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Hi everyone, if you've been following my series The Art Of Marketing You with wallpapers... - in part 1 we looked at the basic idea of marketing with wallpapers/calendars - in part 2 we looked at why wallpapers are such a great (and inexpensive) marketing tool - in part 3 we looked at how this idea can be applied to real estate
In part 4 I'm going to show you an example of how to put your own wallpaper/calendar together using a photo by Kathy McGraw, a free background image and give you the details of how to put the pieces all together. Let's get started!
To create your own wallpaper you'll need any graphics program, even basic software like Adobe's Photoshop Elements that comes bundled free with most digital cameras, scanners, etc. will be fine. Then you'll need...
a template background This is a dark background with some light on the right hand side that I usually use for my art wallpapers and will work well with most photographs or images.
a photo Here is a beautiful caterpillar photo by Kathy McGraw
descriptive text I usually add a bit of text with either the title of the image and/or the photographer's name
calendar (optional) It's not necessary but I started using calendars on my wallpapers about a year ago and noticed a significant increase in repeat visitors to my art website at the beginning of each month coming back to download the new calendar. It looks good and it's practical but not "in your face".
To make your wallpaper look as good as possible you'll need to keep in mind a few basic things. Take a look at the example below to see how I do mine. This is a good starting point but you can always adjust yours to suit your own taste or the size and shape of the photo/image that you use.
screen resolution For this example, I'm using a background template that is 1024 pixels wide X 768 pixels high since that's the screen resolution most people have their computer monitor set to. If you seriously get into marketing yourself with branded wallpapers, you'll probably want to do larger versions like 1600 pixels wide X 1200 pixels high for people using large monitors and higher screen resolutions but that is another topic for another day.
image size & position After years of trial and error (lots of errors) I found that using an image sized 600 pixels wide X 600 pixels high works best for what I'm doing. Why? It centers well, leaves enough space at the top, bottom and sides to have breathing room for the text on the right and icons on the left.
image optimization When exporting (saving) your wallpaper image, try to adjust the final file size to be under 100K. This will make the image download quickly and load faster on any preview page. If you don't know how to do this, I'll be doing a tutorial specifically on optimizing images for the web soon. Basically it means making them look as good as possible in a very compact file size. When you see pages on the web that take forever to load, it's usually because people are using large image files and too many widgets. Neither one is good if you want your readers to stick around.
beware of icons I used to do full screen wallpapers, they looked great but depending on the complexity and color of the image, it would sometimes make screen icons difficult to read so... No matter what size photo you use, be sure to leave space, especially on the left where by default icons are positioned.
effects For effect and because it makes everything look nicer and more 3 dimensional, if you know how to add shadows to text and images, it makes things look less "flat".
most important !!! Last but definitely not least, remember that wallpapers are fine as a way to connect with people and to use as giveaways but not a good place to advertise yourself or your biz!
Kathy's new caterpillar wallpaper with the Sept. 2008 calendar is now available for download on her blog at California Real Estate and Life Thanks for the great pic Kathy, I love it! This example uses... - the 1024 pixel X 768 pixel background I mentioned - I created a project in Photoshop sized 1024 X 768 and then loaded in the dark background image - next I added a photo by Kathy McGraw that I re-sized to fit the 600 pixel X 600 pixel format - then I sharpened the photo a bit for extra contrast - I positioned the photo 70 pixels from the top and 170 pixels from the left of the background image - added the text with Kathy's name to the right of the image - added the calendar just below the "photo by" text - saved it as a file that is under 78K which means it will load quickly, even on a dial up connection
And voila, there you have the basics of designing a simple, clean, fast loading wallpaper. If you go back and read part 3 of this tutorial from last week, you'll see a few ideas & applications on how you can use this in the real estate biz.
another example Dream Fragment # 4
If you want to see another example of a wallpaper using this background template, check out my current wallpaper/calendar here
Free background template/image If you'd like to try designing your own wallpaper, you can download a blank background image from my website... download here Yes it's free and you have my permission to distribute the wallpapers you create with it on any blog or website you like. I do retain the copyright to any and all images that I make available here on Active Rain but you are permitted to give away any wallpapers your create using my background image. If you have any questions about this stuff, ideas or suggestions, let me know and I'll try to include or answer them in future posts.
