Q. What’s the definition of mixed emotions?  A. When you see your mother-in-law backing off a cliff in your new car.

 

Q. How do men sort out their laundry?  A. Filthy, and filthy but wearable.

 

Q. What is the definition of the perfect woman?  A. A deaf and dumb blonde nymphomaniac whose father owns a pub.

 

Q. What’s the difference between a new husband and a new dog?  A. After a year, the dog is still excited to see you.

 

Q. What's the difference between roast beef and pea soup?
A. Anyone can roast beef.


Q. Did you hear about the guy who lost his left arm and leg in a car crash?
A. He's all right now.

 

Q. Where do you get virgin wool from?
A. Ugly sheep.

 

Q. Why do bagpipers walk when they play?
A. They're trying to get away from the noise.

 

Q. How do you double the value of a Geo Metro?
A. Fill it with gas.

 

Q. What's the difference between a porcupine and a Porsche?
A. The porcupine has the pricks on the outside.

 

Q. Why don't cannibals eat clowns?
A. Because they taste funny.

 

Q. Who is the poorest guy in West Virginia?
A. The Tooth Fairy

 

Q.  What do you call a woman who knows where her husband is every night?

A.  A Widow.

 

Q: How can you tell when a lawyer is lying?
A: His lips are moving.

 

Q: Why won't sharks attack lawyers?
A: Professional courtesy.

 

Q: What does a blonde say when you blow in their ear?
A: "Thanks for the refill!"

Q: What is it called when a blonde blows in another blonde's ear?
A: Data transfer.

 

Q: What did the blonde customer say to the buxom waitress (reading her nametag) ?
A: "'Debbie'...that's cute. What did you name the other one ?"

 

Q: Why did the blonde stare at the orange juice container for 15 minutes?
A: It said "concentrate".

 

Q: How do you keep a blonde busy?
A: Write "Please turn over" on both sides of a piece of paper.

 

Q: What's the difference between a girlfriend and a wife?

A: About 45 pounds!

 

Q: What's the difference between a boyfriend and a husband?

A: About 45 minutes.


Join us on The Optimist Group for LOL FRIDAY!


 

Via Nestor & Katerina Gasset Realtors® Wellington Florida Luxury Homes (International Properties and Investments, Inc.):


Thanks to Xerox sending out a Thank You card to our soldiers is simple, fast and free.   support our troops

At this time of the year we can take some time out to teach our children about giving thanks and living in gratitude.
The best way of course to teach gratitude is by being a good example of being in a thankful state of mind.

You can gather your children around your computer right now and go to this site:

Let's Say Thanks- In Support of our Troops.

All you do is click on the card you want to send and then click on what you want the words on the text side of the card to say.
You don't even have to think to do this because it is all done for you. You just have to choose the card and the text out of the ones on the site.
Then you just click send.


Xerox prints out the postcards and then these cards go into the care packages that Givetothetroops® sends to our soldiers.
What a gift Xerox is giving to the troops. I really appreciate a company setting a great example like this.
The cards have all been designed by children and are patriotic. There are many patriotic symbols and messages to choose from. 

There is a link on the site where you can read the responses from soldiers around the globe.
For some of these soldiers, your card will be the only mail they get from home.

Here are some of the comments sent back by different servicemen and women:



To all who have supported us,
 
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you from myself and my fellow Marines. Your packages and well wishes have lifted our spirits at a time when we are so far away from our friends and family. I wish you could have seen the bright eyed looks and utter excitement from the Marines when opening the boxes. It was a true blessing that you made happen. It makes us proud to know that our fellow Americans care as much as we do. It makes the sacrifices we and our families make worth every minute we spend here. We Americans can stand shoulder to shoulder in unison on one thing - we're all proud of our country and we're all proud of each other. The effort you make on behalf of the troops is just as important as the work we are doing here and around the world.
 
- A Gunnery Sergeant


As I was leaving an un-eventful Valentine's Day today, one of the mail clerks yelled "Adams!! You have a package!!" A package, I thought to myself. I'm not expecting anything. What could this be? I took the box into my office and closed the door. As I opened the box, a flood of joy came over me as I looked over the cards from you and the young ones, one of my co-workers walked in to see tears rolling down my eyes. I had never received a gift with this much love, packed into one little place from someone that I've never known.

