tips for Rain Drips  by Rich Jacobson

- One Ringie Dingie...Two Ringie Dingie...ROAR!  by TLW

- Active Rain Member Questioned as Possible Terrorist Suspect  by Joan Whitebook

 If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

 For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

          garaughty.com     TheBlogArtist.com     TheArtOfMarketingYou.com     The Ultimate Closing Gift

Pimp Your Blog part 3... using image tiles to speed up your blog, marketing week in review

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 Hi everyone... in the past 2 weeks I've seen a lot of comments about how slow some  blog pages have become after they're been "pimped" so...

 This week before we get into more customizing I thought I'd talk about a few basics re images, widgets, etc... that should help to speed things up.

Let's Take A Look At The Average Person's Screen Resolution

 The image above shows the stats for visitors to my art website. If you take a close look almost 65% of my site's visitors have their computer monitor set to 1024 W X 768 H and over 16% have their screen resolution set to 800 W X 600 H.

 That means that over 80% of the people who visit my website and probably your website, won't see the image you place in the background of your AR blog.

 So why does this matter when pimping your blog? Take a look at the next image... 

 The screen shot above is what most people see when they read my blog. This is my computer screen set at a resolution of 1024 X 768. While some of the background shows through, most of what you see is the header image and the blog itself, not the background.

 Now take a look at the following image...

 This is my screen set to a resolution of 1280 X 1024. Now you can see some of the background but still not much. So while it seems like a cool idea to add a big background image to our AR blogs, the reality is that most of the image will never be seen and...

 If you're using a large, full screen image that's hasn't been optimized (reduced in size), it could take several minutes for your blog page to load for the minority of people still using a dial-up internet connection. It's not worth doing it! So what's the alternative to a plain old boring background???

Image Tiles

 Instead of using a full screen image that most people will never see, another way to spice up your blog's background is to use a smaller image that tiles (repeats) across the screen. Here is the image I used as my background for the screen shots above...  

 The "Pimp My Blog" image above is 512 W X 384 H and is  under 17kb (kilobytes) which is basically nothing so... Even though it fills up the screen background and the image compliments my blog header, even more important is that it doesn't slow down my blog page at all. If you check this page from a dial-up connection you'll see what I mean. 

 One last point about slow blog pages... cut back on widgets and animation. While it's always fun to try out the newest toys, goodies and gadgets. The more "stuff" you have in your blog, the slower your page loads and the more chance you have of turning away some visitors.

Free Image Tile: Active Rain Rocks! (# 1) 

 If you're looking for an image tile to use on your AR blog, feel free to download Active Rain Rocks! This is the first in a series of image tiles I'm doing for the AR community. It's free, it won't slow down your blog and it's a nice way to show your support for the Rain! Here is the download link

       And now, some of this week's must read marketing posts...

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- Just in case you didn't know....Localism still works and I love it!  by Neal Bloom

- Your Best Marketing Tools ~ And They're Free!  by Linda Scanlan

- Rookies, What are you doing for your business now?  by Stephen Luckett

- The Question That Messed Up My Old Marketing Strategy!  by Lola Audu

- Misty Advertising vs. Old Style Marketing In Clear Mode...(Part 2)  by Lola Audu

- Managing Your Real Estate Reputation on the Web  by Jason Todd

- The Top 25 People,Trends & Events You Can't Afford to Ignore  by Liz Moras

- Easy Steps to Improve Your Blog Traffic  by Chuck Willman

- Meatball Sunday on a Wednesday in The Woodlands - What are you eating?  by Ken Brand

- Stay on your "A" Game  by Justin Williams

- Tips To Convert Your Leads To Sales On Your Website  by Katerina Gasset

- Competition? I Don't Use That Term In Real Estate! Do You?  by Midori Miller

- Don't Be Your Own Bad News: Top 10 tips for Talking to Reporters   by Lara Travars

- What is Wrong With Homes.Com? Has Anybody Sued Them Yet?  by Elizabeth Weintraub

- PART 2: Agent Solicits your Clients, what to do....  by Dave "Utah Dave" Robison