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.
Sorting through everything being posted in The Art Of Marketing You group can be a real challenge so... here are a few of the must read (on topic) posts from the past few days...
- Making the Most of Localism Sponsored Community, Part Deux by Rich Jacobson - Makeover2Takeover Contest: "To the Winners go the Spoils!" by Rich Jacobson - An Ambulance, A Firetruck and Localism, What Do They Have In Common? by Brad Andersohn - The iPhone and Real Estate by Brad Andersohn
- The sign said "OPEN HOUSE" but I felt like I was entering a Used Car Lot! by Russell Lewis - Not "JUST" Plagarism Anymore--I've Become "The Blog Watcher" by Carole Provenzale - Do You Reguarly Check Your Spam Filter On Your WP blog by Steve Scheer - A Blogger's Guide - The ActiveRain Version by Danny Thornton - Crash course on blogging...... Just don't fall asleep !!! by Jeff Belonger - One year and 200 posts later - the most important lessons learned by Faina Sechzer - A need for Content Moderators on Localism? Bloggers - edit yourselves! by Melissa Marro - Those good for nothing, lying, deceitful, group moderators on ActiveRain by Maureen McCabe
- TOP 8 Niche Markets, with Ideas For Each Catagory... by Jason Gardner - Permission to be Real....Really! by Liz Moras - Twitter in Plain English by Tina Merritt - STACKING OFFERS UP LIKE PANCAKES by Allison Stewart - Warning-Craigslist..Fraud and Ebay! Warn Property Owners! by Midori Miller - Keeping it in the Family: Social Networking, Family Trees, Selling Real Estate by Brian Block - Podcasting Has Entered My World - Come Listen by Candace Robinson - Do You Toot? The Quandry of Self Promotion by Chuck Willman - Opportunities Often Come Disguised as Problems-Raising Your Success IQ by Jo-Anne Smith
If you would like to participate in any of our upcoming projects, marketing partnerships or tutorials on creative ways to stand out from the crowd, please subscribe to my blog... 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
If you haven't read The Art Of Marketing You with wallpapers part 1 and part 2 it might be a good idea to read them now before getting into part 3 to catch up on the basics of what we're talking about in this series. In part one I introduced the basic concept of marketing with wallpapers. In part 2 we got into why wallpapers are such a great marketing tool. In part 3 I'm going to cover some basic ideas and applications specifically for real estate! And then in part 4, I'll give you the technical details (very simple stuff) I use to design wallpapers if you'd like to try it yourself and I'll also be giving you some templates & graphic backgrounds ready for you to add pics to create your own wallpapers.
In my previous post I mentioned that EXPOSURE was the biggest benefit of giving away wallpapers for my artwork. Each and every day, thousands of people who've downloaded my wallpapers are reminded of my work whenever they turn on their computer to check emails, the news, play games, chat or blog. That constant exposure costs me absolutely nothing but... nobody puts my wallpapers on their monitors to see me advertise myself or my biz, the only reason they use the wallpapers is because they're getting something out of it. Pretty pictures! And since I started using calendars on wallpapers, people who like the pics I give away come back to my site again and again for free updates. Using wallpapers to market an art or photography website might seem like an obvious fit...
As I said last week, people don't and won't download wallpapers to see ads or you trying to brand yourself. To successfully market yourself this way you always have to keep in mind...
