The Blog Artist

a closer look at AR Outside Blogs, header graphics, marketing week in review...

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 01:04:26 -0500

Introducing Active Rain Outside Blogs

Last week my blog design series was interrupted by a "lecture" to try an get the off topic posts under control. This week the interruption is for a much nicer reason. Unless you've been on another planet for the past few days you've probably seen, read and tested out the new AR outside blogs.

Active Brad

If for some reason you missed it, take a look at Brad Andersohn's very clear/detailed intro & instructions...

ActiveRain Launches Outside Blogs - How Do You Get Yours?

Since this is new, there will probably be a few bugs and wrinkles to work out in the coming days/weeks. After testing it out, here are a few things I found that might help you get your AR outside blog looking the way you want it to look.

Testing Things Out

To test drive the new AR outside blogs I put together a quick header and did some tweaking of the graphics. You can see mine at http://garaughty.activerain.com/

As with anything new in technology there are always things to be adjusted, fine tuned and fixed, so keep in mind that in the coming days and weeks a lot might change. But for now...

Apparently, SIZE does matter!!!

One of the BIG issues was a problem with uploading header images. There was a conflict about dimensions, apparently size does matter! The problem seems to have been resolved and the winner is...

742 pixels W X 105 pixels H

If you make your blog header image too large or too small there's good chance it will be stretched to fit the dimensions, that will distort the image or... if you make the image too large, parts of it will be cut off so sticking with the recommended image header size of 742 X 105 works best.

Question & Answer about "sloppy" title text

A few people seem to be having problems with the TITLE TEXT in their outside blog. i.e. a comment over at Brad's post reads "I cannot adjust the font or size of the typeface in the title and it is a big sloppy mess...can't find anywhere that tells me how to do that either...HELP PLEASE!"...

Right now the text/font size is fixed and can't be changed. The simple solution is to to keep your title text short and you won't have a "sloppy mess".

Again as with anything new (especially technology), it usually won't work perfectly on day one. Having patience goes a long way. The bugs & problems are being addressed.

The Sidebar Photo

The sidebar photo doesn't seem to have any issues as long as you use the dimensions of 189 pixels W or more. I tested several images with different height values and all seemed to work well.

Coming Soon... free background images for AR Outside Blogs

As we did with the AR Blog Customizer (Pimp Your Blog part 2), for anyone who doesn't have the time or patience to design their own blog header, we'll be giving away a variety of free custom designed background images that you can use on your AR Outside Blog. Just add text! I just want to be sure the image header size stays at 742 W X 105 H before we put them online for download.

Really connecting with people on a blog takes more than just throwing together a few property listings. If you give them a reason to interact with you, you'll have a much better chance of having them come back again and again. Here is an excellent example by Diane Aurit in her post...

Localism Idea: Restaurant Reviews!

Shy about video?

Are you shy about posting with video? If you haven't seen it yet, check out Mary Anne Daly's fun and entertaining look at dealing with webcam shyness...

Overcoming Webcam Shyness-Here's How I Did It

LOL Sally!

And another great example by Sally Cheeseman of testing out the video thing, making it real, human and fun. Something we can all relate to. Check out her video post I Really Crack Me Up ...hahahahahaha!

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...

- "Listing Exposure" - Creativity in a Challenging Market by Rich Jacobson

- Snickers, Zeros & Zagnuts- Lessons from the Candyman by Chuck Willman

- GET Permission to Use Pictures, Video & Testimonials of Clients by Sally Cheeseman

- HOW DO I PRICE MY HOME TO SELL? by Yvette Smith

- Tips for Writing Good Copy for Web Sites by Vicki Pedersen

- Just a Few Personalized Give-Aways To Get The Creative Juice's Flowing! by Leesa L. Finley

- An Oldie But Goodie - City-Data - Have You Visited Lately? by Leesa L. Finley

- 8 Great Ways to Reinvent the Old Pre-View Home Tour! by Lola Audu

- Nurturing the Internet Lead -- Part 1/Preparation by Nicki Conway

- Press - One of the Keys to Success by Julea Joseph

- Will Your Real Estate Peers Eventually Overcome Their Social Phobia? by William Johnson

- Has blogging helped you become a better professional & expert? by Jeff Belonger

- EMOTIONAL CONNECTION is key to forming relationships with prospects by Kay Steele Faulk

- Testimonials Kick A$$! by Jason Sardi

- Flickr + Video = Happy Denver Relocation Clients by Steve Scheer

- Listing Presentation Out, Video In by Margaret Woda

- TIPS TO MAKE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY- NEWS WORTHY by Allison Stewart

- Increase your online presence & SEO with BusinessCard2 by Bill Gassett

- Domain Names as We Know Them Will Never Be The Same! by Bobby Carroll

- Just found a new site to advertise listings by GITA BANTWAL

- Makeover2Takeover Contest Update by Active Rain

- Tuesday Truths.....Accomplishments don't have to be Tangible by Kathy McGraw

- Do you want to know the secrets to success on Active Rain? by Jan Evett

- Is Life Really Good??? Life IS Good! by Ray Nellum

If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new medias and technologies like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below...

For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

TheBlogArtist.com TheArtOfMarketingYou.com The Ultimate Closing Gift garaughty.com

3 New Rain blog graphics, REsources, Your Ideas...

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:24:24 -0500

Hi guys... while I'm doing some "housekeeping" on my websites & blogs, I'm dropping off 3 new subscribe graphics for you to use on your ActiveRain blogs.

If you want to grab them, all you have to do is...

- place your mouse over the graphic

- click the right mouse button

- select "save image as"

- download it to your computer

- then upload it into your blog signature or blog post

- and link it to your Rain blog subscribe ID

I'll be adding more Rain blog graphics soon! Right now I have to run so thx for all great posts & info the you guys have been adding to the group, Have a great week...

To save you time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!

M:IQ is a really nice mobile backup service offering users up to 1 GB of online storage for pics, videos, contact info, SMS etc... And yes, it's free.Check it out at M:IQ

Finding all the cool, useful stuff on the web can be a major pain. Here are some of my favorite reads from the past few days.

