**Update: Spam, referral programs, sales pitches (overt or thinly disguised) and posts that have been added or re-posted multiple times will be deleted. Because 99% of the spam is generated by vendors, we are no longer accepting vendors in this group. Moderating spam has become too time consumng.

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 First I'd like to say "hi and welcome" to everyone who has joined The Art Of Marketing You group.

 The Art Of Marketing You is for real estate agents, brokers, lenders, stagers, home inspectors, etc... who want to share their real world marketing ideas and experience.

 And as I've been doing since 2006 when I joined Active Rain, I'll also be posting lots of new graphics, blog accessories like headers and backgrounds as well as some very cool marketing goodies for you to use on your own blogs and websites.

 Now that our "little" group has well over 10,000 subscribers, I thought I should update this intro so new members will have a chance to see it along with a few reminders for those who've never read it. Also...

 Because of the insane amount of spam, self promotion, etc... being posted by various vendors and suppliers (SEO snake oil, "hot leads", etc...), this group is going back to it's original intention as a place for "for real estate agents, brokers, stagers, etc... who want to share their real world marketing ideas and experience". We don't have time to waste moderating and filtering out all the spammy stuff.

- new members who fit the criteria of our group(see below) are usually approved for posting by our moderators within 24 - 48 hours

- since spammers often have blank profiles and little or no real content in their blog or website, be sure to fill out your profile so we know who you are and what you do

- it also helps if you have an active, recently updated blog and/website

- spammers have a tendency to open accounts on AR with no info and then blast their "stuff" in posts

 The most interesting, original, thought provoking, on topic posts will be featured in the group. This will give additional exposure to you, your ideas and your blog! We want quality, not quantity.

One well written, well thought out post will get you more attention and more readers/subscribers than a bunch of off topic stuff!

 With the help of our members & moderators, we try to keep the group focused, on topic, positive anduseful to our group's members.  To try and keep the group on topic and the content relevant to our members, we occasionally delete off topic posts. For more details, see the Active Rain guidelines

There are a lot of sharp cookies here in the Rain so let's make the best of it.

*Note: Since I'm still getting comments and questions about posts I've written over 3 years ago, as soon as I have time I'll be updating and organizing all the graphics, blog headers, etc... I've given away in the past few years to make things easier for new members to find.

If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com

 Originally posted at http://facebook.com/garaughty

If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com

 Hi guys, in the next part of my Build a Better Blog series I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at a few simple ways to protect our online presence. In other words...

 In the past few weeks I've seen a ton of posts here on AR like...

ActiveRain & Reliability ~ My 2¢'s Worth

HAS ACTIVERAIN REALLY BEEN SOLD?

A $60,000 Eulogy for ActiveRain

and out on the web...

Why Your Self-Hosted Blog is More Valuable than Your Facebook Page

Google's Blogger back after 20-hour outage

Twitter: Experiencing site stability issues

What We Can Learn From Amazon’s Cloud Collapse

Amazon’s outage in third day: debate over cloud computing’s future begins

Hackers Take Down Sony's PlayStation Network

 The one thing we should learn from this is that we're responsible for our online presence. Not ActiveRain, not Amazon and not your webhost.

 Of course they're the first ones we point the finger at when things go badly but... your blog readers just see that your website is offline. They don't care where it's hosted or who is at fault.

 The recent and frequent tech meltdowns have inspired me to recreate my web presence in a way that no matter what happens, I'll have a backup plan ready the minute my sites or blogs go dark.

 In the next few posts I'm going to show you a few simple, creative and clever solutions that will keep you online no matter what happens. Stay tuned!

 For more information about affordable custom design and graphics for your Rain, WordPress, Tumblr and Posterous blogs you can reach me at marti@garaughty.com  Later...

 Hi guys, it's been awhile since I wrote something for my Build a Better Blog series and since I've had a lot of questions and emails about my outside Rain blog, here goes...

 First I thought I'd give you a quick overview of what I did to make it look so different from the standard Rain blogs and I'll point out a few things that might not be obvious until you play around with it. The fact is that what you see on my outside Rain blog is actually a theme I had designed on WordPress. 

 Here are a couple of photos of a default AR blog theme I used as a starting point...

 In the first photo above you can see that...

- it has a custom blog header designed to fit the default space of 960 pixels W x 134 pixels H

- the BIG TEXT title which is standard on the outside blog

- and it filled up the entire screen from left to right on a standard monitor (screen resolution of 1024 pixels wide i.e. iPad in the horizontal position)

In the second photo below you'll see the standard AR outside blog footer (bottom of the page area)...