Anyone who has even half a clue about marketing knows that the real payoff is in the relationship. If you make your marketing about them and get them involved, it actually becomes about you. Think of it as being the host of a party. If you provide a way for people to have fun, get attention and share their photos and experiences, you by default create a relationship with them. If you look at some of the stuff I do here on Active Rain... by giving away subscribe buttons, blog header graphics and wallpapers, people get to know me and the relationship begins. The same can be done on a very local level with real estate. It's not about who wants to buy or sell a home tomorrow, it's about building fun relationships with people in your community which in turn builds awareness for who you are and what you do in a really fun way. Giving away wallpapers is a perfect example. Here are a few ideas to get you started...
local sports teams, action shots, little league player of the month, etc...
how about pet of the month? or adopt a cat, dog, etc... from your local animal shelter
promote local photographers & artists... florals, landscapes make great wallpapers
If you make this a regular feature on your website or better still, set up a website/blog specifically for your local community, you'll more than likely get an endless supply of free photos to use and feature on your wallpapers. It's all about them and if you make them the center of attention, most people will be thrilled with the opportunity to have their little league player, their kitten, their sunset photo or whatever featured on your next wallpaper. I'm doing it here on Active Rain and I already have photos lined up for the next few months of Rain wallpapers/calendars.
In part 4 of this series I'm going to show you the details of how to put a great looking wallpaper together along with the specifications for sizing & positioning photos, which screen resolution(s) to use and of course, a free template(s) to help get you started.
Sorting through everything being posted in The Art Of Marketing You group can be a real challenge so... here are a few of the must read (on topic) posts from the past few days...
- "Majority Original Content" or "What's the Point of Points?" by Rich Jacobson - Changes to Localism Approved Content by Rich Jacobson - ActiveRain Launches "NEW" Video Interface by Brad Andersohn - So What Can You Do with ActiveRain Video? by Brad Andersohn - Getting to #1 on Google by Brad Andersohn - Burning Questions Answered: Column Widths in the New [New] Localism by Missy Caulk - SEO Deep Linking From Your Active Rain Blog by Bill Gassett - Make Your Email Leads Work For YOU! by Debra Brooks - 52 Week Plan - Week 1 by Jessica Horton - Verbal Offers, I Don't Want To Waste Your Time! Guess What You Just Did! by Midori Miller - I'm gearing up a marketing campaign to Expired Listings by Jason Gardner - 15 Ways to Get Outgoing Referral Business by Tina Merritt - A New Concept for Open Houses/Realtors Sponsoring Artists by Karen Nichols - Contests and giveaways as a marketing and branding strategy by Donna Mitchell - Quibblo - Yep, Another Cool, New Tool From Me! FREE! by Leesa Finley - Want to know who's twittering about you? by Jackie - Blogging Breaks the Ice by Brian Block - Your Writing Reflects YOU by Sally Cheeseman - Tuesday Truths....Who's the Village Idiot now? by Kathy McGraw - Life's Curb Appeal Goes Beyond Nice Flowers by Gary Woltal - Top Ten Things You Can Do To Succeed in This Market by Ann Heitland - When the competition is another Rain blogger, you know blogging works by Janet Guilbault - We Got Attacked By A Driveby! WARNING! Don't Open The Program! by Katerina Gasset - Want to keep ahead of the competition & stay informed? by Desiree Daniels - Re-Blogging can help you get more business by Jeff Belonger - Have You Looked at Your Website Lately?? by Amy Bender Webb
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
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I'm going to begin this post by doing something I've never done before, I'm going to tell you a lie! Don't worry, it's nothing too bad or too serious. My lie won't hurt you, it won't hurt me and it won't hurt my online reputation but I am going to lie to you! More about that in a minute... Last week my good friend Brad Andersohn aka tech wizard, Active Brad, Active Rain community builder and all round nice guy wrote a post titled Subscribed - When Thank You Just Isn't Enough
Brad's post started me thinking about how much I owe to my online friends, subscribers to my blog, people I interact with here on Active Rain and out on the net. Anyone with half a clue understands that success online is all about creating, nurturing and growing relationships. Trying to stand out from the crowd or making a name for yourself in the middle of millions of other blogs and websites is pretty much impossible without a little help from our friends. If I tried to email/thank each and every subscriber to my Rain blog it might take me weeks or months. I didn't want to wait that long so in case I haven't said it often enough, again I want to say...
Thank You to each and every one of you who reads, comments and subscribes to my blog!