The History and Evolution of Social Media by Cameron Chapman

There are general social networks with user bases larger than the population of most countries. There are niche sites for virtually every special interest out there. In this article, we’ll review the history and evolution of social media from its humble beginnings to the present day. read...

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Why Twitter and Facebook Will Never Kill E-mail by Kit Eaton

Twitter's on every tech-fan's lips, half the World's teens seem permanently plugged into MSN or Facebook, and seemingly every gadget's getting wired to a social network. With these big changes afoot, is email slipping into history? read...

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Content is free. Formats are not by Matt Asay

Content may be free, but the format in which we buy it certainly is not. As Apple, Google, Red Hat, and others increasingly demonstrate, consumers and enterprises are happy to pay for "free" when packaged in convenient formats that add value to digital goods. read...

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And... in case you missed them, here are just a few of the ideas, news and resources from the past few days by some of the sharp cookies that hang out in The Art Of Marketing You group

Giving your blog Oomph! Todd Clark

Your Vendors are a Reflection Upon YOU! Debe Maxwell

Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall--What Do I Look Like On-line? Holly Kirby Weatherwax

A Benchmark for Success: "Becoming Your Clients 'Trust' Agent Rich Jacobson

How To Make Your Maps and Floorplans Come Alive Cindy Jones

L.L. Bean Gets The Picture Dorie Dillard

"Ready Brew" Open House Idea Teresa Berry

When It Pays To NOT Be The Local Expert Gary Woltal

Extreme Rudeness - Not For Me Randy Eide

Not sold on Twitter as an effective outlet to market yourself? READ THIS Lori Cain

The Number ONE Real Estate Marketing Tool I could NOT live without! Janie Coffey

Exclude realtors from posting on a real estate network. Huh? Pacita Dimacali

The Art of Online Listening! Google Alerts & Twitter ! ~ From that Chilliwack Girl Liz Moras

5 Reasons to Participate in a Trade Show That's Not Real-Estate Related Gabrielle Nemes

If you have ??? about marketing YOU, blog design/graphics or building web presence, let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!

If you'd like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away . . .

You can also connect with me at...

For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

garaughty .com TheBlogArtist .com

October graphics, REsources, Marketing Bits & Pieces

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:35:10 -0500

Hi guys... for those of you who've been using my graphics to design your own wallpaper/calendars, this month I've also giving you a "blank canvas" to make things even easier to put your own designs together quickly.

October 2009 wallpaper/calendar (preview)

The image above is a preview of the October wallpaper/calendar we're giving away on my art website Its a photo of a chessboard I finally finished last month.

If you'd like to use the image above on your own blog or website, you can either download it and give it away as is or feel free to add your own text below the image.

And remember, people do not download wallpapers to see advertising on their computer screens so... less is more, keep it simple.

And a "blank canvas"...

And... if you'd like to create your own wallpaper/calendar, I'm also releasing the background image with the October calendar ready for you to add your own image and text.

You can download it here and using any graphics program, add your own text and image.

A quick example...

The image above shows an example of how you can add a simple photo and a little text to turn the "blank canvas" into your own masterpiece. Just...

- download the background image

- open it in any graphics program (it's a standard .jpg image)

- add your own photo and text

- save it

- upload it to your blog or website to give away

- it's also a good idea to create a small preview image so it fits well into your blog

Note: You do not need any expensive programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, etc... to add simple text. You can do this with pretty much any graphics program you have. If you don't have one, there are many free and inexpensive graphics editors that will do the trick. I'll review some in an upcoming post.

Once again, I'm releasing this image into the blogosphere under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license which in plain English means you can use it however, wherever and whenever you like including on commercial blogs & websites, no restrictions

On that note boys & girls, have a great week...

To save you time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!

MailChimp has introduced it's "Forever Free pricing plan" which allows subscribers to send upto 500 e-mails per campaign and 3,000 emails per month at no cost. Check it out at... MailChimp.com

Stop wasting time with spammers on Twitter. We will validate your followers so you don't have to. Check it out at TrueTwit.com

Find all your favourite internet resources and services on your mobile: create your own mobile space from a selection of hundreds of services, widgets and RSS feeds. It's easy and it's free at goojet.com

Finding all the cool, useful stuff on the web can be a major pain. Here are some of my favorite reads from the past few days.

How the yoga brand Lululemon turned fitness into a spectator sport by Bryant Urstadt

Lululemon, if you don’t know, is a brand of yoga apparel. Avril Lavigne wears Lulu. Brooke Shields wears Lulu. Felicity Huffman, Jennifer Garner, Courteney Cox, Kate Winslet, and Kate Hudson wear Lulu. There are Lululemon blogs with names like Lululemon Addict and hundreds of Facebook groups... read

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Report: Nine Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted on Twitter by Dan Macsai

If I wanted make sure this post did not go viral I could promote it on Twitter by posting something like this "was bored watchin the game on tv and saw this thing about RTs...made me lol after i had really bad stomach cramps".

Note the lack of punctuation, the use of of slang and abbreviations, the limited vocabulary, and the awkward overshare. read...

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If Craigslist cost $1 by SethGodin

Some things are better when they're not free. Money creates a sort of friction. In the digital economy, magical things can happen when there is no friction. You can scale to infinity. On the other hand, sometimes you want friction. read...

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Why the News Media Became Irrelevant—And How Social Media Can Help by Michael Skoler

Journalists are truth-tellers. But I think most of us have been lying to ourselves. Our profession is crumbling and we blame the Web for killing our business model. Yet it’s not the business model that changed on us. It’s the culture. read...

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Tokyo Café Targets Trend Makers by Miho Inada

Pitching new products to affluent and influential young Japanese women. It's called a marketing café, a first of its kind in Japan. Sample Lab Ltd. opened the Lcafe last month as a way to reach Japanese women in their 20s and 30s with information about new products. read...

