Friday Freebie: .realtor Website for One Year
There are over two dozen website domain extensions that are related to real estate, but today we're only going to talk about one. Why? Because it's available free for one year to all NAR members, that's why. In this week's Friday Freebie, find out how to get a free .realtor™ web address and a website. Read on to learn more! Free .realtor™ website for one year, courtesy of NAR Dot com alternatives are a great way to differentiate yourself from the competition. And with a well chosen domain name, you can potentially earn your website a little extra SEO and branding power, too. Try it out for yourself — the National Association of REALTORS® is offering all NAR members a .realtor™ website domain that's free for one year. You'll also get a lead generating website that's absolutely free as long as you own your web address. Let the world know you're a REALTOR® and set yourself apart from the .COMpetition. Your new .realtor™ website will: Instantly show you're a REALTOR® Build your personal brand Get you found faster Your website will be Google optimized for search, and loaded with pre-written content. You'll be up and running with a beautiful website in minutes! (Curious? View a demo site here.) Set yourself apart with a FREE .realtor™ website. Get started now!

Beyond Dot Com: 26 Alternative Website Domain Extensions to Try
Looking for an easy way to jazz up your real estate website? Consider trading in your .com website domain for a real estate-focused domain extension, like .realestate or .homes. This little tweak can make it easier for consumers to remember your website — and it looks pretty snazzy on marketing materials, too. The .com domain extension turns 38 years old in 2023. That's a lot of decades of .com website names being snatched up — and a lot fewer short, memorable website domain names to choose from. That's why we want to direct your attention to these 26 domain name alternatives. Here's a list of real estate related domain extensions that you may want to use to upgrade your website domain name: .apartments .broker .buy .condos .commercial .community .estate .farm .forsale .frontdoor .homes .homesense .house .land .living .luxury .properties .property .realestate .realtor .realty .rent .rentals .sale .town .townhomes Neat, right? But what happens if you already have an existing website domain? Here's our advice… What Happens If I Already Have an Existing Website Domain? If your current site has been around a while and is consistently updated, it probably has decent SEO. Since switching to a new website name would essentially erase all your search engine goodwill, it's worth keeping your established name. Instead, consider redirecting your new domain extension to your existing site (your website host or domain registrar can help you with this). That way, you can use your snappy new domain name on promotional materials — and when people type in that new address, it will automatically forward them to your original, existing site. However, if you're sold on permanently moving your site to a new domain name, you can direct your original site to the new. In technical terms, this is called a 301 redirect — and if you ask your website host to set this up for you, it should be simple for them to do. Alternatively, you can also create an entirely different site on one of the domain extensions above. For example, a neighborhood-focused site or a .condo website focused solely on that niche. The sky's the limit! Changing Names In the end, it's worth noting that while these domain extensions can help your website stand out, they do not guarantee that your website will rank higher in search engine results. Your website's content and SEO strategy are more important factors in determining search engine rankings. To check if a website domain name is available, visit lookup.icann.org. You can purchase domain names from multiple sources, including GoDaddy, Namecheap, Network Solutions, and more. If you're specifically looking for a .realtor or .realestate domain, check out NAR's info page here. Happy naming!

Slow Searches? 4 Simple Steps to Optimize Your Web Browser
Is your internet experience slow, yet you have a speedy connection? A sluggish web browser may be causing you problems. Browsers are so ubiquitous we take them for granted. Until we can't because we discover they are slowing us down. Nowadays, websites contain more complex content than ever: images, video, audio, and other elements that can decrease your browser's speed over time. Unfortunately, you may not realize it until you find your browser stops working correctly. But some methods can improve browser speed and keep it that way. Today, two browsers have more than 1 billion users: Apple Safari and Google Chrome. These web browsers are likely an indispensable part of your operating system. Browsers allow you to manage your email, post on social media, and even write, edit, and store your work documents. Here are four things brokers and their agents can do to optimize their web browsers and improve their online productivity: Delete Cache The more you surf the web, the more web pages that your browser will cache – or store locally – to accelerate your internet experience. Your cache builds up when you visit new websites. Eventually, an overload of web data can noticeably slow your web browsing experience to a crawl. A simple fix is to click on your browser's settings and find the "Clear browsing data" option, which will allow you to select and delete data that may be clogging up your browser. Right afterwards, you may see your internet speed drop a bit, but will soon be back to normal. It would help if you also made it a habit to clean your cache every few months to maintain your browser's optimal speed. A hidden benefit of clearing your cache: Certain webpages may also contain hidden malware that could wreck your computer. Deleting your cache helps you remove potentially harmful files from your system. Update Your Browser Usually, your web browser will automatically update itself to the latest version. But there are times when technical issues prevent that from happening, forcing you to update it yourself manually. A best practice with web browsers is to confirm automatic updates whenever prompted. New updates often fix recently detected security issues, offer new features, or improve browser performance. It's also good to double-check that your automatic updates are on for your browser. The process is different for each browser and type of computer operating system (Mac or PC) you are using. If you need assistance, contact Tech Helpline, and an analyst will walk you through the steps. If you have not regularly updated your browser, you may have to install a brand-new version from scratch instead of updating it. You'll know you have an old browser when websites don't display everything on your older browser. Perhaps the most significant incentive to keep your browser current is the older your browser, the more vulnerable it becomes to security issues. Viruses and malware can slip by. So keep your browser current to ensure hackers won't steal your info, wreak havoc on your email or social media, or worse, take control of your computer. That's why it is always better to update now than update later. Less Tabs = More Speed Learning to manage the number of tabs you have open is vital in making sure you have an optimal browsing experience. The more tabs you use in your browser, the slower the speed will likely be. While your web pages may load swiftly with a single tab open, they can start to slow down when you have an increasing number of tabs. Plus, the most popular browsers purposefully slow down tabs that are not in the foreground and can load up to 20 times slower than the tab you are currently using. A rule of thumb is only to have a few tabs open to improve your browser performance. If you need to access more websites quickly, it is better to bookmark the links you need. Remove Unneeded Browser Extensions If you have cleared your cache, are using the most recent version of your favorite web browser, don't have any extra tabs open, have a speedy internet connection, and you still have a poor browsing experience, the source of your problem might be a browser extension. A browser extension is a small piece of software that adds a specific function or capability to your web browser. Also called a plug-in, extensions can improve your web experience. AdBlock is an extension that helps you filter out unwanted content. Online shopping browser extensions such as Honey, Capital One Shopping, or American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping are designed to save you money or earn you miles. But sometimes, these extensions can cause a conflict. The easiest way to see if extensions may cause a web glitch is to delete them one at a time and restart your browser. Again, feel free to contact Tech Helpline if you need assistance. As a benefit to 725,000 Realtors, odds are Tech Helpline is your member benefit at no additional cost. As a reminder, Tech Helpline is just a click, call, or text away. On the go? Take us with you! Download the Tech Helpline mobile app available on Google Play and the App Store. Search "Tech Helpline." Other related topics of interest: Smartphone Running Slower? Here Are 4 Helpful Tips Top Tech Issues Every Real Estate Pro Faces Tech Helpline Tips: Is It Time to Update or Replace Your Computer? Tricia Stamper is Director of Technology at Florida Realtors®, which owns and operates Tech Helpline and Form Simplicity.

