The Curse of Your On-Line Presence When You Change Brokerages
OK, it was not really THAT bad, but when making my recent change from RE/MAX after 8 years to Solutions Real Estate in Carlsbad, I knew there were some issues to deal with. I tried to plan ahead and make my list...extensive, mind you...of all the places I knew I had a profile, signed up for a service, and so on. The obvious ones are easier, but then you start to realize all the others that you decided to join, for whatever reason, don't use much or at all.
The list was waaayyyy bigger than I thought.
And of course as time goes I realize it was much bigger than I ever anticipated, and I am still playing catch-up with some sites where I need to change a user name, password or the email address. The MLS, the State Licensing Department (DRE), and our Lockbox company were relatively easy. It doesn't happen instantly but it was painless. Really.
The challenge with all the on-line stuff is multi-layered. And we thought it was soooo simple.
First. Keeping track of where you have a profile, plus your user name, password and email. I know I did not keep a good list until it got out of control and the brain simply would not work well enough on its own. Yeah, I should have but you know how it is. The passwords are, for the most part, all different, and if I didn't have a system to track them I would constantly be submitting lost password requests.
Anyone use Roboform?
I have heard good things in general but curious about the pros and cons - others likely are, too. I assume it's secure but???
Issue two. Changing emails and other information is just not that simple. Sure you make the change but then, in many cases, you have to receive a verification email to respond to, and all that takes time. And of course along the way you see other things - address, phone - that need to be changed. What you think is 2 minutes turns into 20. And it's hard to give up an email you've had for 8 years.
And then there is the blog, or blogs to change.
And all those widgets you added.
And what about all those videos you branded? Does it matter?
Plus photos and banners that are branded with your brokerage. My AR header, for one, and the one I created for my video email system, My Video Talk. Not hard to change, but again it takes time. And things never seem to go as smoothly as they should.
And everyone in your database if your email has changed, as mine did. It was a good time to clean out the database and also find out if some folks' emails had also changed.
Most of it is now done...hopefully. But I sure appreciate anyone noticing that something is awry or I overlooked it.
My advice?
- Keep a comprehensive list of all the sites you are on with all the appropriate information
- And be prepared to spend significant time updating
- Or not worrying about whether it makes a difference.
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