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If you're wondering how to customize your blog, take a look at our group's guidelines page for tutorials and graphics that you can download and use on your Active Rain blog .

If you have questions about technology, blog design or building web presence, let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!

http : / /twitter .com / garaughty

If you'd like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing partnerships or to stay on top of all the new graphic goodies we'll be giving away , please subscribe to our blog using the button below . . .

For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

TheBlogArtist .com TheArtOfMarketingYou .com The Ultimate Closing Gift garaughty .com

September graphics + Marketing Bits & Pieces

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:50:35 -0500

I'm baaaaaaack! Contrary to the rumors, I haven't died of a caffeine or chocolate overdose. I'm just crazy busy and haven't had much time to blog but, I did manage to put together a new wallpaper/calendar for you guys to use in September.

September 2009 wallpaper/calendar (preview)

The image above is a preview of the September graphic. It's another geometry type thing. Very simple, clean and with lots of space for you to add any extra text and/or logo if you'd like to brand it and give it away on your own site or blog.

How to use it....

The image above is how it looks with some slight branding added. The whole idea is not to fill up the space with anything too promotional looking. Most people do not download wallpapers to see advertising on their computer screens so... less is more, keep it simple.

You can either download it and give it away as is or feel free to add your own text, logo or whatever you like.

Close up example of branding...

And this image shows an example of how you can use the "white space" to add your own personal touch with any graphics editor. Just...

- download the image

- open it in any graphics program (it's a standard .jpg image)

- add your text

- save it

- upload it to your blog or website to give away

- it's also a good idea to create a small preview image so it fits well into your blog

On that note, have a great week and I'll be back soon with more goodies for you. Later...

Finding all the cool, useful stuff on the web can be a major pain. To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources & reads from the past few days.

110 Fresh Logo Designs For Design Inspiration by Daniel Adams

A Logo is a graphical element that, together with its logotype (a uniquely set and arranged typeface) form a trademark or commercial brand. Typically, a logo’s design is for immediate recognition. read...

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Top Ten Branded Social Media Nightmares by Ron Callari

Success stories of brands and social media surface daily throughout the blogosphere. Since social media drives transparency in a very meaningful way, it forces companies to take a much more collaborative approach in resolving customer service issues... because when they falter...they can fall hard...and unfortunately end up on a TOP TEN list like this. read...

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Translate your tweets with Twinslator

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Top 10 Things the Microsoft/Yahoo! Deal Changes for SEO by randfish

The search landscape is changing significantly this morning, and SEOs of all stripes need to pay close attention. I'm going to do my best to summarize the impact of these changes based on what we already know and interpret what's going to change for the field of search engine optimization. read...

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TweetBlocker identifies spammers in your follow list and lets you easily unfollow and block them right from the TweetBlocker dashboard.

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Are we in a Social Media bubble? by Josh Gordon

You may not agree with this but you can't ignore it either. A recent issue of Media Life lays out a compelling case making the current enthusiasm for social media sound a lot like the "irrational exuberance" that led to the dot com bubble crash of 2001. read...

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What Does Your Twitter Avatar Say About You? by Joel Postman

Tweets are short at 140 characters, but a Twitter avatar must visually represent a user in just 2304 pixels. Choosing the right avatar can affect the way people see you online. Here are some of the most popular avatar types and what they say about the user: read...

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If you're wondering how to customize your blog, take a look at our group's guidelines page for tutorials and graphics that you can download and use on your Active Rain blog .

If you have questions about technology, blog design or building web presence, let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!

http : / /twitter .com / garaughty

For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

TheBlogArtist .com TheArtOfMarketingYou .com The Ultimate Closing Gift garaughty .com

New graphics for your blog(s): August calendar & cellphone wallpapers

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:52:59 -0500

August 2009 wallpaper/calendar

Hi guys, this month I've designed another new wallpaper/calendar that you can use or give away on your blogs and websites.

Feel free to add your own text i.e. (compliments of... your name). You can see and/or download the full size version here And before yous ask, yes you can use this on commercial blogs and websites. ;-)

And...

If you'd like a little something extra to give out to your blog readers, I've turned this month's calendar into 2 wallpapers for the BlackBerry Storm and the iPhone

Since space is very limited on cellphone wallpapers, my advice would be not to add any text but again, that is up to you. Feel free to add your own text if you'd like.

The whole point of giving away this kind of stuff isn't to plaster your name everywhere... but to give people a reaosn to interact with you and to keep coming back to your blog for fun, free stuff.

To get the full sized copy of the BlackBerry and iPhone wallpapers, just sent a note to my biz partner Giselle at GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com Again, you have my blessing to use these anywhere you like, including on commercial blogs and websites.

On that note, I have to get back to work so have a great weekend and I'll be back soon with some very cool news and more goodies for you. Later...

Finding all the cool, useful stuff on the web can be a major pain. To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources & reads from the past few days.

Meet the 27-Year-Old Who's Hijacking Twitter, One Quiz-Crazy Tween at a Time by Dan Macsai

In just over a month, Dave Zohrob's Twitter app, LOLquiz, has amassed more than 300,000 users and spawned at least 20 trending topics. WTF? read...

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40 Most Creative Business Cards You Will Ever See: view...

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The law of the little shovel by Seth Godin

Call on one person ten times and you might make the sale. Call on ten people once each and you will likely get ten rejections. The important thing to remember is that separate events are often separate. If you use the same ineffective approach on one thousand people, it's not going to start working better just because you use it more often. read...

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Twitcam posts your video description and link to Twitter for all your followers to see:
- While broadcasting, chat with your viewers via Twitter right from your broadcast page
- Once you’re done going live, we archive your video and display it on the same page. view...

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Quid Pro No by Chris Brogan

The basic premise of quid pro quo is that people attempt fair/equal transactions. This makes perfect sense when the exchange is obvious: I’ll give you $1.00 for that soda pop.

Here’s where this gets tricky: If I invite you to join the Facebook group for Trust Agents, it’s because I think you’ll get some value out of participating there. Say you join the group. If you now invite me to join your real estate company’s fan page after you’ve joined my book’s group, what should I do? read...