How to Choose the Right Domain Name For Your Real Estate Business
The domain name you choose for your real estate business's website is a crucial yet challenging decision for any agent to make. Your domain name goes on all of your marketing materials, business cards, email signatures, and more. The name you choose will give an impression of your brand's professionalism and personality, so it is crucial to get it right. However, beyond how it looks and sounds, the real challenge can come from choosing between domains that aren't in use. With thousands of single-agent and brokerage websites out there, it can be discouraging to stand out and settle on a name that feels just right. Before rushing into a decision that will heavily affect your real estate business, consider the following best practices when it comes to choosing your domain name: Keep It Short A short URL will always perform better for your real estate brand than a longer one. For starters, short URLs are easy to remember, meaning that even when not physically written out, your customers will be able to recall them. Having a domain that is easy to repeat in conversation can be especially useful when giving information over the phone or in person. Real estate is the business of relationships, after all! Second, a short URL will always look better on your real estate brand's marketing. Long URLs can hamper design elements on business cards, email signatures, social media, and more. Additionally, having a long URL can put you in the unfortunate position of leaving off important information due to character limits on these mediums. Consider that you may also be hosting your email address under this domain name, meaning your email address will get longer and more challenging to remember as well. To get a shorter URL that is still descriptive, try using abbreviations or acronyms that people searching for your business may use. For example, instead of www.SouthCaliforniaHomes.com you can try www.SoCalHomes.com. Go for Clarity While it's best to keep your domain name short, it's also important not to shorten it to the point where it doesn't make sense. For example, swapping out a number for a word like SoCalHomes4sale.com may be more confusing to clients trying to type in your URL, and they may end up on a competitor's website or at a 404 error page, which can be a detriment to their experience and ultimately result in a lack of trust. The same can happen if you choose a domain name with words that have common misspellings or include many hyphens between words. It's best to keep your domain name as simple, short, and straightforward as possible. An easy way to keep your real estate domain name simple and memorable is to opt for a .com extension rather than a .net or .realestate. People tend to remember .com much more than the other extensions and will try that first when remembering your URL, so don't work against them. Another element to consider is how descriptive your domain name is to those looking for your real estate service. By choosing your first and last name as your real estate domain name, you're not making it clear what services you offer. However, by choosing a more descriptive name, you can be more precise on your brand's objective and capture the market on a specific audience you cater to. Including these descriptive keywords will help with clarity and your website's SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Think about it; people don't search for specific Realtor names when starting their home search. Instead, they search keywords like "homes for sale in (city name)" or "best realtor in (city name)." The domain name you choose can help you rank for these common searches to get the most traffic. Think of the Long Term Thinking ahead to the future of your business and your brand can save you hassle and time later down the road and inform your decision today. Since your domain name is a part of your brand identity and online identity, it is crucial to pick a name that can age with your brand. For example, you may not always stay with the same brokerage or even take on a partner or expand your business. It's essential to ensure that the domain name will withstand the test of time and changes that will inevitably come. Plus, if you decide to pass your business along to another person, this will be difficult if your name ties into every aspect. Do Your Research Similar to how you may warn your clients not to fall in love with a property before inspection, don't fall in love with a domain name before you've gone through your assessment. One important thing to look out for is a domain name that has had previous use by someone before you. If the domain previously hosted spammy content or something completely unrelated to your business, it could negatively affect your SEO. Another thing to look out for is the use of trademarks in your domain. The most famous example is the use of the word "realtor." "Realtor" is a registered trademark of the National Association of Realtors. There are rules for how real estate professionals can use it in a domain name, and when not followed, it could result in legal action against you. Make sure that you aren't using any possible trademarks in your domain before committing to it. The last factor to look into that may sway your real estate domain name decision is social media. If the social media handles for one domain are not available, it may be easier to consider others for the sake of consistency in your brand. Social media handles may not be much of a factor to some, but still worth looking into in today's dominant social media age. To view the original article, visit the Wise Agent blog.