As I thought about what the cards talked about with soldiers giving their lives and privileges up to ensure the freedom of Americans, it was nice to know that someone out there does not take it for granted. I don't know who you are, but you are truly a gift from God. The gift that gives me the drive to serve my country proudly. As you pray that the Lord keeps the soldiers here safe and brings us home, I pray to the Lord that people like you do not die off from this world. Your contributions are nowhere near inadequate. Please never forget what this means to a soldier. Thank you for your love and thoughts.
 

support our troops


Please be kind- take a moment out of your day to send a card for free to a soldier today. Please Reblog! 


 

 

Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Martin is the lowest landing airport in the World.  If you want to witness flight drama, just visit Maho Beach, which is located directly in the plane's path…  My daughter and I did just that.  Was it scary?  It was intimidating, to say the least...  Check it out for yourself!  It’s a show like no other!

Princess Juliana Airport in St. Martin: Too close for comfort?

Plane landing in St. Martin

Maho Beach: A Show To Remember!

Mirela Monte, Your Myrtle Beach Connection                      Join The Optimist Group!

 


 

Via Real Bird (RealBird Inc.):

The great thing about blogging on ActiveRain is that the community many times helps us with real-world examples - case studies that we could hardly produce ourselves. The collective creativity of the RealBird members - on and off ActiveRain - is way bigger than what we could produce on our own. This was the case with Mike Conner's example of online marketing results with RealBird and this is the case with the next example.

The credit goes to John Slocum of RE/MAX Vancouver. John had a great idea and he actually implemented it with his listing flyer. With his permission I share it here in a form of a tutorial and as an introduction to the power of web analytics segmentation. 

Enhance your printed flyer: track views with bit.ly and RealBird

RealBird with Bit.lyHere is the concept:

Printed listing flyers are passive by nature. You design them, you print them and you distribute them at your property's location. Once you leave the scene, you have no idea where they go. Kids, neighbors or random people take them and eventually many of them discard the flyers. A lot of waste. Hopefully, many interested homebuyers get them too, but there is no way to tell. As opposed to online marketing - where you can track visitors and conversions (the money spent vs. a meaningful action taken) - with offline marketing it is hard if not impossible to measure your marketing activity. Unless of course you utilize the simple technique suggested by John Slocum 

What if you could add a special link to your printed flyer with your call-for-action, one that is short and easy to type in, even on a mobile devices? A special link with web analytics capability that can be accessed from any web capable device. If this link is only shared on the printed flyer, you end up having a web analytics segmentation, a technique that can track consumer actions via your printed flyer.

Real-world example:

For this example, we'll use John's listing at 2770 E McLoughlin Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98661

John created a listing website on RealBird and then set up a bit.ly Url for it. I won't link his bit.ly Url here because we do not want mix up web traffic with the traffic through the printed flyer. When designing the flyer, John added a special call-for-action message with the link at the bottom of the flyer as you can see below (the arrow annotation is by us).

You can download the PDF flyer here to see it in full size.

The bottom of the flyer links to http://bit.ly/MyCondo2770 Via bit.ly's analytics capability, John will be able to track traffic through this dedicated link by visiting http://bit.ly/MyCondo2770+ (Note the plus sign at the end of the link). It's a simple, but very powerful solution.

You can do this for your own print flyers by following the simple steps below:

  1. Create a bit.ly Url shorting account
  2. Login to RealBird to access your existing listing websites or create an account to create one
  3. Copy your RealBird property website Url to your clipboard
  4. Shorten it with bit.ly - paste the RealBird Url into bit.ly and click "Shorten"
  5. Optionally, using the "Custom Name" field on bit.ly, you can enter your property address to have a vanity short Url. I suggest to add only the number and the street name to keep the Url short. You can of course leave the default bit.ly code as is, but having the street address in the short Url may help with additional branding. E.g. http://bit.ly/streetaddress - Careful here, the Url will be case sensitive. I suggest to use all lower case letters as they will be less likely to mistyped by your clients.
  6. Finally, make sure that you only use this special bit.ly link on your printed flyer, not on the web. Do not share it on any other places, in order to be able to track the traffic from the flyer.

