Selling Reno And Sparks Real Estate Blog

 Do You Know How to Optimize Your URL on LinkedIn?

How? ~  Just Clean it Up!

LinkedIn and Google ~ Please Find Me!

Did you know that Google “likes” LinkedIn and favors it in the search engines?  Knowing that is nothing new to many of us. What many don’t know is that we can have a custom URL on LinkedIn. So what does that mean? And why is that important?

LinkedIn assigns us a URL with a bunch of numbers when we join, and it is just not pretty and doesn't help us to be found.  You can optimize your URL on LinkedIn by just changing it. Super simple and it looks more professional to those that see it. The best part is that Google Likes it!  I know that when there is a simple task that helps me with Google, I want to make sure that I’m using it for any added Google Juice!

 So … how is it done?

~ Go to  Your “Public Profile Page”  on your LinkedIn Page

~ Scroll down to “Public Profile” section and then

~ Click “Edit” Next to the URL ... choose a new one. I just chose my name as that makes the most sense.

Super Easy and now Google and LinkedIn sees me in a new way, making my name come up easier on the Google Searches… and isn’t that the goal?

Don’t forget that an “up to date” profile is super important. Info and photo needs to be current.

This is  good advice for any of the links we have.

Last but not least, check your buttons for the social media on your signatures once in a while. Sometimes they just stop working. I have found a few out there that just don't work.

Today is one day closer to being found on the internet.

Optimize your URL on LinkedIn and make Google Happy!

 

 Real Estate Sales in the Hudson Valley          Janis Borgueta, Realtor                Newburgh, New York

Janis Borgueta, Realtor

Buying or Selling Real Estate in Newburgh NY?

Call Janis at 845-527-7115

www.myhudsonvalleyproperties.com

 Key Properties of the Hudson Valley LLC

FIND ME ONLINE

 

I don't want to panic you, BUT . . .

We search on the internet all day, every day, for information.  Houses, illnesses, people, events, books . . . you name, we search for it.

But have you ever searched for something on Google that you wouldn't want the WHOLE WIDE WORLD (or the WWW) to know about?

Well, look out.  If you have a Google account, Google has changed their Privacy Policy today, and everything that you have ever searched for in a Google search will now be publicly available unless you do something about it.

So if you want to clear out your web history and keep Google from keeping public record of where you search, here are some simple steps to help you out:

• Go to your Web History and enter your password if prompted to do so.
• If your web history is ON, the list of sites that you have visited that have been recorded by Google will be displayed.
• Click on the "Remove All Web History" button.
• They will ask you (because you really don't mean it, right?) if you are ". . . sure you want to clear your entire web history? Your web history will also be paused."  Oh, yes, YOU'RE SURE.
• You should then see "Your search history is currently empty" and that your "Web History is paused"  STAY AWAY FROM THE RESUME BUTTON.  LEAVE IT PAUSED.
• You are now done.
  

Ok, now all of your friends won't find out that you were searching for Painted Ladies, when you were actually looking up Victorian Homes.  WHEW . . . and you're welcome :)

I don't want to panic you, BUT . . . was written by Mimi Foster

 

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If you enjoyed reading this post,
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If you would like to search for Homes for Sale in Colorado Springs,

or for any of your other real estate needs,

please contact your Colorado Springs Realtor

 

Selling homes throughout Colorado Springs, Old Colorado City,

Manitou Springs and surrounding areas with a

Specialty in Victorian and Vintage Homes in
Downtown Colorado Springs

Top 10 Things to do to Enjoy Your Time Off.

10. Recognize that just because you are enjoying time off, does not mean that you are abandoning your responsibilities.  If an emergency comes up, you can still take care of it -- or better yet -- delegate it to someone who can. Even doctors take time off. They have a trusted colleague who is on call for them.

9. Prepare for your time off by tying up all loose ends and leaving detailed information for your trusted colleague who will be taking care of things for you while you are away.

