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Photo Blog Your Way to the Top of the Search Engines
The article below came from Realtor Business Tips Newsletter. It describes how easy it is to use Posterous.com in a nutshell.
Posting photos to your blog provides both fast and interesting content that will get you more clicks.
By Michael Russer | February 2010
There is no question that blogging can be a powerful tool to help you and your Web site stand out from the crowd and generate new business. And, as many have already discovered, it can be time-consuming and a lot of work—until now.
Here's an innovative way to post compelling content to your blog in just seconds that will also help propel your site to the top of the search engine results.
Photo blogging is a way to leverage what you do best every day—look at properties and use your cell phone—to create fresh search engine relevant content for your blog even several times a day. Here's how it works:
There you have it—about 90 seconds total (unless you're all thumbs like me; then it might take you two minutes). And what is really cool is that you haven't broken your daily routine to do it. And there's no more staring at a blank computer screen trying to figure out what to post while you could be out looking at properties—because you'll already be out looking at properties.
Now at this point you are probably thinking: "Awesome—I can do that! What's that special address I need to send these e-mails to?" As you might have guessed, there's just a little bit of set-up you have to do before you start photo blogging.
Getting Started
The first thing you want to do is set up a free account at Posterous.com. Once you've completed that, you'll be able to send your cell-phone posts to post@posterous.com, and it will know who sent it (it also works with e-mail sent from any device, including your computer). Now if this is far as you go, Posterous will automatically create your blog and handle updating it via your e-mails. However, if you want to maximize the Google "juice" that a frequently updated blog can give you and have a look and feel that is consistent with your brand, there are a few other things that you'll want to do:
NOTE: If you already have a blog with more traditional content, be sure to make your photo blog separate from it. Not everyone subscribed to your current blog will want to receive your photo blog posts throughout the day. Remember, the main benefit of a photo blog is quickly and easily adding search engine relevant content to your site on a regular basis, not necessarily to inform a reader base.
One Practitioner Found Success in Just a Few Months
Walter Burns is a condo specialist with Weichert, REALTORS®, in Hoboken, N.J. Thanks to his social media efforts—a large part of which is his photo blogging—his average transaction prices have soared from $250,000 to over $600,000 in a short period of time. You can see his photo blog by going to http://photos.livingonthehudson.com/. Notice that in addition to his photo blog, he has a traditional one as well, and both are seamlessly integrated into his main site, www.LivingOnTheHudson.com. If you examine both, you will see that the frequency of his posts to his photo blog is far greater than his regular one. And for good reason—it's so darn easy!
Whether you're brand new to blogging or a seasoned social networking pro, photo blogging is one tool you should be using on a daily basis. If you can take photos and text with your cell phone, you can photo blog.
Posting photos to your blog provides both fast and interesting content that will get you more clicks.
By Michael Russer | February 2010
There is no question that blogging can be a powerful tool to help you and your Web site stand out from the crowd and generate new business. And, as many have already discovered, it can be time-consuming and a lot of work—until now.
Here's an innovative way to post compelling content to your blog in just seconds that will also help propel your site to the top of the search engine results.
Photo blogging is a way to leverage what you do best every day—look at properties and use your cell phone—to create fresh search engine relevant content for your blog even several times a day. Here's how it works:
1. Snap a picture of a listing in your market area with your cell phone.
2. Compose an e-mail with the address of the listing as the subject line and just a sentenceor two describing the property.
3. Send the e-mail to a special address (which we'll discuss in a second) at which, once it's received, it will instantly post your subject line as the blog post title, insert the photo, and follow it up with the descriptive text as the main body of your post.
There you have it—about 90 seconds total (unless you're all thumbs like me; then it might take you two minutes). And what is really cool is that you haven't broken your daily routine to do it. And there's no more staring at a blank computer screen trying to figure out what to post while you could be out looking at properties—because you'll already be out looking at properties.
Now at this point you are probably thinking: "Awesome—I can do that! What's that special address I need to send these e-mails to?" As you might have guessed, there's just a little bit of set-up you have to do before you start photo blogging.