Some of us know each other really well, some of us just met and some of us just casually interact. I try to do what I can to answer questions, help the technically challenged, give advice on pimping your blogs and occasionally give away freebies to help out the Rain community. But I get back 100 X more than I give. Not just in business and fun projects but in relationships, clients that have become good friends, all the stuff I've learned by reading the awesome bloggers we have here in the Rain and inspiration from those who remind us that it's about people not just business. And of course perks like wonderful cookies, chocolates & coffees from some very special friends I've made here on AR. On that note I have to confess something...
So what's the big lie I told you? If you read the title of this post it mentioned 10 gifts. My philosophy and personal values in business and in life is that I always try to give more than I get. You guys have made me a better blogger by "forcing" me to push myself to try and be interesting, helpful and sometimes even entertaining. So instead of giving you 10 gifts I'm going to give you 11. ;-) We all have our own specialties, mine happens to be art and graphics (and eating cookies). Lately I've received a few emails asking if I knew a place to get nice but affordable graphics to make blog "subscribe buttons". The answer is yes, from me. My way of thanking you guys this week is with 11 custom designed blog subscription buttons that you're welcome to use either here on your Active Rain blog, on your outside blog or on any other blog or website that you have (yes, including commercial sites/blogs). They're free, they're yours and all I ask is that you don't sell them. Other than that you can use them anywhere you like.
If you're not sure how to use subscribe buttons on your Rain blog, take a look at Brad Andersohn's excellent tutorial (see method # 5)... 5 Ways To Subscribe To Blogs To download the graphics below, position your mouse over any image, then click the right mouse button, select save image as and then save the image(s) you want onto your computer's hard drive. Enjoy!
Brad Andersohn and Patrick Kitano have teamed up and are bringing their experience and expertise to a new webinar series on Social Media Marketing and WEB 2.0 The series will cover various must know topics about success on the web including - Defining your Online Presence Strategy - Tools to Monitor the Social Media - The Online Land Grab - Get Your Name Out There - How to Attract Online Traffic - How to Position Yourself to Access Mass Media Traffic - Integrating Your Offline Real Estate Practice with your Online Presence and much more You can get the complete webinar series description, schedule information and a special offer for Active Rain members at Social Media Marketing - A Webinar Series for Members
and more about the ReBlog feature, phenomenon, controversy - Get ready for the ActiveRain reBlog revolution... by Jon Washburn - Reblogging etiquette -- A Reblog by Brian Block - Re-Blog It aka Blog Syndication: Get the Word Out About Home Staging! by Michelle Minch
Sorting through everything being posted in The Art Of Marketing You group can be a real challenge so... here are a few of the must read (on topic) posts from the past few days...
- Making the Most of Your Localism Sponsored Communities, Part One by Rich Jacobson - How to Blog for Leads on ActiveRain by Margaret Woda - Don't let your fingers get your butt in hot water by Bob Stewart - "Free Speech has a Cost" - The ActiveRain Community Guidelines Re-Visited by Rich Jacobson - It Looks Like Google Has Some Good Competition!!! by Teri Ellis - SearchMe...Stack IT....Send IT by Missy Caulk - Most Common Things that Reveal Your Blogging Worthiness by Sally Cheeseman - NOISE (Part 2)...What to Do When What You Hear Doesn't Make Sense by Lola Audu - Recycled Listings... why I decided to take them by Kathy McGraw - What if the Internet Went Away? by Laurie Manny - No Cost Marketing - Be a Show Off by Julea Joseph
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
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Before reading this post, if you missed The Art Of Marketing You with wallpapers part 1 now would be a good time to check it out so this post will make more sense.
Before getting into the technical points about designing great looking wallpapers that will be wanted, useful and downloaded, the first thing we should look at is why use wallpapers for marketing? The obvious and simple answer is FREE EXPOSURE! Think about it, the first thing most us do each day either from home or from the office is we go online to check emails, the news and of course Active Rain! It's just a habit like making coffee, brushing our teeth or taking a shower. So if you're able to connect with people, even in the most subtle of ways with wallpaper images, you'll be in constant contact with them each and every time they turn on their computer. How many hours do you spend online each day? How many times do you log on? And the first thing most of us see before we go online is the wallpaper on our computer screen, it's just there.
