What are your choices for PDF Software?

eFax and most other online fax programs utilize .PDF for documents. You have a few choices in the software realm to choose from:

1. Adobe Acrobat 8.0 (Special offers on Adobe products.)
2. Nitro PDF (Website)
3. CutePDF (Website)

In order to edit documentss and add stamps you need an editor besides efax software or high end software such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.

Cox Caught Blocking Traffic

As we have discussed previously, Cox was blocking emails due to filtering. Their TOS details what they can and can't do but that all may change if a new Federal regulation is put in place "Guaranteeing Net Neutrality"

Cox blocks emails I send across the desk to my wife arbitrarily or sometimes blocks them all because we are on a residential account. Everyone may at one time or another send an email from home concerning work or to a colleague. Based on their terms of service their is no guarantee it will make it there.

Ever email a client from home with no response?

They may have never got that email and you wouldn't ever know it went into a filter blackhole.

We will see what happens. Here is a link to the article on CNET

Best Photo Manager Period

One of the best available photo managers and html album generators is ACDSEE. To get a trial version click on the banner below.

Anti-Virus, Firewall and Spyware

Norton, McAfee and other Virus protection companies are bundling too much into their packages including backups run, email scanning that constantly locks up the computer and other problems I have seen on Windows XP and Vista.

AVG Virus, Spyware and Firewall is $99 and runs clean. I recommend it. For backups I recommend a seperate network drive NAT Storage if you on a small network or a personal USB 500MB harddrive to insure your data, contacts and email are all backed up. Both of these systems run at night while you are sleeping.

Questions: email me

Helpful Technology Links for Agents or Small Businesses

• Great Free Image Editing Program - Free from Microsoft www.getpaint.net/
  
• Google has a ton of Webmaster tools that can assist youin tracking incoming links, garnishing traffic and creating instant traffic via adwords. www.google.com
  
• Online Meeting Software - Dim Dim that just came out of BETA is great for holding online meetings like WebEX without the cost. www.dimdim.com
  
• Backup Products - Maxtor, Seagate and many others have NAT (Network attatched storage or USB to backup your PC automatically. 1 TB of backup storage is running around $250 which is cheap. Don't Wait - run down to your local Best Buy, Frys or Office Max/Depot.
  
• Blogging Software: Do it yourself with wordpress.com or blogger.com.Typepad.com has fees but is also a robust application that is partblog, part website and part community.

See you on the Web - Jason

The Moble Agent - Tablet PC

If you are considering purchasing a notebook don't consider purchasing a tablet pc. A tablet pc will give you more flexibility while you are out of the office & the ability to show clients properties while you are out and about. Compaq/HP, Gateway, Lenovo and Motion Computing have a good offerings online priced from $999.

Best Buy, Frys and Office Max usually stock one tablet in stock so the best way to get the best price is online.

Desktop File Scanning - Paperless Systems

By now you all know we are big fans of the paperless office, well almost paperless. We have to factor in the inital offers, counters, escrow and loan docs but archiving docs after the fact on CD digitally is the best way to preserve the files.


Cannon, HP and Microtek all make pretty good 50 sheet small footprint desktop scanners that will scan about 10 pages a minute to PDF. Fujitsu has a very lightweight mobile scanner but it only holds 10 pages in sheetfeed (1 or 2) shy of a contract. See Video

Expanded List:

• HP - HP Scanjet N6010 Document Sheet-feed Scanner 50 page $499
• Microtek - Microtek ScanMaker 5950 - document scanner 50 page $166 -$250
• Cannon - DR 2050C - document scanner $499
• Fujitsu - S300 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner $295
• Xerox - Xerox DocuMate 252 - sheetfed scanner $795
• Plustek - PL806 - document scanner $250

Thanks and lets all try to save a tree when we have a chance

Real Estate and Adobe Acrobat

The paperless office is coming, the paperless office is coming... we have heard the hype and now we have digital and hard copies to track. There are a few technologies on the horizon that will provide secure signatures that will be adopted but until then we will still be working with faxes.

Hopefully by now you are using efax or some other type of digital fax that converts your documents to PDF files. Adobe Flashpaper and Adobe Acrobat are two great programs that get the job done. Acrobat will give you editing capabilities where Flashpaper is the end of the road in the PDF world. You can check out Adobe Acrobat 8.0 on Adobe.com.

Tools of the Trade - What you need to compete!

Most saavy REALTORS® who stay up to date on technology use TREOs or other Palm devices to access the MLS and check email while they are in the field. Carrying a full size notebook can be cumberson touch to drag around town.

The new Tablet PC has made it possible for REALTORS® to utilize the power of a lightweight reversible tablet with broad band access allowing them to write offers, search the full MLS and print from anywhere at anytime. Imagine having access to all of your files and business tools wherever you are with access to the Web at broadband speeds.

There are many tablet PC makers out there heating up the competition but be sure that your cell phone provider has the right card for your tablet. Verizon and At&t have both a full-size PC card along with the newer express card slots. Access with run you around $59.99 per month giving you access from Las Vegas to a beach in Maui. Dell, Sony, Lenevo and HP are actually building in WAN access internally giving you access your business-critical information in 13,000 cities and towns and in 130 countries around the world.

I will be posting a short list of new tablet pcs for your consideration.

Permission Based email Marketing Etiquette

email marketing is one of the keys to successful marketing on the Web!

There are few points you might want to consider following in order to be in compliance with CAN-SPAM Act and keep your members or customers happy.

Consider the following:

• Permission to Send
  
• Frequency of emails
  
• Privacy and Security
  
• Client/Customers Expectations
• Compliance
• Relevancy

Over the next few posts I will break down each section and explain in detail each point.

Perfect Office Suite for your Office

If you don't have $400 for Microsoft Office professionl you might want to take a look at Open Office Suite at www.openoffice.org . This free application includes everything MS Office has + tools to interface with powerpoint and photoshop files. Free.

Virtual Brokerages in 2008 and Beyond

The brokerage shakeup continues in Las Vegas with some of the larger brokerages filing for bankruptcy protection due to their heavy over-head with many agents not producing.

When the market was hot thousands of new agents were added in Las Vegas each quarter eventually topping over 17,000 REALTORS® flooding the market.

As the market returned to normal, many of these new agents had not experience in a normal or declining market so we are seeing the pool of licensees decline in 2007 and 2008.

Agents who have been in real estate either in Nevada or other states for 10 years have been through up and down markets and realize real estate is in a constant flux.

There is why Triple8 Associates has jumped into the Las Vegas market with detailed plans to optimize many of the old school processes with new technology tools that are easy to manage and cost effective.

Information packed Websites, Lead Capture, Email Marketing, Blogging, Video Tours, Photo Gallery Tools and using a Paperless Brokerage System is key to creating a more flexiable system that works well for everyone.

If you are interested in joining Triple8, please contact Olivia McClellan, Corporate Broker for a confidential interview. (702) 372-2671.

Email Marketing Tips - eBlaster Edition 2.0

eBlaster Email Newsletter Tips

Over the past few years the number of email newsletters we are receive has gone up and up and up. Businesses are catching on that their clients would rather receive an email than a letter or phone call so why not embrace email marketing it's cheaper.

888VG eBlaster Templates are custom designed to brand your company image, colors, theme and overall look and feel of your Website. The design will fall in line with your business cards, fax sheets, and any other marketing material we design for you.

The goal is to expose your clients to your message and brand as often as possible so when they think of the business you are in and will remember you and only you. Colors, logo and content are very important when implementing high value email marketing to you client base. You must insure that you are sending relevant information on a consistent basis.

How often should you send emails to clients because frequency is a big concern? We recommend sending one email per month unless you have a group that has specifically agreed to unlimited emails. For example: if you have a foreclosure group that is updated 4 times a month and your list wants foreclosure info, it would be acceptable to send four emails a month to that group.

888VG eBlaster takes all of these issues into account and more with added reporting and schedule it is the perfect tool for your small business to stay in touch with you client base in a professional, consistent manner.

If you have any questions, you know where to find me.

Home Automation - Wired or Wireless?

Building a new house or retrofitting an older one there are many choices of companies that can provide low voltage wiring to prep the home for broadband, automated lighting, alarm and remote control systems.

OnQ/Legrand has been in providing quality products to new home builders since 1999.

Here are some other links:

• Hawking
• Eaton
• iControl
• Lagotek

Creating a Mobile Offlice

Hi everyone,

I appreciate you emails asking for specifics about mobile computing so I will be posting more links to products that we utlize at Triple8.

Many of the large brokerages are scaling back and reducing their over-head in and effort to change. As you may of read in the Review Journal, it is a little too late with many of them seeking bankruptcy protection. This mentality of the traditional real estate brokerage needing 10 offices with large staffs providing cubes for Agents is "Old School."

An new Agent coming out needs to be flexible, mobile and connected to communicate and respond to team members, clients and his/her Broker.

Here are a few links to a few good products on the market that will assist you in creating a solid mobile office.

Mobile Office Links

• Tablet PC Standout - Motion Computing a leader in the pure tablet model.
• Convertible Laptop with PC Slot II - will allow you to use any one of the broadband providers.
• Belkin Car Power Device - Plugs in lighter plug and
  will power two devices
• HP Wireless DeskJet 450wbt - great mobile printer with
  wireless printing via IR or Bluetooth
• Plantronics Mic + Headseat Combo - On the Road
  Podcasting
• Logitech Mobile Web Cam - USB based Video or Stills.
  Mnay of the new notebooks have Web Cams built-in.
  

Best Way to Stay Connected - Out of the Office

To be competitive Real Estate Professional in today's market you must be mobile and embrace technology.

Treos, Palm and Smart Phones are a great way to check email, review faxes and search the MLS but a mobile office will be comprised of a convertible notebook or tablet pc with a broadband connection.

Att&t, Verizon and Sprint all have PC broadband cards that provide a good connection in most coverage areas. The convertible or tablet PC will enable you to write contracts using digital forms (Zip Forms) and instantly upload them to your online office (Relay Paperless Systems). Once they are online you can email links, attachments or fax them to clients, loan officers or make them available for your Broker to sign all done from a Starbucks or a beach in Hawaii. At the end of the transaction, CDs are burned and distributed to the client, office file and agent. If all of the CDs somehow disappear the files are stored securely online and available 24/7.

At Triple8 Associates in Las Vegas, we deploy solid technologies that will enable Agent to work smart not hard.

Here are some helpful links:

• Att&t Broadband Connect
• Sprint
• Verizon

FlashMic - Great for Podcasting or Interviewing

One of the coolest gadgets to come out lately for recording audio podcasts that allows the user to be mobile and on the go but put out tremendous quality is the Flashmic Digital Recording Mic.

The price is pretty steep but if you record alot of audio it will pay for itself when you plug in and just download the audio to your desktop MP3 ready.

Technical Details

• Bitrates (MPEG) 384, 256. 192, 128 kbps
  
• Frequency Response 20 Hz - 20 kHz ± 1dB @ 48 kHz FS Linear PCM
  
• Microphone Capsule Omni-directional
  
• High Pass Filter Switchable on/off, 12 dB/octave @ 100Hz
  
• File Format Linear PCM: .wav, Broadcast Wave File (BWF). MPEG 1 Layer 2: .mp2, ISO/IEC-11172-3. Date / Time stamp is stored in file header. Filename generated automatically by DRM85, basic text string provided from PC software

How do you get listed in search engines?

How do you get listed in search engines?

Everyone asks, "how do I get to the top of the search engines with my Website"

I reply, "Has your Website been submitted to the search engine and is your Website packed with relevant good content?"

The answer almost always is "huh?"

The truth is if you want to put your average Website that might be bug free and have current information on a PPC campaigna and Pay for every click-through you get - YOU CAN BE #1 IN GOOGLE" until you account runs out of money.

Long term search engine place is called "Organic" and basically means what the work means. No frills, tricks just good content.

Search engines arent getting duped anymore with fancy software or SEO companies tactics. Google is a mult-billion dollar company and the rest of the crowd is up there so if someone is promising you first page "ORGRANIC" rankings if you pay them - RUN.

More to come ...

Best Digital Camera for Real Estate Agents (taking pictures)

That is a tough question because there are so many makes and models out there so I have decided to break it down into 3 categories: Tech Saavy Agent, Can get the job done but no frills and Please do it for me. Cost is a main component in my choices and video does not play a big roll into choosing a camera. Usually, the more a device does the worse it does any one thing well. I also do not take into consideration you will be shooting any virtual tours or using fisheye lens. Lastly, if you are a real estate agent you do not need a $1500 digital camera to do your job.

1. Tech Saavy Agent - Nikon has the best all around products that range from good 6.0 megapixel cameras to 10 mega pixel. The reality is the 7.2 mega pixel is overkill for what we are shooting. Personally, I like Nikon and Sony cameras because they work well and are intuitive.
The Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens that runs up to $500 but is a great camera. Sony Cybershot DSC-H9 8MP Digital Camera with 15x Optical Image Stabilization Zoom runs around $400 and is a subcompact but is packed with features. The end result is almost always the same, plug into your PC using a USB or Firewire connection, download the images to your desktop and drop into the MLS who will resize and watermark the images for you.


2. Can get the job done but no frills = Sony Cybershot DSCW55 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Black) runs around $299. It is supercompact and takes great pictures. Point and shoot, plug into your computer using a USB or Firewire connection, transfer the images, edit them if you would like to then drop them into the MLS who will resize them and watermark them for you.

3. Please do it for me - = KKodak EasyShare C613 6.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom sells for around $99 that will do the trick. Point and shoot, Plug into your desktop cradle at home and the software transfers the images to your desktop. Drop them into the MLS who will resize them and watermark them and you are done.

Remember the more pictures the more exposure you listings will have.

Jason

Keyword "Las Vegas" grabs 14% in the Travel Destination Sector

It's not suprising but according to hitwise.com under the category Travel Destinations and Accomodations Las Vegas had 14% of the over-all search traffic.

The city of Las Vegas population just topped 2 million and in 10 years should top 3 million.

A little city in the middle of the desert has grown trememdously over the past 10 years expanding well past any locals memories. I remember chatting with a client who told me 20 years ago there wasnt anything past rainbow blvd heading west. Just desert he said.

It still shows as large master planned communities are being built in the north west like providence. From a local's standpoint it seems so far away and a 1/2 commute is out of the question.

My husband and I lived in Orange County for a while and he used to commute 2.5 hours to work each way from South Orange County to Santa Monica and survived. It all comes down to perspective.

See you on the Web

New 60 Minute Flip Video Recorder Available

Agents - Get your turn-key video recorder at Amazon.com. This little device does it all, record and convert it to Web ready video. Perfect for posting on www.youtube.com

Cox Tier 2 Support Fix

If you are experiencing issues with your email at home on your residential account take the following steps:

Send an email from your Outlook email or email aliases to the following email addresses with this in your subject line: remove my email from blacklist

thisisnotspam@cox.net

This is supposed to take your outgoing email address off the blacklist.

Cox Blocking email as SPAM (greylisting)

According to information on the Cox website, Cox launched a network-based anti-spam solution that will allow them to recognize and block spam from known spammers using rules-based methods and also white or black lists. Although the Cox High Speed Internet subscriber agreement prohibits customers from using the service to send spam or any other unsolicited mass e-mailings, they also block users from sending individual legitimate personal and private (non-spam) emails based on an undisclosed filtering scheme.

If you have a home account with Cox you may have seen the dreaded bounced email message telling you that your email to your client has been flagged as spam. In doing so they have added the information to their filter blocking outgoing mail to friends, family and clients.

Because you have a personal account and not a buisiness account you have no recoarse.

I spoke to cox and they told me to send the email to thisisnotspam@cox.net and that will remove the email from their filter but at this time I have not seen it work.

Outgoing personal mail being sent via cox mail servers is being bounced or sent to a black hole. You may think a potential client has received this email but in reality has not. You may send another and another. You client dosen't respond because they never got the first email you promised them. You try putting in a call but no reply. They have moved on.

Do not rely on cox to send important business email to potential or current clients because they may be filtering your emails and sending them to never never land.

Why you need to start blogging

You have probably heard everyone tell you that you need a blog, are you blogging, have you seen my blog... enough already.

If you are a full-time Real Estate professional you know you know you need to start blogging if you want to compete in today’s digital market.

If you specialize in a specific area or vertical market, focus on those topics specifically to give your viewers more bang for their "buck."

Once you start "Blogging" and create a rhythm of posts as often as you can but keep it fresh. After a couple of months you might want to think about adding photos, audio and video. Adding cool features is not especially high tech so don't be afraid of adding them.

There are may FREE blogging tools available on the Web. I’ve outlined a few below:

• www.blogger.com
• www.typepad.com
• www.wordpress.com
  

Thanks and if you have any questions, please email me.

Business Cards for REALTORS

Last, week I was at NAR for a week and saw a lot of business cards from around the country and for some reason REALTORS just don't get "Branding."

I beleive it is due to the fact most are married to a larger Brand like C21, Remax or Prudential and they feel that is what they are paying for so they do not Brand themselves.

I believe that is a mistake. A big one.

I Las Vegas there are over 17,000 agents with 20% doing 90% of the business so we figured there are about 4,000 active agents to compete with. The rest are part time or have no idea what is going on.

When you "Brand" yourself, it gives you independence of the larger brand and people will recognize you for whatever you are promoting. When creating ads, flyers, faxes, emails and of course business cards you must keep a consistant design and consistent message.

Use color cards at least 14 pt card stock, glossy or matte to really bring your message to live. The $40 big chain store cards are so over. You can get a 1000 cards for around $80 with design from most companies.

Invest in yourself and your Brand.

Jason