Getting Started
The first thing you want to do is set up a free account at Posterous.com. Once you've completed that, you'll be able to send your cell-phone posts to post@posterous.com, and it will know who sent it (it also works with e-mail sent from any device, including your computer). Now if this is far as you go, Posterous will automatically create your blog and handle updating it via your e-mails. However, if you want to maximize the Google "juice" that a frequently updated blog can give you and have a look and feel that is consistent with your brand, there are a few other things that you'll want to do:
1. Create a subdomain from your main Web site domain that points to your photo blog. For example, if your main site domain is LuxuryMountainHomes.com, then you may want to set your photo blog URL to photoblog.LuxuryMountainHomes.com with links to it on every page of your site. By doing this, search engines like Google will attribute the new photo blog content to your entire site. And since you used the property address as the post title, your site's relevancy for your market area increases with every submission.
2. Have your Web designer modify the look and feel of your Posterous blog to be consistent with that of your main Web site.By doing the above, you now have a way to constantly add high-relevance blog content to your site, day in and day out, without breaking a sweat.
NOTE: If you already have a blog with more traditional content, be sure to make your photo blog separate from it. Not everyone subscribed to your current blog will want to receive your photo blog posts throughout the day. Remember, the main benefit of a photo blog is quickly and easily adding search engine relevant content to your site on a regular basis, not necessarily to inform a reader base.
One Practitioner Found Success in Just a Few Months
Walter Burns is a condo specialist with Weichert, REALTORS®, in Hoboken, N.J. Thanks to his social media efforts—a large part of which is his photo blogging—his average transaction prices have soared from $250,000 to over $600,000 in a short period of time. You can see his photo blog by going to http://photos.livingonthehudson.com/. Notice that in addition to his photo blog, he has a traditional one as well, and both are seamlessly integrated into his main site, www.LivingOnTheHudson.com. If you examine both, you will see that the frequency of his posts to his photo blog is far greater than his regular one. And for good reason—it's so darn easy!
Whether you're brand new to blogging or a seasoned social networking pro, photo blogging is one tool you should be using on a daily basis. If you can take photos and text with your cell phone, you can photo blog.
Advantages of Top Producer Market Snapshot
I went to a Top Producer 8i QuickStart seminar this past Friday. Even though I knew everything that was presented in this program, I have to re-certify for Top Producer 8i. I thought it would give me a quick review of what Top Producer 8i has to offer. Especially as they just did an upgrade to their system. There were more than 30 people in the room.The interesting aspect to this seminar was the number of real estate agents that have subscribed to Top Producer, some for over 15 years, that were not utilizing Top Producer 8i to its potential. Most realtors gave the impression they barely used this program at all. One Realtor® told me she had subscribed to Top Producer for 15 years and still did not know how to use it.
Another Realtor® had just started in the business 3 months earlier and had subscribed to Top Producer and wanted to learn how to use it. I found it very interesting that she left at the one hour break. I wondered to myself, how much will she be using this fantastic database?
At the end of the program Ben Bock, the Top Producer presenter, gave a 30 minute overview of Market Snapshot. Although I have heard this overview before, I wanted to listen again as no real estate agent I have worked with who has Top Producer has subscribed to Market Snapshop.
Ben started this part of the program by asking the real estate agents what was the most asked question when they spoke with people. Everyone concurred, “What’s the Market like?” This is where Market Snapshot will help every real estate agent.
Here are the steps to starting to get more quality leads with Market Snapshot.
1) Sign up for Market Snapshot.
2) Get a URL similar to www.marketvaluesinhourhometown.com.
3) Put the full page capture form on this website address. You can also use this capture code to have a widget sized form and put it in multiple settings like your website and blog.
4) Put this URL on the back of your business card with this simple statement.
“Do you want to know what the market is like in you area?
Go to: www.marketvaluesinyourhometown.com.”
5) Put a link to your market snapshot website on your e-mail signature. Just state, “Click Here for a Free Market Report.”
6) You can post ads on Craigslist or Facebook. A simple ad that states “Find Out Your Homes Value in the Market in Just Minutes!” It is very easy to post html code on Craigslist and you can attach your full page capture form right on the ad.
So when someone is talking with you and asks what you do for a living and you tell them you are a real estate agent, you know the very next question they are going to ask you. . . “So what is the market really like?” You can give them you business card and tell them to go to the URL on the back of your card and sign up for a Market Snapshot of their area and receive it in less than 15 minutes.
Here’s Another Feather In Your Hat!