I've been doing this for years with my art website and it's probably my favorite and least expensive marketing tools for several reasons... - people get free images for their monitor (what's in it for them) - my name is branded into each wallpaper in a very subtle way (what's in it for me) - they're free to download so people often share and tell other people about them (viral marketing) - whether 10 or 10,000 people download them it costs me absolutely nothing to give them away - because I add new wallpapers/calendars every month, people keep coming back to my site for more
So the benefits are obvious even if their application to real estate isn't. That's coming soon!
To successfully market yourself with wallpapers, you always have to keep in mind what's in it for them! People don't download wallpapers to see ads or you trying to brand yourself. The sooner you understand that, the more success you'll have with this idea. Other than your immediate family or your boyfriend/girlfriend... most people don't want to see you or your biz on their screen everyday.
So if you're in real estate. can this marketing tool be used to expose and brand you or your business? The answer is YES but not in the same way I use it for my art website. In the next installment I'm going to show you some very simple (and free) ways that you can use wallpaper marketing to create and build relationships in your town, city or community. I'll also get into some of the technical things you should know before designing wallpapers and ideas on where you can get an almost unlimited supply of photos and artwork to use on your own wallpapers. And last but definitely not least, to help get you started I'm going to design and give you some classy, elegant templates that you can use for your own wallpapers!
ReBlogging Rain posts...
A lot of us started our day by logging into Active Rain to see another new feature... Reblog! If you don't know what this is take a look at the overview and feedback about Reblog in the posts... - reBlogging: Whoops, there it is!! by Bob Stewart - Blog Blog and Now Re-Blog by Brad Andersohn - Re-Blog...Good? Bad? What Think You? ROAR! by TLW - Why I Think Re-Blog It Is A Good Idea (With Some Reservations) by Michelle Minch - reBLOG, Will The Original Active Rain Post Please Stand Up? by Lenn Harley
As usual, the feedback was heard and changes were made quickly in response to Rainers concerns. As with the recent changes to Localism, relax, let things work themselves out, everything will be fine. When in doubt...
Sorting through everything being posted in The Art Of Marketing You group can be a real challenge so... here are a few of the must read (on topic) posts from the past few days...
- More on the Land Rush ....Creating YOUR OWN Communities by Sally Cheeseman - Localism against Trulia and Zillow COMBINED: Month 1 by Jon Washburn - Localism - The Next Steps by Brad Andersohn - Localism Strategy - REvealed by Lane Bailey - Adding Photos to Localism just got WAY better by Georgina Hunter - Localism My communities and Google knows by Missy Caulk - Accelerated Marketing - aka Auction - Your Seller Needs Options! by Margaret Rome - The Second Commandment of Blogging (Learned the Hard Way) by Margaret Woda - Viewing homes is easy at Realtors® to Go! by Jessica Horton - What is Your Advertising Communicating About Your Product or Service? by Steve Scheer - Use Yourstreet News Site For More Backlinks and Blog Readership! by Bill Gassett - It's Your Reputation. Manage it by Jeff Turner - How to write a good newsletter by Russ Ravary - Buckle Up !!!! -- You think it's bad out there now? by Jeff Belonger - Loan Officer Dances For Business!!! Hilarious! by Callie Thompson
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
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One of my favorite and most effective online marketing tools is giving away free wallpapers and calendars. Not the kind of wallpaper that messes up your kitchen walls but the kind you download from the net and use as a background image on your computer monitor.
