project blogger: On The Eve Of Blogger's Connect... This Simply Must Be Posted - 07/30/07 05:09 PM
ALL ONLINE DATA LOST AFTER INTERNET CRASH!!I was sent this YouTube Video by Steve Zehngut and tried, but could not resist posting here. That's right, it has no redeeming value apart from humor. I laughed so hard my stomach cramped up. So, this is either as funny as I think it is or a sure sign I need to start working out again. Either way, you're getting it. "Perhaps even harder hit was America's blogging community... " Simply hilarious.
Enjoy! And I'll see some of you in San Francisco!
… (46 comments)

project blogger: The Best Of Julie Ferenzi - This Is Not The End - 07/14/07 06:04 AM
I STARTED WRITING THIS POST WEEKS AGO. I started Right after Julie Ferenzi emailed me early one evening to say she was contacted by a Wall Street Journal writer to be interviewed because of her blogs.
She was giddy. You could see the smiles in every word of her email. Later we were instant messaging and every three or four messages she'd throw in, "Wall Street Journal :)" So, as a way of celebrating her joy, I thought I'd do a best of Julie Ferenzi post.
I was going to post it that day, but I decided to wait until the … (33 comments)

project blogger: Video Service Comparison - Veoh, Brightcove, Photobucket, VideoEgg and YouTube - 07/09/07 02:25 AM
I shot some video of our hike to Flat Rocks yesterday.I've been wanting to show a comparison of a few video services and this is the right video to use.
Video sharing reviews are good, but most don't give you a common video to compare them. I wanted you to be able to see the quality differences. This video is a good test example because it has a great deal of detail in the trees, light reflecting off of water in the creek and some jittery movement. It was shot with the Kodak v705. So, you'll be able to see the … (58 comments)

project blogger: Project Blogger Word Search - 06/28/07 01:43 AM
If Ardell can hand out homework, I can certainly call for recess. Here is the latest AR Word Search Puzzle.
The goal? You must find the names of the Project Blogger apprentices and coaches. Words can be backwards, forwards, and diagonal. You may need to use Google to figure out some of the clues. :)
Also, most of the answers use the last names of the participants, but some of our coaches and apprentices are better know by their first names. They are the Madonna's of this competition.
Enjoy!
… (21 comments)

project blogger: Take It To The Streets: YouTube Videos, Viral Emails, And You. - 06/25/07 04:45 AM
I received this YouTube video in an email from Mike Whitman. It came with this message: "Pass this on to your friends who live in Santa Clarita. This is an important issue." And it is. But this post is NOT about the Santa Clarita City Council's tax idea to buy open land outside of the city.
I want to talk about how valuable this technique could be to you, as a real estate agent.
I believe, with all of my heart, that YEO is the most important aspect of blogging. I also believe that your blog can drive more than virtual contact. … (24 comments)

project blogger: Great Advice From Some Project Blogger Coaches - 06/23/07 06:07 PM
Ardell gave out some homework to the apprentices. I already did, My Ten Favorite Blogs Outside Of ActiveRain, and My Ten Favorite Blogs Inside of ActiveRain.  And since I've always been one to get homework out of the way... Here is my one piece of advice from each coach that taught me something valuable. (I did not take that to mean, go find something from EVERY coach, even if they didn't really teach you anything valuable during this competition.)
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Ardell Dellaloggia "A blog is not a magazine.  You do not simply want readers... It is not enough for a blog to say … (11 comments)

project blogger: My Ten Favorite Blogs On ActiveRain - 06/23/07 05:02 PM
Ardell gave out some homework to the apprentices. I already did, My Ten Favorite Blogs Outside Of ActiveRain. And since I've always been one to get homework out of the way...
Here are my top ten ActiveRain Blogs. In no particular order, and with very little commentary. This was hard, since some of my favorite people only post local content these days. 
Broker Bryant's Real Estate Ramblings Bryant Tutas - Poinciana, FL (He makes me scratch my head and say, "really?") Sarah's Hurricane, WV Real Estate Blog Sarah Cooper, Realtor, Hurricane, WV - Hurricane, WV (She just gets it) "The … (24 comments)