A Decade of Dramatic Developments
At the beginning of the 21stcentury, most home buyers had never viewed a home online; the three tophome sale marketing methods were yard signs, newspaper ads, and openhouses; and nearly nine out of 10 buyers financed their purchase with afixed-rate, 30-year mortgage.
What a difference a decade makes.
“The real estate industry has seentremendous change and evolution over the past decade,” said NATIONALASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® President Vicki Cox Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz. “As the first, best source forreal estate information, REALTORS® have not only anticipated andadapted to the evolving needs of their clients and customers, but alsohave influenced industry trends and innovations that will carry us intothe future.”
In 1999, buyers who went online in searchfor a home were in the minority – only 37 percent of buyers used theInternet in their home search, according to data from the NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.Today, 90 percent of buyers are searching online, and the real estateindustry has responded. Sites like REALTOR.com, which attracts nearly12 million total visits every month, have evolved to gives today’sbuyers what they want – not just property listings, but multiplephotos, online videos, mapping features, and comprehensive neighborhoodinformation, as well.Median home values over the past decadehave increased more than 25 percent, from $137,600 in November 1999 to$172,600 in November 2009 (the most recent existing-home dataavailable). Fewer people are buying detached, single family homes – 82percent in 1999 compared to 78 percent in 2009 – but more people arebuying homes in suburban neighborhoods – 46 percent in 1999 compared to54 percent today.
Buyers themselves have also changed. Asmaller proportion of married couples are buying homes these days;while married couples comprised 68 percent of all home purchases at thebeginning of this century, they represent 60 percent of all buyerstoday. Single men and women have made up the difference – single menpurchased 10 percent of all homes last year, compared to only 7 percent10 years ago. Single women now represent more than one-fifth of allhome buyers – 21 percent, up from 15 percent in 1999.
Other things haven’t changed. The medianage for home buyers last year was 39, just as it was in 1999.Neighborhood quality, affordability, and convenience to work and schoolhave consistently been top priorities for both past and present buyers.And eight out of 10 recently surveyed consumers believe that owning ahome is an investment in their future.
“REALTORS® have been around for more than100 years, but one constant during that time has been the persistenceof homeownership as the American Dream,” said Golder. “As the firstdecade of this century comes to a close, NAR stands ready to meet themany challenges and opportunities that lie ahead by helping ourREALTORS® members better serve their clients and communities andensuring that those dreams of homeownership remain possible for all whowant to achieve it.”
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
Picture Perfect: Tips and Tools for Better Photos
It's a fact: Listings with pictures sell faster.Here's an overview of some key photographic principles, as well as photo editing tools, to help you visually present a home.
Every real estate professional is now a photographer. Creating virtual tours is part of your job—an essential service you are expected to provide both buyers and sellers. Unless you have the budget to farm this chore out, you'll have to put in some time behind the lens taking pictures to make listings shine and highlight all the selling points of a home.
Whether you consider yourself the novice snap-shooter or a serious amateur photographer, there are simple techniques and an abundance of software tools to help you achieve a perfect shot.
It all starts with a good picture.
Tips for Better Photography
Get the Right Camera: For real estate, select a camera with a wide-angle lens so you can capture an entire room, or an entire home,in one shot. Wide angle means a lens "equivalent to a 28mm lens" on a35mm camera, or lower. You'll also want at least a 4X optical zoom(rather than a digital zoom) to highlight specific features of the home. Fortunately, there's now a good selection of wide-angle/zoom cameras in all categories, from compacts to digital SLRs.
Learn a Camera's Features: Today, all digital cameras boast automatic features and presets that help ensure a good picture,whatever the subject and setting. But you need to understand why and when to use each and switch them on.
Think Before You Shoot: Don't just snap away as you walk through the house. Scout each room, and think in terms of how to capture its appeal. That may mean removing clutter, clearing tables and shelves, or rearranging furniture to better convey the possibilities in that space.
Compose Your Shot: Use the camera's viewfinder or monitor to visually compose your picture before shooting. See how the image changes when you move closer or away from your subject, or when viewed from different angles.
Use a Tripod or Monopod: When shooting in any poorly lit setting or using zoom, there's always the risk of the picture blurring if you hold the camera. With the camera mounted and stationary, the potential problem is easily eliminated.
