OK...I know we like to say that there is enough business out there to go around, that we don't have to be in competition with one another...that's bull!  LOL  (I am one of the ones who says that, just so you know!)  I have found a service where, for FREE, you can put in your website or blog URL as well as that of one or more of your competitors...and not only will it grade YOUR website, but it will pit your website up against your competition and show you how you measure up!

This service is called Website Grader and it is from Hubspot.  I think this is great for real estate professionals because we are local...and there's always that "one big agent" in your area...and maybe you can't put up as many billboards or signs, run as many open houses as he/she does, etc...but you can work and work and work to beat their website grade - and that might just bring you closer to being a contender for their listings and buyers as well!  Competition is a good thing! (I know, goes against all that I believe in...LOL...I want to live in a peaceful, harmonious world where we all love each other...during non-business hours anyway!)

All you need to do is enter your URL and then your competitor's URL(s) and then your email address.  That's it.  It will process and then spit out a report that tells you what can be done to improve your grade...most items are easy and you can do them yourself; however, I am a firm believer in doing what you know best and outsourcing the rest...so feel free to delegate any of this website improvement to your real estate virtual assistant or in-house assistant.

Let the competition begin! 

NOTE:  Feel free to email me with any questions on how to use this service, I am happy to help if I can! (The image that you see at the beginning of this post is my actual badge for my website grade...you can see it at the bottom of my home page on my website.)

I just wrote a post on my main website about this...it's a tad wordy...sorry about that, but I'm a fast typist and the words just flew out of my fingertips!

Calendaring options as well as idea info are discussed...please head on over to read it now and feel free to leave comments there as well.  Thanks in advance!!!

Real Estate Virtual Assistant Suggests Using An Editorial Calendar to Stay On Track With Your Blogging Efforts

Don't get me wrong, I love living here in Vista, CA (been living here since 1984 now!)...they don't call it the World's Climatic Wonderland for nothing afterall...but I really and truly get a tad bit homesick every year about this time...

And mothers know everything.  No really, they do.  My mom just sent this picture of a dirt road back home, Northern Vermont, to me on my iPhone.  Isn't it pretty?  Granted, I have tons more from previous years...and waxed leaves...the whole works that she sends me every year...some are artwork quality...this one was just out as she was driving around and thought of me.

So, since I'm sharing what fall means to me (the start of the holidays, the smells of pumpkin spice and cinnamon, beautiful fall leaves, crisp cool evenings...), I thought I would open up a post where everyone could post a picture...of what fall means to them...with a brief text description.  Don't be shy...hijack my post.  I would love to see any other northern US leave shots as well...I love landscapes.  But any photo will do as long as it embodies what fall means to you.

OH...and THANKS, Mom!!!  I needed that!

The book is titled: "Blogging for Business - 50 Steps to Building Traffic and Sales." and if you buy it before the 14th of October I believe, the price is discounted $10...down to $29...not bad for 163 pages of good stuff.

I wrote a more detailed post about the ebook on my actual website, I am trying to learn to divide my blogging time between both sites, so if you are interested...

Visit my Real Estate Virtual Assistant Website and Read My Blog Post With Details About This Book.

I will tell you this here though...my favorite feature of this ebook is all the way on page 160!

TIP:

5 Ways to Get More Readers to Your Blog

As a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, blogging, and how to make it more effective are one of the topics most often discussed with my clients.  Here are 5 Ways to Get More Readers to Your Blog:

1. You've had this drilled into you since you were a little kid..."mind your Ps and Qs"...once you do have a reader visit your blog and leave a comment...if possible, reciprocate - find your way back to their blog, read some posts, comment...thank them for visiting your blog about XYZ (you can leave a link in your signature), and invite them back again.
   
   
2. Visit the competition...do a search to find out which the most popular blogs are on your topic of interest...visit them.  Read and comment, again, make sure your url is in your signature.  Don't hijack their blog...that's rude...but do contribute and let people who are reading that competing blog know that you are an intelligent source for info as well on this topic.
   
   
3. PING - Make sure that your blog is set up to inform / ping search engines and sites like Technorati when your blog has been updated.  This definitely brings more visitors...make sure your subject lines of your blog posts include your keywords as often as possible.
   
4. When reading other people's blogs, if they happen to inspire you to write a post of your own...let them know.  Use a trackback...it lets the original author know that you appreciated their content and may even result in a backlink back to your own blog...backlinks help the search engines decide how relevant your blog is.
   
