blogging: I just don't get it...
- 04/17/09 03:32 AM
I wrote two posts yesterday... I expected the second one to get a few comments, and it did... after all, it was about a pretty cool guy that I had the opportunity to interact with a few times.
But the first post from yesterday is the one that surprised me. I expected that it would get more than a couple of comments... and there hasn't been a single one... not even one. Honestly, I thought it had all of the ingredients of a good A|R post...
I have told people here on more than one occasion that I don't know what … (16 comments)
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blogging: Doing the Ikky...
- 04/11/09 06:32 AM
You might recall about a week and a half ago I wrote a post wondering if I should change the theme (in a BIG way) on my LaneBailey.com blog. I was looking REALLY hard at the Ikarus theme to replace my Shifter theme system. I had been running the Shifter theme system for around a year and a half, and was quite happy with the performance, but after seeing Ikarus, I really wanted to give it a try.
Well, I did it... I made the change.
Yep. I dived in and made the change. I think that my estimates of the … (6 comments)
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blogging: Twisting in the wind... tough decision time
- 04/02/09 03:12 PM
I am agonizing over a decision... I shouldn't be, but I am.
I feel like my blog need a giant make-over. And so I have two options.
I can work with the current theme... Shifter... It has been very good for me for quite a while. I know that it is quite flexible, and I can make it do a lot of things. But, I would basically need to re-work all of the widgets and elements... There is a theme I really want to play with. I actually wrote about it a couple of days ago, and I have been playing … (11 comments)
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blogging: Just three... 3... themes for WordPress that are WAY cool.
- 03/31/09 08:27 AM
Ikarus
Shifter
Clearview
Two are free, one is (kind of) paid. Two support 'Magazine' layouts, one is blog focused. And I am using all three on different sites. Each is flexible, modifiable and free of footer links I find objectionable.
Let me give a brief overview of each of the three themes. I will also link to where I am using each theme. Except for Shifter, the themes are not fully deployed yet. Of course these sites will never be "done", but the Shifter based site is mature. The other sites are quite new.
Ikarus
I just ran across this theme … (10 comments)
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blogging: Another boring WordPress theme post...
- 03/28/09 04:57 PM
Ok, I talked about where to find themes, Footer Links to be wary of and the basic types of layouts for WordPress themes. Now I want to talk about some of the details of themes... Kind of a glossary of terms that one might run across while looking at themes for their self-hosted WordPress blog.
Just a note here. There are tthings to consider when looking at themes for WordPress.org. This is the version where you load WordPress onto your own hosting account, not WordPress.com... the hosted type.
Fixed Width - As the name implies, the width of the theme is … (13 comments)
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blogging: Theme and Variations...
- 03/28/09 05:37 AM
WordPress themes come in a LOT of varieties. But, all of the varities can be narrowed down to a few basic families based on layout.
Single Column Two Column Three Column Magazine Layout There are certainly variations on these options, but everything can be categorized in one of these groups.
Single Column
This is the most basic... and difficult to find type of theme. Blog posts simple run down the web page, from top to bottom. there are no sidebars with distracting links or other content. In some cases, links and other content could be placed at the bottom of the … (6 comments)
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blogging: WordPress Footer Links... Things that make you hmmm.
- 03/28/09 04:02 AM
WordPress themes come in two basic flavors...
Free Not Free Notice that for the second class, I didn't say paid...
Free themes would seem to be pretty self explanatory. They don't cost anything. But, what appears to be free isn't always. Sometimes there is a non-monetary cost. But let's talk about the themes that really are free.
There are theme designers out there that like to design themes. They churn out a theme for themselves for a site and then kick out some variations for the world. Sometimes (usually) they ask that you leave a link in the footer intact that … (15 comments)
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blogging: Premium Content?
- 03/26/09 05:24 AM
I ran across this article... I think on Twitter... and it got me thinking (always dangerous).
Now, I am NOT thinking that I should charge for my content, and frankly, I'm not really concerned with what the newspapers choose to do on their website. But, I think there is still an application.
Registration...
Some agents require registration for consumers to view listings. I don't, but there are some valid reasons to do so... and one giant reason NOT to have a registration required search. Critics point out that only a small percentage of consumers will complete the registration, and a smaller … (7 comments)
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blogging: Just ran across some WP themes
- 03/25/09 05:19 PM
I just ran across some free WordPress themes... and there are a lot of great looking ones. I thought I would pass along the link.
100 Superb WordPress Themes for Free
The themes are loosely grouped in:
Designer (20) Clean (20) Magazine Style (60) With just a quick glance through, I grabbed 5 themes to try out on my new toy blog. I am building an online business card/curriculum vitae... I guess for fun. I don't really need it, but I also wanted to make sure that I owned my name with a .info... I might have to go pick up … (15 comments)
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blogging: #rets ... REtechSouth from the inside-outsider
- 03/21/09 03:51 PM
I have kind of a unique perspective for the recently completed REtechSouth. The presenters of the event were Brad Nix of Maxsell Realty and Matt Fagioli of Diamond Dwellings Realty. Matt is my Broker. Si, I had a lot of inside info, as well as access and early knowledge. But at the same time, I was not really a volunteer for the event (except for the Implementation Session on Saturday). So, I wasn't involved in the planning and didn't have a track on much of what was going on...
That also meant that I attended sessions and interacted in the same … (6 comments)
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blogging: VAR Blog Brawl, Round Two...