Step-Up: Use a stool or step ladder to take a picture from a slightly higher perspective than eye level. Otherwise, your pictures can highlight too much ceiling, rather than what's on floor level.
Turn Up the Lights: For interior shots, turn on all the available lights, even when using flash. If your camera's built-in flash range is too limited, invest in portable lights or an auxiliary flash (if available for your camera). Or, plan to shoot during daytime hours, and take advantage of ambient light.
Avoid Backlit Situations: When the background is bright,the subject can get lost in the shadows. Inside, you can avoid this by drawing the curtains; outside, by tightly framing your subject. Some cameras have specific settings for shooting against a bright background.
Shoot Like a Pro: Take lots of pictures—professional photographers fire away because they know the more they shoot, they more likely they will get that perfect shot. Zoom in and out, shoot interiors with and without flash, move around, and take several pictures of the listing in every room.
Get It Right Before You Leave: Use your camera monitor, netbook, or notebook to review your photos while you're still on site.It's better to make sure you have all the pictures you need than discover later you have to return for that one shot you missed.
Software Tools
Even if you've mastered the art of photography, there are always situations where you can improve your photos with imaging software. For real estate purposes, you'll typically use this software to organize images, crop photos, pull details out of the shadows, and adjust the exposure level. Shy away from making significant changes to a picture—erasing unwanted details, changing colors, or rearranging elements within a picture—and, if you do, always let viewers know how the image has been edited.
There are three types of imaging software to help you improve your pictures:
Tools You Already Have: Every camera comes bundled with software you can use for organizing pictures and basic image editing.Some cameras actually have this software built in, so you can make minor improvements to pictures while they are still stored in the camera's memory card.
Digital photography is so popular that imaging software is also one of the essential programs included with your computer's operating system. For Windows Vista users, the Windows Photo Gallery provides tools for organizing and improving pictures. On the Mac side, iPhoto is included as part of the iLife suite bundled with Mac OS X.
Aftermarket Imaging Software: Mention imaging software and most people think of Adobe's Photoshop first, part of the Adobe Creative Suite. Apple's Aperture,$199, is also a professional-level imaging solution for its platform,with tools that more than cover the needs of the typical real estate professional.
For Windows or Mac users who aren't satisfied with what's included with their systems, one good place to start might be with something like Adobe's Photoshop Elements, $99. Also, there's Google's free Picasa, which combines imaging software with a Web-based image gallery.
Other Windows options include: 
- Serif PhotoPlus, available in a free or $10 deluxe version
- Ulead Photo Impact, $49.99
- NovaDevelopment's Photo Explosion Deluxe, $49.95
On the Mac side, some of the aftermarket choices include:
- Pixelmator, $59
- Iris, $79
- GIMP, freeware
Web-Based Solutions: As with every other software category,there's a growing selection of Web-based tools for organizing and editing photos. With the exception of Windows Live Picture Gallery,most are platform independent. Bandwidth and available online storage space should be a consideration if you plan to work with large image files. Some of the many choices include Adobe's Photoshop.com along with FotoFlexer, PicNik, Pixlr, and Sumo Paint.
Remember, whether you install software or use an online package, all of these tools provide the same basic functions for improving pictures.Where they differ is in their sophistication and the actual user experience. Therefore, you may want to sample several programs before deciding which one you'll be most comfortable using.
That may be the toughest part of getting those perfect pictures for your tours.
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas
We are all busy this time of year. I Love Christmas; the sites, sounds, and smells. I especially like the smells while I'm baking to make gifts of food for the neighbors and family. I love to listen to all of the Christmas songs and this year I started early as Andrea Bocelli's, My Christmas, CD came out early.
So instead of rambling on about what you can get for free to grow your business, I thought I would rather have everyone enjoy this video. It's from an A Capella group out of the University of Indiana. This video is by Straight No Chaser and was produced in 1998.
Have a Blessed Christmas and Holiday Season!
So instead of rambling on about what you can get for free to grow your business, I thought I would rather have everyone enjoy this video. It's from an A Capella group out of the University of Indiana. This video is by Straight No Chaser and was produced in 1998.
Have a Blessed Christmas and Holiday Season!
