Hi guys, in the past 6 months, the majority of my design projects have come from people who needed help fixing up blogs or sites designed by other geeks who either...
- didn't really know what they were doing
- didn't give a sh#t about what they were doing
- or took so long to reply to simple requests that the client gave up and moved on
When you hire someone to design or maintain a blog or website, you're trusting them with your business and your image.
Turning over your $$$ and passwords to someone you probably don't know very well takes a huge leap of faith.
This might seem like a really small detail but one of my pet peeves and a sign of what you can expect from the geek you're about to hire is what they throw together as a "Coming Soon" page for new blogs/websites.
The Bad
The example above is about as bad as it gets. You register a domain and while you're site is being put together, your "coming soon" page is filled with advertising and assorted other stuff that you probably don't want to see.
The Ugly
The example above is a "coming soon" page from a site I just took over for someone who has been waiting almost 2 months for their blog designer to get the work done. The typical response is "we're working on it, it should be ready soon". (yeah right!)
Duh! 2 months later and still nothing has been put online except this generic graphic.
A sign of things to come...
A few days ago I started working on a new project for FengShui consultant Laura Cerrano and her new website FengShuiManhattan.com
One of the first things I do when starting a project (once we get the domain set up and connected to a webhost) is to design and put up a decent looking coming soon page even if no one will ever see it except my client and their friends/family.
What's my point? You can tell a lot about the people you might hire for a project by their attention to detail. If your geek doesn't take the time to...
- respond quickly to questions
- answer your technical questions in plain simple English
- go the extra step to make sure you, your site and your biz look as good as possible online
...then you're having a preview a things to come. I know there is good and bad in ever industry but I'm really tired of hearing how badly some people are being treated by their techies. Before you sign up with someone to handle your tech stuff...
- see how quickly they respond to questions
- see if they respond to your tech questions in language you can understand
- ask for references that have sites/blogs live online
- contact their clients to see how they feel about the geek or company you're about to hire
- if all else fails, take a look at their client's "coming soon" pages to see if they give a sh#t
On that note I have to get back to work. Have a great week ya'll...
What Detroit Can Learn From the Apple Store by Eliot Van Buskirk
To rise from the ashes, automakers must think like Silicon Valley — blow up “stores” in favor of experience centers. Let people buy what they want, when they want and how they want. read...
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Tooting Your Own Horn Without Sounding Off-Key by Alyssa Gregory
One part of success is being proactive about exploring new opportunities, forging new relationships and positioning yourself in a positive light. You are your biggest champion, especially if you work for yourself. There is, however, a thin line between promoting yourself effectively and overdoing it. read...
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Digg Shakes Up the Advertising Game by Mike Phillips
Digg just took online ads - particularly social advertising - to a whole new level. Advertisements will soon be integrated into regular Digg content (the 'river'), appearing similar to a regular submission. read...
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Al Gore wants to save advertising, too. by Caroline McCarthy
According to former Vice President Al Gore, the importance of sustainability doesn't just apply to the environment. It also is key to the future of advertising. read...
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21 BlackBerry Apps for Professionals by Alyssa Gregory
I love my BlackBerry Bold. It’s almost like my mobile office because it lets me stay in the loop without being tethered to my computer. Here are 21 BlackBerry applications you may want to add to your device to make yourself more accessible and productive. read...
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GM: Here are the top 5 marketing ideas for your reinvention by David Meerman Scott
The new site at GMreinvention.com is quite good. However, from the marketing perspective, the whole reinvention rollout seems to be typical GM, which leaves me a bit sad and depressed. I fear for your long term survival, GM. Here, then, are my top five things that you can do right now to accelerate this reinvention. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
Hi guys, even tho I'mbusier than God these days I wanted to stop by to say "hi" and give you a preview of some stuff I've been working on that will be out later this month.
One of the great things about ActiveRain is how it continues to evolve over time. That also means that some stuff I designed for you to use months ago, doesn't fit the new Rain blogs the way they should so...
I'm designing new blog graphics to fit the new header dimensions of the standard Rain blogs & the outside Rain blogs. Here's a quick peek at a few in the works...
The Rain Rocks
Think Green
Firestorm
Geometry # 1
Also, if you're looking for a new wallpaper/calendar to spice up your monitor for the month of June, here are 2 new ones for you.
To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!