 

8. If you are taking multiple days off, prepare your clients by letting them in on the vacation plans. They will be excited for you once you show them how you have tied up all of the lose ends, and provided them with the same detailed list of information that you have given the trusted colleague.  This shows them how important they are to you and assures them that your colleague is prepared to help them at any given time.

 

7. Inform friends, family, and clients to contact your trusted colleague in case of emergency. Assure them that your trusted colleague is the FASTEST way to contact you in case of an emergency.  

 

6. Know the difference between an emergency and a concern.  The scheduled closing for today is not going to close because you, the listing agent who is in North Carolina on vacation, did not sign the last page of the sales contract.  THAT is an emergency! Docusign it to me and I can sign it on my cell phone!  




5. Schedule “needs and wants” for when you return. Just because your seller has changed the color of the hand towel in the half bath, DOES NOT MEAN that you have to leave the spa in the middle of your massage to go and take a new picture of the “remodeled” half bath. WHY were you answering your phone during the massage in the first place?! Hello!!

 

 

4. Get over your fear that someone might think less of you for taking time off. The opposite could be true. People may wonder why you can not manage your time well enough to take even a day off. If you can’t manage your own time, how will you manage the time it will take to find someone a home or to get one sold? OR BOTH! (Oh my!)   

 

3. If you will be away for multiple days and will only be checking emails from your trusted colleague, set up an auto response for your email account(s) explaining that you will be away from email until a specific date and that, if it is an emergency, the fastest way to contact you would be to call (you guessed it) your trusted  colleague.

 

2.  Get off of the pedestal. Recognize that you are not more important than, attorneys, bakers,  CPA’s, dishwashers, ditch diggers, doctors, firefighters, golf pros, nurses, pilots, police officers, professors, WalMart greeters, xylophone players, zoo keepers, or any other person. Every profession allows for time off.

 

1. Be like Nike and JUST DO IT!

WHY?

 

 

Because YOU CAN!

You are blessed!

 

 

Top 10 Things to do to Enjoy Your Time Off.

 

Copyright (C) Joni Staples 2010 and 2011              (936) 650-9017      Joni@JoniStaples.com

BHGRE  -  Anderson Properties  is an  Independently Owned and Operated Franchise

Licensed in the state of Texas (0518539)                         

 

 

 

Free Buttons

There is so much concern and “Buzz” about Google shutting down Picnik.com, I decided to provide you with some alternative tools for editing and customizing your graphics, photos, and images.   While Picnik.com will be shutting down in April 2012, here are some other options you have available immediately.

FotoFlexer – Create some dazzling photo and image effects in your browser for FREE.  Use Animations, resizing, coloring, contrast and more.  Take a look at These 5 Demo’s for a quick tour of what FotoFlexer has to offer, you’ll love some of these cool features.  Smart Scissor is a favorite feature.

Pixlr – and for Picnik users, try Pixlr Express.  You’ll love the Editor, the Pixlr-o-matic, the Pixlr Grabber for Firefox and Chrome browsers, and the Pixlr Imm.io hosting, all of which are very robust and user friendly cool features.

LunaPic – This site will rock your world!  Lunapic offers more choices and options for photo editing and custom effects than some of the paid software applications I’ve purchased and used in the past.  Use vignettes, color bars, animated imaging, picture frames, retro color, collages, custom text, reflection animations, slide shows, and a ton more.  One of the most feature rich FREE online editors available.  You’re gonna love this site.

FreeOnlinePhotoEditor – A really simple and easy to use photo and image editor for those “quick fix and gotta go” graphics.  Very basic but simple and fast.  Some of the other online photo and image tools include:  OnlinePhotoTool.com: Online photo editor,  Automatically resize your images when sending it by email,  Create an Image from your RSS feed,  Create Image from your Tweet and Twitter account, and Create, save and email screenshots.

BeFunky -  Be Funky lets you do some pretty amazing things with your photos and graphics.  Most of the features and tools are focused on creating cool, fun, and funky effects and artwork.  The site’s name says it.  Some of the effects available would take hours to create in Photoshop or other high end and costly photo/image editors.

Definitely worthy of a visit and tour.

Photoshop.com – That’s right, you can use Photoshop online and for FREE.  You’ll need to register, but I promise it will be worth it.  The Photoshop tools are powerful and very easy to use.  Be prepared to spend a little time here, you’ll be amazed at what they have to offer and allow you to do online for free.  I’m not going to lie, this is one of my favorites and my personal replacement for Picnik.com closing down.

GIMP – GIMP is very similar to Adobe Photoshop except that GIMP is FREE.  It does require you to download the software but one huge benefit to that is it will never be bought and shut down on you.  It is a very powerful and feature intense program so unless you’re really experienced with editing and graphic design, or you have more time than it takes to close a short sale, you may want to stick with one of the others.

I personally like to use GIMP for graphic design more than image or photo editing.

Combine all these together and you’ll have more FREE editing tools and features than you’ll ever need or use and absolutely FREE.  Take a few moments to review each site, bookmark them, then give each one a try to see which one(s) best meet your photo and image editing needs.  Enjoy! 

 

 

          

 

Tutorials | Training | Mobile | Widgets

"May this blog be just one more planted seed of wisdom that helps you or your business blossom today!"

ActiveRain HINTS

This morning I was talking with someone about how I felt like a blind pig finding an acorn when I started on ActiveRain.  Someone told me about AR, I thought, "I'd like to blog someday," so I signed up for a year. 

Several months later, after having received a few emails from AR, I wrote my first blog post, and was so excited that I got four or five comments on it.  I kept wondering where in the world those people had seen it to comment on it.  I was in awe, but could never figure out how to do it again.  I often imagined it as a party behind closed doors, and I was standing in the entryway waiting for someone to open the doors so I could see what was going on.

Months would pass before I would write again.  Karli at ActiveRain called me one day last March and held my hand and talked me thru it, and it has been a whirlwind of writing since then.  Being creatures of habit, we do what we know.  Sometimes we will venture out and find new things, but for the most part, it is often an AHA moment when we stumble upon something we didn't know in our comfortable venue.

Often I will get phone calls from AR friends who will say, "Well, if you go (here) you can do (this)."  Kathy Streib has been the best at teaching me tricks that really aren't tricks, basics that probably everyone else knows.  But since I didn't know them, there may be a few others that don't know some of them either.  

The feel and look of ActiveRain is going to be changing (dramatically) soon, including our logo (so says our Fearless Leader).  We are going to have to learn new things to be able to navigate (I will not resist change, I will not resist change, I will not resist change).  So before that happens, I wanted to share some basics that I recently learned.  (Old timers will know these things . . . )

• When you want to comment on someone's post, hit the "END" button to get to the end of the comments.  This is helpful if it is a Featured post and you don't want to read all of the comments.  Conversely, you can get back to the top by hitting the "HOME" button on your keyboard
• To activate additional points on your posts, you need three comments from others and you need to respond with at least one comment
  
• Your comments that you make on other people's posts must be at least 50 CHARACTERS (not words) for you to receive your 25 points for the comment, up to 250 points per day (10 comments).  You may, of course, comment on as many as you would like per day, but only get points for 10
  
• Your blog POSTS must be at least 50 WORDS to get credit for the post
  
• The ActiveRain logo in the upper left corner of the page is a link to the Feature Board (am I the only one here who didn't know that?)
• If you click on "BLOGS" in the blue AR toolbar at the top, you get links to the people to whom you are subscribed down the right column.  BUT if you hit "MY SUBSCRIPTIONS" on the upper left side under "BLOG POSTS," then you get a three-line summary of the current post of the people you follow (again ~ DUH)
• The "CHANNELS" arrow in the blue tool bar allows you to study areas of expertise more thoroughly.  From Training to Tactics to Technology to Tools, there are wonderful things to be discovered there
• So now that I've been here for almost ten months, I won't even begin to tell you the convoluted trails I have followed to find people to whom to send referrals.  The little "STATES" button in the blue upper toolbar breaks down Agents by not only States, but also by Cities!  Double Duh!
• If you want your blog to stream down the middle of the page and not run from side-to-side across the page, making it more difficult to read (yes, Fearless Leader's blog is an example :) ~ all in good fun, Niki, all in good fun), then go to your Home Page, upper left corner under BLOGS > ActiveRain > (Customize) and insert any color or picture as your Background Image.  If you don't want fru-fru, just make the Background Image WHITE and it will at least narrow up your writing, making it easier to read
• Inviting others gets you lots of points when they join, and 10% of everything they make while they're here.  Towards the bottom of the Home Page on the left side is an "INVITE OTHERS" link.  Here's the kicker ~ be sure to use the LINK so that you get points when they sign up.  Joe Cuchiara got me involved, but because he told me about it over the phone and I didn't know to link to him, he is not reaping the rewards :( (Sorry, Joe, I've tried several times to rectify it!)
• Did you read a post today that you really liked?  At the very bottom of the post under where it says who the article was written by is a little link that says "BOOKMARK."  You can click that to save the post for future reference.  When you want to read your BOOKMARKS at a later date, the link is towards the bottom left of your Home Page entitled "BLOG BOOKMARKS"
• OH! And when you are writing your (at least 10) comments on posts each day, or in writing your own posts, in the upper part of your Comment Box where you have the options for making your writings BOLD or Italics or Underlined or Striking Through, on the RIGHT SIDE of that bar is a SPELL CHECK (ABC with a checkmark).  Who Knew???? :)
  

 I feel somewhat silly in even sharing some of these things, but I figured if I wasn't aware of them, this may help someone else.  And if you are looking for a safe haven to share real estate stories, life lessons, and learn new things, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my blog. :) 

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If you enjoyed reading this post,
CLICK ON THE HOUSE to
SUBSCRIBE to Mimi's Musings

If you are not completely satisfied
you may unsubscribe at any time
and get double your money back!

 

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If you would like to Search for Homes for sale in Colorado Springs, CO, or for any of your other real estate needs, please contact your Colorado Springs Realtor

 

 

                                                                  

   

Selling homes throughout Colorado Springs, Old Colorado City,

Manitou Springs and surrounding areas with a

Specialty in Victorian and Vintage Homes in
Downtown Colorado Springs

 

 

Our team has been hard at work developing a painless way to syndicate your content and stay connected.  May I introduce to you, Social Integration.  Sounds like a hard core rock n' roll band to me but it's something much more.

I hope all of you use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Google + is a the new kid on the block but many of you are already using it so we've included it in our new development.  Liking and sharing posts on social networks is critical to your SEO.  Making your readers aware of not just your own but other worthy posts is a great idea too.  Please be aware of your own competitive dynamics and do so accordingly.  Please DO NOT like or share Members Only Posts.  Consumers cannot open the links and they are not displaying correctly on the social networks. 

Notice the Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn and Twitter buttons at the top of your posts, to the right of the Re-Blog Button:

These buttons will allow you to syndicate your blog content to any or all of the above listed social media outlets by clicking on them.  You can push your SEO power that much further by spreading your information to these major social networks outlets.

We've been experimenting and testing for weeks now to clear the problems we encounter so you don't have to.  But, just as with any new roll out, we ask you to let us know your experiences good or bad.

Want to feed your most recent post directly to Facebook?  Click "Mr. Thumbs Up" and you'll see:

*Facebook is currently grabbing any image of it's choice.  The majority of the time your profile picture will be chosen but not 100%.  If you do not like the way Facebook is displaying your link, please go direct to Facebook and upload your link manually.

Do your LinkedIn connections need to see your post?  You bet they do!  Click "in Share" icon and you'll see a window pop up:

Once you're ready to post to LinkedIn, click Share and you'll get a confirmation:

We are also testing the Facebook Recommendations widget on the homepage of AR; just another way to get on the front page:

Increase your traffic by expanding the reach of your blog.  Tweet your little hearts out, Google + til you can't stand it anymore!  We know how hard you work on your posts and we've made an easier time-saving way to feed your content to the world.  So do it!

Facebook Fridays - It’s Liking Time Again!

Okay, most of us know the drill. It’s Facebook Fridays time, and we take time out of our busy schedules to go over to Facebook to Like other Active Rain member’s Business Page or their Fan Pages. If you are new, and haven’t joined our groups, you are welcome to sign up today and join Facebook Fridays Group, and of course, Facebook Fan Pages for Business.

Each week I look for candidates from my subscriptions first to see if I can promote someone who has less than 100 Fans. Of course, I have promoted others who have had more than 100 Fans. But, the whole  idea was to give a little support and encouragement to Active Rain Members, who were building their business presence on Facebook.

I see that many have already started to jump on the new Google+ train, and I did the same thing myself last weekend. I am sure some will most likely start a new group for Google+, but in the meantime, stop by today and Like all five of my candidates. Let them know how you found their Business page. Many will be surprised that you came over from Active Rain.

Here are My Five for Today!

1. Trang Beuschlein - Two pages.   BKR Realty and Living in Campbell, California.

2. Christine Smith - Canton MA Real Estate

3. James and Tina Luis - Aloha Kona Realty, Inc.

4. Virginia Kail - American Way Real Estate

5. Karen Winters - ChicagoLand Condos and Homes


Don’t forget to stop by and Like “JerryNewmanSanAntonioHomes” too.

Thanks, and Have a Wonderful Friday!

Jerry Newman, ABR®                                             
US Army Retired                                                         
Keller Williams Realty                                                                           
San Antonio, Texas
Direct - (210-789-4216
Fax Line (210) 696-9981

San Antonio Real Estate
Home Values in San Antonio
Jerry@JeremiahNewman.com

Your Local Real Estate Expert, Let me Google that for You....

 

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Saving a Post in Draft makes doing the 31 days of May Challenge a Breeze!

 

This morning I had an email from an AR member who still considers himself a newbie. I had suggested that he join some groups and put his posts in them.

 

His email said: "Connie, I don't even know how to save a Draft. I would appreciate any help you ..."

 

Well, I immediately emailed him instructions on how to save to a draft. Mid-email I wondered how many others are out there not knowing...

 

HOW  TO  SAVE  A  POST  IN  DRAFT

 

First, go to your "My Home" page. On the left side where it says "Write a Blog Post" click on that.

Then start your post with a title and put some copy in the body of the post.

 

Next, scroll down to the  bottom of the post.

 

You will see a box below it that says "Tags" - that's a whole other lesson - and just below that "Visibility".

 

When you start the posts, they always start with the Visibility saying "Public".

If you'll hit the arrow, the box will drop down and you'll see the "Draft". Click on it.

At any point now, you can save the post and it will always be there waiting for you in Draft.

Some of the struggles people have with posting everyday is that one day they're busy, and don't have enough time, and another day they can knock out 3 or 4 posts. By using the Draft mode, you can write when you have time and have them ready for the days you need them.

Another reason to post to Draft first is to see how the page lays out before you start adding Pictures or Graphics. Sometimes, I don't have time to finish a post and am afraid of losing it. This lets me not worry about accidentally deleting something and losing a lot of hard work!

 

To retrieve the post later, see Have You been Losing your Draft Posts?

OR go back to your "My Home" page. On the left side where it says "Blogs" you'll see the "View Draft Posts" button. It'll take you to all of your posts in the Draft mode.

I hope that helps some of you.

Happy Blogging!

 

Connie Harveyis a local agent with Pilkerton Realtors, serving home buyers and sellers in Nashville, TN, Brentwood TN, and Franklin TN. Let her help you realize your Real Estate goals. She can be reached at 615-371-2474.

Search for Homes in Nashville TN

Search for Homes in Brentwood TN