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Free eBook - The Truth about Blog Syndication view...

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Embrace the Lemon: Strategies for Helping a Campaign Go Viral by Melinda Partin

Viral marketing campaigns have quickly become one of the most simple and cost effective ways to increase brand awareness. But viral methods can be chaotic, and mastering strategies for controlling viral campaigns has become the Holy Grail for marketers. read...

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Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media by Claire Cain Miller

Three weeks after Curtis Kimball opened his crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, he noticed a stranger among the friends in line for his desserts. How had the man discovered the cart? He had read about it on Twitter. The beauty of digital word-of-mouth marketing was immediately clear. He signed up for an account and has more than 5,400 followers who wait for him to post the current location of his itinerant cart and list the flavors of the day, like lavender and orange creamsicle. read...

If you're wondering how to customize your blog, take a look at our group's guidelines page for tutorials and graphics that you can download and use on your Active Rain blog .

If you have questions about technology, blog design or building web presence, let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!

http : / /twitter .com / garaughty

For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

TheBlogArtist .com TheArtOfMarketingYou .com The Ultimate Closing Gift garaughty .com

New Graphic 4 U, REsources, In The News, Sharp Cookies

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:28:45 -0500

Hi guys... some people have personal trainers, some have personal coaches. I recently found out that I have personal butt kickers. So before TLW, Sally, Carole and a few others get on my case again for not posting often enough (thanks ladies), I'm stopping by to drop off a new copyright graphic I just designed for a "blog in progress".

I'm putting this out into the blogosphere under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license which in plain English means you can use it however, wherever and whenever you like including on commercial blogs & websites, no restrictions.

I realize it might be a little "too creative" for some sites but if you like it and want to grab it, all you have to do is...

- place your mouse over the graphic

- click the right mouse button

- select "save image as"

- download it to your computer and rename it to something like "copyright sphere" or whatever

On that note, I have to get back to work so as always, thx for all great posts & info the you guys have been adding to the group and have a great week. Later...

To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!

The SiteReportCard Image Optimization tool is a free utility that compresses your GIF, JPEG, and PNG images. Decreasing the file size of your web images will increase the download speed of your web pages without affecting image quality!

FREE for free: first ebook and audiobook versions released by Chris Anderson

We’re going to be rolling out the free digital forms of FREE over the next two weeks. First up: the Scribd form, right here on the blog (and anywhere else you want—it’s embeddable). This is the whole book! download

Facebook Launches Widgets with an Eye Towards SEO by Lawrence Coburn

In yet another sign that old fashioned, embeddable widgets are experiencing a bit of a rebirth, Facebook today announced Fan Boxes. Fan Boxes allow a Facebook Page's activity stream and / or fans to be displayed in a sidebar widget on any site. read...

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Google Adds More Images to Local Search Results by Frederic Lardinois

This morning, Google announced that it will now display images next to some local search results. For the last two years, Google generally showed a map as the first item on the search results page whenever a user searched for a location, but now, a grid with six pictures will also appear next to this map as well. read...

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On-page SEO - The Google Way by Mihaela Lica

We have discussed on many occasions the fact that Google does care for SEO and that optimized sites rank better in its search results. If you are still in doubt, there is one undeniable and indisputable proof: Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide read...

The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news , ideas and resources from the past few days by some of the sharp cookies that hang out in The Art Of Marketing You group

- How to Add Facebook Fanbox to Your ActiveRain Blog Jeremy Blanton

- ActiveRain and Facebook - A Social Networking Love Affair Brad Andersohn

- ABOUT FEATURED POSTS AND HOW NOT TO GET FEATURED Lenn Harley

- What Should I Blog About On Activerain? Midori Miller

- "No Follow" on Active Rain tags have been removed Bill Gassett

- Is Social Media a Double Edged Sword? Kevin & Monica Ray

- Social Media - Would You Like Fries With That? Greg Nino

- Google Voice Speaks Hannah Williams

- San Diego Real Estate - Sellers Market, Buyers Market or... Lenders Market? William Johnson

- How Future Google Mapping Technology in Real Estate Could Affect Your Business Loreena Yeo

- Top 75 "Free" Photo sites and Top 45 Photo Stock sites Castellum Realty

- Life just gets easier! (Linking your Blog to YouTube) Elayna Fernandez

- "THE CLOSER" or How I Learned How NOT to Sell Homes Brian Block

If you're wondering how to customize your blog , take a look at our group's guidelines page for tutorials and graphics that you can download and use on your Active Rain blog .

If you have questions about technology , blog design or building web presence, let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!

http : / /twitter .com / garaughty

For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

TheBlogArtist .com TheArtOfMarketingYou .com The Ultimate Closing Gift garaughty .com

Almost wordless, REsources, sharp cookies...

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:50:47 -0500

Almost "wordless" Wednesday...

The almost "wordless" part... I'm going thru another insanely busy period and wanted to stop to say "hi" and thx for all the quality content you guys have been adding to the group.

I love that I can count on so many of you to keep things lively, interesting & on track. It's very much appreciated, not just by me but by our now over 9000 members!!!

I'll be back real soon with a ton of new graphics & tutorials. Have an awesome week...

To save you some time, here are some of my favorite resources that I found on the web this week. Unless otherwise indicated, these are all freebies!

Ever wonder what colors to use with an image? Upload your image, get a color palette... Pictaculous

Free Online Screen Recorder... & use it anywhere, anytime, no download... ScreenToaster

Birdies: Free Twitter Icons For Your Blog... here

Generation Y: We're just not that into Twitter by Sharon Vakni

A recent survey from Pace University and the Participatory Media Network shows that only 22 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use Twitter, while 99 percent have profiles on social networks. read...

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Tweet this: Twitter is a powerful marketing tool by Joseph Peña

“Twitter is the best thing to happen to marketing since television,” Kawasaki told the crowd of 600-plus people. “It’s cheaper, it’s fast and it’s free.” read...

