I was browsing my Facebook, account today and got some good information from my friend, Lyn Scalzitti. She pointed me to a web page entitled "How To Set Your Facebook News Feed And Wall Settings." Needless to say, the page is a 101 on getting beyond the basics of Facebook. Check out:
Has so many things to offer. The biggest thing for me was to control what comes down on my wall.
Here's the post from today's "Facebook Insider:
Today Facebook released their new homepage design and while it can be beneficial for those just wanting updates from close friends and family, it is not so friendly for those who have a large number of regularly updating friends.
One major beef that many are having already is the automatic posting onto your news feed of almost everything you do - that now ALSO appears in the news feed of all your friends.
I don't know about you, but I really don't need to know who became friends with who, and other people definitely do not need to know who I suddenly became friends with!
If you are want to stop these updates from posting to everyone's news feed, follow these few simple steps:
Select the Privacy Settings link from your Settings Menu
Select The News Feed & Wall link
Uncheck each of the boxes that automatically post to your news feed, wall and your friends news feed.
You may have also noticed that you have "Live Feed" and "News Feed" links at the top of your homepage. The difference between the two at this point is all jumbled.
However, your Live Feed may be blocking much of want you actually WANT to see. Scroll down to the bottom of your Live Feed page and click on Edit Options:
NOTE: If you have never put a friend or application on HIDE, you will NOT see the Edit Options link at the bottom of your page. Simply pick someone, click on the HIDE button that will appear in the top right corner of their update, then unhide by clicking the "x" beside their name in the steps below.
Make note of the line "Live Feed automatically determines which friends to include based on who Facebook thinks you want to hear from most." I am a little unsure as to how Facebook thinks they know me and my friends and family so well, but....
Also, if you have more than 250 friends and family, you will see that Facebook either selectively, or randomly (we are not sure which yet), cuts them off at 250. You will want to change this number to accommodate your friends total, as shown below. We recommend putting it up to 5000.
Following the above steps will help reduce the amount of mumbo jumbo appearing everywhere. I am sure Facebook felt the split feed was a step in the right direction of reducing clutter for some, but it may have slightly backfired on them at this point...
UPDATE: Some people seem to be experiencing a problem seeing the correct Edit Options pop up when they are trying to change the number of friends shown on their Live Feed. We have found a solution, albeit a goofy one, but it works.
If you do not see the correct pop up as shown above, follow these steps:
1. Make sure you are on the Live Feed tab. 2. If the pop up is only a list of friends, close it. 3. Switch to News Feed. 4. Click the Edit Options link at the bottom of the News Feed, then close it. 5. Switch back to Live Feed 6. Now when you click the Edit Options link again, it should be the correct window.
UPDATE #2
We would appreciate everyone sharing this page with their Facebook friends to help spread the solution around. Thanks guys!!
Larry Bettag - Regional Vice President, Midwest Region
Here is a map of the beautiful Napa Valley. Zoom in, zoom out and see why this area is considered by many the jewel of Northern CA. Get driving directions and more. If you have any questions about the neighborhood, don't hesitate to call or email!
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Tamara Perlman Coldwell Banker Green real estate in Napa, Truckee and Lake Tahoe
For details on inserting maps to your blog or website: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1289123/how-to-embed-a-google-map-into-your-blog-or-website
Here is an interactive map of the Lake Tahoe area. I've found the "trick" to linking to maps and thought I'd share my favorite areas with you.
You can get driving directions, zoom in and out, and see the terrain. Enjoy getting to know my little corner of the world!
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For all your green real estate needs in Truckee/Lake Tahoe/Napa Tamara Perlman Coldwell Banker 530-550-1299
Finally, some good news in the form of relaxed guidelines.
This is some great news. PMI Companies have caused many of the guideline changes we have experienced over the past few years since they were not willing go offer PMI on anything that had risk at all.
Just a few weeks ago we got news that we can do 10% down second homes. Here are the requirements:
720 Minimum credit score
$417,000 Max Mortgage
Even if you don't dabble much in the Vacation Home market, this is a great sign. This news came from one of the more conservative PMI Companies. The fact that they are willing to insure vacation homes shows that they have a renewed confidence in the Real Estate Market. This confidence must mean that they see a stable improving market or they would not add any risk to their portfolios
One of our fellow RAINERS gave this tip on how to imbed google maps into our website or blogs or emails so I thought I'd give it a try. Went to Google Maps, found the link and will experiment now...
OK! It works but needs some fine tuning. Thanks for the tip Leilani!
Truckee, Lake Tahoe and Napa CA real estate in Green. Call Tamara Perlman 530-550-1299
OK, this just came across my desk and knowing how much trauma is associated with buying bank owned properties, I figured this should be shared with buyers and their agents!
On a side note, I have recently helped a buyer get an offer accepted on a bank owned home and the agent was nothing like this! She was helpful and patient walking me through their requirements as this was my first REO. There are always agents that are professional and some that make people make videos like this one! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM7oWKgCVo4
Good luck to all those buying REO's and the agents that represent them!
Tamara Perlman Your Truckee/Lake Tahoe/Napa Resource Previews Property Specialist, e-PRO and EcoBroker Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage D.R.E. 003313415 711 Grand Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901 (530)414-4459 Cell tperlman@coldwellbanker.com www.TamaraPerlman.com D.R.E. 01262742
Are you overwhelmed by the amount of information and updates that comes through your Facebook account? I know there are days that I am! Here's a simple solution from John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate that I'm going to implement! Thanks John!
When your Facebook network grows into the hundreds and thousands, it can really be a challenge to keep up with the news stream on your home page. Between all of the status updates, links, videos and notes it can move faster than the ActiveRain dashboard!
Fortunately, there is a great built-in feature to help you manage and filter your Facebook content -- Friend Lists.