Now let's take a look at the makeover to see how I cleaned it up and gave it a more polished look ...

 In the photo above you'll see that...

- I removed the BIG TEXT title since I wanted to add my own text with color and a shadow in the new header

- I designed a new header sized 700 pixels W X 200 pixels H so I'd have more "breathing room", I find the standard AR blog header much too narrow for adding graphics

- to add even more breathing room, I added some space between the blog header and the content

- the fonts were changed and the links were given a more web standard type color 

- you can see I also reduced the size of the content area and the sidebar so I could have some of the background showing through

- then I added another graphic to the background along with a shadow area behind the content so it would pop off the page a bit

- if you go to my outside blog(see link below) and scroll down the page, you'll see that the background is fixed or static, meaning you always see it no matter how far down you scroll

 And last but definitely not least. I wasn't too thrilled with all the "stuff" in the standard blog footer area(bottom of the page/posts) so...

- I removed all the "stuff"

- and added a very simple graphic

 If you've been reading me for awhile you know that I'm a big fan of clean, minimal design. I could have also added a logo or a bit of text but for now I decided to leave it as it is.

 I have a ton of ideas for other ways to pimp out Rain blogs so my outside Rain blog will probably look very different if you're reading this weeks or months from now but for the next little while, you can see the live version of this design at...  http://garaughty.activerain.com

 While Rain blogs don't have the kind of features you find in WordPress, Posterous or Tumblr, they do have some nice possibilities which we'll take a look at in some upcoming posts.

 For more information about super affordable custom designs for your Rain, WordPress, Tumblr and Posterous blogs you can reach me at marti@garaughty.com  Later...

If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com

Hi guys...

 I'm not sure if it's just that time of year, Spring Fever or something else but the level of drama on ActiveRain seems to have hit a new all time high lately. Everything from rude comments to ongoing drama that doesn't really benefit anyone. Michael and Lenn are just 2 of many who've had to deal with the stupid stuff that goes on here on AR, Facebook and pretty much everywhere else online.

 It's happened to me and eventually it will probably happen to you. But just for fun, I want to set aside the very real possibility of legal consequences from bashing people in posts or comments and look at something that is more likely to happen.

 For everyone person who comments on these type of mini dramas, they are probably 5 or 10 (or more) who read but never comment. But the drama leaves a lasting impression, probably not a very good one.

 I don't know about you but most of the emails and projects I receive thru ActiveRain are from people who've been reading my blog for a long time and contact me when they want more info, a quote or whatever but...

 I've never heard of most of them until they contact me. I call them The Silent Majority. They read without commenting and get in touch with me if/when they want to do something awesome together.

 I'm Irish and walking away from a fight just isn't in my nature, I'll stand up for myself anytime, anywhere but I've learned that fighting stupid battles for the world to see (online) just isn't a smart business decision so if possible, I don't do it.

- I don't have the time or patience for drama

- I'm normally crazy busy and often refer projects to other people

- I won't refer projects to people who create drama, my clients don't have the time or patience either

 The things is, The Silent Majority might not comment or get involved in the online stupidity but they are reading, watching and probably staying away from the drama kings/queens. Online drama is like peeing in public, it happens but it's not a great marketing strategy. Maybe I'm wrong, what do you think???

To save you time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week.

Notes! Really, really smart notes! Springpad is a free app that automatically categorizes your stuff and enhances it with useful links.

Buffer, a smarter way to schedule tweets.

Easily post videos or photos on Twitter & Facebook with TwitVid

Keep your social networks on-topic with Refynr, a web based filter for your Twitter & Facebook feeds

Bouncr stands between unwanted emails and your inbox. Enter your email to create a free, short email address and Bouncr will keep out the junk!

Capture photos, videos, music, tweets, posts, and share your entire life online with Memolane

 Sorting thru and finding all the useful stuff on the web can be a major pain. To save you some time, here are some of my favorite reads from the past few days.

Sarah Palin’s Lessons Of Personal Branding  by Katie Morell

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Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular  by Charles L. Mauro

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If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com

 Hi guys, between the chaos of another crazy busy month I'm stopping by for a few minutes to drop off my new April wallpaper/calendar that you can use, edit or give away on any of your own sites / blogs.

 The image above is a preview of the April wallpaper/calendar we're giving away on my website  It's a photo of my latest painting...