5. Go where your target audience hangs out and participate!  If you are a real estate agent, there are most likely neighborhood websites for your area, message boards, etc...you should be hanging out there and participating amongst your potential clients.  Always have the link to your blog in your signature.  Answer questions for your area on Trulia and Zillow or other sites...these are people directly looking for info on your area of expertise.  And don't even think about forgetting Localism!!! You should get as many community posts for your area as possible.  You are sharing your community and advertising yourself through your knowledge and insights...just remember to only post quality...if something's worth doing, it's worth doing right!!! 

FAMOUS QUOTE: 
“Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt

TIPSY:

Cotton Candy Martini

With all the Fall Festivals and Fairs still going on, cotton candy is in abundance...and while we may feel silly walking around with a big ol' stick of the stuff (not me...I'm proud to be a Cotton Candy Fanatic!), we can make a fun and festive drink with it!  Here's the recipe:

• 1 shot (oz) X-Rated Fusion
• 1 shot (oz) Kettle One Vodka
• 1 or 2 shots (to taste) of pure cranberry juice
• 1 bag cotton candy (preferrably pink for color consistency)
• martini glasses
• crushed ice

If you're serving this at a party, have all the martini glasses sitting out on a tray and fill them with cotton candy...it's a fun look when guests arrive.  The recipe above makes one drink, so figure out how many guests you need to serve and make up a pitcher before they arrive.  Store it in the fridge or in a carafe in a bucket of ice...you want it COLD.  As they arrive, walk them to the tray of glasses, pour them a martini over the cotton candy and watch it melt...have a cool stirring stick available.  It's fun...it's different...and it's yummy!  (Note:  If you want it sweeter, use cranberry juice cocktail instead of the pure cranberry juice...make a test batch before your party to make sure you are happy with the taste of the recipe.)

OK - please post comments and tell me what types of "Tips" you would like to see covered here in the future!!!  (You can post other comments too of course...like after you try the Cotton Candy Martini!)

Hi, everyone...just a quick rant here this morning...I know I can't be the only one out there who has their contact form (which is meant for client and preclient contact) abused by spammers.  So I thought this would be a fun blog to see how many dumb things people hijack our contact forms for.  Here's mine:

1. Job Applications! - I am a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, not a staffing service, I am not going to hire you!  If I do occasionally need to outsource some work, I will do so to other professionals who I have met via online networking and who I have come to trust their integrity and the value of their work...not to spammers who hijack my contact form!
   
   
2. Adult Product Sales - Yes...I have gotten those emails through my contact forms...'nuff said!
   
3. What's Your Contact Form Nightmare???  Let's add it here!

Thanks for letting me rant!

TIP:

3 Tips on How to Get Comments on Your Blog

As a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, I am often asked about how to improve blog performance and how to get the readers to be interactive. Well, here are three tips to get you moving in the right direction:

1. If you're just starting out and your blog looks as sparse as the wide open terrain on the moon, then perhaps it is time to enlist the help of those closest to you within your sphere of influence.  Send out an email announcing your blog and ask them to visit it and post a comment or two.  Ask them to suggest other topics they would like to read about on your blog as well...you can use those suggestions when you get that inevitable writer's block.  (Note: you really need to make sure you have posted at least a few times so that they actually have something to comment on when you do this.) Also, if your blog isn't brand new, but you never formally announced it and you would like to use this method, it should work great for you as well.
   
   
2. Once you have used method #1 and have a few comments at least on your blog, then it's time to move on to your general contact list.  Send them an email announcing a contest on your blog, ask them to go visit your blog to register and ask them to read at least one post that interests them and comment...that comment is their registration for the contest.  Make sure to do a blog post to announce the contest winner on your blog!!!
   
   
3. Write about topics of interest to your target audience...and then tweet those posts out and make sure to hashmark (#) that topic of interest so that it is searchable. For instance if I were to tweet this post, I would start the post with hashtag #REVA (short for "real estate virtual assistant") and perhaps you would use the hashtag #realestate on your posts... Ask your colleagues to retweet your posts.  Put your posts as your update status on LinkedIn and Facebook.  Social media is your friend.  USE IT!