Real Estate Associates Think Outside the Box
As I haven't had time to write a blog in the last few weeks I did find a very interesting article that all real estate agents could use. I know that many real estate agents do not hold Open Houses much any more. There are a lot of reasons: no one comes, it never seems to sell the house, etc. However the article below came from Realtor Magazine Realtor® Magazinetoday. I hope it inspires some real estate agents to be more creative in how they handle an Open House!
"The persistently sluggish economy is forcing property agents to take more creative approaches to the run-of-the-mill open house. Recent marketing events in the Memphis,Tenn., area reflect the lengths sales associates are willing to go to in order to attract attention to their listings. Some have partnered with other practitioners to host festive open houses featuring Christmas music and refreshments. This tag-team approach to marketing multiple properties was effective for Crye-Leike agents Vicki Gandee and Carmen Brown.
"This can be done with several sales associates in the same subdivision, and sell the subdivision as well as the home," says Gandee. "This type thing brings the neighbors out as well, and they love to talk about their neighborhoods to potential buyers."
Individual sales associates, too, are stepping up their marketing strategies. "I tell you this, they remember my open houses," declares Signature Realty affiliate broker Larry Ohrberg, who promoted new homes in the Trinity Park neighborhood with a barbeque lunch, drawings for cash and prizes, and even an appearance by Santa Claus. Another of Ohrberg's more spectacular open houses was built around a 10-acre mini-ranch in Olive Branch.
To market the property, he invited fellow brokers to participate in hay rides, giveaways, and other activities."It didn't sell the house," Ohrberg concedes, "but we did have a lot of people there. Now when I have an open house, they come." Other agents are taking the open house to the next level as well.
Briscoe Ellett of Weichert, REALTORS®,Benchmark, for example, helped stage a "martini open house" for a home on Mud Island. The concept was designed to give downtown workers a sample of the lifestyle they could enjoy by buying a home close to their jobs. "A social way to get the exposure for people in the home,"is how Ellett described the function. "Something outside the box and enjoyable." Formerly a mechanical engineer, Ellett says he has realized that success in real estate sales hinges in part on being creative. "If you do things the same way, you get the same old results," he notes."
Source: Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal, Tom Bailey, Jr. (12/16/09)
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
"The persistently sluggish economy is forcing property agents to take more creative approaches to the run-of-the-mill open house. Recent marketing events in the Memphis,Tenn., area reflect the lengths sales associates are willing to go to in order to attract attention to their listings. Some have partnered with other practitioners to host festive open houses featuring Christmas music and refreshments. This tag-team approach to marketing multiple properties was effective for Crye-Leike agents Vicki Gandee and Carmen Brown.
"This can be done with several sales associates in the same subdivision, and sell the subdivision as well as the home," says Gandee. "This type thing brings the neighbors out as well, and they love to talk about their neighborhoods to potential buyers."
Individual sales associates, too, are stepping up their marketing strategies. "I tell you this, they remember my open houses," declares Signature Realty affiliate broker Larry Ohrberg, who promoted new homes in the Trinity Park neighborhood with a barbeque lunch, drawings for cash and prizes, and even an appearance by Santa Claus. Another of Ohrberg's more spectacular open houses was built around a 10-acre mini-ranch in Olive Branch.
To market the property, he invited fellow brokers to participate in hay rides, giveaways, and other activities."It didn't sell the house," Ohrberg concedes, "but we did have a lot of people there. Now when I have an open house, they come." Other agents are taking the open house to the next level as well.
Briscoe Ellett of Weichert, REALTORS®,Benchmark, for example, helped stage a "martini open house" for a home on Mud Island. The concept was designed to give downtown workers a sample of the lifestyle they could enjoy by buying a home close to their jobs. "A social way to get the exposure for people in the home,"is how Ellett described the function. "Something outside the box and enjoyable." Formerly a mechanical engineer, Ellett says he has realized that success in real estate sales hinges in part on being creative. "If you do things the same way, you get the same old results," he notes."
Source: Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal, Tom Bailey, Jr. (12/16/09)
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
Getting Wired for Christmas!
This post doesn't really have much to do with being a virtual assistant, but my husband thinks I should do a blog about it anyway. Although the more I think about this, I love to make my life as simple as possible. If there are things I can do so I do not have to do them over again, then that makes my life easier. My job as a virtual assistant is to make my clients lives easier for them.