Give it a try, it does not take much extra effort and you will get some special insight using these technologies, a benefit that is not available otherwise.

Thanks John for the great tip.

While you are at it, please fan John Slocum's Facebook page about Vancouver, WA real estate


-- Zoltan 
RealBird.com

 

 


 

 

I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography.

 

Marriage is like witness protection. You get a new identity and a new home, and you're not allowed to see your old friends anymore.

 

Money is the root of all wealth.

 

Money is the root of all evil. For more information, send $10 to me.

 

Man: A creature made at the end of the workweek when God was tired.

 

Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to. Mark Twain

 

Last year for Christmas, I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier. I thought I'd put them in the same room and let them fight it out.


It's been so long since I've had sex, I've forgotten who ties up whom.

 

It's bad luck to be superstitious.

 

I'm having amnesia and Deja Vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.

 

If the world were a logical place, men would be the ones who ride horses sidesaddle.

 

If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?

Join us for LOL FRIDAY on The Optimist Group!


 

Fannie Mae announced Thursday it is launching a “Deed for Lease Program” which will allow homeowners facing foreclosure — if they qualify —to lease their homes for up to a year.

To get that option, homeowners have to deed the property to Fannie Mae.

“The Deed for Lease Program provides an additional option for qualifying homeowners who are facing foreclosure and are not eligible for modifications,” said Jay Ryan, vice president of Fannie Mae. “This new program helps eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps families and tenants in their homes during a transitional period, and helps to stabilize neighborhoods and communities.”

The program is designed for borrowers who do not qualify for some other loan workout program.

Borrowers transfer their property to the lender by completing a deed in lieu of foreclosure, then the owner leases the house at a market rate.


*NOTE: Not my writing, but breaking news I wanted to share with you asap.  Here is the link to the story:

Fannie Mae Getting into the Rental Business

Fannie Mae launches 'Deed for Lease' program

 

 


 

I Tweet My Blogs, Do You?

 

 

Now that Twitter and Bing are married, your micro blogging can actually score you some major SEO brownie points.

 

I tweet my blogs to increase my web presence.  I simply go over to my outside AR blog roll on a regular basis, pull up an old post, shorten its browser address by using the bit.ly service, then Tweet it with an enticing by-line.  I go back afterwards and analyze my statistics (Bit.ly will show you exactly how many people have clicked on that particular link). It works!  Here is an example:  Price it Well. Stage it well. Watch it Sell! http://bit.ly/E2xqT #RealEstate #p2

Bing & Twitter married?

 

Now that your Twitter presence gives you Bing exposure, it’s a shame not to use it to drive traffic to your ActiveRain blog and to your website.  BTW, if your blog roll is still called “Annie’s Blog” (or Suzy, or Stan), it’s time you change it to let people know what you do and where.  Mine is Myrtle Beach Real Estate by Mirela Monte.  Yours should certainly denote your area of expertise and your location.

 

How do I know this works?  For starters, you can “Bing” Myrtle Beach Connection and find me on the first Bing instead of Google?page.  I got there by using this method.  Easy recipe: Blog on AR.  Tweet your blogs.  Watch your business explode.  Just today I got two new leads from my Internet exposure.  You want to know the best part about it?  It is the most cost effective marketing I have in my arsenal! 

 

For those of you still on the fence about paying the AR monthly dues to become a Rainmaker, think again!  For every hour you’re wasting, there goes another potential client!  No more excuses!   Become a Rainmaker NOW!  If you have no clue what Twitter is, here is a link to a blog where you can learn all about it.  Please come back here and let us know just how well this works! 


Mirela Monte, Your Myrtle Beach Real Estate Connection            Join The Optimist Group!

 


 

Realtors what does your car say about you?


Do you know what car your dentist drives?

Do you know what car your attorney drives?

Do you know what car your Realtor drives?