Since I've had some questions and a lot of great feedback about wallpapers I've posted on Active Rain in the past few months, I thought it was about time to take a closer look at The Art Of Marketing You with wallpapers. So in addition to my ongoing blog design series, I'll be posting tutorials on The Art Of Marketing You with wallpapers including... - why they work so well - some of the technical aspects of putting an attractive wallpaper together - how they can be used as a simple but powerful way to keep your name in front of potential clients - how they can be used by real estate agents, stagers, etc... without looking like advertising - why adding a simple calendar to your wallpapers can dramatically increase it's effectiveness - where to get a free template to create your own wallpapers/calendars - examples of wallpapers that would work well in any local community - and anything else I can think of
One of the questions I hear most often is "I'm not an artist or a photographer so how can I use wallpapers in my business?". So we'll take a look at ways that pretty much anyone in any kind of business can use this concept to build relationships, generate buzz and more exposure for you and your biz! If you have any questions about technology, blog design, building web presence, branding, marketing, etc... don't be shy to send it to me at marti@garaughty.com and I'll try to answer as many of them as I can.
Meet Bruno
Before I start the wallpaper marketing series, I thought I'd introduce Bruno to the group. I "met" Bruno a couple of days ago in a post English Bulldogs!! by Tinker Hulsey of Century 21 Indian Realty and apparently Bruno was thrilled about being featured so here he is. You can download this image at... Active Rain Wallpapers
If you have a photo that you think would make a great AR wallpaper, send it to marti@garaughty.com and mark Active Rain wallpapers in the subject line. We can't promise to use them all but would love to feature more pics from our talented Rain members.
Sorting through everything being posted in The Art Of Marketing You group can be a real challenge so... here are a few of the must read (on topic) posts from the past few days...
- Touch Points...Building Localism into the Communal Landscape! by Lola Audu - Sometimes LESS Is More! by Adam Waldman - What We Learned from Our Lemonade Stand by Christine Donovan - What's That Magical Something Around Seasoned Bloggers? by William Johnson - Why Is The New Housing Bill A Joke and Why Did NAR Lobby For It? by Katerina Gasset - Competing with Commission Cutters and Discount Brokers -Any other ideas? by Russell Lewis - Avoid 5 Common Listing Mistakes by Kellie Pillors - Your Real Estate Agent In The Front Line by Loreena Yeo - Being Exposed in The Rain by Duane Marlink - Localism - How to Add Photos & Why Quality is Essential by Brad Andersohn
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
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In this post I thought I'd answer a couple of very basic questions that I hear all the time... "What's the difference between Wordpress and a website?" and "What's the difference between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org?".
First, Wordpress is a blogging platform or CMS (content management system). Just like any other blog, it's an easy way to maintain and update your own content (posts, images, text). In essence Wordpress like Active Rain, Typepad, etc... are websites that don't require a techie to do the content updates for you. So it's a lot less expensive to run than most websites because you can do the content updates yourself and because it's usually updated frequently, search engines love it. A big source of confusion among non-techies seems to be understanding the difference between Wordpress.com, Wordpress.org and Wordpress on a domain.
Wordpress is software connected to a database that manages all of your content like text, photos and links that you add to your posts. Wordpress.com is the free version of Wordpress. It's a great way to test out the software, learn how to post, insert images, etc... and get a feel for the Wordpress platform in general before investing $$$ into getting a customized version to use on your own domain.
Wordpress.org is the home base of Wordpress where you can... - download the latest version of the Wordpress software - get free themes (layouts/designs) for your Wordpress blog - download plugins that extend the capabilities of the standard Wordpress blog - read detailed documentation on how to use Wordpress
The real power and beauty of Wordpress can be seen when it's installed on your own web host and connected to your own domain name. The photo above is a totally customized version of Wordpress that I installed and created for Kathy McGraw's blog CaliforniaRealEstateAndLife.com Where a lot of people seem to be confused is that Wordpress.org is not the commercial site for Wordpress, it's just where you get current version of the Wordpress software and most of the goodies that go along with it. Once installed on a web host (just like you'd do with any other website), Wordpress can be customized to look almost any way you like including the graphics, positioning of the elements (see my post from last week on Blog Design: Back To The Basics). If you have any other questions about Wordpress, technology, blog design, building web presence, marketing, etc... don't be shy to send it to me at marti@garaughty.com and I'll try to answer as many of them as I can.