Take Control: 3 Tips to Master Your Gmail Inbox
Have you ever wondered how assistants can get so much done? Wonder no more! These three tips will increase your productivity by controlling your Gmail inbox. You will learn how to send, archive, and delete emails without taking your fingers off the keyboard. Also, keep your eyes out for the bonus tip! Tip #1: How to quickly send emails The most impactful keyboard shortcut to save time in your inbox is how to send an email without moving your hands away from the keyboard. By simply typing CMD + Enter (Windows: Ctrl + Enter), your email will magically send. No more having to grab your mouse and search for your cursor and then find the Send button. You will be amazed by how much time is saved by using this shortcut. If you are like me and send hundreds of emails a day, you will use this tip more often than not. Don't forget, for any of these shortcuts to work you must turn on keyboard shortcuts in your Gmail account. For instructions on how to turn on the shortcuts, keep reading. Tip #2: Archiving your emails when you no longer need them Many people choose to delete their emails when they (think) are done with them. However, often a week or even a month later, you are looking for that email you deleted and you end up having to ask your client for that attachment or information again. This can be incredibly embarrassing and shows your lack of organization. The power of archiving your emails will come in handy with today's Bonus Tip. To archive an email, just select which you want to archive and hit the letter E. And it is gone! Tip #3: Deleting those emails you will NEVER need Calendar invites have a way of blowing up one's inbox to scary proportions. One meeting with a dozen people can make your unread email count jump up so fast that it can send you into a panic. No worries, select the emails that you want to delete and simply press # and they will be gone! Today's Bonus Tip: Finding emails Arguably the most powerful feature of using a Gmail inbox is the search functionality. Google made the super smart decision of adding a search bar into your inbox. Simply pressing / (forward slash) will give you the option to search for ANY email in your inbox (except spam). This is where the power of archiving your emails comes in very handy. Turn on Keyboard Shortcuts in Gmail To turn on keyboard shortcuts, select settings in the top right corner. Click See all settings. Scroll down until you see Keyboard shortcuts. Select Keyboard shortcuts on and then hit Save! You are now ready to master your Gmail inbox. Now it is your turn Now that you have learned three tips that the pros use to master their inbox, it is now time for you to practice. By purposely taking the next 15 minutes to enable keyboard shortcuts and practice each of these tips, you will truly understand the power of each one. Come back next week for tips on how to "Zoom like a pro." If you have any questions about these keyboard shortcuts or would like to see more, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.

9 Reasons Why It's So Important to Have Your Own Domain
Not all websites are created equal. Just as no two real estate agents are the same, each agent's website highlights the differences between other agents vying for the marketplace. Though content is king, it's important to understand that even your website's domain name has a significant impact on your performance and perception. Here are nine benefits and advantages of having a custom domain name: 1. It's a No-Brainer Why should you have a custom domain name? Why not? It's simple, especially when you're trying to encourage clients to access it. Instead of asking clients to remember a confusing web address, simply adding a ".com" to your business name makes engagement effortless. It also makes it easier for clients to find you passively, for instance, when they search for you online. If they search "John Smith" and find "johnsmith.com," they'll know that they've found the correct address. 2. It Gives You a Leg-Up on the Competition Do you know how many of the other agents in your market have their own custom domain names? Chances are high there are many which simply use web addresses provided by a hosting site. By locking down your custom domain name, you have another leg-up on the competition by demonstrating your legitimacy. 3. It Demonstrates Legitimacy How does having a custom domain address demonstrate legitimacy? First, it shows that you're using the latest technologies. Though websites are nothing new, you'd be surprised how many agents still do not use custom domain names despite the relative ease of obtaining one. It also helps a user feel more comfortable following your link. "johnsmith.com" appears much more legitimate than "johnsmith.domainhosting.com." 4. It Increases Your SEO Ranking SEO. Three letters your small business needs to know regardless of which industry you serve. If you're online, Search Engine Optimization is essential to your success. With so many other agencies selling homes in your area, you need the best search ranking possible on Google. Having a custom domain is one way to increase your SEO ranking in the eyes of Google's algorithm. 5. It Enables Custom Email Addresses Similar to your web address itself, your email addresses are small yet important elements of how your business is perceived. Sure, an @gmail.com or @outlook.com address will work just the same, but having an @johnsmith.com address will once again enhance your legitimacy and reassure customers that you're the real deal. 6. It Elevates Your Brand The brand you've cultivated in the real world can be easily integrated into the digital world with a custom website address. It also helps your brand consistency to have a legitimate domain name that matches your other online profiles, like your social media accounts. 7. It Enhances Your Branding "Branding" is different from "brand." Your brand is the business; your branding is what your business does. For instance, you may be a luxury real estate agent, but the content you supply that highlights your listings is an act of branding. A custom domain name is an investment. When clients click that link, they're taken to your website to interact with you through your branding. If you're trying to wow your luxury home market, for example, your domain name is the doorway to these interactions. 8. It Opens Potential for New Leads You don't need an open house to generate new "walk-in" leads. As you strengthen your website's content with a custom domain, you increase the chances that new customers will organically visit your site when they find it through a search engine. With the right tools, you can convert these visits to potential leads by continuing to engage them after they've left your site. 9. It May Be the Future of Virtual Businesses Thousands of new websites are created each day, which means many domain names become unavailable every instant. It's clear that more and more agents are adopting custom domain names. Keep in mind other agents may also scoop up domain names that you're interested in. Delta Media Group's digital marketing platform will easily integrate your custom domain, ensuring you reap the maximum benefits from your online presence. If you lack a custom domain name, we encourage you to consider these advantages and discover how quickly a new website address can benefit your agency. RE Technology users can try DeltaNet 6 FREE for 30 days. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

How to Create a Custom Short URL for Your Real Estate Website and Brand
Some real estate companies use short URLs on Twitter and other social media. Have you noticed them? Realtor.com uses rltor.cm. Zillow uses zlw.re. Inman uses inmn.io. Short URLs can be a fun, creative way to further integrate your real estate brand into your content. And they are not that complicated to set up. In this article, we will show you how to create a custom short URL for your real estate website and brand.