FAMOUS QUOTE: 
"Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work."
~William Arthur Ward

TIPSY:

2007 California Grenache Rosé

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is the largest competition of American wines in the world and local (to me anyway) South Coast Winery of Temecula, CA takes the highest award, the Sweepstakes Award, in the Pink wine class for this 2007 California Grenache Rosé, retailing at approx. $14.00 / bottle.  Click the above link to go to their site and try a bottle today...it's light and refreshing and a great way to say goodbye to these last warm days of Summer...ok, I know it's fall...but it still feels like summer outside here!

OK - please post comments and tell me what types of "Tips" you would like to see covered here in the future!!!  (You can post other comments too of course...like after you try the Grenache Rosé!)

I am so excited...I have been waiting to unveil my new Real Estate Virtual Assistant site for quite some time now and I think that we finally have all the kinks out of it!!!

I belong to a list of fabulous web designers who frequently post their work for site checks prior to launching their clients' new sites...and I get to see a lot of designers' work that way.  Lots of them are great, but few of them speak to me...but one designer has, I admired her work for years, her work can be blunt and honest or stylish and elegant...and somehow, sometimes it can be both.  I have always done my own website design and even blog customizations...but i always swore that if I ever outsourced my website, that it would be to her.  And I did.  And I am so happy that I finally did it for myself.

Her name is Shelly Cole, her site is BrassBlogs.com, and she is insanely wonderful!  She can take my "wants" into consideration without allowing my "wants" to ruin the integrity and beauty of her design...she is definitely a gifted artist and a great business woman.  If anyone is looking for a custom WordPress theme, I highly recommend her...in case you haven't noticed ;-)

Sometimes you just have to buy yourself something that you've wanted for soooooo long, you know what I mean?

Please visit my NEW website now and let me know what you think!  Thanks!

TIP:

Sometimes you've just got to go old school.  I was reading another blog post today about how even with all the technology around us, it is hard to get organized and stay on task...perhaps that article should have said "because of it"???  If you're like most of us, you have at your fingertips a computer with all sorts of software to help you stay organized, a PDA or smartphone, calendars, etc...but what good are they if you don't use them to stay on task? 

I know that on my computer I have numerous programs that I can and do create To-Do lists with...I work well with them for a few days and then I figure it's just faster to get on with the work rather than keeping those programs updated...soon I have forgotten some important task that I had intended to accomplish.  I now have my new iPhone as well...certainly can download numerous apps for To-Do lists on that as well.  But I haven't.  Because I know.  Sometimes you've just got to go old school.

If I write my To-Do list down on a piece of paper, I get the satisfaction of crossing items off of it!  I see it there staring me in the face as I am "twittering" away my time on Facebook ;-)  Guilt is a powerful motivator.  I can add to it and change it without having to click out of the program that I am working in when another item that I should add to it pops into my head...and most of all...for some darned reason...I actually use it!!! 

So whether it's simply on a legal pad, a special notebook, an actual To-Do list form in your Dayrunner, etc...find something that you will enjoy keeping your To-Do list on...and To-Do it!!!  And then your To-Do list can become your Ta-Da list!!!  Create your list for the next day at the end of your work day, and then go over it first thing in the morning when you start working...add to it or change it as needed.

FAMOUS QUOTE:  "Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge."
~Winston Churchill

TIPSY:

Karl Strauss Amber Lager

 This is a really great lager...that just says "fall" to me.  Now is the perfect time to enjoy one.  It's a tad sweet (caramel)...but not sugary...if that makes any sense at all!  This beer was the 2009 LA County Fair Gold Medal Winer.  Read about it here.

1. Chill
2. Pop the top
3. Enjoy
4. 'Nuff said.
   

OK - please post comments and tell me what types of "Tips" you would like to see covered here in the future!!!  (You can post other comments too of course...like after you try the Karl Strauss Amber Lager!)

Hey...some of you will remember a recent post where I was debating which phone to get...my heart really wanted the iPhone, but I had to justify that my brain would be happy with it as well!  LOL  Well, today I bought it....so slick!

Now that I've got it and it's charging, I have a question for you...

What are your most favorite apps of all time?  Give me the name and a brief description, please.  I already put the Facebook, Twitterlator and the XM app on here...am planning on adding Color Splash next...what are your favorites?  They can be for fun, business, social, etc...anything goes.  Why don't I see an Active Rain app?  <wink, wink>

Thanks!!!