Make a "best of" list from Twitter posts... TwttrList
Topsy is a new kind of search engine, with a new way of looking at the Internet. Topsy doesn't think the Internet is a collection of documents. Or even a web of documents. Topsy sees the Internet as a stream of conversations... Topsy.com
TweetLister is a free service that allows real estate brokers and owners to take full advantage of the vast, wide-reaching social network on Twitter... TweetLister
Obsessing with Google PageRank by Mihaela Lica
Every time I write an SEO article I get a bunch of comments from web marketers who are obviously obsessed with Google PageRanks, so obsessed that they literally believe that PageRanks influence everything from rankings into Google’s SERPs to the overall online influence of a site. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
P.S. I'm busy juggling several projects but will be back in the Rain soon...
To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!
Hand drawn websites are a growing trend. This post will showcase ten such free handwritten style fonts... view/download
Who Owns Your Name on Twitter? by Julia Angwin
Social media domain names – such as Twitter.com/yourname – are a whole different ballgame. They can be doled out arbitrarily. Even if you get a name first on a social network, you are not allowed to sell it and it can be reclaimed by the social network at any time. read...
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Online Reputation Management: How to Handle Negative Publicity by Alyssa Gregory
Even if you do everything right, there may come a time when you face negative publicity. Harmful feedback can happen for many reasons – a misunderstanding, a wrong doing on your part, varying points of view, or any number of other reasons that you may not understand fully. read...
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Online Reputation Management: 16 Free Tools by Alyssa Gregory
This post will outline some of the free tools available for monitoring your online reputation. read...
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What You Can Learn From One-Person Media Companies by Shenaz Zack
Here are three important lessons large partners can learn from users in the YouTube Partner Program read...
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More Google SEO Myths Exposed by Mihaela Lica
Google’s Susan Moskwa wrote in 2008 on the Google Webmaster Central Blog an article titled Demystifying the “duplicate content penalty”. One year later many webmasters still look at “duplicate content” without really understanding what it is and what it does. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
Hi guys, I've been a little preoccupied with my paint brushes this week so I'm just stopping by to say a quick "hello" and to thank everyone for all the excellent new posts. Have a great weekend...
To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!
Seth Godin: Why tribes, not money or factories, will change the world
Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so. view...
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Followfriday is Sabotaging your Twitter Experience by Andrew Mueller
Everyone who has used Twitter for more than a couple weeks has surely seen, and likely participated in, #followfriday — Don’t! The once productive and effective way to recommend to people to follow has turned into an unsustainable self promotional orgy that is clogging the arteries of twitter. read...
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The Death of Twitter by Mark Hornung
You read it here first, folks: Twitter — at least as it is structured today — is going down. Oh sure, it’s easy to be a contrarian: simply watch where everyone is going and then head in the opposite direction. But the media attention on Twitter means we need to monitor its impact on social interaction read...
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How To Deal with Negative Blog Comments by Maria Reyes-McDavis
What is the best way to deal with negative blog comments? That was the question last night at a weekly blogging chat (#blogchat) hosted by Mack Collier (@mackcollier). The discussions that occur weekly, center around bloggers discussing blogging — and what a great discussion it was. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
"At the beginning of April I went to one of those early morning networking events that I dread... For a non-morning person this is not easy, especially since these shindigs generally start no later than 7:30 in the morning."
"There have been times where we all get a phone call in the wee hours of the morning or wee hours of the night... Please be Cognizant of others time zones when calling people"
Unless it involves mind numbing sex and industrial strength coffee, it's really not a good idea to bother me before 10 AM.
I am so NOT A MORNING PERSON. My usual bed time is around 3 AM. And as Sally points out, it's good to be aware of other people's time zones. Because of my weird body clock, I normally turn off the phone when I go to sleep. Last night I forgot!!!
So my phone rings around 4 AM. I somehow find it in the dark and managed to say something like "who the F%#k is this"... actually I just mumbled "hello???". So I'm pretty much asleep but aware that I'm talking to someone that I can barely understand.
It turns out to be some guy from Vietnam who foundmy artworkthrua Google search. I have friends and clients all over the world so I'm used to heavy duty accents but when I'm half asleep I can barely understand English.
The short version of the call is that he loves my work, wants to commission some paintings and kept telling me he was "soooooooooo impressed" that Google "rates" my website in the top 10. What???
So I go back to sleep and when I crawl out of bed around 9:30, I do what I always do, make coffee and check my website stats from overnight, Sure enough there is a hit at 3:54 AM from Google (Vietnam)
Here is the link & search results for abstract expressionism paintings from Google (Vietman) showing my art website in the top 10 for the phrase "abstract expressionism paintings".