From your Facebook home page, click on 'Friends', then 'Create New List.' Give the list a name, select friends to add to the list, and then click 'Create List.' That's all there is to it! Your new Friend List will now show up in the left-hand navigation on your home page. (You may have to click the 'more' link to see it.)
I have lists of the agents from my office, people I know from UNLV, and people I've met through ActiveRain. When I want to see updates from only those friends, I just click on the appropriate list and it filters my news stream. This is a great way to focus your time and effort on Facebook.
Here's more info on Friend Lists direct from the help section at Facebook. And if you're more of a visual person, here's a short video from Every Dot Connects that demonstrates the process. Now get out and make some more friends, and keep them organized with lists!
We all know the promotion is important, although one does not want to come across as salesy or pushy.
The same is true of our blogs. We want folks to know about them and the valuable content they offer, but shoving them down someone's throat is not likely to be accepted kindly.
As I learned yesterday at REBarCampOC (although I sorta knew this), publishing your post is about 30% of the work. (that's a quote from notable RE.net dude, Jim Marks, founder and President of Virtual Results ). The rest comes afterwards. That is, promoting your blog so consumers can take advantage of it if they like.
Certainly a big part of getting noticed, and as was said yesterday - if you aren't in Google you don't exist - is the work you do around SEO (search engine optimization). This post is not about that, but do a search on AR for SEO or check out the SEO Channel for a wealth of articles to help you, whether you know anything about SEO or not.
Getting the word out there isn't magic...
So here are a few thoughts on how you can promote you blog. And please feel free to share your ideas - we can also benefits from the collective brain trust here on AR.
1. BUSINESS CARD - Use that blank space on the back to list your blogs
2. EMAIL SIGNATURES - whether you have one or multiple ones, for specialized groups of clients, include links to your blog(s). Make sure these are easily found (and that the links work)
3. EMAIL COMMUNICATION - I list this separately because there may be times, when directly communicating with a particular buyer or seller, that you want to refer them to your blog, or specific articles, because of the information they are seeking.
4. WEBSITE - either include links at appropriate places on pages in your website and/or put a widget on the homepage like I have.
5. BUY URLs for your AR blog and any outside blogs and use those as above
6. POSTCARDS, NEWSLETTERS and OTHER MAILINGS - include your blogs where appropriate and relevant.
And here are some more...
7. CRAIGLIST postings for listings - great to include here, PLUS the link to your single website or blog is you use one (I use Wordpress to create a blog for each listing)
8. SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES - they all allow you to include one or more links, so take advantage of this where appropriate
9. MARKETING MATERIALS - including your pre-listing, relocation, seller and buyer packets
10. WORD OF MOUTH - talking about your blog in a conversation with prospects or clients makes sense, once you have some sort of relationship and it can add value to the discussion for them
11. HANDOUTS for open houses
12. ADVERTISING - may not be suitable depending on the ad and the medium but worth keeping in mind.
Just a few thoughts to get you started or to expand your promotions. Feel free to share your own ideas so we can all benefit.
UPDATE - and one more I use but forgot - I have several t-shirts with my blogs (1 per shirt) that I wear to the gym, and occasionally the beach. Ya never know.
I spent some time on a listing appointment yesterday with a family that had previously listed their home with another agent. The house didn't sell. Hmmm, why not?
Important question, right? Well ... I "can" tell you one thing in a big hurry. Resistance from the Sellers to do any prep at all when getting a call to show the home. An attitude of "this is how we live, surely you don't expect us to put away our things just so you can tromp through our house and intrude on our time." How sad. Interesting though -- they "sound" extremely motivated to sell. Have their eye on a new home and want to be in it before school starts.
So, as with every Seller, I provide with a quick checklist of things to do before someone comes to see their home ... after all, we want folks to see their HOUSE, not their home. Aside from my usual list and walk through advice of taking down personal pictures, removing tons of furniture, cleaning out the closets, etc., here's my checklist of "what to do when you get the call." Perhaps it'll be useful to you.
Make the beds
Hide the laundry
Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher
Wipe dry the sinks, tubs, etc.
Swish clean all toilets, wipe the rims, and be sure they are flushed and the lids are down.
Ensure that dry matching towels are neatly hung in the bathrooms.
Vacuum or sweep all floors
Tidy, tidy, tidy! - Especially kitchens, bedrooms, and den areas!
Be sure sidewalks are swept, the lawn is neat and tidy, gardens weeded.
Use the nose test - does everything smell fresh and clean? Briefly open some windows to air things out, if needed. Then close them, of course, if it's cool outside.
If you have pet, try to minimize them as much as possible, keeping litter boxes clean and out-of-sight, and cleaning up any accident areas. It's also a good idea to be sure that pet-food dishes are hidden, and certainly if you typically feed your kitties on top of your kitchen counters!
Add appealing light scents through air fresheners or periodically add a single drop of vanilla to the top of one light bulb in strategic rooms. This will spread a wonderful homey smell in those rooms!
Be sure there are no burned-out light bulbs anywhere and that all of the light fixtures are also freshly washed and polished.
Do a quick walk-through to be sure that any valuables, jewelry, weaponry, and personal financial papers are safely put away and completely out of sight.
Ensure that temperature is around 68°, but hide floor fans during hot summer seasons if you use them. If you have a ceiling fan, turn it on so that it rotates slowly (reminiscent of that lazy summer day feeling).
Ensure that soft "elevator-style" music is playing throughout the house.
Turn on all of the lights even if it's a bright sunny day.
Then LEAVE and either take your pets or safely lock them up away from the house, if possible.
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.
When your Facebook network grows into the hundreds and thousands, it can really be a challenge to keep up with the news stream on your home page. Between all of the status updates, links, videos and notes it can move faster than the ActiveRain dashboard!
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