The day after Thanksgiving always finds my family starting our Christmas decorating. We all love Christmas and this just makes us get in the mood for Christmas that much easier. I love the Christmas carols, the decorations, the thought and the warmth of the season!
Last year I decided to take the old Christmas lights off the tree and put on new LED lights. We had always had red lights but my daughter thought the ice blue lights would be pretty. I found some LED lights at Sam's Club that would work and not break the bank.
But I need to move backward about 15 years. We had moved into a home up in Estes Park, Colorado. It was a lovely home, log, hard wood floors, moss rock fireplace, I loved it. We needed a different tree so we went down to Littleton, Colorado to a store on Santa Fe. Most of the year this is a pool and spa store, All City Pools, but for the Holidays it becomes the best Christmas store around, Christmas City.
We wanted a tree with the lights attached but these trees were very expensive. The sales person at Christmas City showed me how to attach the lights permanently. She said to string the lights on the tree how you wanted them, use green craft wire, and wire the lights onto the tree limbs. This way you can put the lights on each limb from the base to the edges, giving the tree a more 3 dimensional look. After Christmas you fold up the tree and lights and put it away until the next year. The lights are not damaged and you don't have to string lights every year.
We bought the tree and lights and I went home and did exactly what she had advised.
So last year, when I decided to change out the lights I had to take the old lights off, wires and all, and string the new lights and attach them with the green craft wire again. By the end of this, which took quite a bit of time, my hands were cut and scratched and my fingers were numb.
The biggest problem with these lights is we didn't like the effect it gave the tree. Since we had always had red lights, we just were not happy with the ice blue.
This year we looked into replacing the bulbs to red LED's but this would have been an extremely expensive endeavour. So I resigned myself to the ice blue lights and went about getting the tree ready. My daughter and I were unfolding the tree and getting the limbs adjusted when she noticed a string of lights were out. So I get the fuses replaced, which is not as easy as they say, turn the lights back on and the string is still out. But I look closer and it isn't a complete string of lights, just a portion of a string. So now I am really upset.
Off we go to Ace Hardware. We look at the LED lights again and the regular lights. The price for the LED lights are very expensive and I figure we need at least 5 boxes of 100 lights each. So we decided to go with the regular lights because it is within our budget. It's late and we are tired of things not working so we decide enough with decorating, or not decorating, and have dinner.
Saturday finds me starting to take the light blue LED lights off the Christmas tree. It is hard work actually, I have to figure out how I attached the wires last year and it seems like every single wire was put on just a little bit differently. My husband and daughter start to decorate the rest of the house, putting up the Dicken's Village, North Pole Village, and our Santa collection.
They finish up long before I am half way through taking the lights off the tree so they decide to start helping me. About 7:00 p.m that evening, we are finished.
Sunday, starting around 7:00 a.m. again, I start to string the lights. However, in the wee hours of the night, I decided attaching the lights with green craft wire is for the birds and I figure out a way to wrap the lights around each limb and make them permanent! I have no idea why this idea never came to me last year, probably because the sales person at Christmas City said to use the green craft wire, but it made it so much easier and the lights are on the tree permanently. All you really have to do is wrap the lights either around the limbs or the branches.
We were not able to finish decorating the tree until Monday evening, but the tree looks lovely and I am so glad we are back to our red lights!
Here's Is Another Feather In Your Hat!
The day after Thanksgiving always finds my family starting our Christmas decorating. We all love Christmas and this just makes us get in the mood for Christmas that much easier. I love the Christmas carols, the decorations, the thought and the warmth of the season!
Last year I decided to take the old Christmas lights off the tree and put on new LED lights. We had always had red lights but my daughter thought the ice blue lights would be pretty. I found some LED lights at Sam's Club that would work and not break the bank.
But I need to move backward about 15 years. We had moved into a home up in Estes Park, Colorado. It was a lovely home, log, hard wood floors, moss rock fireplace, I loved it. We needed a different tree so we went down to Littleton, Colorado to a store on Santa Fe. Most of the year this is a pool and spa store, All City Pools, but for the Holidays it becomes the best Christmas store around, Christmas City.
We wanted a tree with the lights attached but these trees were very expensive. The sales person at Christmas City showed me how to attach the lights permanently. She said to string the lights on the tree how you wanted them, use green craft wire, and wire the lights onto the tree limbs. This way you can put the lights on each limb from the base to the edges, giving the tree a more 3 dimensional look. After Christmas you fold up the tree and lights and put it away until the next year. The lights are not damaged and you don't have to string lights every year.