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The Apple Wannabes: Dell, Microsoft, Pepsi, and Google by Rooftop Comedy

Inside the secret brainstorms that begin with the dreaded phrase, "If only we could be more like Apple." read...

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Over-Innovation: A Cautionary Tale by Ravi Sawhney

There's a tale often told in design circles of how, in the heat of the space race, NASA paid over a million dollars to develop a pen that worked in zero gravity. The Russians, however, took a different approach. They used a pencil. read...

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Tyranny's new nightmare: Twitter by Tim Rutten

As new media spreads its Web worldwide, authoritarians like those in Iran will have a difficult time maintaining absolute control in the face of the technology's chaotic democracy. read...

The posts listed below are just a small sample of the news , ideas and resources from the past few days by some of the sharp cookies that hang out in The Art Of Marketing You group

- The ActiveRain Ambassador Program Brad Andersohn

- A Friendly Reminder--Select Your Posting Groups Carefully Holly Kirby Weatherwax

- I Unsubscribed from 10 Active Rain Bloggers. Want to Know Why? Lisa Hill

- Kissing Frogs to Increase Internet Leads Christopher and Stephanie Somers

- Tips In Dealing With the Anonymous Cyberstalker Sally Cheeseman

- Being Mindful of Our Reputation Online Sally Cheeseman

- HiJacking. A Little History & The Guidelines Of Engagement...Re-dux. ROAR! "The Lovely Wife"

- The Reality of Selling Ugly Homes Margaret Woda

- What a TOOL !!! Sheldon Neal

- Never Failed? Then, You've Never LIVED! Debe Maxwell

- Getting Started with Twitter - 6 Great Twitter Video Tutorials Ryan Shaughnessy

- What is Wrong with the Simple Approach - We Sell Real Estate and We Do It Right Ryan Shaughnessy

- ARE YOU BREAKING THE LAW LOOKING AT HOMES? Allison Stewart

- You Attract More Bees With Honey Than Vinegar Lisa Udy

- The Ugly-- Now The Good Liz Loadholt

- Control Your Anxiety About Your Time Lou Ludwig

If you're wondering how to customize your blog , take a look at our group's guidelines page for tutorials and graphics that you can download and use on your Active Rain blog .

If you have questions about technology , blog design or building web presence, let me know and I'll try to answer them in a future post!

http : / /twitter .com / garaughty

For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

TheBlogArtist .com TheArtOfMarketingYou .com The Ultimate Closing Gift garaughty .com

welcome to The Art Of Marketing YOU...

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:49:18 -0600

(***Note: We are updating the graphics, blog headers, etc... we've given away in the past year to fit both the standard & outside Rain blogs. We'll post a link to the new versions soon.)

First I'd like to say "hi and welcome" to everyone who has joined The Art Of Marketing You group. As you can probably tell by the title, this group is about marketing.

The Art Of Marketing You is not a place to post recipes, vacation photos, philosophy, diet tips, property listings, local market reports, etc... To try and keep the group on topic and relevant to our members, we often delete off topic posts. For more details, see the Active Rain guidelines

The occasional off topic, fun post is cool, we all need/enjoy distractions from the day to day biz but I don't want this group to turn into something it wasn't intended to be. It's not Localism, it's not the comedy club and it's not spammer's paradise.

The most interesting, original, thought provoking, on topic posts will be featured in the group. This will give additional exposure to you, your ideas and your blog! We want quality, not quantity.

One well written, well thought out post will get you more attention and more readers/subscribers than off topic stuff!

With the help of our members & moderators, we try to keep the group focused, on topic, positive and useful to members of the real estate industry.

There are a lot of sharp cookies here in the Rain and a ton of very talented people willing to share their knowledge with us so... let's make the best of it.

We are all guests here on Active Rain, you are also a guest in this group. Please play nice with the other members. Our group is here to share your experience, to ask questions and to suggest ideas. Don't just be a reader, participate in whichever way you can. Active Rain has given us a wonderful gift, let's use it wisely!

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For more info about how we can help you stand out from the crowd, contact GiselleStCyr@garaughty.com

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real estate brainstorms, marketing in the Rain part 9

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:31:52 -0600

The Art Of Marketing You

I'd like to start this post with a mention of Bobby & Brad Carroll'snew acquisition of BloggerLounge.net. Both Bobby & Brad have been prolific contributors here on Active Rain and to The Art Of Marketing You group in particular. You can read all the details in Bobby's post at You're Invited to the Lounge - The Blogger Lounge!

And before getting into the marketing stuff, I'd like to encourage everyone, especially the newer members of our group to read Posting Guidelines - Real Estate Professionals Blog , if you want to have your posts noticed or featured, this brief article contains some great reminders, guidelines and ideas to point you in the right direction.

And now, the marketing goodies...

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from past few weeks...

- Should You Have A Blog or a Website? by Brad Andersohn

- Is Writing Quality Real Estate Blog Content Like Pulling Teeth? by Mary McKnight

- Re-Imagine Real Estate; Marketing, Branding and Niche-Building by Mimi Osterdahl

- Marketing To Create Multiple Streams of Income Through the Holidays & Beyond! by Lola Audu

- How to Build Quality Backlinks for your Real Estate Blog, Part 1 by Mary McKnight

- How to generate leads from your real estate blog, Part 2 by Mary McKnight

- 3 EASY steps to Page One of the Search engines - Part 3! by Greg Fox

- Maximizing Your Referral and Repeat Business.-Part 1 by Jo-Anne Smith

- Marketing Idea For Open Houses and More...My 100th Post by Shannon Lefevre

- Want a Riveting Blog? Add a Cartoon and Here's How! by Andrew J. Lenza

- An Open Letter to All REALTORS - from a Prospective Buyer (and Potential Client) by Calie Waterhouse

- Creating Multiple Streams of Income by Dominating Your Local Niche! by Lola Audu

- Real Estate Business Cards - Who would have thought of this great idea?! by George Tallabas

- Digital Brand Management - Your Online Reputation Is At Stake! by Bobby Carroll

- Driving Traffic to Your Blog Through the Print Media by Gail Robinson

- Your Website Is Trying to Tell You How to Generate More Leads -Are You Listening? by Brad Carroll

- Feedburner Tutorial - Syndicate Yourself , Build Blog Readership and Control Your Own Destiny by Cyndee Haydon

special mention

This month's special mention goes to Marlene Scheffer for her interesting concept of Product Placement: Can it work for us too? and another special mention goes out to Ricardo Bueno for his post about How Apple Computer Creates Raving Fans...You Should Too!