 If you'd like to use this image on your own blog or site, you can either download it and give it away as is or feel free to add your own text. As always... People do not download wallpapers to see advertising on their computer screens so... less is more, keep it simple.

Here is an example...

 You can use just about any graphics editor to add your own text to this calendar/wallpaper. I wrote some tutorials about this back in August 2008 and I'll be doing more updated tutorials about graphics soon.

 The only thing I ask is that you don't edit my painting, name or domain.

 Other than that you're welcome to...

- use it on any of your websites or blogs

- as a give away by email or as a download directly from your site/blog

- you can add your name, domain or whatever you like

 Enjoy!!!

 For those of you who've been asking if my work will ever be available to download, edit, print in high resolution and give away as promo goodies for your clients, readers, etc... the answer is YES!!! Details coming soon...

If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com

 Hi guys... the tragedy unfolding in Japan in the aftermath of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake is a very scary sight, especially with the very real possibility of meltdowns at multiple nuclear reactors.

 It's easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless watching what is going on so... I thought I'd share a few simple ways we can all do something with some excellent resources available to help victims to communicate, find family members, raise much needed emergency funds, etc...

Dog Bless You is donating $1 to SearchDogFoundation.org (upto $100,000) for every person who clicks "Like" on their Facebook page to help send search and rescue dogs to Japan

 Fon Community is giving Free WiFi Access at 500,000 hotspots in Japan to help people connect after the Tsunami

Google's People Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake

 Your gift to the American Red Cross will support disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific.

 Please feel free to share these links and resources with your readers on your own blogs. The power of social media means we can all do something to help in our own way. Thanks!

If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com

 Hi guys... like most people on the net, when it comes to marketing, advertising and branding I'm pretty jaded and it takes something really special to get my attention. This did...

 I'm always amused and impressed how the simplest things seem to grab me. If you haven't played the wildly successful game Angry Birds, you've probably heard about it. 

 Ans if you visit the Angry Birds fan page on Facebook you'll see this welcome page...

 If you click on the "Like" button to become a fan, you'll see...

 How cute is that? It made me smile and I "Liked" it enough to want to share it.  Maybe I'm just easily amused today but I thought this was a great example of really connecting with someone!

To save you time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week.

Hashable... the ultimate networking app. Exchange business cards, make easy intros and 'check-in' with people to track meetings and calls.

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Not just another url shortener, Trick.ly gives you an added layer of privacy for your links

_________________________

dlvr.it provides bloggers, publishers and brands a way to instantly syndicate content and expand their reach on the social web and into new channels

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Backup your Twitter account for free with TweetGuard... archive & export your tweets, favorites, and friends

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Create instant screencasts for your Twitter followers with Screenr

_________________________

 Sorting thru and finding all the useful stuff on the web can be a major pain. To save you some time, here are some of my favorite reads from the past few days.

LinkedIn unveils its social newspaper LinkedIn Today  by Anthony Ha

The NY Times in New Food Culture, a Young Generation of Farmers Emerges  by Isolde Raftery

Are Likes Poised to Replace Links as the Web's Primary Signal?  by Steve Rubel

If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com

 Hi guys, for those of you who've asked about using my artwork, wallpapers, etc... for branding purposes but aren't sure how to do it or if you don't have a decent image editor, I'm going to put together a new tutorial  soon using a free online image editor I found that is easy to use but has some very advanced features.

 Until then, here is my new March wallpaper/calendar that you can use, edit or give away on any of your own sites / blogs.

 The image above is a preview of the March wallpaper/calendar we're giving away on my website  It's a photo of my latest painting...

 If you'd like to use this image on your own blog or site, you can either download it and give it away as is or feel free to add your own text. As always... People do not download wallpapers to see advertising on their computer screens so... less is more, keep it simple.

Here is an example...

 You can use just about any graphics editor to add your own text to this calendar/wallpaper. I wrote some tutorials about this back in August 2008 and I'll be doing more updated tutorials about graphics soon.

 The only thing I ask is that you don't edit my painting, name or domain.

 Other than that you're welcome to...

- use it on any of your websites or blogs

- as a give away by email or as a download directly from your site/blog

- you can add your name, domain or whatever you like

 Enjoy!!!

If you have additional topics you'd like to see covered or would like more information about custom graphics, themes or to book a 1 on 1 consultation to create or customize your WordPress or ActiveRain blogs, you can reach me here Later...

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

garaughty.com