Email has become an important part of our life.  It is so important but left untamed, it can also take over too much of our time.  If you are like me, and have multiple devices for checking email; smart phone, note book, netbook, desktop and iPad (whew!) just keeping all devices up-to-date can be a full time job!

Time management is important to me so I started looking for a solution.  I researched a simple, readily available option that is also FREE!  My solution was Gmail.  Over the past year Gmail has become my main email platform.  I no longer use Outlook and frankly can't believe it took me so long to convert!

Gmail offers personalized configuration options, multiple accounts can funnel into one dashboard, each account can be responded to by it's own address and you never have to delete anything!  Use the power of Google to search for keywords in mails you need.

In addition, once you have a Gmail account you have the passport to dozens of powerful Google applications, documents, photo sharing, calendar, Groups, maps and on and on!

To get started, here's a slide show of what you can do to begin organizing your life in the Google cloud.  

Kristal Kraft LOVES Google!  Here's Why...

Gmail Offers  passport to Many FREE Services

Google Has a Voice and I Love it!

Relocate to Gmail - A Step by Step Story

Funnel Your Email Address Through Gmail

Gmail, I Bet You Didn't Know It Did This!

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Gmail has so many time-saving features.  The more I study it the more I like it!   Here's a quick list, read it over and let me know if you knew Gmail could do:

• UnDoSend ~ After composing and sending an email, you realize you shouldn't have sent it?  Or are you famous for sending an attachment, but forgetting to attach the attachment? Well now you can "unsend" an email that was sent.  You must turn this feature on.  You will find it in Google Labs>Settings>Undo Send
• Canned Responses ~ We all have repetious messages we send, answering the same old question.  For me it's typically a rental inquest.  To speed up this process I have created a "rental response" canned message, which makes the whole process easy to complete in a few seconds.  This to, must be turned on in Google Labs>Settings>Canned Responses, click Enable box.
• Nested Labels ~ Used when you want to Nest (or tier) a label under a Heading.  i.e.  Closings then have all your closing client files under it.  It would look like this:
  Closing
       Client Name
       Client Name
  Step 1. This needs to be set up in Google Labs>Settings>Nested Labels
  step 2.  IN Gmail>Settings>Labels
  Step 3.  Create Head label "Closing"  Then "Closing/Client Name1" repeat for each Client Name
  
  At first it might seem as though the "Closing/Client name1" will be too long, but the system drops the txt in front of the "/"  so it will look like this:
                  Closing
                       Client Name
• Google Docs Preview in Gmail ~ For those who are using Google Docs, this app is a speedy way to get to your Google Docs right from your Gmail.  Turn it on in Labs.
• Google Calendar Gadget ~ just like the Docs Preveiw, this priview will allow you to see your Google Calendar in a smaller format right in your Gmail screen.  Turn it on in Labs.
• 
  

Other posts about the joys of Google.

Gmail Offers a Passport to Many FREE Services

Google has a Voice and I Love It!

Relocate to Gmail - A Step by Step Story

Funnel Your Email Address Through Gmail

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Gmail is brought to us by Google, with it is a packed-full warehouse of goodies in the form of apps.  In my continuing saga of touting the benefits of working in The Cloud and at the same time minimizing expenses, I've now written this step by step tutorial on how to make the move.

In a previous post Funnel Your Email Address Through Gmail I spoke of how to send all your email accounts to Gmail, thus consolidating them in one handy IN THE CLOUD spot.  I repeat for those who didn't catch the point, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LOSE (or stop using) YOUR OLD EMAIL ADDRESS when using Gmail.

So, the answer is YES! You can route all your email addresses to Gmail and no one will know the difference (just you!).  Of course if you want to eventually simplify your life you can first migrate your addresses to Gmail and then later on close out other accounts.  Either way, the choose is yours, you decide what to do.

Which comes first the Chicken or the Egg?  Or how to I migrate to Gmail without losing my brand email...Step by Step read on.

For those who are Gmail newbies, or have a Gmail account but it's sitting dormant, this tutorial should help get you started.

First you will need a Gmail account.  Go to Google.com and get one.  Look for the Create an account link.

You will be asked your name and desired Login name.  When picking your login name, this is the part that will appear before the "@" in your new gmail address.

If you are lucky you might get your name, or you can use a "." (dot)  a number (1-9) or location in conjunction with it.