If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new media and new technology like widgets, etc... please subscribe to our blog using the button below,,,

real estate brainstorms, marketing in the Rain part 8

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:03:48 -0500

The Art Of Marketing You

The past few weeks have been a very hectic period for me so I'm a little behind in the marketing roundup but if better late than never still holds true, here are some outstanding marketing articles, posts and ideas to get you through the week...

6 Ways to Make the Most of Your Key Accounts by Bill Brooks posted this week at Broker Agent News

If You Were On A Desert Island, Surrounded By The Ocean, Where Would Your Next Client Come From? by Michael Parker at Broker Agent News

Some Quick Branding Tips For Individuals by Chris Brogan

The iPology Heard Round the Apple by Len Stein

Does Telling Someone to "Click Here" Actually Matter? by Brian Clark of Copyblogger

ONLINE POKER or The Marketing Folly of Using Highly Popular Yet Unrelated Keywords to Drive Online Traffic by Mike Yanke

Digg Goes Deeper with Social Networking by Catherine Holahan of Business Week

Real Estate Blog SEO Tip of the Week: Internal link relevance by Mary McKnight of RSS Pieces

In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from past few weeks...

- Evaluate Your Website by Bobby Carroll

- Screen Test Your Buyer's..It Could Lead To Autograph's On A Sales Contract! by Midori Miller

- Compelling Copy Needs To Be About "YOU" not "I"; * Part 2* by Nestor and Katerina Gasset

- Elevating the Extraordinary Within The Ordinary...Another Look At Creative Marketing by Lola Audu

- Real Estate Branding - Rick and Ines Style .....continued by Ines Hegedus-Garcia

- Get more referrals! by Tim Davis

- Parking For Desperate Housewives - A Lesson in Creative Marketing by Tracey Thomas

- Have you thought of this before? by Nicole Garner

- Realtor Farming Techniques.....the way it works by Neal The Real Deal Bloom

- Do You Tap Into Local Online Resources? by Bobby Carroll

- Is Your Market Over Saturated With Other Bloggers? by Justin Smith

- Holiday Marketing Idea by Rebecka Melson

- Are You Being Suckered? Why Paying Someone to Submit Your Site to Search Engines Flushes Good Money Down the Drain... (Part 2) by Kay Steele Faulk

- Use the Technology Available to You To Sell More Homes by Fran Gatti

special mention

This week's special mention goes to Maureen Henry of Rockland Home Staging for Give One - Get One :: Laptops for charity program and Midori Miller for Midori's Real Estate Resource Secrets...

real estate brainstorms, marketing in the Rain part 7

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:56:21 -0500

September 2007...

with so many people joining AR each week, it's nice to see so many great ideas and contributions from new members.

Also, if you haven't seen it, check out an article in this week's Broker Agent News titled Real Estate Agents Should Brand Themselves Like Their #1 Listing To Grow Their Business I love the line about "branding is what people say about you when you're not around."

There are a lot of interesting new posts to get to this week so let's get started...

The idea of the week goes to 2 people. First is Recipe cards-Use them like your buisness card... by Penny Florence. The second is Conventional Marketing To Get Subscribers To Your Blog by Ginger Wilcox.

These are 2 great examples of simple, clever and effective ways to put and keep your name in front of prospects.

In no particular order, here are some of the outstanding marketing posts from the past few days...

- A New Perspective on Closing Gifts by Diane Adler

- Do Boomers & Classics Even Know How to Use a Computer? by Bobby Carroll

- Marketing ideas for 50+ clients by Hilary Shantz

- Marketing to FSBOs so that they will remember you. by Karen Luke

- 4 Things You Need to Know to Build A Successful Real Estate Brand! by Lola Audu

- What Is a Personal Brochure ... and Why Should You Care? by Kay Steele Faulk

- What Does A Virus Have To Do With Marketing? by William Johnson

- It's a Small World and We're All Connected - Virally by Tracey Thomas Calabasas

- A Brilliant Sales Technique - So Simple, Even A Child Can Do It by Adam Waldman

- Real Estate Advertising: The Down and Dirty on the Effectiveness of Traditional Methods. by Gary Bolen

- REFERRALS take time but are worth the commitment. by Alan Mills

- How to Get Business by Farming Your Market Niche by Margaret Woda

- We tried, but couldn't sell Crest for $35.00 a Tube! and

- The $35 Crest Experiment: Why it Failed - The Difference between Marketing and Advertising. by Gary Bolen

Erion Shehaj wrote an interesting article asking if blogs will replace websites. Check it out in his post The Funeral of the Website

special mention

This week's special mention goes to Midori Miller for Mr. and Mrs. Consumer....We Have Lots in Common! and to "Woo Hoo Sally" Cheeseman for No Secrets, No Lies: Honesty Means the Whole Truth

Both of these very well written posts deal with how we relate to clients and the importance of honesty and the commonalities we have in those relationships. These are definite must reads!!!

With all the talk, questions and posts about SEO(search engine optimization) going on here on AR, in the next few weeks I'd like to go a step further and talk about what happens once you make into the top 10 position of Google, Yahoo, etc...

When people visit your website do you have anything in place to start a relationship with them, even if they aren't ready to buy or sell a home?

Most of us are living pretty hectic lives with very limited time and very short attention spans. If you don't capture their attention, give them a reason to interact with you and start a relationship, you might never get a second chance so...

