Adding the twitter widget to wordpress

Add Twitter Widget to WordPressLike many companies, we use twitter to listen to tweeple in our industry (real estate professionals on Twitter) and use wordpress as our blogging platform. So naturally it would make sense that at some point the two platforms will co-mingle online. For example when we write a blog post on “what is an easement“, we’ll generally send out a tweet with a link letting our twitter friends know about the new post. And conversely, we want the visitors who visit our blog first to know that we are on twitter as well.

Letting our blog readers know that we’re on twitter can happen a number of ways. But for today, I want to show you how we added Twitter’s widget to the sidebar on our site (notice it to the right of this post). This handy little tool not only let’s our readers know that we’re on twitter, it also let’s them know what we’re talking about and who we’re talking with.

A New Look and Delivery Method for the GNG Newsletter

The Good Neighbor Gazette Newsletter has been one of our downloadable marketing tools for years now.  It’s a simple two-page monthly newsletter with interesting information about home, family, real estate, food and a little technology thrown in for spice.  It takes just a minute  to customize it with your name & branding and it’s a great little tool for staying in touch with prospects, past clients, and your general sphere of influence with something of value.  Real Estate is a relationship business and every point of contact like the GNG Newsletter can make a difference in generating leads and referrals!

Now there are a few improvements that we have made to the GNG and we hope you find them to your liking.

The first is that earlier this year we gave it a fresh new look using verdant colors that evoke a warm sense of home-ownership.  The front page banner graphic has a crisp looking image of fresh cut grass and a white picket fence with a new casual script logo above.

Secondly, we are now delivering the Newsletter as a bundled package of files.  This bundle includes Word, PDF, and Publisher formats so that all types of users can customize it before printing or emailing it.

Thirdly, we have updated our delivery method for the newsletter using our Ticor Storefront eCommerce solution.  In a nutshell, anyone can now download the GNG up to three months in advance!  No more waiting for the latest edition to be posted to the website.  If you want to work ahead with your email newsletters or mailers, they’re ready for you!

And finally, we have added a large preview feature to our storefront so you can actually preview each article before you purchase! To view the large preview, just click on the thumbnail image of the newsletter.  We think you’ll be pleased with the generous size of the preview!

So with a fresh new look and convenient delivery method, it’s never been easier to use the GNG Newletter to stay in touch with your past clients, prospects, and sphere of influence!

Click here to check out the Good Neighbor Gazette now.

What is a QR Code and How Can I Use it in My Marketing?

QR Code - Clock Hour Class

QR Code (QR stands for Quick Response) is a type of bar code that was invented by Toyota’s Denso corporation back in the 90’s so they’re not quite the newest thing.  However, QR Codes are a new thing you’ll find on some of our printed materials and I’m excited about that!

Why?  Because QR codes can be used to link print items to the web!! It’s like having a hyperlink on paper.  Printed fliers are now cool again! Not that I want to kill trees or anything… But now printed items have a level of functionality that they never had before.

Here’s an example of how we’re using it at Ticor:

QR Reader Example

QR Code used on a flier

We have a Clock Hour Class coming up in December.  And people can register for this class online at Eventbrite.  Now when we print up (or pdf & email) our nice fliers to spread the word, we can include a QR code that is actually a link to the registration page.

So when someone gets the flier and points their smart phone’s QR code reader at the fuzzy little square on the flier, it will immediately launch their smartphone’s browser and take them to our registration page.  They won’t have to sit and type the whole web address of our registration page into their browser on that tiny keyboard. I must admit that when I tried it the first time, it was a thrill.

So if you have a smart phone that will run a QR code reader, try it out on one of our clock hour class fliers!  Or, if you can’t wait you can try it on the code above!

And stay tuned for a follow up post on what we did to generate the QR code and make it link to our registration page.

Enjoy!

Matt Sweet
Ticor Title

Update: Check out our post on how to generate a qr code.

Is someone using my photos without permission? Find out who!

Is someone using my photo without permission? Have you ever wondered this?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a quick tool for finding out?

Thieves

Tineye.com can help!

Tineye is a reverse image lookup tool (and it’s free). What does that mean?  Basically, you can show tineye your photo and it will show you where it found that photo or similar photos elsewhere online.  Very cool!

So if you have a prize winning photo of a real estate listing or sunset photo of Mt. Rainier that you don’t want anyone to use without your permission, you now have a tool for finding photo poachers!

Ticor Pocket Profile App – Property Profiles on the go

Hello iPhone-toting Real Estate professionals!  Have you ever wished that you could look up a property profile from your iPhone or iPad?  Well hot off the press is the new Ticor Title Pocket Profile app that provides property profile information and more.

Here’s a full list of information available via the App:

  • Property Profile – With Legal Description, Property Characteristics, Sale Loan Info, Assessor / Tax info
  • Transfer History
  • Comparable Sales Report
  • Area Sales Analysis
  • Nearby Properties
  • Neighborhood Demographics
  • Public Schools Report
  • Private Schools Report
  • Plat Map

*Note that some usage charges may apply  and a Ticor Express account is required to receive property data to your mobile device.

We’re anxious to hear your feedback.  Based on the quick overview, is this an app that you would use on a regular basis?  Yay or Nay, please let us know either way by leaving a comment below.

Best Regards,
Matt Sweet
Ticor Title
@sweetmd
@myticor

How Does Blogging Lead to Real Estate Business?

“How does blogging lead to Real Estate business?” It’s one of the first questions I hear from Real Estate Professionals when we start talking about modern marketing methods including social media. The uber-short answer is that blogging creates opportunities for conversations, communities, relationships and good old fashioned networking.  From there, a Real Estate person can do the work of identifying the real estate related opportunities that arise within their networks.

And anyone who has attended a Social Media clock hour class or networking round table of ours over the last few months has probably heard of the “365 things to do in…[insert city name here]” hyper-local Real Estate Blog phenomenon. In our classes we have used the 365 things example as a way of illustrating how a Facebook business page can work in concert with a hyper-local real estate blog. But with so many “365 things to do in…” pages popping up, there is one in particular that deserves a close look as the original in the Northwest.

Dale Chumbley is the originator of “365 Things to do in Vancouver, WA and Clark County Real Estate Guide in Vancouver, WA. He was recently interviewed by Mike Mueller of AreWeConnected.com via Blog Talk Radio and I have shared it below.  The engaging interview reveals the background story, his passion for his community, and strategies that he employs as he blogs about his community and connects it all via Facebook.

How to get a Facebook Fan Page Custom URL

Last year Facebook began allowing users to set custom URLs or web addresses for their fan pages.  This is a great feature because it allows us to promote our fan page address in plain english.  Instead of having an address that has a hundred random characters in it that nobody could remember, we have a nice and tidy URL that is much more memorable.  And in our case it is the same as our Twitter address and ‘mothership’ website.

Our Old Facebook URL looked something like this:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/My-Super-Long-Fan-Page-Address/335531722729?ref=not-memorable

Our new Custom Facebook URL is much shorter and easier to remember:
http://facebook.com/myticor

Ticor’s Twitter account
http://twitter.com/myticor

Ticor Title Northwest Mothership Website
https://myticor.com

With ‘myticor’ in each address, we have congruency among our website and social accounts which reinforces our brand.