I’m sure glad I didn’t forget today!

Seeing that my Active Rain profile was in sad need of updating, I took the time this morning to do it. Then I checked to see what it looked like.

I have no idea why or where it came from, but at the top of each section there were at least 100 lines of “gobbledy-gook.” I went into the HTML editor and got rid of them, but if I hadn’t checked, all a visitor would have seen was – yuck.

After that was repaired I checked all the links and they’re fine.

But earlier this week, one of my links wasn’t fine. When I posted the blog about the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, I included a link for agents to use in requesting a letter I’d written. For whatever reason, the first attempt at creating a link didn’t work – it led to an error page.

So… Check and double check. Sometimes strange things can appear when you upload – and links you thought were fine can be broken.

When my husband suggested that I go fishing with our son Chad this week-end I almost said no. It had been cold and windy all week and I didn’t relish the idea of sitting in a boat freezing for a few hours.

But… I said yes, and the gods smiled on us. The weather was warm, the breeze was light, the fish were biting, and we had a perfect day.

The day was beautiful, the scenery was exceptional, the fishing was fun, and the best part was just floating around, being with my son all day. He’s one of my favorite people in the universe.

To top off the day, last night my other son called for a nice long visit.

When I think of the moms who don’t see or even hear from their kids for weeks or months at a time, I’m so grateful that mine stay close.

I’m a very lucky mom.

And now… I’m headed out to the garden, to dig in the dirt and put seeds in the ground.

I hope you’re having just as much fun as I will!

Our county and state election primary is next Tuesday and this week our mailbox has been filled with “Vote for me” ads – but a whole lot of people have already voted absentee, so those ads are simply wasted paper, ink, and postage.

It’s sad, because our news coverage here is such that I’d never even heard of a few names on that ballot. If I’d known something about those people, I might have voted for them.

But maybe not – most of the ads don’t say much beyond “I’m wonderful, pick me.” But you never know. A few did state their position on one or two issues.

What does my tale of  ” too late” political advertising have to do with real estate?

It’s just a reminder… Don’t come late to the party!

Don’t procrastinate about contacting that FSBO or Expired listing or any kind of  lead. Do it as soon as you’re aware of it.

Otherwise, those prospects may “vote” for someone else before they even know you exist.

For good ideas on how to get there first, read my weekly real estate marketing ezine for May 9.

And if you don’t know what to do to follow up after you’ve made first contact, go to my prospecting letter page and follow the links to FSBO letters, Expired Listing letters, and any of the niche letters. Read the descriptions and gather ideas – or just get the sets you need and save time by using the words I’ve already written.

Image courtesy of Dreamstine.

The resolution is to figure out what’s wrong with my new computer – it won’t allow me to view any of my own domains, including this one. That means I have to go to this old computer to post.

And the reason I got a new one is because this one is slowly fading away… it takes about 10 minutes now just to open up and get here.

So – no matter how many places I have to call or how many hours I need to spend – I WILL solve this problem.

To date, I’ve spent about 40 hours on it – and all I know so far is that there’s some kind of incompatibility with GoDaddy, Wild Blue, HP, Firefox, and/or Netgear. It may have something to do with an IP address – or maybe not.

Since I’m no techie, I keep trying to find someone who is and who will say “Oh, I know what causes that. Here’s what to do.”

Wish me luck.

More resolutions:

Since New Year’s Day is likely to be slow in terms of communicating with my clients, I’m going to spend it getting organized. Cleaning out useless old emails, making a clean list of user names and passwords (in place of notes written every which way) and getting rid of the clutter that surrounds my desk.

I know I’ll feel better.

Now, what are YOU going to do?

It’s fun to get surprises in my mailbox, and it’s fun to try new products. So if I see a free sample offer and I have a little time, I follow up.

Recently, however, I’ve started clicking away instead of clicking through.

Why? Because the sites offering free samples are asking me for permission to post to Facebook – as me.

Today I realized that I must not have noticed one of those, because I went to a friend’s Facebook page and saw a post with my name on it… and I hadn’t put it there.

I wrote and apologized to her, but how many other people should I be writing?

So… be careful. Stop and read before you say OK.

Offer a free download – promising 30 pages of information they can use. Then deliver 30 pages of 24 point type that tells them why they want your information – and offers to sell it to them.

SELL them a product - one that tells them they need another product in order to realize their dreams.

The gist of the article was that real estate agents needed to be thinking about mobile marketing. And although all I want from a phone is the ability to send or receive a phone call, I suppose that’s true. I’m not typical.

That wasn’t shocking. It was the statistics they shared that shocked me.

According to this report, 1.4 billion mobile phones have been sold during the past 12 months, and 78% of the world’s population has a mobile phone.

Really? All those millions of starving people we see on TV are carrying mobile phones? I already knew that our government would provide one for you for free if you’re on welfare, but didn’t know that went on world-wide.

Maybe it’s just that there are a whole lot of people who carry 2 or 3 different cell phones. One for business, one for family, one for everything else.

I don’t know…

But that wasn’t the real shocker…

It went on to say that there are 750 million vehicles in the world today, 1 billion landlines, and 2+ billion television sets.

That isn’t the shocker either. Do you need a cell phone or a toothbrush more?

Here it is:

4.2 billion toothbrushes are used daily and
5.3 billion mobile phones

1.1 billion more people carry a cell phone than use a toothbrush.

So all I can say is that it’s a good thing those folks are on the phone. You wouldn’t want to talk to them in person with their stinky breath!

What’s the difference? We’ll have to assume that those who don’t blog have either

• Built a strong referral base
• Use other methods, such as pay-per-click to drive traffic to their web sites, or
• Advertise heavily in more traditional ways.

No matter how you look at it, you have to do something to make yourself visible to future clients.

I happen to think blogging is a good way to do that for a couple of reasons.

First, if you blog on a platform such as Active Rain, you get the benefit of their “authority” position with the search engines. The links you send back to your site with every post help make your site more popular and thus it ranks higher in search.

Second, your blog is an extension of your agent bio, or profile.

As such, it allows your future clients an insight into who you are and how you do business.

I read blog posts on Active Rain in order to stay up to date with the real estate market across the country – and in the months I’ve been doing so, I’ve formed some strong impressions of various agents.

Some are self-centered and arrogant – I wouldn’t choose to do business with them.

Some quite obviously do whatever is necessary to help their clients – I would choose them.

In other words, your blog gives you the opportunity to show the world your attitude, your work ethic, and even your empathy toward the rest of the human race.

In a time when trust is such an important component of our various businesses, I think blogging is more necessary than merely nice.

It’s good that there’s a day to call attention to how much we affect the world and people around us, but it would be even better if we’d remember every day.

So today, give it some thought. If you’re going out and about, remember to give a “free smile” to everyone you meet. Stop and hold the door for someone. Pay a compliment. Let someone get in line ahead of you.

If you’re staying home, think about re-using or recycling something you’d normally toss. Take time to make a quick phone call to someone who might be lonely. Cook a special treat for your spouse, kids, parents, siblings, or a friend.

Wherever you are today, there’s something you can do to make a difference. So be creative, have fun with it… and then do it again tomorrow!

So if you’re working in a niche that causes you to emotionally react in a negative way, you’re bringing misery upon yourself.

If you’re dealing with short sales, divorce, or death, give this some thought.

Are you able to feel good about the service you provide to people in pain – and then go home and feel gratitude for your own life?

Or, are you thinking too much about the pain your clients are experiencing? Are you “taking on their pain” and putting your own happiness in peril?

Think about this.

Mental stress can cause physical illness as well as it can turn you into a sour, negative person. That’s not good for you or for the people who love you.

If your niche is making you sick, there are only two solutions:

• Learn to detach your own emotions from those of your clients
• Choose a more upbeat niche

You do owe it to yourself to enjoy your work. And you owe it to your friends and family.

So think about it…