We bought the tree and lights and I went home and did exactly what she had advised.
So last year, when I decided to change out the lights I had to take the old lights off, wires and all, and string the new lights and attach them with the green craft wire again. By the end of this, which took quite a bit of time, my hands were cut and scratched and my fingers were numb.
The biggest problem with these lights is we didn't like the effect it gave the tree. Since we had always had red lights, we just were not happy with the ice blue.
This year we looked into replacing the bulbs to red LED's but this would have been an extremely expensive endeavour. So I resigned myself to the ice blue lights and went about getting the tree ready. My daughter and I were unfolding the tree and getting the limbs adjusted when she noticed a string of lights were out. So I get the fuses replaced, which is not as easy as they say, turn the lights back on and the string is still out. But I look closer and it isn't a complete string of lights, just a portion of a string. So now I am really upset.
Off we go to Ace Hardware. We look at the LED lights again and the regular lights. The price for the LED lights are very expensive and I figure we need at least 5 boxes of 100 lights each. So we decided to go with the regular lights because it is within our budget. It's late and we are tired of things not working so we decide enough with decorating, or not decorating, and have dinner.
Saturday finds me starting to take the light blue LED lights off the Christmas tree. It is hard work actually, I have to figure out how I attached the wires last year and it seems like every single wire was put on just a little bit differently. My husband and daughter start to decorate the rest of the house, putting up the Dicken's Village, North Pole Village, and our Santa collection.
They finish up long before I am half way through taking the lights off the tree so they decide to start helping me. About 7:00 p.m that evening, we are finished.
Sunday, starting around 7:00 a.m. again, I start to string the lights. However, in the wee hours of the night, I decided attaching the lights with green craft wire is for the birds and I figure out a way to wrap the lights around each limb and make them permanent! I have no idea why this idea never came to me last year, probably because the sales person at Christmas City said to use the green craft wire, but it made it so much easier and the lights are on the tree permanently. All you really have to do is wrap the lights either around the limbs or the branches.
We were not able to finish decorating the tree until Monday evening, but the tree looks lovely and I am so glad we are back to our red lights!
Here's Is Another Feather In Your Hat!
Secrets of a Successful Open House
Another good idea for an open house or a showing, to give your home a more delicious bouquet, may be to bake some chocolate chip cookies right before the scheduled showing or open house. A home with the fragrance of baked goods always seems more inviting.
Still another alternative to baking, because we all have so much time to do that these days, is to brew Choffy. I do not like the taste of Choffy because I don't like the taste of coffee. However, the aroma is absolutely amazing! And for those of you who like the taste of coffee, this is an excellent drink. I said it tasted like coffee light. My daughter says it tastes like coffee light with chocolate overtones.
"Chocolate: The Fashion Accessory That Never Goes Out Of Style
"A few weeks ago Choclatique had the privilege of being involved in a NewYork open house fashion event for editors, organized by Dell et RuhsPR. Among the racks and racks of beautiful designer clothing andjewelry displayed in the penthouse, there stood a table filled with astunning array of Choclatique confections."Read More
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
Wonders of Free Time
There hasn't been a whole lot of time lately to write a blog post. I want to write about things that are helpful to my clients and discovering new ways to promote their business. But I also have things I want to do for myself, much like my clients. That is my job, to allow them free time to do the extra activities they want to do in life: hiking, biking, golfing. Whatever their passions might be! Everyone wants some me time.
My passion goes to creating stained glass. I have been working on a piece for about 2 1/2 months for my brother. I found a wonderful pattern that I knew he would love and sent it to him. He came to visit in July and we went and picked out the glass he wanted.
I am not able to work on my glass as often as I would like so I work on it in the evenings and weekend when time allows. After about 60 hours of work, this is what I have produced. The photographs do not show this piece in it's best light. Stained glass has to be viewed in person to really see the vibrant colors.
I hope you enjoy my passion! And remember, everyone needs to get away from work once in awhile. You may need to find a good virtual assistant that can help you in your work. This will allow you to go enjoy the things you are passionate about pursuing!