The reality is that Google doesn't rate my site, I just happen to be decent at marketing myself and know how to keep my sites in the top 10 for a lot of words & phrases that potential clients use.
But "Mr.4 AM phone caller" was thrilled to see that Google "rated" me so highly andthat is the real power of SEO. Obviously it's nice to be in the top 10 of a search because it makes us easy to find but a lot of people incorrectly assume that the top 10 search results are also the best of the bunch.
And that's a nice place to be, even if it's only their perception. So other than mind numbing sex and coffee, I can also tolerate new clients at 4 AM who want to send me money. Hey, we all have to compromise sometimes. ;-) So the lesson is, keep working on your SEO and have a great weekend...
To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!
Cell phone voicemail that saves you time... YouMail.com
Save time managing your status update for all your social networks with HelloTxt
The 10 Commandments of PageRank Sculpting by Shayne Tilley
Remember that Google ranks pages, not web sites. Whilst sculpting might begin at your front page, shouldn’t stop there. With a large site (where sculpting is even more critical), you’ll have 2nd and 3rd levels to consider. read...
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Let's Get Over Who 'Owns' Social Media by Chris Perry
Social media circles are full of critics, many angling to do more directing themselves. This analogy is important, given the conversation around traditional media, marketing and the subject dujour, social media. As the online conversation rages on, the subject increasingly involves the question of who "owns" it. read...
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Your Blog vs. The World: 7 Steps To Winning The War for Attention by Jonathan Morrow
You’re in a battle for visitors. The blogosphere is full of people who have put out their welcome mats and are hoping for somebody, anybody, to stop by and take a look around. Lots of passersby think about it, but very few of them decide to come inside. They’re busy, my friend. Places to go, people to see. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
Live Search Makes Twitter Even More Relevant by Kit Eaton
In its battle for success, Twitter just made what looks like a minor change, but it could actually transform the lifecasting networking site in terms of increased relevance, and also turn it into a very powerful tool. The microblogging service added "search" and "trending topics" boxes to everyone's homepage. read...
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10 Twitter crimes that will get you unfollowed by James Rivington
Social networking sites seem to have a lifespan of about two years before the next-big-thing arrives to steal the limelight. The problem is that as people migrate across the Twitter, they bring their bad e-habits with them. And with every individual seemingly interpreting Twitter's usefulness in entirely different ways, people are inevitably starting to annoy each other. read...
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How Google Determines the Relevance of a Page by Mihaela Lica
Have you ever wondered why Google.com delivers different results for a user in the US than for a user in Germany? This is a question I recently had to answer for a client, and it would have been much easier to send him to a link than to spend half an hour trying to explain what many skilled SEOs already know. read...
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Ten Things Marketers Can Learn From CDC's Response to Swine Flu Epidemic by Pete Blackshaw
Marketers consistently pick up their best lessons in times of crisis. We think differently about ROI. We act more intuitively. We become more agile and flexible. We "sense and respond." We really don't have much of a choice but to act and not allow yesterday's rules to justify complacency. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
Hi guys, in the next few weeks I'll be sorting thru and organizing all the graphics I've designed for your ActiveRain blogs so...
Instead of having to search thru my posts from months ago to find what you're looking for, everything will be in one place including blog headers, subscribe buttons, copyright notice symbols, etc...
We'll also have lots of new stuff available so stay tuned and watch my blog for more news & updates soon. Until then, here's some May 2009 calendar/wallpapers ready to download. Later...
My dad likes to say, "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then." And it's true. You shouldn't pick your strategy by modeling someone else's success. The success might have been strategic and planned, but it's just as likely to be a matter of blind luck. read...
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How Twitter Helped Me Land Anthony Robbins by Michael Stelzner
And here’s just one of the many stories I could share about how Twitter has helped my business close a deal. And it just wasn’t ANY deal, it was the world famous Anthony Robbins, author of Unleash The Power Within. read...
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Microsoft chugs toward Windows 7 release by Ina Fried
Microsoft isn't confirming just when Windows 7 will launch, but it is hoping that the fact that not too much has changed between the release candidate and beta versions will convince people that the product is nearly ready. read...
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Your Facebook Profile Makes Marketers’ Dreams Come True by Eliot Van Buskirk
Social networking feels free, but we pay for it in ways that may not be readily apparent. The rich personal data many of us enter into these networks is a treasure trove for marketers whose job it is to target us with ever-increasing precision. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
Hi guys, while I'm busy working in the background putting a whole bunch of new stuff together, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at a new Rain wallpaper that will be available soon.