In the next few weeks I'll be showing some examples of stuff I'm doing to interact with my own website visitors. Whether you're a realtor, a stager, a mortgage broker, a virtual assistant, a home inspector or an abstract painter... marketing is still marketing and our success is all about the strength and quality of the relationships we build with our clients and potential clients.

I've been testing some fairly innovative stuff to get my name out there and to keep it in front of people who stumble onto my site, so stay tuned to my blog for examples of how you can steal my ideas to do the same for your own biz or website.

As always, the blogs I mentioned above are just a few of the many stand out ideas that were posted in the past few days. Have a great week everyone and thanks again for sharing your ideas, knowledge and opinions.

If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new media and new technology like widgets, etc., please subscribe to our blog using the button below,,,

real estate brainstorms, marketing in the Rain part 6

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:56:33 -0500

August 24th, 2007...

Hi everyone, I've been working out of town this past week so the marketing week in review was kind of delayed. I guess it's better late than never so here goes...

If you're new to Active Rain, check out a recent post by Jo-Anne Smith titled A Post For Tim and All Other ActiveRain Newbies (and maybe some 'Oldies' too). It's a great primer on getting started on AR and jam packed with useful info, tips and ways to connect with other Rainers.

Also, some great food for thought was provided in TLW's The Future Is Made Of Virtual Insanity...Or Not...ROAR! If you're doing business online, networking, blogging or just about anything else, check it out, think about it.

The idea of the week goes to Melissa Grant for her short, to the point post about how to get your letters opened in Tip for getting more People to Read your letters ! Anyone familiar with marketing guru Gary Halbert will recognize this technique and it's a great lesson for those who aren't aware of the live stamp, white mail school of thought when doing any kind of direct mail.

In no particular order, here are some of the outstanding marketing posts from the past 2 weeks...

- Learn To Be Your Biggest Fan....Self Promote! by Midori Miller

- Have you met your local real estate reporter? Building media relationships by Bonny Puckett

- M-O-S-T Marketing to Increase Your Effectiveness by Margaret Woda

- Tapping into free tools & marketing! Great resources are out there! by Melissa Wagner

- Another Free Marketing Tool.... by Skye Hawk

- Beef Up Your Business...Sell More Real Estate!!! by Midori Miller

- A Different Type of Site Map - A Site Map of The Mind! by Bobby Carroll

- Make $1M with your IPOD! by Joe Manausa

As always Brad Carroll contributed more outstanding info to help us improve our website search engine rankings with his post See Your Site Through The Eyes of Google and Optimizing Your Active Rain blog for Visitors and Search Engines (Part 2) Do I have to tell anyone that this is essential reading???

While on the topic of technology, another very helpful post on how to use widgets in your blog was this detailed and well written gem Widgets: How to Add Them to Your Blog by Brad Andersohn

special mention

This week's special mention goes to Calie Waterhouse of Decorated To Sell for her post Taking Blog Action Day & Making It Green - Do we really care? If you haven't heard about Blog Action Day coming in October and if you care about the planet, check it out. It's a very cool idea and such a simple way for all of us to make a difference.

If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects, branding partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to use new media and new technology like widgets, etc., please subscribe to our blog using the button below,,,

real estate brainstorms, marketing in the Rain part 5

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:01:05 -0500

August 7th, 2007...

this week I'd like to send out a special welcome to all the new members and a BIG thank you to the new bloggers that have added some great content to the marketing group in the past couple of weeks.

Before getting into the outstanding marketing posts, since we're still getting a lot of off topic content (i.e. property listings, poetry, outright self promotion, etc...) as well as the occasional spam, I'd like to encourage everyone, especially the newbies to read featured posts & group guidelines

Speaking of groups, I'd like to give a special thank you to Alexander Harb and Diane Rice for their much appreciated comments & thoughts in The Active Rain Network, Group Founders and their Moderators...... what can they do for you? and Active Rain - GROUP FOUNDERS - Recognition

The idea of the week for power and simplicity goes to Joan Whitebook for GARBAGE IN ~~ GARBAGE OUT This is so timely and so on target for all that's happening with the green revolution.

In no particular order, here are some of the outstanding marketing posts from the past 2 weeks...

- The Listing Presentation - The Difference between talking about ME and listening to YOU! by Gary Bolen

- I'm New To Active Rain - Any Advice? by Bobby Carroll

- The Biggest Mistake That Most Realtors Make by Matt Anderson

- Business Card tips -- Part 2 by Jeff Belonger

- Are You Branded? by Joan Mirantz

- BRAND Yourself! by Mike Jones

- Easy way to post your listings on Any Website!!! by Greg Fox

- How the FREE google calendar can help you get website traffic by Joanne Hanson's

- People Unite.The Power of Blogging.."NUTS" Part II..Consumer Comments! by Midori Miller is a great example of how blogging can be used to turn individual voices into a powerful influence on a media powerhouse like CBS.

Here's another great post by Brad Carroll about SEO titled Optimizing Your Active Rain Profile for Search Engines and Visitors As always, Brad contributes powerful ideas, explained in ways anyone can understand and implement.

Since I missed this when it was posted on 06/12/2007, I'd also like to point out Brad's The Top Secret Project! ...and other information you didn't know about Google.

And last but definitely not least, don't forget to check out Brad Andersohn's I Left My Heart (and Blog) in San Francisco for a detailed look and videos from Inman's Real Estate Connect that was held last week in San Francisco.

special mention

I was totally unaware of Karen George's battle with cancer and was inspired by her post Out of The Rain...for a Little While chronicling what she is going through. Aside from being one of Active Rain's most popular and prolific bloggers, she is also one very brave lady. If you haven't already read Karen's Out Of The Rain post, you definitely should. It's times like these that make us realize how fragile life can be.

If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming marketing projects or tutorials on creative ways to use new media and new technology like widgets, etc., please subscribe using the button below,,,

real estate marketing... new ideas in the Rain, part 1

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:48:29 -0500

June 24, 2007...

hi everyone. As the marketing group approaches the 2000 member mark, I'd like to thank all of you for your great posts, comments and participation. I'm constantly impressed by the high quality of content being posted and the diversity of feedback, opinions and information sharing that goes on here on Active Rain.