project blogger: My Ten Favorite Blogs Outside Of Active Rain - 06/23/07 04:29 PM
Ardell gave out some homework to the apprentices. I'm not big on whining, but I thought I'd do the assigments anyway. Here are my top 10 blogs outside of ActiveRain. In no particular order.
MacRumors.com - I check this one every day even if the feed reader says it hasn't been updated, just in case it's wrong. How To Change The World - Guy Kawasaki. It's Guy Kawasaki. Nuff said. Good At Getting Better - Kim Rickenbaker. I love Kim's writing and even asked her to be a guest writer on StopChildSlavery.com where she has contributed some good content . It's mostly … (19 comments)

project blogger: Light Poles and Advanced Imaging Technology - 06/23/07 10:14 AM
For some reason I've got photos on my mind this week. I wrote about how far we should take digital photo retouching earlier in the week and last night about Autostitch and three inexpensive apps built on it's imaging technology.
On my way to the donut shop this morning (maybe that's the real cause Ed!), I saw a home for sale up ahead that looked like it might be the perfect marriage of the two posts.
Here is what I saw:
From the best vantage point for seeing the entry and landscaping for the home, there is a huge light pole in the … (33 comments)

project blogger: Brain Dead Simple Panoramas - Autostitch - 06/22/07 06:05 PM
I've been casually following Autotstitch for a long time. It was experimental for some time, not available on the Mac and the claims they made were pretty bold. "Autostitch is a breakthrough technology for panoramic photography, VR and visualisation applications. This is the first solution to stitch any panorama completely automatically, whether 1D (horizontal) or 2D (horizontal and vertical). Autostitch is built using cutting edge research from the AI lab at UBC, but it's incredibly simple to use! Just select a set of photos, and Autostitch does the rest: digital photos in, panoramas out."
The first time I read about Autostitch they … (80 comments)

project blogger: A Blockparty For Your Blog? SiteNeighbors.com - 06/21/07 03:43 AM
As their FAQ states, SiteNeighbors.com is a "non-hierarchical alternative for finding interesting blogs."
That's a fancy way of saying, they're trying to make connections that wouldn't be made in a normal fashion. And for a new blog, this may drive some traffic your way.
What they do is simple, though I'm sure the math involved on the back is complex. By placing their badge code on your site, they can see referrer traffic from the search engines. They compare that referrer traffic with other blogs referrer traffic and they make a connection. The blogs who get visitors through the same paths … (37 comments)

project blogger: How Far Is Too Far With Photo Editing? - 06/16/07 12:49 PM
Just because you CAN digitally retouch a photo, it doesn't mean you should.Some digital retouching is obviously overdoing it. I'm a fan of photo retouching in general. Because a great deal of digital photo editing is perfectly appropriate and certainly would not be misleading the consumer. It's a life saver for dark rooms, for example. I received a spam email this week from a company offering digital photo editing for real estate. You may have received one too. The text of the email seemed innocuous enough.
Do you have Real Estate Photos that could have been better if only...?A car wasn't … (148 comments)

project blogger: Embed Dynamic Maps In Your Wordpress Blog Posts - 06/11/07 05:28 PM
When two people email you in the span of three days with the exact same question, it's time to throw the answer out into the blogosphere for more people to find it. 
The question: Can I embed a Google map right inside my Wordpress blog post?
The answer: Yes, you can embed a Google Map right into your Wordpress blog post. (This is only for self-hosted Wordpress blogs, not wordpress.com blogs). It requires the Geopress plugin.
I put up an example on the RealEstateShows.com Blog, which is run on Wordpress.
Read more and see the example here. 
EDIT: if you don't click that link … (16 comments)