One of my favorite things about the web is the ability it gives us to connect and share stuff with more people than we could ever reach in traditional ways such as newspaper ads, direct mail, etc...
Think about it... now we can easily get our message across to clients & potential clients andtotally bypass traditional media.
Powerful marketing has gone from ultra expensive to practically free. Social media lets us connect with people in powerful, fun and interactive ways, leaving the middleman out of the equation. But that doesn't mean it's easy to get our message across.
preview of a new RAIN wallpaper coming in May
Although I have a lot of projects in the works, in the coming weeks/months I want to take a closer look at how we can connect our online marketing efforts with the "real world", bounce some ideas around with you guys and create some fun, innovative ways to reach people. On that note, I gotta run, later...
To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!
How to Create the Right Avatar for You and Your Brand by MihaelaLica
In contrast to corporate or business avatars, personal ones are simple: crop a photograph you like and that’s it. It doesn’t matter whether people like it or not. That avatar represents who you are, and since you don’t care about branding that much you don’t need to worry about what’s in that little picture. read...
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35 Incredibly Useful Facebook Applications for Better Connectivity by Steven Snell
Here are more than 35 of the best Facebook applications that could be useful and make your profile efficient and appealing as possible. read...
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30 Beautiful Real Estate Websites by Jacob Gube
In this showcase, we’ll explore some great designs of real estate websites. We’ll also discuss some commonalities between them to tease out current trends in real estate websites. read...
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The Art of Writing Great Twitter Headlines by Brian Clark
Twitter has become the place for sharing content links. If your content catches attention on Twitter and spreads, suddenly you’re getting significant traffic from people who may have never visited your site before. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
Hi guys, my brain needs a serious rest from writing tutorials and I have a busier than busy month coming up so right now, I'm taking some "me time" to relax, have fun, eat like a pig and watch hockey. ;-)
Today I just wanted to give you a preview of some new stuff I'm working on that will be coming out sometime in May including... a new calendar/wallpaper that you can use on your own sites & blogs, a look at a couple of cellphone wallpapers and a new series of blog headers for both ActiveRain & Wordpress.
preview of the May 2009 calendar/wallpaper
The wallpaper/calendar shown above is a preview of the one I'll be giving away on my art website in May. I'm playing around with some ideas based on geometry and kind of like how this one turned out.
If you'd like a full sized copy that you can add your own text to and giveaway on your own blogs & websites, just send an email with "May calendar" in the subject line to...
coming soon... 'I Love My Planet' wallpapers for the iPhone & BlackBerry Storm
The images above were inspired by Earth Day earlier this week. I really do love my planet and thought this might be a fun way to show it. These iPhone & BlackBerry Storm wallpapers will be out in the next few weeks.
coming soon... The Geometry series blog graphics for ActiveRain & WordPress
And last but not least, I've started working on a new series of blog graphics based on geometry. This series will be soft, elegant with a touch of color and a lot of space to add text. Each graphic in this new series will be sized to fit the ActiveRain blogs and a new WordPress theme I have coming out.
On that note, I gotta run. The weather in Montreal is absolutely amazing so I want to enjoy it while it lasts. Have a great weekend...
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
Dear Twitter: Please take my money by Rafe Needleman
There is real business happening on Twitter. Yet Twitter itself is still run too much like an experimental start-up. There's too much about the service that's unbusinesslike for businesses to rely on it. read...
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Windows 7 could change our perception of PCs by Don Reisinger
Aside from compatibility issues, one of my biggest complaints with Windows Vista was its design. Microsoft tried to be too fancy with the look and feel of the OS instead of focusing more on its ease of use. It wasn't an improvement over XP and it ruined my experience. But Windows 7 is different. read...
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How Giving Back Can Help Your Business by Alyssa Gregory
I’m a big believer in giving back by donating your time and expertise to your community and your industry. Volunteering can have a number of benefits... But giving back can also help your career and business. read...
The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news, ideas andresourcesfrom the past few days by some of thesharp cookies that hang out inThe Art Of Marketing You group
If you're wondering how tocustomize your blog, take a look at ourgroup's guidelines page fortutorials andgraphics that you can download and use on yourActive Rain blog.
If you havequestions about technology, blog design or building web presence,let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!
If you'd like to participate in any of our upcomingmarketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away,please subscribe to ourblog using the button below...
News, ideas & resources to help you stand out from the crowd.
Elegant, affordable, sophisticated blog design & graphics. Wordpress customization, installation and consultation. Marketing tools, online games, promos, client gifts.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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