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
My passion goes to creating stained glass. I have been working on a piece for about 2 1/2 months for my brother. I found a wonderful pattern that I knew he would love and sent it to him. He came to visit in July and we went and picked out the glass he wanted.
I am not able to work on my glass as often as I would like so I work on it in the evenings and weekend when time allows. After about 60 hours of work, this is what I have produced. The photographs do not show this piece in it's best light. Stained glass has to be viewed in person to really see the vibrant colors.
I hope you enjoy my passion! And remember, everyone needs to get away from work once in awhile. You may need to find a good virtual assistant that can help you in your work. This will allow you to go enjoy the things you are passionate about pursuing!
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
Secrets of Creating a WordPress Blog
When I attended the Blogging and Social Media Marketing seminar on August 21, 2009, Jason Berman of “The J. Berman Group” touted WordPress.com for blogs. I had just been researching WordPress.com and WordPress.org for blogs. I covered this aspect in my blog on August 26, 2009 titled, “How to Set Up Your Blog.”
I have set up my first WordPress blog for a real estate client and had fairly little trouble. I was lucky to have my daughter sitting by my side to answer my questions as she had done one (1) WordPress.com blog and two (2) WordPress.org blogs. She is more willing to click and see what happens than I am.
I had some specific things I was looking for in a theme. I wanted my client’s blog to look much like her website with a custom header, a left navigation bar and the right side available for pages. I chose several themes that I thought my client might like and asked her to decide which ones she liked the best. Her first choice was Celestial Aura and second was Atahualpa. Both of these would work well so I used Celestial Aura.
The next step was to decide which plug-ins would work the best.
My client suggested I put some events on her blog for local sporting events. Since she lives in the wonderful city of San Diego, I found many other venues that would be wonderful for visitors.
Deciding which pages to put on the blog was fairly easy as I had already installed many plug-ins that I wanted for pages, contact form, about page and events. It just came down to adding the pages and sub-pages.
I needed photographs of my client and what she wanted for her header. I needed to resize the header photograph and crop some of it so it would fit in the 880 x 125 space in the header.
The final step was to start getting blogs posted. As my client had already subscribed to Lead Booster Club blogs, this is a monthly job I do for her for both of her blogs.
If you would like my assistance in setting up your WordPress.org blog, contact me at Nancy@LightenYourWorkLoad.com
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
I have set up my first WordPress blog for a real estate client and had fairly little trouble. I was lucky to have my daughter sitting by my side to answer my questions as she had done one (1) WordPress.com blog and two (2) WordPress.org blogs. She is more willing to click and see what happens than I am.
I had some specific things I was looking for in a theme. I wanted my client’s blog to look much like her website with a custom header, a left navigation bar and the right side available for pages. I chose several themes that I thought my client might like and asked her to decide which ones she liked the best. Her first choice was Celestial Aura and second was Atahualpa. Both of these would work well so I used Celestial Aura.
The next step was to decide which plug-ins would work the best.
- Akismet - checks your comments to make sure they are not spam.
- WordPress.com Stats - tracks the number of views you get on your blog.
- Fast and Secure Contact Form - this is a very simple contact form, but allows your visitors to send a quick e-mail message but block spammers.
- All in One SEO Pack - as described on WordPress it is “Out-of-the-box SEO,” which all blogs need.
- FT Signature Manager - allowed me to put in HTML so visitors could click on the signature and go to my client’s website or click to send an e-mail. The signature is at the end of every blog post.
- Social Bookmarking Reloaded – puts links like Twitter, Facebook, etc. at the end of ever blog post so it is easy for your visitors to share your blog.
My client suggested I put some events on her blog for local sporting events. Since she lives in the wonderful city of San Diego, I found many other venues that would be wonderful for visitors.
Deciding which pages to put on the blog was fairly easy as I had already installed many plug-ins that I wanted for pages, contact form, about page and events. It just came down to adding the pages and sub-pages.
I needed photographs of my client and what she wanted for her header. I needed to resize the header photograph and crop some of it so it would fit in the 880 x 125 space in the header.
The final step was to start getting blogs posted. As my client had already subscribed to Lead Booster Club blogs, this is a monthly job I do for her for both of her blogs.
If you would like my assistance in setting up your WordPress.org blog, contact me at Nancy@LightenYourWorkLoad.com
Here's Another Feather In Your Hat!