project blogger: Is Your Blog Slow? Reduce Your Photo Sizes - 06/11/07 12:27 PM
If your blog loads slow, people won't stay to read it... no matter how well written it might be. If I've never visited a blog before, nothing will make me leave faster than slow load times.
And nothing contributes to slow load times more than large photo files. I've been working with Julie Ferenzi on this for a while now, and this morning I did a little "training" video to illustrate how to us Picnik, a free online photo editing tool that may make your life easier. I'm a Photoshop freak, but not everyone is or will be.
Picnik makes doing … (25 comments)

project blogger: Project Blogger Radio - Tune In Today At 11AM PST / 2PM EST - 06/11/07 03:37 AM
Inman News is launching their Inman Talk channel on TalkShoe.com.
They are kicking it off with a question-and-answer style discussion around the topic of blogging and the Project Blogger competition. The guests for today's introductory show will be Jackie Colson-Miller, Julie Ferenzi, Jim Cronin and me.
Jessica Swesey, Managing Editor of Inman News will be hosting the TalkShoe Talkcast
Talkcast information:
Talkcast Name: Inman TalkHost: InmanNews Next episode: EPISODE1 - Real Estate Blogging, Mon, June 11, 2007 02:00 PM EDT'Building from the Ground Up' - Starting a real estate blog doesn't have to be hard. Learn from first hand experiences from the Project Blogger … (15 comments)

project blogger: This Is My Last Post - 06/03/07 04:29 AM
I've been preaching balance for a long time, but I haven't really taken my own advice.
Yesterday, I talked about the need to remember to have fun. Today, I'm talking about the need to take a break. And I'm suggesting a forced break. Like many of you here on AR, i love blogging. Love it. Tisza Major-Posner started a Blogaholics Anonymous group a few days ago, and I joined. Of course. I've talked to Julie Ferenzi about the need for balance, for taking breaks. I tell newbies to start practicing balance from the very beginning, so they don't fall into the … (120 comments)

project blogger: It's My Responsibility To Communicate Properly: The Power Of Words - 05/29/07 04:53 AM
I felt a bit like EF Hutton this morning. When I found ARDELL DellaLoggia's post titled Jeff Turner Speaks - Project Blogger, I was caught a bit off guard, but after reading my comment again, not surprised. As I read my comment again, I could easily understand how they could feel the way they felt. It's so easy for our written words to be heard by the reader in a way that's different from how we're hearing them in our head. How a reader reads a sentence has as much, if not more to do with their state of mind as … (68 comments)

project blogger: Ever Wonder How Oprah Would Describe An RSS Feed? - 05/28/07 06:33 PM
I must get asked this questions 5 times each week - "What the heck is an RSS Feed?"
If you've been on AR for very long, you know that lots of folks here have done a good job of trying to explain it in simple terms. Often, even the non-geek attempts go over some folks heads. I was about to take a whack at making it even easier to understand for a post on the RES blog. But, as is sometimes the case, I ran across a post out in the blogosphere that I think does a better job of boiling it … (26 comments)

project blogger: The Power Of A Plainfield Mom: YEO In Action - 05/15/07 02:49 AM
"When Julie Ferenzi of Plainfield read an online journal about a baby boy who was given six to eights weeks to live and needed a bone marrow donor, she went into action." Catherine Ann Velasco, The Herald News
Several weeks ago, you may remember a post by Julie Ferenzi entitled, This Has Nothing To Do With Real Estate But Everything To Do With Humanity. She wrote about a little boy named Trevor Kott who urgently needed a bone marrow transplant. She wrote from her heart. "I don't know why I feel it is my duty to help this family find this very … (28 comments)

project blogger: If You Can't Be A Real Guru, Be A Bubble Guru - 05/12/07 03:41 AM
Want to introduce yourself to your readers?
Want to highlight an upcoming event?
Bubble Guru may be just the right way to draw attention. It's beta 3, so it's still a little buggy. But if it's working you saw a little video pop up in a bubble on this page. It will only pop up the first time you visit this page for any session. So, if you didn't see it, you were probably on this blog once already today. Close your browser and come back. You should see it.
I created mine in less than 2 minutes, from sign up to position in … (47 comments)