I subscribe to the RISMedia.com newsletter.  Every one of those newsletters contains the following announcement:

Free News Feed — Now you can have Real Estate’s #1 News Feed automatically appear on your Web site every day. Impress your customers with real estate news right on your home page! It’s fast and easy to do.

There are two things wrong with that announcement. 

First, whenever a statement like that is made, there should be a link in the statement somewhere that takes you to the place where you can quickly and easily take advantage of the offer.

Keep that in mind for your websites, too.  NEVER write something like “Try our advanced Atlanta Home Search” unless the words Atlanta Home Search (the keyword phrase Anchor Text), is linked to your search page.  If you’re telling your visitors to do something, make it easy for them!  And, it builds your internal linking structure at the same time.  But, back to RISMedia.

The second thing wrong with that announcement is that the Consumer-facing RSS feed on RISMedia’s website has been broken since February 2, 2009.  If you want to check that out for yourself, take a look at the feed page.  Notice that I gave you a link.  I didn’t make you run over to RISMedia and poke around until you found it.

I think the RISMedia consumer RSS feed would be a great addition to any real estate website.  Therefore, I think a lot of people would want to take advantage of the feed.

If anyone knows anyone at RISMedia, please ask them to either 1) fix the feed, which is the recommended approach, or 2) remove the announcement from the newsletter since it is exceedingly annoying for those of us who have contacted RISMedia several times since February 2 with no results.

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By the way, the Build Real Estate Results with Getting It Write, Inc. organization is moving.  In fact, there are just 10 days left before the big day.

So, for the next 10 days, the postings on this blog will be a bit spotty.  And, since I hate moving, probably a bit testy, too.

If you enjoy this blog, that’s perhaps bad news.  If you’re a client, it’s actually good news because client work will proceed uninterrupted during this time.

Well, actually, the office will be closed on Thursday, April 30 and Friday May 1, 2009.  But, schedules for completing client work will be adjusted accordingly, avoiding any unpleasant surprises.

Our telephone numbers will not change, but the address will.  Stay tuned to this blog, as further announcements will be made over the next week or so.

Could a REALTOR® really have time to generate a list of 101 ways to beat the competition?  Evidently, Lisa Udy from Logan, Utah did.  And, quite a list it is, too.

Lisa’s list covers lots of topics, including tips for the Internet, building a client base, time management, education, daily routines and developing effective systems.

Seems to me that it’s the type of blog post that would be good to review from time to time when you need to light a fire under yourself.

 I think you’ll enjoy Lisa Udy‘s list!

There are many times in our lives – yes, I’m sure yours, too – when we really can’t believe what we say. . . or write.  Before the words are even out of our mouths, regret has set in.  And, a lot of those times seem to visit us related to traffic accidents.

The worst accident I was ever in was, of course, caused by another driver.  In fact, I was only a passenger in one of the cars involved.  And, I’m lucky I imagine, because there were no injuries.  We were driving down a boulevard.  You know, one of those streets that has a grassy area in the middle with places to make a U-turn to go in the other direction.

There was a car in the lane to our right with its left turn signal on.  No sooner had I said, “I wonder where that car thinks it’s turning” than sure enough, the car turned right in front of us.

After much mashing of brakes and loud shrieks, we all came to a stop.  The offending driver decided to make a quick escape, but failed to notice that there was another car in the turnaround area waiting to make a turn.  So, she just put her car into gear and smashed into the back of the waiting car.

And, mayhem ensued.  The police arrived.  The driver who had been hit from behind leaped from his car screaming, “I was just SITTING HERE.  I wasn’t even involved and you just SMASHED into my car!”   And, I about jumped into the arms of the officer I was talking to when a car behind me squealed its brakes.

But, one of the funniest memories of that accident was what the offending driver told the judge at her court date.  She stated:  “I was stopped in the left lane to make a turn and the other car ran into me.”

Besides the fact that no one should stop in the left lane before turning on that boulevard, the areas of damage on the vehicles clearly showed that her car turned in front of the one I was in.  So, it was truly one of those times when before the words were even out of her mouth. . .

And, for your Wednesday chuckle, here are a few more taken from accident reports:

• By the way, I believe if I had lost my head, the accident could have been worse.
• I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.
• One wheel went into the ditch. My foot jumped from the accellerator pedal, leapt across the lane to the other side and jammed in the trunk of a tree.
• To avoid a collision I ran into the other car.
• Three women were talking to each other, and when one stepped back and one stepped forward I had to have an accident

Your foot leapt across the lane???