Can You Recover an Old Gmail Account?
Since its initial introduction on April 1, 2004, Gmail has become the world's most popular email service with nearly a billion and a half registered users around the globe and a favorite among Realtors. But have you ever deleted your Gmail account only to regret doing it? Well, fear not, because there is a way to reverse the process as long as you act quickly. Here's a thorough guide to restoring your Gmail account.

4 Reasons You Need to Update Your Web Browser Today
How old is your browser? If you are using Firefox or Chrome on your desktop or laptop PC, are you sure you have the latest version? Tech Helpline found that one-in-three callers were using a version of Firefox that was at least seven years old! Why should you need to be concerned about searching the web using an outdated version of any of the popular browsers? Let's look at four reasons that should motivate you to make certain your web browser is updated today:

How to Grab Text from an Image Using Google Keep
As many of you have read, I prepared a one-hour webinar titled "Digital Note-Taking Tips and Techniques" for a national education company, and plan on sharing parts of the webinar. The great thing about building this presentation is that I am talking about FREE programs and apps. Too many times, an app or program gets you hooked with basic features and benefits, but then if you want the balance of the product, it costs you! Apple Notes and Google Keep are both free, plus Keep can be loaded on Apple devices. I think having both Notes and Keep available on all your Apple devices makes sense so you can use features you like from both. My first share is a feature I love on Google Keep: "Grab Image Text." Oh, the uses are endless on this one. For example, say you are attending an event and they are displaying a slide show—simply take a picture of the slide. Need info from a document? Take a picture. See a poster about an upcoming event? Take a picture. I'm sure you get the picture (sorry, I couldn't resist)! You can then use Google Keep to change the words on the image into text that you can use. Here is an example I did using my computer: As you can see, it also pulled info from my keyboard. Keep is available from the App Store and Google Play. I personally have Keep on all my Apple devices and use this feature and a few other features regularly (which I will be sharing). More tips are coming, and I will be loading them both as a JPEG and PDF on my Facebook page. Please feel free to share, and if somebody wants to use in a newsletter or other publication, let me know. I would be happy to work with you! Dick Betts is a national speaker, trainer and consultant. Learn more at www.DickBetts.com More article in this series Collaborating with Others Using Apple Notes and Google Keep How to Set a Location Reminder in Google Keep How to Overcome the Pain of Passwords Want to Use Mobile Scanner Software? Be Very Careful! Dictation, One of the Most Unused Feature in Notes and Keep! Apple Users: Let's Set Up Notes to the Max!

No Internet? Here's How to Set Up Your Own Hotspot
Real estate agents know better than most that sometimes it's just easier to accomplish specific tasks on your laptop than attempt to do the work on your phone. But sometimes those tasks require an internet connection. If you are always on the go, and you don't have a nearby Wi-Fi connection, how can you get instant internet service? Use your smartphone and create your own internet connection for your laptop. Here's how.

8 Great Gmail Tips and Tricks
Gmail by Google is the world's most popular email program: 1.4 billion users. It's robust, simple to set up, easy to use, wickedly fast to search, and for most people, free. No wonder it's wildly popular among real estate agents. Gmail has many unknown and little-used features that can be hugely helpful. But like the secret menu at the West Coast chain In-N-Out Burger, most people don't know what's available. Here's your guide to some great Gmail tips and tricks to help boost your business:

Google Flags Websites that Are Not HTTPS as Not Secure
It's for your clients. It's for your security. It's for Google. Our team heard "rumblings" as early as two years ago from Google strongly "advocating" website owners move to HTTPS encryption to make the Internet secure and protect the privacy of your users. If you have not yet acquired an SSL certificate, you may have already noticed Google has flagged your website as "Not Secure" in Chrome.

Why Your Internet Browser Choice Matters
The internet is a wonderful thing. It does a lot of good in our everyday lives: it helps us connect with friends, it helps us work, and it gives us all the information we could ever need, right at our fingertips. But it can also be a troublesome thing if it isn't handled with care.

How to Connect to a Computer Remotely
If you ever find yourself needing to access a computer remotely--either attempting to connect to a desktop computer at work or need to assist someone with their computer from afar--this primer is for you. Whether you have a Microsoft Windows PC or an Apple Mac, let's take a look at the basics you'll need to know.

Why Real Estate Agents Need to Think About Cyber Security
In a former life, Jason Frazier was an information security professional. Today, as the CIO of Mason McDuffie Mortgage and the @RealEstateCIO, he still takes it very seriously. He contributed this post after an exchange on a Facebook Group. I did a training class last year for Realtors on cyber cecurity. The subject was the wire fraud scam. This happens quite a bit in the mortgage industry, and it absolutely does not need to happen. I just read a post in another Facebook group where an agent's client lost $72k. In this scam, it is almost always the agent's email that is hacked or spoofed. Best Practices

How Worried Should You Be About Internet Cookies?
In this article, we review what cookies are in the computer realm, their purpose and how to manage them. What Is a Cookie? A cookie is what we call a small text file that a website stores on your computer’s hard drive or in your mobile devices. Origin / First-party cookies The original purpose of cookies was to provide you with a better browsing experience. Here is how it works: when you visit a website, its web server (the computer where the web content is stored) creates a small text file and transmits it to the web browser you are using (the software that retrieves and displays the web page). The web browser stores that small text file on your computer. The file contains your website preferences, such as language, layouts, configuration, or items in your shopping cart. It serves as memory, so that the next time you visit that website, the web browser ‘remembers’ what your preferences are by pulling the stored file from your computer and applying those settings to the website automatically. For example, if you went to a website and placed items in its shopping cart, but didn’t buy them right away, the cookie would save the items you placed in the shopping cart on a cookie in your computer and in your future visit to that website, the cookie would automatically bring them back up into your shopping cart– you wouldn’t have to go search for those items again.