That being said, I'd like to point out a few blogs that really caught my eye recently. Some are from well established members as well as great stuff from some of the newer faces here on AR.

The marketing group and Active Rain are becoming more like Google and the web in general. As more and more info gets posted, it becomes more difficult to read everything, let alone find the quality, on topic gems. So in case you missed them, here are just a few of the outstanding posts from the past few weeks...

Brad Carroll, real estate web designer with a gift for explaining the complex stuff in ways we can all understand.

A New Wave of Reciprocal Links that Actually Works!

Setting The Record Straight About Duplicate Content

The Formula For a Successful Website

I Don't Read Your Blogs!

Jeff Turner, my favorite gadget & gizmo guru

A Blockparty For Your Blog? SiteNeighbors.com

Craig Schiller, marketing "freak" and founder of Chicago's Real Estaging

I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours!

Michelle Blue and Irene Dorang, of The Agent Guide

How to Get Better Testimonials (And Actually Get Them In Your Hands!)

Teri Ellis, Mesa, AZ realtor

Rain Tips and Pieces of the Puzzle that are good to know! What Say You?

Scott Lockhart, Chief Technology Officer of RE/MAX Greater Atlanta

Top 10 things NOT to do on your Agent Real Estate Website

Andy Kaufman, Bay Area Sales & Investments

It's Time to Start Paying Serious Attention to Facebook

Theresa Lussier, Dayton, OH realtor

If you really want to learn, learn from the best

Janie Coffey, Coral Gables, FL realtor

The "I am NEW to REAL ESTATE and Don't have Money but have the Time" Business Plan"

Tags, Tags, Everywhere Tags - How to know and USE what your Clients are REALLY searching for with Tags

Jim Crawford, Alpharetta, GA realtor

Home Not Selling? Expired? No one coming to see your home? No Surprise to other Agents!

Sarah Cooper, Hurricane, WV realtor

Top Ten Blogging Suggestions

Justin Smith. of the Christian Real Estate Network

Driving Traffic to Your Blog Through SEO - #9 How to Start a Local Real Estate Blog

And last but definitely not least, congratulations to Jeff Belonger of The FHA Expert.com for AOL Real Estate -- I have been interviewed, thanks to Active Rain.....

In case you missed it, if you're thinking about a new logo, check out Bruno Roldan's Real Estate Logo Design Give Away - Active Rain Exclusive -

A few final words... the posts mentioned above are just a few of the many great blogs that were submitted in the past week or two. We all look forward to seeing more great contributions from all the Rainers. Have a great week everyone and thanks again for sharing your ideas, knowledge and opinions...

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real estate marketing... new ideas in the Rain, part 2

marti garaughty (The Art Of Marketing YOU) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:19:38 -0500

July 1, 2007...

hi everyone. Well it's official, this week our little marketing group here on Active Rain passed the 2000 member mark.

Since that number includes many new members, before pointing out some of this week's outstanding marketing posts, I'd like to encourage everyone to read the following posts in particular because they bring up and address some of the problems in a growing online community or social network like Active Rain.

ActiveRain | Stand Out and Shine in the Rain! by Colleen Kulikowski, this is a must read for every member posting or commenting in any group!

Top 5 Lazy Active Rain Bloggers by Daniel Bates, some very interesting and painfully true points raised.

Are we Struggling just to find a post worth a comment? by Teri Ellis who also raises some issues about commenting and the quality of posts in general.

Normally I wouldn't feature stuff like this in a marketing review but lately there have been so many off topic posts placed in groups that have nothing to do with the group's topic so... I thought it would be a good time to remind us all about what the groups are for. Stick to the topic, keep the content relevant and if you're just posting/commenting for points, it's obvious to everyone and won't build much of a following for you in the AR community.

OK, on to the good stuff. As usual there were many well researched, thought provoking and insightful marketing ideas posted this week. Here are my favoritesin no particular order...

Outstanding Marketing Ideas & Posts

The elegant simplicity of Edith Wharton's... Here's a COOL new way to get your marketing letters opened!

A nice collection of marketing ideas from Jeff Belonger... Active Rain feedback..... Do you listen? -- Marketing Ideas

A great way for you to connect to your local schools and community with Bobby Carroll's... Go To School For New Prospects - Your Marketing Tip of The Week!

A good intro for tech virgins about Google's Page Rank by Jordan Mackey... SEO For Dummies - Google Pagerank Explained - SEO 101 Series

Be sure to check out the informative comments in a post by Michele Connors that got a lot of people talking & participating... The Flypaper Of Real Estate

For an in depth look behind a successful realtor's blog, check out Kevin Tomlinson's... For The Techie In You: A Behind the Scenes Look at My Blog

Another must read is a post by Brian Brady sharing his experience and thoughts about... Viral Marketing For Realtors: Infect Your Customers and Build An Audience

Technology Roundup

Here's an interesting exercise by Brad Carroll to see how your website stacks up against keywords you're in competition with on the search engines... Here Is Your Chance to Brag!

A comprehensive list of places you can submit your RSS feeds to by Elizabeth & Justin Thayer... Get Max Exposure by Syndicating Your RSS Feeds- ALL U NEED 2 KNOW!!

News You Should Know

From James Boyer... Realtor.com Blogs another blog platform

A great interview(podcast) with Brad Inman, founder and publisher of Inman News by Morgan Brown... Brad Inman, Publisher Inman News Interview

Special Mentions

Congratulations to Julie Ferenzi for My Active Rain Blog was included in the July Issue of Illinois Realtor! as proof that blogging can really payoff BIG time.

A few final words... I'd like to wish all of our Canadian members a very Happy Canada Day "eh" and an equally Happy Independence Day to our American members.

As usual, the posts mentioned above are just a few of the many great blogs that were submitted in the past few days. I look forward to seeing more great contributions from all the Rainers. Have a great week everyone and thanks again for sharing your ideas, knowledge and opinions...

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