- "Linkedin" - Social Network Review  by Rich Jacobson

- THE GOOGLE CLICK "SCAM" IS A REALITY.....  by Paula Hathaway

- Viddler Video Commenting - Is This Vlogging?  by Brad Andersohn

- How to Create and Embed a Free PicasaWeb Slide Show Into Your Blog  by Chuck Willman

- Long Tail Keywords vs. Short Tail Keywords on Your Real Estate Blog  by Justin Smith

- So, How Is Your Web Presence?   by Lindsay Pendleton

- Pimp Your Listing Flyers!  by Tina Merritt

- The Sordid Confessions of a Group Moderator  by Monika McGillicuddy

- Arizona's RE Blogging Network Meeting - our Active Rain Friends - HUGE SUCCESS!  by Teri Ellis

- Tuesday Truths....As the Winds Change so do I........  by Kathy McGraw

- Once Brothers, Now Friends!  by Brad Andersohn

- So Iconic It's Almost Ironic!  by Debra A. Brooks

- Come One, Come All -- A Newbie Contest -- Give it your best shot !!!!  by Jeff Belonger

- Why I Conduct Interviews and You Could Be Next!... A Lot Like Real Estate!   by Midori Miller

 If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

 For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

          garaughty.com     TheBlogArtist.com     TheArtOfMarketingYou.com     The Ultimate Closing Gift

Pimp Your Blog part 2... 10 free header images, marketing week in review

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 Hi everyone... again this past week there was a lot of talk, activity and still some confusion about using the new customized blog feature by Brad Carroll so to try and simplify things for anyone who needs help, I've designed some graphics that you can use as a starting point on your blog headers and... some ideas on how to use them.

First, let's take a look at the Active Rain Blog Header

 I realize that some of this might seem overly simplified but just so we're all on the same page, here is a diagram to illustrate a few basic points.

 The blog header is the rectangular area at the top of your Active Rain blog. It measures 950 pixels W X 115 pixels H. A pixel is basically a dot or a point on your computer screen. The most common screen resolution right now is 1024 pixels across X 768 high.

this is an illustration of the Active Rain header area

 When "pimping" (designing) your blog header, you should keep a few things in mind...

- the AR logo & "members online" info takes up most of the area from 700 - 950 pixels (right side)

- try to avoid putting your own image or text in that section

 If you use an image that stretches the full length of 950 pixels, make sure it's neutral in color so it doesn't conflict with the AR logo, otherwise it will just look like a mess. Here is a close up photo of my Pimp Your Blog logo as an example that leaves space for the AR logo/text...

 If you look at the right side of this header, even tho I used a full length image background(950 pixels wide), the light, neutral color allows the AR logo/text to show just fine.

 I don't want to get all "preachy" about any of this because it's none of my damn business what you do or don't do in your blog header. We all have our own personal tastes & preferences when it comes to this stuff, I'm just pointing out what has worked well for me.

Free Blog Header Background Images

 Below are some header graphic images I put together for anyone who wants to use them. I realize that not everyone has the time, the software or the patience to do this stuff so these image backgrounds are a good starting point to experiment with. A few suggestions...

- to make your text easy to read, make sure it contrasts with the background color or image

- for a light background, use dark text

- for a dark background, use light text

- for a medium background (i.e. grey), use a very dark or a very light text

 If your text or logo doesn't have enough contrast with your background image/color, it will get washed out and will be very difficult to read. Here's an example of what not to do using the words "Where's the text?"...

 The color of text in the image above is too similar to the colors in the image so it gets lost and is very difficult to read. Not good! And now... here are the graphics.

 From time to time I'll be designing/posting more stuff that you can use to pimp your Active Rain blog. Since we have people of various skill levels and not everyone has access to graphics software, for now I'm providing simple .jpg images that you can use and add your own text, logos, etc...

 This week I'm putting out 10 images as a starting point. In the coming weeks I'll be adding more stuff in various colors, textures and styles. If you have ideas, suggestions, requests... let me know and I'll keep them in mind when adding more graphics to use with AR blogs.