Which one of these choices do you think most people know the answer to?  Exactly!  Real Estate Agents are the only ones whose vehicles are ‘out in the open’, sort of speak.  Realtors, what is your vehicle saying about you? 

cheap car = bad agent?

Is your car a mess because you work all the time, or is it always freshly detailed, showing that you are organized and careful?  Is your car on its last leg, because finances are not quite what they should be, or is it an expensive vehicle denoting that your Real Estate business is thriving?  Do you drive a ‘green’ vehicle, showing concern for the environment, or do you loaf around in a gas guzzler? 


Whether you want to accept it or not, your car, as the extension of yourself and your business, can help you land that next deal, or nix it for you.  What are your thoughts on this subject?


Mirela Monte, Your Myrtle Beach Real Estate Connection             Join The Optimist Group!

 


 

 

Via Kate Wheeler CCIM Murphy NC Real Estate for Sale (Country Homes and Land Murphy NC Realtor ):

 November is here and traditionally it's the time to begin preparing for the holidays.  For most of us, it's like taking on an additional part time job - shopping, cooking, decorating, wrapping gifts, entertaining. 

 Since joining Activerain, I've already taken on a second full time job... writing market reports and hyperlocal posts, revamping my website and attending online courses in Internet marketing and technology, otherwise known as reading blogs.  The homework level is crippling.

 As I sat down at the computer this morning, I found a note to myself scribbled on a scrap of paper:

"Edit your life as though you're a writer or a filmmaker.  Cut out the chaos and the clutter.  Keep only the very best."

So with this extra hour on the first day of November, I'm taking stock of how I want to spend the other 24 hours today and every other day.  This isn't going to be a blog about cleaning out your closets.  It's about getting back to the basics.  Which of your daily activities brings you joy or enriches your life and the lives of those around you?

 Starting the morning by sharing a cup of cowboy coffee with my husband as we sit on the deck and greet the sunrise is one activity I'll never give up.  I'd much rather miss an extra hour of sleep and have that special time together to start my day.  

 Baking an apple pie is an acivity that takes a great deal of time.  But for me it's a way of bonding with my daughter.  The time we spend talking and laughing together is priceless.  So I'll be keeping that chore.  I'd rather have those memories years from now than to recall dashing to the store for a frozen dessert because I spent that extra hour on the Internet.

But I've made the decision to delete negative people from my life.  That's one of the toughest things to do, especially if it's someone who has been in your life for a long time, but it can have the biggest payoff.  Listening to complaints, backbiting and gossip every time you take a coffee break at the office or run into your neighbor at the store drains the soul.

Another group I'm getting rid of are the drama queens.  And I'm not just taking about women here.  Sorry, guys, but some of you are the biggest drama queens around.  I don't care how big your deal is - real estate is not a life or death matter.  And I don't need to spend MY time listening to your endless tales of triumph and tribulation.

 

 So as dawn breaks over the mountains in Murphy, I've decided that today, I'm going to look at eveything I do with two questions in mind -

  •  Does this bring me joy?
  •  Does it enrich my life or the lives of those around me?

 

Looking for your dream getaway in the mountains of Murphy, North Carolina? Visit the country homes and land website to see all the latest listings.

Enjoy a preview of our scenic mountains in the YouTube video Murphy Mountain Nights

 


 

Via Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant (Real Skillz-Clear Marketing for Your Real Estate Vision):

How to Choose the Right Days to Market your Real Estate Services Online

Effective real estate marketing online has a lot to do with timing.  There has been a lot of research conducted, mainly for industries outside of real estate (i.e.retail, hospitality, automotive) on the best days and times to market services and products online.  Implementing the right timing to deploy marketing campaigns into your online marketing strategy is an effective way to ramp up your results.

Here are 5 tips on choosing the right days to market your real estate services online

1.  Tweet Midweek-


 You can tweet everyday of the week but for maximum effect make sure to tweet on Wednesdays and Thursdays as they are the most active days of tweets and retweets as found by HubSpot's State of the Twittersphere June 2009.