This month I'm posting 2 wallpaper calendars to spice up your monitor. First is a beautiful photo sent in by Marilyn Katz of Prudential Connecticut Realty
You can download this image at... Active Rain Wallpapers
...and Dream Fragment # 4
You can download this wallpaper calendar here... garaughty wallpapers If you have a photo that you think would make a great wallpaper, send it to marti@garaughty.com and mark Active Rain wallpapers in the subject line. We can't promise to use them all but would love to feature more pics from our talented Rain members.
This video by Tina Merritt with Gia Freer of Realseekr.com is both an excellent interview as well as another excellent resource!!! Check it out... What is Realseekr.com?
Sorting through everything being posted in The Art Of Marketing You group can be a real challenge so... here are a few of the must read featured posts from the past few days...
- The New Localism Is NOT About YOU...ROAR! by TLW - Tuesday Truths... How $34 and 7 pounds changed my Real Estate Career by Kathy McGraw - Google's "Knol" - How 5 Minutes of Your Time Will Elliminate your Competition by Daniel Bates - Tip of the Week from Liz! VISIBILITY MARKETING FOR AUGUST by Liz Ward Small - The Perfect Words to Make That Home Sell by Margaret Rome - Minding Your Realty P's & Q's...3 Secrets For Continued Success! by Lola Audu - 10 Easy Steps to Get Your Home SOLD in Ann Arbor (LOCALISM FEATURED) by Missy Caulk - Make Your Next Open House a Success by Lisa Ryan - Follow Up to My Christmas In July - 12 Step Marketing Program by Liz Moras - A Newer FREE Service from Google by William Johnson - Post your listings for Free on Walmart.com by GITA BANTWAL
- Sneak peek: The NEW New Localism by Jon Washburn - All Things Localism by Rich Jacobson - "Going Loco Over Localism!" by Rich Jacobson - Localism VS ActiveRain...And the Winner is? by Diane Aurit - Localism Sponsorship Tutorial by Bob Stewart - 3 Ways To Bookmark and Manage Your Favorite Posts by Brad Andersohn - ActiveRain Voices - Members Speak Out by Brad Andersohn - The ActiveRain Community Guidelines = Respectful Blogging by Sally Cheeseman
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 .
This post was inspired by a few people who've emailed me with problems they're having with their blogs and websites (not on Active Rain) and I thought it might be a good idea to go back a few steps and address some very basic issues. The emails I'm talking about deal with stuff like "I have a problem with my website and my new web guy doesn't know how to fix it" and "I can't update my blog and my web guy isn't answering my phone calls or emails, can you help me?". The problem both of these emails had in common was that their site and their blog are proprietary. Whoever put the site/blog together did it their own way and now that a new "web guy" is in the picture, they either have no idea what the "old web guy" did or because it's a non-standard platform, it isn't easy to figure out what the problem is or in one case, how to access the back end (tech part) of their site/blog.
Non-standard stuff
A friend of mine used to drive an Alfa Romeo Spyder. It was a fun, hot looking sports car but whenever it needed servicing, it cost a small fortune and if the Spyder ever broke down outside of a BIG city, good luck finding someone who could repair it. Websites and blogs are the same. If your site/blog isn't based on web standards or designed on a well known platform, if/when you stie/blog breaks down you could have serious problems getting it up and running again. Or even worse, if your "web guy" disappears and no one else has access to the tech side of your site/blog you could be in big trouble.
One of the reasons why I recommend to my clients that we design their site or blog on the Wordpress platform has a lot to do with standards. For example, if I'm kidnapped by aliens next week, any competent blog designer or "web guy" can step in and continue to maintain or updates any of my clients websites.
The 3 things you should always have no matter what is... - a link to the page where your "web guy" maintains and makes updates to your site/blog - the username and password to get into the tech side of your site/blog - in the case of Wordpress, the link to your admin page as well as the admin username and password
If you have your site/blog created using a totally proprietary design and you don't have access to where your site/blog is hosted, if anything ever happens to your "web guy", if their company goes out of business or in my case if they're abducted by aliens, you could be stuck with a site/blog that can't be maintained or updated by anyone else.