Important!!! Read This Before Using These Images

# 1 - I designed these graphics from my artwork and photography, I am the copyright owner.

# 2 - You have my permission to use them in any way you like here on your Active Rain blog.

# 3 - The images are not to be used for any other purpose or on any other blog or website. 

 All of my header images are exactly 950 X 115 pixels so you won't have to resize them to use in your AR blog.

 Below are some smaller preview images. Until I figure out where I'll archive them, for now you can download and see the full size images at...

   http://www.garaughty.com/ActiveRainHeaders.html

Art  Background Images 

Balance # 1 (pencil sketch)

Grey Sphere & neutral background

Untitled Art with black background

Color & Textured Background Images 

Blue Fabric texture

Dark Red texture

Green Leaves texture

Red Autumn Leaves texture

Soft Sky texture

Simple Background Images 

White Shadow background

Grey Spotlight background

Are You Looking For More Tutorials and Sample Blog Headers? Check out...

- How To Customize and Personalize Your ActiveRain Blog   by Brad Andersohn

- Dumb Real Estate Agent Finally Gets It  by Margaret Woda

- Tech Support and FAQs for ActiveRain Customizer   by Brad Carroll

- First Impression-ist Masterpieces Now Hang in the Active Rain Gallery  by Craig Schiller

- Customizing Your AR Blog - 5 Design Mistakes to Avoid  by Bobby Carroll

   And now, some of this week's must read marketing posts...

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- Ladies & Gentlemen: I Proudly Introduce..."Your Sphere of Influence"  by Lindsay Pendleton

- Does your broker limit your marketing?  by David Matney

- Do You Know The #1 Source of Your Business? If Not, You Should.  by Fran Gatti

- Social Networking Brain Damage  by Bryan Maynes

- The Proper Care And Feeding Of Agents  by Katerina Gasset

- Don't Assume Anything About Anyone Inquiring About A Shortsale!   by Midori Miller

- New Website for Real Estate Experts & Professionals - Please join me FREE!  by Karen Otto

- The pros and Cons of new business models in Real Estate  by Ross Quintana

- How do people choose a real estate agent?  by ARDELL DellaLoggia

- Zero Comments ... Three New Clients  by Chuck Willman

- Unique Marketing Partner- A Little Bird Told Me  by Allison Stewart

- 41 Cents, A Post Card & No Website  by Chris Elizabeth Griffith

- Does Your Website Host Have Control of Your Domain AND Your Email?   by Laura Monroe

- Craiglist 2.0? New Craigslist Competition  by Justin Williams

- Craigslist considers Limiting HTML - "Goodbye vFlyers & Postlets!"  by Rich Jacobson

- Services for Technology  by Missy Caulk

- Google Uncovering Invisible Web Pages- Will Members Only Posts Be Revealed?   by Katerina Gasset

- More Twitter tips...  by Lane Bailey

- Tuesday Truths... All of Us Judge each other rightly or wrongly...   by Kathy McGraw

- Blog It All!!Do You Click The Unsubscribe, Tell Me Why...  by Vanessa Stalets

- The Magic Formula Of A Featured Post  by Lindsay Pendleton

- Stung!!! by Advance Access Web Site  by Pat Walmsley

 If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

Pimp Your Blog, graphic goodies, the marketing week in review...

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Well, well, well...

 look at all the pretty blogs! Unless you've been on another planet this past week, the Big News here in the Rain was Brad Caroll's wonderful gift... the Active Rain Customizer that allows us to turn the plain old generic version of AR into a personalized way to express and brand yourself with color and images.

 If for some reason you haven't heard this news or haven't seen Brad's post, here it is...

 ActiveRain gives the "Green Light" on Customizing - ActiveRainCustomizer.com  

 As you can see from the screen shot above, you can use it to change the color of most sections of your blog, to add background graphics and most notably, you can change the header (logo) of your blog.

 For more examples, Jason Todd did an excellent job of highlighting the first customized blogs in...

 Who Spilled the Paint?  and  Who Spilled the Paint Too? ActiveRain Gets Even More Colorful 

 Jon Washburn also pointed out some of the first "rule breakers" in Unofficial new ActiveRain blog customizer 

 Even though the customizer is pretty straight forward and self explanatory, if you need help Jeff Turner put together an excellent video tutorial titled  Editing Images For Your Customized ActiveRain Blog 

 Also, if you're looking for tips on creating a tastefully pimped out blog you should check out Maureen Henry's post  Blog staging tech secrets REVEALED  and  The Color Of Business  by Heather Chotard.