Don't Get Caught by the Phishing Hook
It's spring home buying season, but that also means it's phishing season, and not the kind that puts fresh trout on the dinner table. "Phishing" is an attempt to try to trick you to give up financial or other confidential information, such as your user ID or password, by sending you a communication that looks as if it is from a legitimate organization. The communication typically is from scammer who is using the name and likeness of a financial institution or other trustworthy organization. It contains a call to action or link to a fake website that can look identical to the real one and usually features a web address that is nearly identical. As home sales activity heats up this spring, real estate agents and brokers also need to ramp up their alert levels and be increasingly aware of these scams. Scammers are increasing their focus on real estate because they know that there are millions of transactions totaling billions of dollars each year, and our industry relies heavily on email and texting to coordinate communications for these transactions. We all get busy, yet we need to be particularly cautious and keenly aware of any communications that ask for confidential information, no matter how trustworthy the source may appear. A good example occurred in Florida earlier this year. A fake organization calling itself the "Florida Board of Realtors" sent out invoices to real estate professionals throughout the state, sending them a "Final Notice" bill. The attached letter suggested that their real estate licenses were in jeopardy unless they paid the annual $225 fee. The invoice even cites a Florida Statute in an attempt to establish legitimacy. This highly sophisticated scam even included links to a very professional looking website. However, if you dug a little deeper, you would discover that most of the links on the website were broken – they did not work – and the blog content was very outdated. Fortunately, Florida Realtors were notified immediately by members and sent out a statewide alert to members. But how do you protect yourself from something like this, and other scams?

Amateur Move: Are You Making One of These 7 Password Mistakes?
Did you know that "password" was one of the top 10 most used, well, passwords in 2016? What a time to be alive! It's a time when developers have created better (and easier!) ways of staying secure online, but people still muck it up by making rookie password mistakes. Don't be a rookie. And don't make the amateur move of endangering your clients' sensitive personal information by using weak passwords that can easily be cracked. Not sure about the effectiveness of your password? Your password may be vulnerable if you're making one of these seven mistakes: 1. Your password is less than 12 characters long. In the early days of the web, passwords were typically eight characters long. Today, eight characters are fairly simple to crack, and security experts recommend that 12 should be now be the absolute minimum. While it may be harder to remember, longer passwords are also much harder to crack. 2. Your password has just one word. If you're looking to make your passwords longer and stronger, using a pass phrase rather than a single word is an easy way to do it. By using an entire phrase, your password is longer and more difficult to guess. Don't pick a well known quote or phrase—instead, use something obscure that has meaning to you. Add in random capitalization, characters, substitute a few letters for numbers and you're well on your way to a stronger password. 3. You use simple keyboard patterns. Long passwords made of out of simple keyboard patterns may seem like an easy path to security, but they're extremely common and therefore easy to guess. Sure, 1q2w3e4r5t6y looks like a difficult password, but upon closer examination, it's obvious that this password is just the first few numbers alternating with the first few letters on the keyboard. Stay away from this method to stay safe.

How The 'Internet of Things' Affects Real Estate
Growing interest in Wi-Fi connected gadgets inspired us to write this article about Internet of Things (IoT). So today we cover IoT: what it is, how it affects real estate, and what to look for in the future. What is the Internet of Things (IoT)? The English Oxford dictionary defines the Internet of Things (IoT) as "the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data." For example, lights that can connect to your smartphone via internet so that you can turn them on or off wherever you are, even if not at home, wearable devices to track your sleeping habits, or self-driving cars. These everyday objects with internet connectivity aim to provide convenience and efficiency to the user by sensing, tracking and transmitting data. And because the growth in the industry has made such devices very affordable, they are proliferating. All these devices, regardless of who makes them, are categorized into the IoT concept. How It Affects Real Estate IoT gadgets for the home lead to smart homes. Did you get a Wemo Switch this year as a holiday gift? Or perhaps an Alexa-controlled Echo speaker? If you did, you are probably on your way to transitioning your home to a smart home. Smart homes are homes "equipped with network-connected products." Perhaps you already started noticing clients who are more excited when they tour properties with "smart home technology." In these homes, devices communicate with each other – from the alarm clock to smart thermostats, fire alarms and security cameras. READ: Prep Agents with 6 Smart Home Facts

Tips for Taming Your Inbox: Setting Up Canned Responses
According to a survey by Adobe Systems Inc., U.S. workers spend 6.3 hours a day checking email. That's a significant portion of your workday! Much of that time is spent crafting the perfect response. However, often you're responding to similar requests from your clients and colleagues. Today, we'll help you create efficiency by using canned responses to set up email templates you can use over and over again. With these readily available templates you will save time (and avoid typos!) for email messages you frequently send. Follow the simple steps below. Setting up Canned Responses Many email services have options to create email templates, or canned responses, that can be saved and inserted into new emails. Below are step by step instructions to set this up for Gmail or Outlook. Gmail 1. Click the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner of Gmail, then choose Settings. 2. Click the Labs tab, find Canned Responses, click the Enable radio button to enable Canned Responses, scroll down and click Save Changes.

Best of 2016: Why Agents Should Never Use Personal Email
Here it is—our top article of the year! This article was originally published back in February and is the most read article of 2016. See #2 here, or read the full list of our Top 10 articles from 2016 here. I saw a news article recently about why real estate agents should use their personal email addresses. The article talked about the 10,000 selfish reasons why it benefits the Realtor®. It was a grand display of the underbelly of self-centered real estate professionals. I am here to tell you that using a personal email for real estate business is STUPID and perhaps illegal. The communications between a real estate agent and a consumer are subject to the real estate laws in your state. They are communications that happen under the supervision of the agent’s real estate broker. They are covered by the insurances held by the real estate broker. They are subject to the Realtor Code of Ethics if you are a Realtor. Last year, there were multiple instances of emails getting hacked. In many cases, consumer information was compromised. In some cases, earnest money instructions were hijacked and in once case, $250,000 was stolen. Guess what? If you are a real estate agent who got hacked or had earnest money stolen, you are in deep ****. You probably violated the broker’s independent contractor policy that you signed. If you did, your broker does not need to help you. In fact, if your actions cause harm to the brokerage brand, and you could be liable for those damages.