Mine is Kristal.Kraft@gmail.com, I got lucky, first there aren't too many Kristal Krafts and I also joined in the beginning when they first opened the beta.  I also have KraftyKristal@gmail.com an address that I don't use often but is fun.

Once you have chosen a name you like and one you won't mind having to type again and again, finish answering the questions and submit.  Google will create your gmail account.

Visit your account.  You will probably have a few welcome and how-to emails from Gmail.  It's a good idea to take a few moments and read them just incase my instructions differ from theirs!

The first thing you will want to do is import your mail and contacts from your existing accounts.  Look in the top upper right of your screen.  You will see a navigation bar that looks like this:

Click on the SETTINGS and then once again search on the navigation bar for ACCOUNTS and IMPORT, click on it and you will see a screen that resembles this:

Most people will have an email account with one of these; Yahoo!, Htomail, AOL, or other webmail or POP3 accounts.  Click on the Import mail and contacts button if you do.  (See above arrow)

You will need to know your other email addresses and the passwords.  Once that is inputted, Google will present a box for you to check the options you would like.  It looks like this:

In this instance I see no need to leave messages on the server. You may find it wise to do so until you are fully committed to using Gmail.  I add the LABEL of my other email address as it will show up on all my messages.  Now I can easily determine where the message came from.

The Archive box is a good thing to use if you want to ARCHIVE ALL your messages from this email.  In some cases I do that, but not in this one.  Where I do archive all messages from one email is in the event of using a particular email like my Secretary of Lone Tree Photo Club email. 

When everything looks good, click START IMPORT.  The next box you see might be a little puzzling...here it is:

I've never noticed it taking up to 2 days for my email to be imported but I guess if they say it is so it must be!

Now that you've begun the process to import your email the next steps are to create filters and to import and categorized your contacts.

Before we leave this screen, remember you can add MULTIPLE email accounts by using the SEND MAIL As:  Just click on that button and add information about your other email address.  Each time you do this you configure that email address to reply either from your gmail address or whatever address it is.  (I have 6 email addresses funneled through my gmail account! It's so nice to have them all in one place.)

So now you have created a central location to store and read your email on Gmail.  You still have your other email active so you can check to see if Gmail is pulling all your mail before you cut it off.  Now, by cutting it off I mean changing where you go to SEE your email and SEND it.

Now instead of going to OUTLOOK on your computer you will log on to Google, click on Gmail and there you will find your email.  If you are like me, this habit maybe hard to break.  It will take some patience, persistence and probably practice before you are totally 100% a Gmail person!

Next time I will write a tutorial on using Filters to organize.

Previous posts about Google:

Funnel Your Email Addresses Through Gmail

Gmail Offers a Passport to Many FREE Services

Google Has a Voice and I Love It!

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Recently I wrote a post about how much I like using Gmail.  Like many people in the real estate business I've had an email address for a long time.  In fact my original email address attached to my domain of Denver Real Estate and Relocation had to be "retired" because I was getting so much spam from it all I did all day long was delete and delete some  more.

I was so sad to lose my original "branded email" but the work involved with keeping it just was worth it anymore.

But now I have a solution.  Gmail.

Gmail has been around for quite awhile now.  At first one only got an account via personal invitation.  Now anyone can have an account (or more) just for the asking!

Gmail has improved  from the beginning.  If you haven't taken a look at it lately perhaps you should! After my last post on this topic, many were concerned about "giving up" their long loved email addresses.  This is nothing further from the truth!

Gmail settings allow for multiple email accounts to be processed through gmail, and one never has to even give out their gmail address.  You can continue using your old address but enjoy the benefits, features and power of gmail!

Here's how you can set up mulitple accounts to go through gmail.  Go to the gmail dashboard>Settings (found in the top navigation bar)>Accounts and Import>Send mail as:>

At this point all you need to do is add your current email accounts.  It is necessary to know your passwords for each account.

Be sure to check the box "Reply from the same address the message was sent to" under the heading "When receiving a message:"

By doing this you never have to worry about which account you are receiving mail, it will automatically respond with your correct email address.

It gets better.

Now you can create a different email signoff for each account.  For instance, I'm currently the secretary of the Lone Tree Photography Club.  Email for the club comes directly to my gmail account.  I can respond to it and have the proper email signature attach to the club emails.  Next year when I am no longer the secretary, this email account can be assumed by the new secretary without having to notify members of an email address change.  It's all very organized and professional.

Grasp a new concept - don't delete!