CPanel Login
If you don't maintain your own website there's a good chance you've never seen it, but this is what the CPanel login looks like. It's essentially the keys to the tech side of your site. It's like the back door where your "web guy" does the tech stuff.
CPanel
And this is what you'll see when you log into CPanel. It contains all the options for your site like setting up email accounts, admin functions, file transfers/uploads, password settings, etc...
Wordpress Login Page
And this is what a Wordpress login panel looks like. Make sure you have the link to where you can login to your site's CPanel and blog so in the event your "web guy" is kidnapped by aliens, moves to another company or your new "web guy" doesn't have a clue, you'll be able to find someone to take over and continue to maintain your site or blog. Unfortunately most people only discover this problem when it's too late. You might never need to know any of this and it's definitely not a good idea to mess around with the tech side of things if you don't know what you're doing but... having this info could save you a lot of headaches down the road.
Note: Today's post is powered by Hawaiian Kona coffee, almond biscotti and dark chocolate truffles thanks to some of my very special friends... Kathy McGraw, Linda Scanlan and Sally Cheeseman Next month I might have to change my name may be The Chunky Blog Artist. ;-) Thx ladies, you beyond rock!
- ActiveRain Hits 100,000 Members Today the official announcement by Brad Andersohn and Anna Wilson is the 100,000th Member on Active Rain by Duane Marlink - ActiveRain: The Road to 100,000 Members by John Novak - The ENERGY That is Activerain...Can you FEEL it? by Carole Provenzale - "Best of The Best", The Internet Empowered Consumer's Group by William Johnson - Turning 50... Just like fine wine, only better with Activerain by Lori Kim Polk - What’s all the fuss about buying a Localism neighborhood? by Russell Lewis - More on the fuss about buying a Localism neighborhood by Russell Lewis
Interesting concept for a new group by Lisa Hill
A new AR group started just a couple of days ago by Lisa Hill brings an interesting twist to the concept of memes. In her own words... "We've had MeMe's and more MeMe's... Now it's time for PHOTO MeMe's... Share your photos and tell us about them. Tell us about you, your family, your friends, your interests, your activities. It's time for grown up Show 'n Tell"... You can see and join Lisa's new group here... Photo MeMe's
Lizette Fitzpatrick
Since we're now well over the 100K membership mark, there are bound to be a few disputes, personality conflicts, etc... here in the Rain and I thought Lizette's post was timely and so on the mark. It's great advice for both our personal and our business life. "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
This week 4 videos caught my eye, 2 by Fran Gaspari & co., an excellent contribution by Tina Merritt with a video about Zipvo and the return oif Blogging Bertha, fun but scary! Here they are...
Fran Gaspari
The Landscape Of Title Insurance...Clear As Mud...! and Active Rain Family Style Video Part II...The Red Buttons!
Tina Merritt
Blogging Bertha is back!
Ut Oh! Blogging Bertha Is P-----D...ROAR!
In no particular order, here are some of the best Active Rain marketing posts from this past week...
- More leads than I can handle!! ***without spending a penny!! by Tyson Robinson - Is That Buyer In Your Car a Real Buyer? by William Johnson - Marketing Your Business Daily by Kym Hough - The Do's and the Don'ts to Improve Your Client's Credit Score! by AJ Nisen - The POWER of MY Thinking Reflects on MY Business by Sally Cheeseman - Looking for some good Media Exposure or a Chance at it? by Mary Thompson - "Hooking up on Localism" an online "dating" service for AR Members by Elizabeth Ramsey Golden - Christmas in July? Yep...My 12 Step Program by Liz Moras - Success with Open Houses - Part 2 by John Cannata - Email addresses & websites - KISS (Keep It Simple Sweetie by Tracy Williams Pender - Business Cards - Your Visual Elevator Speech by Julea Joseph - Is It Time to Remodel Your Business Again ?? by Karen Anne Stone
- Real Estate: Texting while Driving.....Just give me a phone by Kathy McGraw - Now What? Taking Google Reader One Step Further by Leesa Finley - LookUpPage - It's all about you for SEO! by Bill G |
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