Free Graphic Goodies from garaughty.com

 As much fun as all this is, I realize that not everyone has the time or patience to design their own blog header so I'm working on some free graphic goodies that you'll be able to use in your Active Rain blog and I'll also be giving away a totally custom designed blog header (or two).

 Watch my blog for more details. And now, some of the must read marketing posts...

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- 3 things Disneyland teaches Realtors  by Alan Kirkpatrick

- Branding your Website Right... Find Out How Your Site Ranks!  by Dave Robison

- WHY Ambush Marketing is Gobbling Up The Hottest Real Estate on The Planet!  by Lola Audu

- The Sign of the Z- Zorro- Not! Zillow-Zestimates and Sarah Bonert  by Midori Miller

- Virtual Open House.....It's Over and I would say a rousing Success :)  by Kathy McGraw

- Blatant Real Estate Misrepresentation on Google ~ What would you do?  by Bill Gassett

- How to Make it Selling Real Estate in this Difficult Market?  by David Serle

- Back to Basics Won't Work!  by Jim Crawford

- Do You Use Fly Paper Marketing?  by Betty Cutler Favier

- Having Trouble With Video Ideas?   by Lindsay Pendleton

- Think outside the box in marketing!  by Stephen Luckett

- Promote Localism: A very easy, free way  by Chris Mitchell

- The Latest Grift, Rental Scams  by Chris Elizabeth Griffith

- How to Use The Flip Video Camera with Your Computer  by Brad Andersohn

- 10 Tips For Creating Better Quality Videos  by Brad Andersohn

- Don't Get Ripped Off! 5 Tips for Selecting a SEO Vendor.  by Karen Devlin

- If Real Estate Is Local, Your Twitter Should Be Too: TwitterLocal.net  by Jeff Turner

- Now you have no excuse NOT to back up your files  by Greg Taylor

- Getting the most from Twitter  by Lane Bailey

- 105 Ways to Improve Your Website- Whittled Down to Six  by Chuck Willman

- Zipvo 2.0 Released - Free Photo Videos/Tours made simple [ Beta ]  by Justin Williams

- Spring Inspiration: ActiveRain Showers Bring 100,000 Flowers!  by Julie Neerings

- My Sleepless Nights in April! We Have To Remember Love Is Forever!  by Midori Miller

- How to get more comments on your blog  by Maureen Henry

 If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

*important update...Royalty free blog photos, April calendar, the marketing week in review...

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 Royalty Free Photos From PDphoto.org

 Earlier this week a friend of mine sent me a link to a very cool site that she uses to find photos for her blog as well as her print and promo material.

 The site is PDphoto.org and what I really like about PD Photo aside from the beautiful pics you can download royaly free, most of the photos are also available for commercial use(brochures, etc...). So if you're looking for some nice photography shots to use on your blog or elsewhere, check them out.

 Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco from PDphoto.org

Important Update

 TLW brought this to my attention...

 re PD Photo... I am very concerned about the origin of some of those images.

 In his disclosure he states: "I've tried to make sure I have a valid copyright on something before releasing it to the Public Domain, but the standard for commercial use is much higher". 

 If you have any doubts about any photo obtained from any site on the web, do not use it since you as the end user are ultimately responsible. Make sure any photos you use is done with the permission of the copyright holder.

 And now, some of the must read marketing posts from this past week...