How many of us delete email all day long?  Not me, at least not anymore.  Now with gmail I ARCHIVE my email.  Why?  Because with gmail I have tons of storage space.  It's not necessary to delete an email that maybe I will want to find in a week or two! 

Ah you say, But the inbox swells to thousands...

No, it won't not if you create filters to organize important emails.  Filters are like "Creating a rule" in Outlook.  Filters will allow you to have files where your emails are filed rather than letting them pile up in your inbox.  For instance I like to create a file for each of my clients.  I create a filter that sends any email directed from them to me into this file.  I know I have an email from them because there will be a number next to the filter on the left column.

To organized like filters together, I begin them with a1-ClientsName  a1-Client2  a1-client3 etc.  Of course I use real names. 

The second tier is my lead management filters.  b1-leadActivity b1-NewLead b1-ReloRequest

The third tier consists of people I communicate with daily, my assistant, broker, daughter who's in the business with me.  Basically tier 3 are the ones whos communications are directing me with items I need to act upon.

Why the tiers?  Well after first creating filters that would list in the sidebar in alpha order, I realized I wanted  more "order" to the sidebar, thus I created the tier concept.  Now when I look at my email I can glance down the sidebar to see who's sent me an email.  Clients, Prospects, Office, are my order of importance.

Yes, I have many more filters, newsletters, social media catagories, receipts, etc.  These all follow the tiers at the bottom of the sidebar.  These are filters I look at when I have the time.

If an email ends up in my box that needs to be associated with a filter, it's easy to "Move to" that filter and file the email in the appropriate place.  Now I have everything nice and neat where it belongs.

For a FREE program Gmail is very robust.  I'm strong on it of late because so much of our work is now in the cloud.  I can access my mail from any computer, not just the one sitting on my desk.

Once you start working with gmail you will see the convenience of not having to delete on multiple devices as I did for so long.  Now I do things once and I'm done with it!

Convenience and freedom are a great combination.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Other posts about the joys of Google.

Gmail Offers a Passport to Many FREE Services

Google has a Voice and I Love It!

Relocate to Gmail - A Step by Step Story

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

With all the blogging that's going on around here, the photo bloggers might find this information helpful.  After posting a few Localism write ups, where I used Photobucket to make a slide show, several Active Rainers contacted me asking for instructions.

Well due to popular demand, I have prepared this tutorial on how to create and embed a Photobucket Slide Show into your Active Rain posts.

Begin by taking photos of your subject.  Process them and place them in a folder on your hard drive.  Typically I create a special folder so I can easily find it.

Login into Photobucket, it has both a free and Pro version.  At this point I only use the free version.

If you aren't a registered member, go ahead and register.

Follow these steps:

1. Upload they photos from your hard drive, click the radial box "my computer" click "Upload Images & video
2. Surf to the file on your computer
3. Pick all the photos at once by highlighting them. Upload
4. Once uploaded you need to "organize your uploads" you can move to an existing album or "add new" one
5. If you wish, you can tag and title each photo.  Tags are useful to the search engines, titles actually show in the slideshow.  It's recommended to do this but not required.
6. click "Share This" in the upper right corner.
7. The next pop up box will give you a choice to Share on the various social networks.  What you are looking for is the "GET LINK CODE" tab on the top right side.  click it

1. The next pop up window will give you a choice for the link code or EMBED Album slideshow.
2. Cut and past (CTRL C) the EMBED Album Slideshow code
3. It looks like this
   

With the code save to your clip board, place your cursor where you would like the Slide Show to be positioned.

I have found it is easier to write your copy first, when it's done then go get the code and place the slide show between your copy. (with cursor in place CTRL V)

You may not actually "see" the show until you Post blog entry as a draft or a public entry.

Note: you can also modify the show size to fit the size of your blog.  Choices are large (640x480), medium (480x360) and small (320x240) and tiny (160x160)

It this example I used the medium (480x360 pixels)

Photobucket is a great program.  As you explore you will find it has many features, from fun and colorful templates to tracking analytics on your slide shows.

Hope this tutorial helps you improve the appeal of your posts!

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Social Widgets have been popular for a long time.

  We have many that track our cookies from one end of cyber space to the next.

New people just tuning into social media may wonder how and where to start.  I know it took me ages to figure things out. 

First there's the social MyBlogLog widget.  It tracks your digital footprints and show your picture when you visit blogs that subscribe to it.  Cheeky you say?  Maybe.  But then sometimes it's nice to let people know you stopped by even though you didn't have any valuable comment to post.  I know I appreciate the visit! 