- 03/21/09 02:08 PM
The Virginia Association of Realtors Nation Blog Brawl has reached round 2. It is going to be a tough round. Matthew Rathbun is a VERY well known blogger in the real estate realm, and he has a great blog for real estate agents, TheAgentTrainer. You should visit his blog... there are some great tips.
But he is also my competition for this round. And in order to advance, I have to win...
In order to win, I need everyone's help. Please visit the VARbuzz website and vote for LaneBailey.com in Zone 1B. In order to register the vote, you can … (0 comments)
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blogging: The brawl is on! And I'm in it to win it!
- 03/16/09 04:38 AM
Well, LaneBailey.com made it to the first round of the VAR National Blog Brawl. Now the hard part starts... the brackets.
We need EVERYONE to go to VAR Buzz and vote for LaneBailey.com in Zone 4. There are some GREAT blogs in the field, and it is going to be hard work going up against them. We won't be able to make it without all of our friends here at Active|Rain.
Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell your friends' families. LaneBailey.com needs every vote it can get.
And of course if there is anything you want to see written about, … (10 comments)
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blogging: I am ready to brawl...
- 03/13/09 04:00 PM
Last year, the Virginia Association of Realtors® hosted an event they called the Blog Brawl. The winner was the lovely and talented Heater Elias. She has a great blog called LoCoMusings (Loudon County, VA). I voted for her is several rounds... And now I want to take her down.
The VAR Blog Brawl is happening again. Let's show them what car people/hockey fans/Southern Gentlemen can throw down, too.
I wanna brawl.
But to do it, I need YOUR help. To start with, I need to get enough nominations to make the first cut. The way to nominate my blog is to … (6 comments)
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blogging: What good is Social Networking?
- 03/12/09 11:00 AM
I'll tell you...
I have been having a problem with mt WordPress blog lately. the theme was broken. I had gone through a bunch of stuff and made an extra bald spot trying to figure out what the deal was. I'm not a rank beginner, either. I have broken my blog more than once... and put it back together every time.
But this time was different. I had actually broken it twice... I just hadn't noticed. I don't look at the front of my blog every day when I am in a hurry.
So, my normal fixes weren't working.
Disabled all … (14 comments)
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blogging: Less than 5 weeks to REtechSouth... (get a deal!)
- 02/15/09 11:27 AM
I had a question the other day from another agent I know about technology... I told her she really needed to be at REtechSouth. And if you are within a day's drive, you need to be here, too.
Brad Nix and Matt Fagioli put together the premiere technology event for real estate professionals in the southeast last year. That isn't amazing. Frankly, I know Matt fairly well and have talked with Brad on a few ocassions (including right after last year's event). These guys are sharp. I'm frankly NOT shocked that they were able to put together such a great … (25 comments)
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blogging: Thank you all...
- 02/02/09 03:22 PM
It has been pretty busy here the last couple of days.
The AJC (Atlanta Journal - Constitution) did a feature on me in the business section Sunday. The online version actually was visible on Friday, and I started getting emails and tweets and messages on FaceBook from folks around the country that know me through social networking.
On Saturday, word had gotten out, though FaceBook especially (I posted a link... after I got it from a vendor in Seattle) and my local friends started responding.
Sunday morning I woke up to several emails, some phone calls and more social network messages. … (12 comments)
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blogging: The gift that keeps on giving... a recipe...
- 01/31/09 02:23 AM
Here is the recipe...
A blog platform Popular idea that can be a search term Pinch of SEO prowess Some Backlinks Time Solid analytics Search engines see blogs as content generators. If you make content, they will come and index it fast. In general, my posts are indexed within a few minutes... The tremendous benefit of this is that the search engines don't forget. That is also the downfall... the search engines remember EVERYTHING.
So, knowing that, use it to your advantage.
Ok, you have a blog platform. Chances are that if you are reading this you are a member … (8 comments)
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blogging: Active|Rain, what have you done for me lately?
- 01/24/09 01:54 PM
Friday morning, and my cell phone rings just as I am getting ready to take my son to school. Nothing unusual there... But, it was the caller and the subject that I wasn't really expecting.
The caller was a reporter from the AJC (Atlanta Journal Constitution) that I have talked with previously. He had called me last summer to get information about the real estate market in Gwinnett County for their annual wrap up of the county.
I like talking to reporters... Ok, I admit that I just like talking with people.
But, what he was calling about was the second … (13 comments)
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blogging: Frankly Fun! Part II
- 01/08/09 02:26 AM
So I started the story yesterday... And I want to pay it off.
Let me start by saying that the blogger that shook them up is Frank Llosa. He is one of the most forward thinking and technically astute brokers in the country... he has even built his own MLS that should be a model for all of the big boys.
He apparently came across the post on Redfin and read my comment... and found his way to my post about the same thing. It had also occurred to him that their "science" was pretty incomplete. What's more is that he … (7 comments)
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blogging: Frankly Fun! Part I
- 01/07/09 04:25 PM
A few months ago (last March) I made a comment on Redfin's corporate blog about what I saw as seriously incomplete "science" in their findings about how much groovier they are than everyone else.
Here is the comment:
Did you take into account seller paid costs, such as seller paid closing costs. I know that I average 2.75% on behalf of my buyers. For a $400,000 house, that equates $11,000 that you say doesn’t matter… only the price matters.
I would say that the total deal is what matters. Of course, then we need to get into post-inspection negotiations and repairs… … (2 comments)
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I wrote two posts yesterday... I expected the second one to get a few comments, and it did... after all, it was about a pretty cool guy that I had the opportunity to interact with a few times. 
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