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- Great Blog Post I Think Every Real Estate Blogger Should Read by Steve Scheer

- "The What & Why of Twitter" - Social Network Review by Rich Jacobson

- Maybe Realtors Can Learn a thing or two from Starbucks!! by David Serle

- Hey REALTOR, Educate or Execute: The Manifesto of Marketing Mortality by Andrew J. Lenza

- Will video kill the ugly Realtor(R)? If so...I'm dead! by Jessica Horton

- Realtors(R) selling canned goods. I'm not buying. by Jessica Horton

- 1100% Profit! Can you believe it? by Richard Weisser

- Is it name recognition or marketing? by Gary White

- Is Your Home Marketing Effort A Secret Engagment? by Lola Audu

- Virtual Open House....A Real Estate Win-Win for Everyone including clients....:) by Kathy McGraw

- Breaking News! A Tool That Will Ensure You Get the Listings & Make the Sales by Cynthia Tilghman

- Is it a good idea for a Realtor to appear in their own video? by Fred Light

- Listings Made Easy! This is AWESOME! by Mirela "m&m" Monte

- Who Is Your Audience? by Katerina Gasset

- Going Nuts Prospecting Listings by Carrie Higgs

- Make SURE you are EASY to contact via your blog and website (Check to see) by Janie Coffey

- A Tale of the Seven Dwarfs from Snow "Mortgage" White's perspective by Sarah Eubanks

- Flip Video - Taking It To The Streets by Brad Andersohn

- What the Font? Font Sleuthing  by Chuck Willman

- MLS Companion.com ~ Another place to put your listings online for FREE by Bill Gassett

- Switch To Firefox For A Better And Safer Internet Experience.  by Katerina Gasset

- 5 Reasons Why I Love YouMail by Tina Merritt

- Friday Freebie: Stage Your Blog Clip Art by Audrey Hoffman

- Link Bait? What Was I Thinking! by Brad Carroll

- Free Virus Scan that is impressive by George Tallabas

- Let's Mixpo! by Sarah Cooper

- Real Estate is a Process of Elimination by Brian Block

- The Key To Communication Is Desire, Not Technology  by Jeff Turner

- Are You in Prison? by Missy Caulk

- Commission Guilt - Does It Ever Happen To You?  by Loreena Yeo

 Last week I forgot to mention that my new wallpaper calendar for April 2008 is now available. If you're a fan of my work or just want something cool to add to your desktop, you can download it here

If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

March 31st, 2008 marketing week in review

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  First I'd like to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone for adding so many quality posts to the marketing group this week. I'd especially like to thank the newbies for bringing a fresh perspective on things and new voices to the conversation.

 Teri Ellis aka The Lady In Red

 While there was so much great content to select from as usual, a post by Teri Ellis caught my eye as being particularly outstanding as a reminder of how much we all learn from each other... newbies and "oldbies".

 In her post Rain Tips and Pieces of the Puzzle that are good to know! What Say You?  Teri gives a very cool list of 40 things she's learned on Active Rain. Her post reminds me of how much I've learned from so many of the sharp cookies that share their ideas, knowledge and experience here in the Rain.

 It's also an excellent intro for anyone trying to get a handle on or to find their way around all the stuff available on Active Rain. It's a great read, check it out!

 And now, some of the must read marketing posts from this past week...

 In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- FSBO's digging for FREE advice? Get them listed today!  by Debra A. Brooks

- Are you wanting to get Referrals? Two Thumps Up!  by Lindsay Pendleton

- All You Need To Know About NETWORKING.  by Lindsay Pendleton

- How Blogging Can Benefit You...  by Carson Coots

- Relationship Marketing  by Nika Stewart

- Optimizing Your Headline Relevance..... Stay On Target!  by Jonathan Benya

- "Neighborhood" Open House Success Story  by Karen Otto

- If you're not branded, you may as well get lost!  by Christopher Benedict

- What it takes to be #1  by Jessica Horton

- Are You Waiting for Success?  by Margaret Rome

- CHECK THIS OUT- A GREAT IDEA!!!  by Beth Incorvati

- My Dear "Just Frustrated in Chicago...."  by Lola Audu

- Real Estate Technology - The RE.Net Update  by Brad Andersohn

- 17 Quick Tips for Generating Links to Your Site  by Karen Devlin

- Photoshop- Now Available in Free Online Version!  by Chuck Willman

- Google's Beta Secret: Sponsored Links with Videos  by Justin Williams

- 7 Steps to a Great Website!  by Bobby Carroll

- Tuesday Truths.....Real Estate Agents that Stab you in the back  by Kathy McGraw

- Co-Authoring Book: "Profit From Technology - A Guide for Today's Real Estate Agent"  by Sally Cheeseman

- Does "The Public" Need An Attitude Adjustment?!  by Vanessa Stalets

- My 8 Seconds of Fame on CBS National News This Morning  by Brian Block

  If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

March 23/08 marketing group week in review

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 Happy Easter everyone! It seems a lot of bloggers are in the holiday spirit and I'm anxious to go and hunt for chocolate eggs so before I head off on my own Easter adventure, I'd like to share a couple of very cool contests going on right now at the blogs of 2 of my favorite internet people.

