Hello, all my fellow REALTORS, mortgage brokers, title companies, home stagers, and all bloggers who are looking for ways to make their blog posts more colorful, refreshing, interesting and/or professional! This post is going to be an open-ended, shared information blog.
There are so many
that it's next to impossible to keep track of them all. And
we really don't need to track them all. We just have to
decide which ones best meet our own needs and the needs of our clients.
I'm going to start this post with the sites that I personally use, for my own business. Then I'm going to ask that in the comments, you weigh in on the tools I'm using and let me know if you have something that you believe is better. Or just share the sites and tools that you use. This way we can all check out the sites and tools that have been shared, and choose the ones that work best for us.
One more thing. I prefer FREE sites. Free is good! <:o>So if you know of, or use any free sites, please indicate that the sites or tools you're sharing are FREE!
So here we go. My personal web site is hosted through Agent Xsites AKA Alamode. I'm aware that there is a lot of controversy about sites with frames. But we all work with budgets, and choose how to allocate our funds. The benefits and features that come with my site, are included in the packaged price of about $300 per year. That includes hosting! My site also has a blog 
included, but I don't use it since blogs with frames are not seen by search engines, at all!
Next of all is my real estate video site. My real estate videos are hosted primarily through WellcomeMat. I do have an account with Vimeo also, (I used Vimeo to host my Active Rain contest video) but you'll quickly notice that WellcomeMat is the home base. You can embed your WellcomeMat videos in your blogs, and you can place mini video widgets anywhere you like. There are way too many features to address about WellcomeMat, so I'll let you browse through on your own. But they do have a points system, so if you're feeling generous, leave me a comment, asking me to actually invite you, and I'll do that =)
It's unnecessary, but it goes without saying, that Active Rain is a large part of my online real estate marketing plan. I've received MANY leads through this site! And then there's always the camaraderie.
My HTML listing flyers are created and hosted through Postlets. Every time you see an HTML flyer in one of my blogs, it was created through Postlets. I am using the free version, but they have very affordable plans that will allow you to upload more photos, and attach videos. Here's a blog with a full-size flyer. The previous link held the large-sized widget.
Now for Trulia. All of your listings are probably already there, since most brokerages "push" their listings to Trulia. But have you filled out your personal profile there? I have. You can view my Trulia real estate personal agent profile here. And you should frequently answer questions on Trulia! The customers are asking questions. They
need answers. Why not help them? You never know. You might just find your next buyer or seller, by helping. Just be sure to read the rules first! No spam or unwarranted soliciting!
And how about Zillow? Regardless of how you feel about the site, your customers are using it. So you should probably at least know as much as they do. And it would be even more in your favor, to fill out your personal Zillow profile as well. Here's me: Lisa Hill's real estate profile on Zillow.
And of course, we can't forget about Twitter! It may not be a way to find new clients, but it is a great way to keep in touch with other helpful real estate agents. Or you can just use it for a little hobby and some fun. And of course, it gives you a great little widget to place on your blogs... just look to the right of this post.
One of the best tools for tracking all your blogs, and meeting new people, and staying in touch with your online friends is MyBlogLog. You've probably seen the widget on the side of a lot of Active Rain blogs. Just look to the right and you'll see mine.
The next tool I'm going to mention was not created from a professional standpoint, but I like the results, so I use it on my blogs. It's a photo presentation called "Rock You". You can change the sizes of the photos, choose your display style, speed, shapes and even add music. This is my entry for the REALTOR LIFE group, photo contest. 
Rock You has a lot more to offer as well, but I've only used the photo presentations.
Another FANTASTIC tool for generating business is a graph. Adding graphs and charts to your blog posts makes them look much more professional. I use Microsoft Power Point, but I believe Google Apps has a graph/chart tool as well. If anyone is aware of a way to make online graphs or charts, please tell us about it in your comment!
I can think of MANY other items to add, but I'll leave some of these off the list, and let those of you with more experience, provide the details. So last but not least, I'll include all the sites where I add my blog posts.
WordPress, Blogger, Bloglines, ActiveRain.
Oops. I guess those weren't last. I just remembered the web sites that used to be offered through www.planetrealtor.com, before they changed the site name to www.floridarealtors.org. I'm not sure if anyone is using these sites anymore. I wouldn't even know how to access it if I hadn't bookmarked the site years ago! But since I have original link, maybe you can build your site from there, if you want one. You never know if it will come in handy. I know it used to be used as a means of referring in the pre-blogging era.
Addition!: For everyone who's asking about the border and header, click on the button that says "Designed Using the Active Rain Blog Customizer". Pick your colors, or use a full background pattern. You can add your logo to the top as well. But you have to re-size your logo to the proper specifications. You can download a template if you need to and use Photoshop to make any changes =)
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Lisa: Sometimes I wonder about having so many sites, and so many different avenues available to us... that being surrounded by so much... we could easily lose focus. You sound like you are different. After reading your post... it sounds like you really are in control of all the tools. Good for you !