Tips for Taming Your Inbox: Managing Your Notifications
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that the average office worker is interrupted or changes tasks, on average, every three minutes and five seconds. As a result of interruptions or multitasking, it can take 23 minutes and 15 seconds just to get back to where they left off. That adds up to a lot of wasted time in the day! Email can easily be one of those distractions if not properly managed. Over the next few months, we will share some useful tips to help you tame your inbox in order to be more productive and minimize distractions that take you away from the real business of real estate. Manage Notifications Today, we have all kinds of notifications interrupting us throughout the day – email, alerts, Facebook, chats, etc. One way to minimize email distractions is to eliminate email notifications. Not every email is important and requires an immediate response. For emails that are truly urgent or require immediate attention, you can enable selective notifications to be alerted when you receive emails from VIP senders. How to Set Up VIPs on Your iOS Device iPhone users using the native mail app can denote any email sender as a VIP. When you receive an email from a VIP, you will receive a pop up notification on your phone. Launch the Mail app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad. Tap Mailboxes in the upper left corner of your screen. Tap the VIP inbox directly underneath your regular inbox. Tap Add VIP. Tap on the name of the contact you'd like to add to VIP. If a contact is grayed out, it means you're missing their email address and can't add them until you enter it. After you tap on their name, they'll be automatically added to your VIP inbox.

Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts Are the Key to Speed
Between open houses, following up with your client database and focusing on your marketing efforts (not to mention your personal life), it's no surprise that your time is stretched thin. To help you maximize your time, we're going to review some of the must-known keyboard shortcuts for Gmail. Many industry professionals rely daily on keyboard shortcuts to save time. A keyboard shortcut is a combination of keys that, when pressed simultaneously, perform some task that ordinarily requires a mouse or other input device. Many of you are probably familiar with the "Ctrl+S" to save a document. In his article, The 25 Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts That Save Me 60 Hours Per Year, Scott Tousley of Hubspot explains that he invested two minutes into learning Gmail shortcuts, and he suspects it has saved him about 60 hours in the past year. It's clear that utilizing Gmail keyboard shortcuts is a must for any time management ninja. Getting started To begin using Gmail shortcuts, you must first turn 'keyboard shortcuts' on in your Gmail settings, under the 'General' tab:

Should Agents Use Their Lead Routing Email Address in MLS?
Real estate agents have a crazy number of email addresses. They have their personal email address at aol.com, their vanity email at MyAgentWebsite.com, their corporate email address at MyBrokerEmail.com and, of course, that mysterious lead routing email address. Lead routing email addresses are pretty common in real estate. Perhaps the most common is the email address assigned to every agent member of the REALOGY franchise group. It reads something like 8789398976293578(at)leadrouter.com. The benefit of each agent's LeadRouter® email address is that it follows business rules and provides certain alerts. An example of business rules would be a use case whereby a team would all get the notification of the email. This is especially important in terms of response time. With LeadRouter, agents may receive a text message or other alert when an inquiry comes in. The is a particularly valuable alert in terms of managing responsiveness. Another key feature of using a lead routing email address is that inquiries are naturally added to an agent's CRM solution. From there, the agent can assign an appropriate response and track that response in either the lead routing system or assign tasks or drip campaigns, or whatever might be the right action. Surely, even inquiries from other agents or notifications from the MLS would be well served from an attention to rapid response or follow up plans.

How Agents Can Protect Themselves from Email Scams
Members of the San Francisco Association of REALTORS® (SFAR) were the targets of a phishing attack last week. Agents received an email that, at first glance, appeared to be from the association and prompted recipients to download a malicious file disguised as an invoice. The message was the latest in a string of phishing attempts aimed at real estate professionals. In fact, just last year, NAR issued a warning against an email scam that attempted to get buyers to wire money to a fraudulent bank account. The Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau have issued similar warnings recently, as well, and the message is clear: agents need to be alert and on guard. How to Spot a Fake Email Even if you're technologically savvy, that doesn't mean you're immune to falling for a phishing attack or email scam. The SFAR email, for example, was a convincing fake, going so far as to "spoof" or make the email appear like it came from the association's servers, thus making it more likely that trusting Realtors would download the malicious file. So if email scams today are growing increasingly sophisticated, how can agents discern which are real and which are fake? Well, while the SFAR email looked like a convincing fake, there were a couple of "tells" that gave the spammers away. Let's break down what the SFAR phishers did wrong so we can better learn how to spot fake messages in the future.

The Psychology of Using GIFs, Memes, and Emojis in Your Emails
If you've been anywhere near the Internet or used your mobile device recently, you've probably noticed a few trends in the form of emojis, memes, and gifs. As they multiply and proliferate across every screen, website, and even into your own correspondence, we're faced with the predicament of if and when to utilize them in business situations. Is there an appropriate way to implement a gif when you email your broker or a new client? How about emojis? It feels like you can't send or receive an text message these days without expressing your emotions with several emojis. First, if you're feeling completely lost, don't worry. We'll break down the differences of all the Internet trends for you. Then we'll prove that there's some psychology to it all, and why utilizing an emoji or meme may be a great choice for the next business email you send out. Get gif-ing... Before we start, we'll share our definitions and examples of our Internet trends and sensations so we're all on the same page, here. GIF stands for graphics interchange format, and it's generally a short video that's captured from a TV show, movie, or pop culture that repeats...endlessly. Generally, they're short clips and you may even see them utilized as an animation on a website that directs you how to do something.

