On Point

Attention Realtors:  365 Blogging Suggestions

By now everyone, and especially Realtors, know that a blog can be a very effective way to get those Pac-Man type search engines to gobble up the latest news you can dish out...which can help build your site authority, among other things. 

And yet I hear over and over that they just don't know what to blog about.  Hello?  You are an industry expert, advising people to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home, ensuring their transactions are legally iron-clad, know the ins-and-outs of home warranties, inspection reports and a few dozen other matters...yet you don't know what to blog about?  What is there NOT to blog about I ask?

OK, I came upon this site earlier in the week that offers 365 suggestions for blog topics.  You can be sure I sent this along to my blogging Realtor clients...but thought I'd post it here too, as there's some really good ideas in there, if not for blogging, but for writing full blown articles.  And those articles can be tasty morsels for the likes of EzineArticles.com.

Now, stop reading this and start blogging ;-)

A Warning About Searching for a Domain Name at Network Solutions

I learned recently that when you search for a domain name using Network Solutions, if you don't secure the name you searched on, Network Solutions does so automatically.  They don't actually secure the domain name, but they do lock it up for 5 days.  This can be disconcerting only to come back in an hour or even a day later and see that the domain you want has been secured (as far as you know) by the very company that is supposed to help YOU get a great domain name.  Well, apparently there is a simple work around and that is (besides waiting the 5 day grace period) is to simply call them and ask them to release the hold on the domain.  They'll do it immediately. 

Now, why anyone would want to pay $35 to secure a domain name when they can be had for around $8 is another question.  Or perhaps another blog topic!

It's a Numbers Game

Caller ID is surely one of the best things invented in the 20th century (it was patented in 1983 and first became available in 1986). Sure, more important things were invented like birth control pills and post-it-notes, but this one still ranks high in my book.

Why you ask? Well, besides the obvious that a caller's name is displayed and I can determine if I wish to speak to the person now or not, if it's not, either a phone number is displayed or the two words which cause me to rarely answer the phone anyway "Private Caller."

So, I'm now armed with this company or person's phone number (and often their name, too) and can promptly Google this number (or name) to learn more about my potential prospect or telephone solicitor (who tries to guise their voice message so that we won't know it's a sales call). I've also gotten pretty good at recognizing the automated calls (they say 800 Service often) so don't even bother picking those up (and they never leave a message).

It takes me just a minute or so to do my Google sleuthing and a good part of the time I'm now armed with enough information to make a decision as to whether or not I wish to return the call. It also helps me determine the locality of the person calling so that I can keep time zones in mind (not call too early or too late). Let's just say I've found some pretty interesting information doing this.

Speaking of inventions, About.com has a fairly comprehensive list of the inventions from the 20th century. Go check it out for yourself and I think you'll agree with me, we've been busy!