Next are what the Active Boys call "outside blogs".  Tee hee, we all know Active Rain is the center of the universe yes?  Well anyway the outside blogs are those like Wordpress.  Ever notice the avatars there sometimes have an actual photo while others are blank?

How's Come They Have a Photo and I Don't?

Well if you want to show up with your picture, all you need to do is register with Wordpress.  That would be at Wordpress.com (not .org!)  When you register here, fill out your profile and upload the photo you would like for your avatar and you are all set!

Email Espionage

That's enough of tracking you, what about tracking people who contact you via email?

OK, admit it. We all know we Google ourselves. Yes, it's true.  We will even admit to Googling others, particularly the people who want to do business with us.  Well maybe not from the git-go, but eventually a thought crosses our mind and we just have to know!

Well now collecting data from others has just gotten easier! 

Chrome users who also use Gmail for their mail client (and why not it's FREE!) will be happy to know about Rapportive.  It's a plugin for Gmail users on Chrome

Here's an example of an email I received tonight.  I choose it because the person sending it has done an excellent job with her online profiles.  OK so she's the "Senior Marketing Direcctor at Metrolist" might have something to do with the fact her profile is not only good, but complete!  She sets a very good example for us, so let's copy shall we?

Note how all her information comes across nice and neat. 

• Job description
• Twitter @ and her stream of Tweets
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Flickr
• MySpace
  

If I didn't know Melissa, I could easily investigate her and see what's on her mind of late.  What a great way to strike up common ground with a person you want to affiliate with correct?

Now some will say this is an invasion of privacy or spooky or whatever.  Take note, all of this information is out there, all Rapportive did was aggregate it for our convenience.

Look it over and let me know what you think.  The program was only released just recently and of course like everything new it has a few bugs.

What it's making me think about doing is revamping & updating all my profiles.  If I'm going let it all hang out there it might as well look good!

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Active Rain came to town! 

The room was full of people last week when the Rain Gang showed up.  They came armed with T-shirts, goody bags and a ton of great technology tips and practical applications for them.

This day wasn’t for the weak of heart, the information came with the force of a fire hydrant unleashed on a hot summer’s day.  No one complained we just wrote as fast as we could taking notes and hoping against hope we could remember it next week!

The excitment of learning is not the only attraction at Rain Camp, it's about getting to meet people you've never met in real life before. 

Anyone who spends their time on social networks will know this to be a fact, when you finally meet for the first time someone you've been reading or chatting with, they hardly seem like a stranger.  It's more like a big, happy family reunion.  Everyone is hugging and laughing and having a good time. 

So Raincamp goes like this, you arrive, stake out a place to sit then go find people you want to meet.

When the session started there was hardly time to take a deep breath, there was so much information coming at you it was hard, really hard to keep up.

Most find the best way to deal with it is to grab what they can and let the rest pass.  There will be time to fill in the blanks later, as what we did catch will take plenty of time to impliment, so why stress!

Here’s my Top TEN Tips from RainCamp:

1. Brad Andersohn’s presentation on the Top FREE Real Estate Tools 2009 http://slidesha.re/2rHprP
2. Find out what influencers are talking about on Twitter, use Klout
3. Active Rain now has a University where each day there is another interesting presentation you can tune into from the comfort of  your chair!
4. Agents are still using Archtelecom to capture leads with success
5. 74.1% of the population is  now online, 32% spent their spare time on the social web, 94% home buyers are between 24-44, 32% found their actual home online.  If you aren’t online you don’t exist. (I said that! So Google Me already!)
6. Ben Kinney is a real Pain you might want to friend him on Facebook and find out why. (hint, he sells a lot of real estate)  Ben likes to SaveAWorm  Facebook is really about building community and marketing your listings (not so much!).
7. Save time by syndicating your posts to go from one network to the next. Then all you need to do is show up and respond to the comments.
8. Twitter is a great way to prospect for leads, if you know how to set up searches. Geo chirp
9. Feed your website to Wordle, it not only gives you a cool looking graphic, but you can see what words you focus on. Hopefully the consumer and not egotistical you!
10. Build your brand, become and live the Purple Cow
    

Rain Camp will come back again soon.  They plan to branch off into other specialties so it's not always about social media.  The thought is next time we'll talk REO's or FSBO's or some current topic that will bring another fire hose of new ideas that come from actual practitioners and not some trumped up, sales trainer who never actually sold anything (at least in this millennium). 

