Blogger Basics

Just today I was asked by one of our managers how to use Google's "Blogger". My first thought? What a GREAT blog topic!!! Actually, that was maybe my 4th or 5th thought ... but still, a post was definitely in order. So let's cover some of the basics.

1. Go to http://www.blogger.com/ to get started, you will need a Google account ...

A short interruption here - signing up for a Google account does not mean that you will have Gmail. You can sign up for a Google account with any email address you chose. Sign-up is FREE.

2. Enter a display name - the name of your blog - for example, "Tech Daze"

3. Read and accept the terms of service ... go ahead. I'll wait.

4. Click Create!

This is your Blogger Dashboard, from here, you can:

- View Profile

- Edit Profile

- Edit Photo

- Edit Notifications

You can also write a new post, edit posts, play around with your settings and layout -- and of course, view your blog.

Your profile will look like this ...

Make sure you have the basics in your Blogger Profile!

Now the FUN begins! What are you going to post about ... ??? The options are endless. You can write an opinion piece, share the latest news, post a photo or video, the list goes on and on.

My best advice to you - find your own blog voice. Be different - be relevant - be you.

>>> Click the NEW POST button to get started!

This will take you to the "Create New Post" page ...

- Type in a title for your post
- Start blogging!

- ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS spell-check

- Type in your labels - what are you blogging about?

- Click Publish Post

So my labels for this post might be - googleblogger, socialmedia, howto ...

My labels are my tags and tell the reader what I wrote about - in a few words.

See? Blogging is easy! And super fun. But, it's a commitment - you have to blog regularly to make any sort of an impact. (Yep, I struggle with this too!!!)

Time Flies When Your CE is Due!

Howdy & Happy Friday ... just a friendly reminder that we are in a license renewal year. Do you have your Continuing Education credits?!

All PA real estate licensees must renew their licenses every 2 years - the current renewal period ends May 31, 2010. The PA Real Estate Commission requires all real estate licensees to complete 14 elective hours of education each renewal period.

For new PA Licensees ... if your license was issued in the last six months of the renewal period (June 1, 2008– May 31, 2010) you do not have to complete continuing education. However, you still have to complete the renewal application & pay your fees to the Real Estate Commission.

So Important for our NEWEST LICENSEES ...
AOS classes, although approved for 7 hours of PA CE, do not fulfill the PA Mandatory Continuing Education requirement for new licensees who received their licenses after December 1, 2007 and before December 1, 2009.

These mandatory courses must be completed by May 31, 2010.
> Real World Real Estate-General Module
> Real World Real Estate-Residential Module


Check out the Real Estate Academy of Bucks County for class dates/times or see what your Realtor associations have to offer!!!

The Buzz on Brizzly Plus ...

Hellllo and Happy 2010!!! In the last two weeks or so I've had a handful of agents asking me about Brizzly. Mostly along the lines of, "what is it" and "do I need it"? Well, let me see if I can shed some light on this new tool.

Brizzly is a new way to read your content from Facebook and Twitter, all in one convenient location. Go to http://www.brizzly.com/ to set up your account, link your Twitter and Facebook accounts and you're off ...

The point? Keep one Brizzly window open as opposed to both Twitter and Facebook windows open. Do you need it? No, but trying it is painless and you might love it.

There are loads of tools out there for managing your social media sites ... a few of my personal favs include:

- FriendFeed (my old fav)

- ping.fm (an on-again/off-again love affair)

- Shareaholic (my new flame)

Those who love Firefox might want to consider moving to the Flock browser (also by Mozilla). Flock is an entire social browser that will allow you to connect and update all of your social media profiles in a new and fun way! You can still use your old browser for all of your other work and just keep Flock for your social media ... pretty cool, right?!

Get out there and try something NEW for the new decade!!!