Chris Brogan

 Yes!!!!!!! Chris Brogan is one of my all time favorite bloggers. He covers social media like no one else. He is humble, insightful, brilliant and...

 To celebrate Easter, today Chris is giving away 100 GrooveShark invites. It's "a new kind of music sharing site that promotes finding new music, sharing your favorites, and getting paid for some of it"...

 The contest is an online Easter Egg Hunt and you can get all the details here

Caroline Middlebrook

 A relative newbie to the blogging world, Caroline Middlebrook has made a name for herself by chronicling her adventures in trying to make $$$ on the net.

 She is an excellent writer with a gift to easily engage her audience. Right now she is also running a very cool Easter Egg Hunt contest and giving away 10 copies of her new StumbleUpon traffic course

 You can get all the details here  And now, some of the must read marketing posts from this past week...

 In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- In Defense of the World's Worst Toaster...100 Ways to Justify My Commission.  by Lola Audu

- Social Networking is Like Monopoly! Instead of Real Estate It's Building Communities!  by Midori Miller

- Syndication of your blog...do you see any benefits?  by Neal Bloom

- Brilliant Prospecting Ideas  by The Daniel Hayes Team

- Would You Hire "You" to Sell Your House?  by Cynthia Tilghman

- Change is good!  by Justin Williams

- Improve the way you market to women  by Chris Mitchell

- The Rise and Fall of an Empire-Rheingold Brewing Company-Marketing 101  by Laurie Manny

- SINCE WHEN IS BEING COLORFUL A BAD THING?  by Allison Stewart

- A Very Unique Marketing Idea- Movie Madness!!  by Sue Prins

- Activerain Secret's Revealed! Bob Stewart and I Have Been Chatty! Part I  by Midori Miller

- Activerain Secret's Revealed! Bob Stewart and I Have Been Chatty! Part II  by Midori Miller

- What Others Say Matters... Get Those Testimonials!  by Renee Adelmann

- New Marketing trend...reported on MSN..beware!  by Gary White

- How To Give Your Active Rain Blog Pizazz and Punch The Easy Way!  by Katerina Gasset

- Top 5 Mistakes for SEO Newbies - A MUST READ!!!!  by Karen Devlin

- Keyword Basics - You May be Missing the Boat!  by Karen Devlin

- Another Fabulous Handy Dandy Free Tool!!! The Stickypad!! Way Cool!!  by Teri Ellis

- A Monthly Newsletter? Personalized & Free!  by Teresa Berry

- More ways to publicize your blog...  by Lane Bailey

- Have fun with your blogs -- Sprucing up your blog with fun & colorful signs...  by Jeff Belonger

- Hey!!! I found a great website to make my own web buttons  by Karen Luke

- Do You Sink Your Teeth into the Blog Post, or just grab a crumb or take a nibble!  by Teri Ellis

- To Bee or Not to Bee....Beeeeing The REAL Estate Question Here  by Sally Cheeseman

- Activerain wants you for the Week in Review challenge  by Neal Bloom

  If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

Generating blog buzz, free coffee, the marketing week in review...

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If You Want To Generate A Lot Of Buzz, This Is An Excellent Example Of How To Do It

 For the past few weeks, Joffrey's Coffee & Tea Company based in Tampa, FL has been running a very clever promotion to "beta test" their Jamaican Me Crazy flavored coffee.

 So what makes this promo different, cooler and a lot more interesting than the usual freebies we see on the net each week?

 #1, they're targeting a very specific audience, bloggers & techies to help spread the word...

"Are You: