BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog

A union of workers.  That idea started what we now celebrate as Labor Day.  Did you ever wonder why Labor Day falls on the first Monday in September?  Evidently, the timing was chosen to give laborers a holiday in between July 4th and Thanksgiving.

Labor Day came about because of the Industrial Revolution.  As you know, the Industrial Revolution spawned the creation of dark, dank factories where workers labored long days in poor conditions for extremely low wages.  Sometimes, it required the wages of an entire family just to put food on the table.

Then, the concept of forming a union of workers to battle for better conditions was born.  To celebrate the success of the idea, the first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City in 1882.  In 1894, Labor Day was declared an official federal holiday, and we’ve been celebrating it ever since.

All this information is news to me.  I was going to write a Labor Day post, and realized that I really had no idea how the holiday started in the first place.  I’m sure I learned about it in school, but can’t say that I retained the information!  Now you’ve had your history lesson for the day, too.

Well, except for this last piece of union nostalgia.  In July 1975, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from a restaurant parking lot around the Detroit area where I grew up.   It was a great restaurant, but I must admit that I looked at the clientele a bit more carefully when I ate there after his disappearance.  It is a bit unsettling to think you may be sharing a dining room with someone who makes people disappear!

I wish you all an enjoyable Labor Day.  Take some time off from your real estate marketing efforts and have some fun!

Do you have your own dictionary that only comes into use when you’re stuck in traffic, or annoyed by another driver?

I have one, but nothing in it can be published on the Internet, at least not on this blog!

Here’s how George Carlin thinks about it: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”

Drivers seem to be different in different parts of the country.  In Atlanta, the speed limit is only a suggestion, while in Baltimore, I found that drivers actually observe speed limits.

One thing that has always puzzled me is when I see an accident in the middle of an expressway - not near any exits or entrances.  If all the cars were going straight, how did they manage to run into each other?

Boston is another amazing place for drivers.  I spent about six months there several years ago.  The most curious thing I saw was a flashing green light that I passed fairly often.  It wasn’t broken.  It was flashing green. 

That might be one reason why driving in Boston is so difficult.  I asked every native Bostonian I came across, and not one of them had any idea what to do at a flashing green signal.  But the advice most of them gave was just to ignore it.

The August edition of the Real Estate Results Newsletter is now available.  The topics this month are:

• Use the Sub-Prime Fiasco to Reinforce Your Value as a REALTOR®
• Introducing Yourself:  The Key to Turning Acquaintances into Clients
• Using Your Website to Increase Direct Mail Response

As always, the newsletter is short and to the point with links to resources where you can find more information on those topics that are of interest.

If you’ve signed up to receive the newsletter via e-mail, but you don’t receive it, it’s because of e-mail filtering issues.  This newsletter is a double-opt in to avoid spam.  So, if you subscribed to the newsletter on the site, but didn’t receive a confirmation e-mail, that means you won’t get the newsletter, either.

Check the Real Estate Newsletter page on the main website to subscribe to the newsletter, review back issues, and for tips on making sure you get the newsletter after you’ve subscribed!

I have to admit that I got this idea from Teresa Boardman, the well-known real estate blogger.  Teresa has a category on her blog for Friday Fun, and I think her Friday posts are great when you need to lighten up on a Friday.

Not wanting to be a complete plagiarist, I decided to create a category for Whimsical Wednesdays.  While Wednesdays in the real estate industry aren’t really the middle-of-the-week day like they are in Monday through Friday industries, I chose Wednesday because it provided alliteration with the word whimsical, which is defined as:

“Erratic in behavior or degree of unpredictability”

Look for the first bit of whimsy this Wednesday!

We’ve updated a couple things in terms of how comments are handled on this blog to make it easier for you to participate.

Subscribe to Comments 

You can now subscribe to the comments for any post.  You can just as easily unsubscribe, too.  If you want to ask a question or get feedback on your comments, you’ll receive an email when a new comment is added to the same post.

Notification of new comments will be sent from Contact@BuildRealEstateResults.com, and will show in the email’s From field as BRER Real Estate Marketing Blog.  At the bottom of each notification email, you’ll find a link to easily unsubscribe to all comments or those from a particular post.

Controlling Comment Spam

Until today, this blog’s options were set up so that the first comment by a person had to be approved before it was posted.  I wasn’t really happy with that set up, but I don’t want the site overrrun by spam, either.

Today, I installed Spam Karma and Bad Behavior to add to the Askimet spam blocker that was already on the site.  Hopefully, those three comment spam blockers will eliminate most if not all comment spam.

So, now your comments will appear as soon as you enter them.  I’ll monitor the site closely to make sure spam comments aren’t getting through.  But, if some do slip through, please excuse me!

I helped a friend put a bit of HTML code on her blog.  Turned out it was a link to a site called www.BlogActionDay.org.  So, of course, I stopped to read some.

It seems some bloggers got the idea of getting bloggers from around the globe to unite for one day to blog about one topic.  The day is October 15, 2007.  The topic is the environment.

Then, my analytical brain kicked in and I read up on the organizers and the other sites that are participating.  I’ve never heard of most of them.  For all I know they’re all slightly batty (no offense to BlogActionDay).

But, the idea grabbed me, and I decided it didn’t really matter.  What a concept.  Getting people to bring one issue to the top of a lot of people’s mind for one day.  What if we could actually make a difference?

Will we stop global warming in its tracks?  I doubt it.  But, the power of thousands of voices sharing ideas about the environment, each in their own way, without any grand political agenda…  it just might be a good thing.  If nothing else, I know it will make me feel like I’ve had a chance to contribute to something greater than myself.  And, I like that feeling.