 



State-of-the-Twittersphere -
State-of-the-Twittersphere -
State-of-the-Twittersphere -



2.  Publish Your Most Important Blog Posts Midweek


Frequency of great original content is still important in building your readership and traffic to your blog.  I recommend to my clients that they blog a minimum of 3-5 times per week to be considered as a true content provider in the eyes of their readers.

That being said when is the best time for a blogger to publish their meatiest, most important blog posts?  Darren Rowse of Problogger addresses the timing factor in When to Publish Blog Posts-Timing Considerations,

"If I have a very important post that I want to get as much attention as possible I generally will publish it on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning (my time)."

Rowse's post also gives some advice as to publishing posts on weekends and holidays that is worth the read as well as the comments on the post (82 so far).

Roger Parker of blogforprofit.com recommends that if you were to only blog twice per week to publish those blog posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Clearly publishing your most important blog posts midweek is a winning strategy.


3.  The Weakest Link for Email Marketing is Saturday

You may have several email campaigns in your real estate marketing campaign:  email flyers, email follow-up, email newsletters.  Email marketing is a heavy hitter for real estate professionals but when is the most effective time for you to deliver your messages to your prospects and customers?

According to EMarketer.com the best days of the week to send email marketing are Mondays and Tuesdays and the least effective time by nearly 50% is Saturdays.

Email frequency and times to send

The best advice I found and agree with is to survey your email subscribers and ask them when they would like to receive emails from you. 

We are approaching the holiday season so it is important to consider the times that people are online and actively shopping.  Study these deployment times statistics provided on the emailstatcenter.com website before launching any niche holiday real estate marketing campaigns.


4.  Engage your Fans on Facebook on Tuesdays

In findings from Virtue SRM (Social Relationship Manager) the best days to post on your Facebook Business Page is Tuesdays, followed closely Wednesdays with Mondays coming in #3.

Social Click Thru Rate By Days of the Week

**Allow me one deviation~ What I find more or equally fascinating is the 6.49% CLR (Click Thru Rate) of marketing campaigns such as polls and incentives that are run on Facebook business pages.  Fans are clearly interacting with their friends on Facebook in a big way and their interactions are also being seen by their friends.**

 


5. LinkedIn Users Are Active In the Morning

According to a small study by SenderOK Statistics report which was based on a sample of 440 anonymous users the most activity on LinkedIn occurs in the morning.

"LinkedIn use is predominantly an 8AM-Noon activity with very, very little activity in the evening. Of particular interest is that LinkedIn users tend to arrive at work earlier than Facebook users do....Those serious early morning LinkedIn users will spend an average of 29 minutes reading real Email before they get around to checking your connection request which they could have read first if they wanted to."

While this is a small sampling of members on LinkedIn and their behavior I can attest that this mimics my LinkedIn use.  The first online activity I do in the morning is to check my email(which of course includes my blog activity) and the first social network site I check is LinkedIn and this occurs normally between the hours of 7:30-8:30 a.m.

Take into consideration the times and days that people are online and engaging in these online activities when you create and implement your online real estate marketing strategy.

Once you taken action use an analytics tool to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.  Tweak the times you deliver your marketing messages based on your analytics and direct feedback from your recipients.

Get your game on and use the 5 tips on choosing the right days to market your real estate services online.

Subscribe to Blogging In the Rain, A Real Estate Marketing Blog

Join Me on Facebook. Tuesday I'll be posting a discussion about marketing to women.

***************************************************

Rebecca D. Levinson is a real estate marketing consultant with 17 years of experience serving real estate industry professionals. 

If you need assistance with online marketing, offline marketing, social networking, or blogging contact Rebecca D. Levinson at #262-203-5231 or email rebecca@bloggingintherain.com.

 


 
  
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Myrtle Beach Real Estate by Mirela Monte

Myrtle Beach, SC

More about me…

Mirela Monte, Your Myrtle Beach Real Estate Connection

Address: BUYERS' CHOICE REALTY, 702-3 Sea Mountain Hwy., North Myrtle Beach, SC, 29582

Office Phone: (843) 280-7283

Cell Phone: (843) 251-2378

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