Just bringing that up because I'm oh so tired getting fed the same old hash and rehash.  Give me fresh ideas, today's learning is about colaboration, community and sharing.  We know the business, now we want to learn how to leverage the tools of social media so we can provide better service to the consumer while keeping our sanity.

Raincamp was a good experience for me.  It exceeded my expectations, and I can tell you I've been to many industry events of the course of my years, I don't say that lightly.

Thanks to Jonathan, Bob, Brad, Lauren and Ben.  You out did yourselves, here's a pat on the back!

kk

P.S. After the session, @Mizzle was spotted taking the Purple Cow concept all the way! Go Mizzle!

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Blogging is tough, yes? Blogging isn't always the easiest activity in the world. In fact sometimes the simple process of putting a word, one word on the page is agony.

Wouldn't it be great if we could record a few of the millions of thoughts we had all day long and process them painlessly into a blog? Oh my would I have some incredible blogs!

Of course that isn't possible. Instead I have to rely on my memory to kick in the next time I'm sitting in front of the 'puter. Ha. Another problem, what was it I wanted to blog about? It was awesome! Now what was it?

I need blog helper.

Well, there really isn't an invention yet to make blogging as easy as transcending thoughts to the 'puter. However, I have found a cool little tool that will help you with some of the tasks in a no-brainer seemingly sort of way.

You are going to love this!

There's a website you can visit, cut and paste your blog into it, press a button and it will:

• suggest keywords
• provides a selection of photos
• brings up related articles from the blogisphere
  

Yes, that's true! No more bending of the burnt out brain to give your blog those necessary finishing touches that make it shine!

Oh, I suppose you would like to know where to go to get this awesome tool. Humm, should I share? I suppose if I don't you all will start spamming me 24/7/365.

Nah...I'm really not that mean. I will share with you, so now you owe me. Big time!

Go here: Zemata

I use the demo and don't even bother to download the program. Here's what You will see:

Now send me your Denver Real Estate referrals please! Thank you! :)

Enjoy!

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Personalization of your Active Rain profile is easy to do with all the handy widgets available to bloggers these days.  One of the most popular (free) widgets is the My Blog Log.  Signing up for this bit of technology will allow you to see who is visiting your blog.  You will also be able to see which of your links are getting clicks and what blogs are sending you the most visitors.

If this is appealing to you keep reading!

First you must be a member of My Blog Log. Join here. (If you are a member already, follow these instructions skip to the Widget section.) Become a member, fill out your profile and upload your photo.  Once complete go to >My Home > Get Widgets > (see illustration below)

 Use the widget page to configure your widget to match your color scheme. Several style and sizes are offered by combining screen names (or not), full or half-size and number of rows.  You may also personalize the title to suit your theme.

NOTE: the graphic on the right shows your choices. Once satisfied click "Preview & Get Code".

My Blog Log offers several formats for your Log Widget.  Here are some samples:

Open the next window, check your work. If you don't like what you built, just go back to the previous window and start over again.  Once satisfied cut and paste the code. (Highlight code "HOLD CTRL C" to paste it to the clipboard.  (Next illustration shows Code)

NOTE: the code trails off the window, be sure you scroll over to get the COMPLETE code.  It will begin with an opening bracket "<" sign and end with a closing bracket ">" 

With your code still pasted to your clipboard, open your Active Rain Home Page. 

In the upper left you will see "My Settings" click on it.

 If you have filled out your profile, there will be words in the Description blog.  Place your cursor at the end of your text and "PASTE" the code.  Click "UPDATE."

 Your Blog Log will take a few seconds to populate.  Done right it should look something like mine on the right column of this page.

Good luck with making your Active Rain Blog pretty!

If you would like more Unofficial Tech Support Tips visit my profile page.  At the bottom there are links to various tech topics for building your AR Blog.

If you want to be the first to know about future tips, subscribe to my blog.

Colorado Licensed Broker ABR - Accredited Buyer Representative CIPS - Certified International Property Specialist CRS - Certified Residential Specialist The Berkshire Group Realtors 3801 E. Florida Ave. Suite 400 Denver, Colorado, 80210 USA	Mobile: 303-589-2022 Fax: 303-953-5362 kristal@tbgdenver.com Denver Real Estate and Relocation Denver Home Search
Selling Denver and the 'burbs

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver

Social Networks have been around for many years.  Online social networks are making a big splash now that they come out of the middle school population and into the mainstream. The Active Rain Network is an amalgamation of blogging, social networking and viral marketing.  The combination of all empowers users on so many levels.  Addiction to the rain has become common place; many of us have been to the Betty Ford Center and will probably go back.  I don't know what it is about Active Rain, but one day my family will have to pry my cold, dead hands off the keyboard...

Until then folks you are going to have to put up with me.  My campaign of the day is to encourage the folks in the deep dark shadows of Lurkdom to come out.  Lurkdom is a crummy place to live.  It's a one-way street, dark and dingy.  Nobody knows you are there.  Hanging out in Lurkdom, you grow up lopsided.  Your body gets nourished from all the good information on Active Rain, but your mind doesn't grow, it atrophies into neutral, never going forth again.

If you are worried about coming out of Lurkdom, don’t despair.  There are plenty of resources here on Active Rain that will help you find your way.  In addition, you will find many people who are here, ready willing and anxious to help you.  So what are you waiting for?  Here’s how to get started:

• Pick a topic ~ choose something you are familiar with
• Write a blog ~ it doesn't have to be long
• Read it out loud ~ spell check it
•  If you are unsure about how to publish it on Active Rain read some tutorials
• Getting started on the Active Rain Community
• So you want to be a blogger?
• Who is your audience?
• The Official Unofficial Guide to Getting Involved on Active Rain
• Blogging for fun or profit? How about both?

Don't worry if your first blog isn't a master piece.  It is more important that you get started.  Once you have gone through the process a few times, it will become like second nature to you.

Next thing you know you will be making a journal with all the topics you would like to blog about, just so you can remember them all!  Trust me, it WILL happen!

You will also find times when you can't string a bunch of words together to make a sentence, much less one coherent thought.  We all hit that wall, so don't worry about it.  Right now, it's time for you to start.

HOW TO GET NOTICED 

After you have published a few blogs, hopefully you will get comments on them.  If you don't, keep trying.  We all didn't start with a million comments coming out of the shoot.  In fact my first blogs went unnoticed for a long time.  Of course back then we had a couple hundred people not the thousands we have now!

Here are a few hints on how to get noticed:

• Leave comments on other blogs.  Follow up on how they respond to you.  Making friends is the best way to get noticed.
• Join a group or two or ten.  The Newbie Group is a perfect place to start.  Getting in on the same level as others is instant affiliation.
• Show up regularly
• Build your profile, be sure it is clear who you are, what you do and where you do it.
• Use a photo we can identify as you.

Once you get in the swing of writing a blog, you will progress to a higher level. Start adding links, photos and items of interest.  Be sure not to copy other's work, unless of course you like being ridiculed and ostracized in public.

Here are a few blogs to assist you in sprucing up your blog:

• How to Add Pictures in Your Blog
  
• Unofficial Tech Support ~ Adding side by side photos
• Unofficial Tech Support ~ Adding photos and wrapping the text
  

 Most members of Active Rain agree, there is an abundance of information published here to help you get started.

We all have "Our First Time" jitters so don't feel alone when you do.  Just come on in, enjoy, make a new friend and tell us what's on your mind.  We would like to know!

kk

P.S. If you are part of the Real Estate Industry and are NOT a member of Active Rain, you can SIGN UP HERE! 

P.P.S.  I really am NOT tech support.  I am a Realtor in the Denver Metro Area, who loves your referrals and will treat them with the care and respect they deserve.  Please remember me... 

Colorado Licensed Broker ABR - Accredited Buyer Representative CIPS - Certified International Property Specialist CRS - Certified Residential Specialist The Berkshire Group Realtors 3801 E. Florida Ave. Suite 400 Denver, Colorado, 80210 USA	Mobile: 303-589-2022 Fax: 303-953-5362 kristal@tbgdenver.com Denver Real Estate and Relocation Denver Home Search
Selling Denver and the 'burbs

Broker Associate, ABR, CRS, GRI, ePRO, PMN, PNG
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
3801 E. Florida Ave., Suite 400
Denver, Colorado 80210
720-279-4599 ~ direct     303-953-5362 ~ fax

Selling Colorado Since 1984, Serving the Following Areas:

Denver Home Search	Highlands Ranch Home Search	Parker Home Search	Englewood Home Search
Littleton Home Search	Search Denver Foreclosures	Greenwood Village Home Search	Relocation to Metro Denver