5 Email Security Tips for Real Estate Agents
Real estate agents are good at multi-tasking on the fly! But the fast-paced, mobile nature of your career means that your email security could be at risk. To help you, we're sharing some email security tips from Inc. magazine, along with suggestions of our own! 1. There's no such thing as truly private email. All information stored and sent over email is vulnerable. Avoid sending highly personal information, including financial information and passwords, through email. 2. Public, unsecured Wi-Fi connections are vulnerable to email hackers. Your mobile device may invite you to use such a connection, when you are in a public location with free Wi-Fi. For security reasons, do not use unsecured Wi-Fi when checking your email account, or doing mobile banking or any online transactions. 3. Never open attachments in unfamiliar emails. Email attachments are a common carrier of malware. If you do not know the sender, OR the message seems incongruous with the source, do not open the attachment. 4. The same goes for links embedded in an email; do not click on suspect links. Watch for "counterfeit" link addresses that look like a known company name, but contain alterations in spelling or syntax. Use special caution when the URL link is shortened; if you do not know the sender, or have doubts about the veracity of the message, do not click.

7 Google Chrome Extensions for Real Estate Agents
Want to get more out of your online experience? Put your web browser to work for you! Google's Chrome browser offers thousands of extensions that you can install to boost your productivity. Like apps for your mobile phone, these add-ons range from social media sharing buttons to extensions that block online distractions so that you can better focus on important tasks. Ready to give your productivity a boost? These seven Chrome extensions can help turn you into a web power user! 1. Write Space This extension lets you write and edit text right from your browser. Write Space's design is simple and clean, a lack of clutter that makes it easier to focus on writing rather than outside distractions. (The app's creators suggest turning your browser to full-screen mode to reduce distractions even further!) Our favorite feature of Write Space is how it automatically saves everything as you type, so you never have to worry about accidentally losing your work. It's convenient, too. Rather than booting up Word or another program to write down notes, just open this extension in a new browser tab and start typing! 2. Awesome Screenshot Have you ever needed to take a screenshot of an entire webpage or document--including the parts that you'd have to scroll down to see? Awesome Screenshot to the rescue! This extension lets you easily capture all kinds of screenshots, from the whole page to a small selection. The best part about Awesome Screenshot is that it lets you annotate any of your screenshots with text, shapes, highlights, and more.

Security Alert: It's Time to Stop Using Internet Explorer!
Agents and brokers who are still using Internet Explorer (IE) will need to switch to a new web browser by next Tuesday, when Microsoft drops support for versions 8, 9 and 10 of its flagship browser. Version 11 of the browser will still be supported, however. That means if you run Windows 8.1 or 10, you don't need to worry about upgrading (yet) as IE11 comes pre-installed. Those running Windows 8 or earlier will need to switch to a new browser by next Tuesday to reduce security risks. Sad to see Internet Explorer go? Don't be. Internet Explorer has, for years, presented numerous security flaws that leave computers vulnerable to malicious attacks. The browser has also been the bane of web developers due to its notoriety for not following web standards and incorrectly rendering some web elements. Making the Switch Fortunately, switching browsers is not a painful process. Most modern browsers offer import wizards that make it easy to transfer over your bookmarks and options. The main Internet Explorer alternatives for Windows users are Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. Microsoft launched a new browser, called Edge, with Windows 10 that's intended to replace Internet Explorer. However, recent reports say that Edge is plagued by many of the same security issues as its predecessor, so you may want to stay away from it for now. Until then, making the switch is as easy as downloading the browser of your choice then installing it on your computer.

How to Search Smarter and Get Better Results on Google
Struggling to find relevant search results on Google? You may need to re-think what you're asking the search engine. To put a modern twist an old adage, there are no stupid queries...but there are smarter ones. There are several words and phrases you can add to your Google search queries in order to return more relevant results. They're called "search operators" and you can use them to ask better questions and hone in on precisely what you're looking for. Here's how. How to Be a Smooth (Search) Operator 1. Search for an exact phrase - Are you looking for something very specific, maybe a motivational business quote, and want to filter out all of the excess noise? Surround your query in quotation marks, e.g., "Create a sense of demand, rather than waiting to have demand." 2. Exclude a word - If your query is too broad, you can narrow it down by excluding a word from your search. Let's say you want to search for restaurants in Portland, but you keep getting results for the cities in both Maine and Oregon. Narrow it down by using the minus symbol to remove results from the state you don't want: Restaurants in Portland -Maine 3. Search within a site - If you want to return results from only a certain website domain, specify it like this: housing statistics site:realtor.org

Are Your Weak Passwords Leaving Clients Vulnerable?
Real estate agents are the gatekeepers of a lot of sensitive client data. While the solutions that store this data (for example, transaction and document management programs) have strict security protocols, client information is most often made vulnerable by the simplest of security missteps, like connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks. However, the most common security mistake agents make is in choosing a weak password. Weak passwords are easy for criminals to guess--and once they have your password, they have access to your data. Not sure if your password qualifies as an easy mark? Check out SplashData's most recent annual list of the worst password below. If your password resembles any of the following, it's high time to change it! (We'll share tips for choosing a strong password on the next page). 123456 password 12345 12345678 qwerty 123456789 1234 baseball dragon football 1234567 monkey letmein abc123 111111 mustang access shadow master michael superman 696969 123123 batman trustno1

Quick Tip: How to Clear Your Browser Cache and Cookies
All I wanted to do was read about the "No Californians" signs popping up on Oregon listings. But when I clicked through to Realtor.com's shiny new blog to read the post, I received an error message rather than an article: 400 Bad Request, it read. Uh oh. What does that mean? While there are myriad reasons a web surfer may encounter this message, the most common reason is that your browser is storing a corrupt cookie from another website. Fortunately, fixing this issue is as simple as clearing your browser's cache and cookies. Clearing a bloated cache can also benefit you by resolving slow loading pages and instances where you are not seeing the latest updated version of a website. Clearing Your Browser Cache and Cookies First things first: before you clear your cache, be sure you save anything you're working on in the cloud—documents in Google Drive or your electronic signature solution, for example. That's because cloud solutions use browser cookies to keep you logged in. Since we're clearing all of them, that means you'll be automatically logged out of all the websites you frequent (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, everything). Note that this doesn't affect software installed on your hard drive, only services and sites you access through your browser. Everything saved? Great! Here goes...