So, if you have a blog, join in.  What if we could make a difference . . . .

In case you haven’t noticed, one of the projects I’m working on right now is putting maps on a client’s website.  I’ve told you about My Map from Google, and the free map making site at www.AardvarkMap.net.

However, my client came across another free do-it-yourself map making site that is even better than Aardvark.  The site is ZeeSource. 

The ZeeSource site is a bit more complicated than Aardvark, but it offers lots of different capabilities, too.  Here are just some of the things you can do:

• Select different colors for the Marker push pins you use to identify locations
• Add Annotations - descriptive text that appears without clicking on a push pin 
• Identify a location’s address as well as a link to another URL
• Add photo or audio to a Marker’s push pin
• Download a PDF of the map
• Let other people add locations to a map (people like visitors to your website)

Keep in mind that unless your map is marked Private, other users on the ZeeSource site can access the map.  So, it’s a good idea to create an account and set your maps up so you’re the only one who can access them.

I’m pretty organized - when it comes to business, anyway.  My friends are quick to tease me if we’re talking about analyzing some issue by saying, “I’m sure you’ll be creating a spreadsheet about this!”

And, I usually do!

But, the problem I have is that I very often forget where I put all the stuff I have on the computer.  And, the search function in Windows Explorer is pitiful.  So, this isn’t really real estate related, but if you haven’t tried Google Desktop, I suggest you give it a shot.

Google Desktop lets you view things like news and photos on your desktop, and it lets you use Google Widgets on the sidebar and to customize your desktop.  And, those functions are very nice, I’m sure, but I don’t use them.

For me, the real gem of the Desktop is the fact that you can search your own computer in ways you’ve only dreamt about before.  Imagine being able to search your computer for any word or string of words you can think of that may be in the filename or content of that great article you saved a year or so ago. 

The article that was either something you copied and saved to a Word file, or maybe you e-mailed it to a friend, or was it just something you saw on a web page while you were surfing the Internet?  Never fear, the Google search will find it, wherever it’s hiding!

By the time you’re finished typing the search phrase into the search bar, Google has already found every occurence of the phrase.  Then, you can open the results in a browser window, where Google lets you look at all the results, or select either all the files, e-mails, or web history entries.

It’s saved me uncounted hours plodding around my hard drive and Outlook Express folders trying to remember where I put something.  And, it’s very compact.  You can cause the desktop to appear as a sidebar on your screen.  But, if you just want to use the search feature, you can minimize the sidebar and you end up with this:

That’s a life-size version.  It sits quietly at the very top of your screen, without obliterating anything, until you need it.  I did have some issues with letting Google onto my computer.  I carefully read the privacy policy concerning the Desktop software, and they say that the information on your computer never leaves your computer.  I believe that - if for no other reason than I can’t imagine what they’d do with a directory of all the contents of all the computers of all the users who have installed the Desktop.

So, if you’re still looking for that excellent joke a friend e-mailed to you last year, install the Google Desktop and get ready for a good belly laugh!

With all the buzz about the recent Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco, I found myself spending a bit of time on the Inman News website.  As you probably know, Inman hosted the conference.  

I found some interesting ways to get involved in the Inman community while I was on the site, and I’d recommend that anyone in the real estate industry take advantage of the opportunity to join a community hosted by such a well-respected name in the real estate industry.  Take a look at my profile entry to the Real Estate Directory, and Blog Directory listing. 

ADD YOUR INSIGHT TO THE INMANBLOG

The InmanBlog addresses a wide range of topics, including technology, lead generation, the real estate market, real estate marketing, new business models and social media among others.  There’s a lot to learn and an opportunity to get involved.

THE INMANWIKI

The InmanWiki is billed as “the world’s largest real estate encyclopedia. You can add: Your Video, Your Blog, Your Profile, or Your Market Snapshot.” You can also contribute articles on a variety of real estate topics.

Inman’s Blog and Real Estate Directories

On Inman’s home page, separate links are shown for the Blog and Real Estate Directories.  However, if you want to join the community, keep in mind that the directories are part of the Wiki, so you add to all of them in exactly the same way - by setting up an account and adding pages to the site under your user name.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you wouldn’t join the community to increase the number of incoming links to your website.  There are “nofollow” tags on all links to your Inman pages and to your website.  But, if you’re looking for another way to increase your overall Internet presence, participating on the Inman site is about as good as it gets. 

HOW TO GET STARTED

I found the process of setting up an account, listing a blog, setting up a profile and adding an entry to the Real Estate Directory a bit confusing.  So, to help out, I’ll give you the benefit of what I discovered and help you avoid the mistakes I made.  With this insight, you can quickly and easily get yourself set up at the Inman site!

Read the rest of this entry »

I talked about maps before, and if you read that post, you need to read it again.   Or, at least be aware that the original link in that post to a custom map making site has been removed.  I just discovered that the company I referred to is no longer accepting new clients.  If you know of a great place to get custom web maps, please let me know!

Visual Aids Make Your Real Estate Website Unique!

This is a quick update on an extremely easy way to create your own interactive maps - no technical expertise required.  With an interactive map, you can identify points of interest for your site visitors, and direct them to another page on your site for more information.  You could use an interactive map to do things like:

• Display your target marketing area and direct visitors to MLS searches for particular neighborhoods
• Display a range of things to do in various parts of town and direct your visitors to more information on a page of your site, or direct them to the website for a particular venue.
• Allow visitors to select a neighborhood and follow a link to market information you have on your site
• And, the list is probably endless.

Take a look at an example of this type of interactive map and find out how to make one!

Read the rest of this entry »