Appraising Your Digital Property: Where Agents Should Be Online
Let's talk about property--digital property. These are virtual "places" like websites, social media and search portal profiles where prospects can find you online. Without a presence in the digital world, today's web savvy consumer will pass you by in favor of the competition. Buyers will never even know you exist. Sellers, on the other hand, will question why they should list with someone who can't even market themselves online. That doesn't mean you have to join every social network you can find, however, or run out and buy single property websites for each of your listings. When it comes to building an effective Internet presence, it's better to leverage a few web properties well. Here's a rundown of which are most important. Profiles on Property Search Portals According to a joint study by NAR and Google, over 90% of consumers start their home search online. Thanks to the way they dominate search results, property search portals like Zillow and Trulia are often the first place those consumers end up. That's why it's crucial that you claim your profile on each of the top three portals. If your brokerage or MLS sends listing data to portals, your name already appears on your listings. In the case of Trulia and Zillow, both display the listing agent's phone number and a link to their portal profile where consumers can see their other listings and read customer reviews. However, it's not uncommon for brokers that aren't meticulous about keeping track of their agents' contact info to send outdated phone numbers with their listing data. Claiming your portal profile will not only ensure that this information is accurate, it allows you to build a robust online property that's attractive to consumers. Be sure to add a recent headshot and solicit past clients for reviews for best results.

13 Tips for a Killer Online Reputation that You May Not Have Considered
Eighty-one percent of customers reach out to friends and family on social networking sites for advice before purchasing products (Vocus). What people are saying about you online can make a world of a difference for your business, and social media is where most of this chatter begins and ends. This makes online reputation management a critical factor for growing your business.The good news is that if you have the right tactics, you can feel confident that what people are finding about you is contributing to the success of your business. With that said, here are 13 tips to build a kickin' online reputation! 1. Know Your Strengths Figure out what you do better than anyone else and create your business strategies around those strengths – it will help give you a leg up on the competition. 2. Recognize Your Weaknesses Find out your weaknesses and dedicate the necessary resources to fix them. If you aren't the most social-savvy person out there, search for resources that you can use to improve that aspect of your business. 3. Where Do Your Opportunities and Threats Lie? Your biggest opportunities can be found in areas where people want something, but don't have it. Figure out what they are looking for and find a way to fill that void. Threats can be anything from new agents in the area to new technology innovations. Whatever they may be, find a way to adapt to them.

How to Use Google Alerts to Monitor Your Listings Online
Real estate agents invest in a lot of tools that promise to catapult their listings to the top of search results. But how close do your single property websites, virtual tours, IDX listing detail pages, etc. actually get to the top? One way to find out is to set up Google Alerts for each of your active listings. Here's how. Using Google Alerts to Measure SEO You can track anything on Google Alerts--a name, a phrase. When you set an alert up, you're able to monitor, via email or RSS feed, each new online mention of that name or phrase. For monitoring listings, this will be the property address. Try setting up alerts for variations of the address--street, city, state; street and city; street and zip code, etc. Do this as soon as you get a listing--that way, you can see where alerts originate from first. If your broker or MLS syndicates to one of the big portals, their property details page will likely be the first alert you'll receive. Part of that depends on how fast listing data is transmitted. The other part depends on the SEO of those pages. Web pages with poor SEO will take longer to show up--sometimes days or even weeks--or may not show up at all. Let's imagine that you're paying for, say, a virtual tour solution and you're wondering if it's a good investment. Set up a Google alert to measure how long it takes for you to receive a notification of the tour's web or YouTube address. If you receive an alert soon after setting up and publishing a virtual tour, it's safe to say the SEO is good. If it takes longer than a day or two, that's a signal to evaluate whether or not you're getting a good ROI from that solution. When available, use the solution's onboard analytics to deepen your inquiry.

3 Outlook Essentials: Attachments, Signatures and AutoArchive
Microsoft Outlook is a useful tool in the life of an active REALTOR®. We receive a lot of calls requesting assistance with some basic tasks. Here are the top three: open or save attachments, add a signature, and set up the AutoArchive function. Let's explore all three briefly. Open or Save Attachments Whether photos or pdf documents, when you receive attachments, you have two options: View them or save them for future use. To View: double-click the attachment. To Save: right-click the attachment, select "Save As," select location and rename as needed. Add Your Signature Adding and customizing your signature in Outlook is simple. Follow these steps: Open Outlook. Select File > Options On the left column select Mail, and on the right hand side, select the gray Signatures button. Select the New button, assign a name to your signature, and select OK. Edit your signature; set them to go out for New Messages or Replies/Forwards, add a logo or personal picture. Select OK.

Best of 2014: The Importance of an Email Address For Real Estate Agents
We're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in February and is #6 in our countdown. See #7 here. There are a lot of things that go into crafting your image as a real estate professional. While you may take care of the bigger stuff like building a website or arranging print materials like business cards, some of the smaller things like picking the right email address might slip through the cracks. While you may think an email address is just a means of communication, it really does speak volumes about you and can serve as a first impression to your potential customers. Avoid Service Provider Email Addresses These are probably the worst kind of emails you can have as far as an outside perception. Whether it be an account from Time Warner, Verizon, Rogers, Bell or any other smaller internet provider, this just sends the wrong message to prospective clients. Email addresses like this work as a beacon to the rest of the world telling them that you probably aren't the most tech savvy person. If your address is from an ISP people could draw the conclusion that you're just a part timer or that you may only have access when you're at home at the end of the day. The biggest issue with these emails is what if you decide to change service providers? Sometimes these changes are unavoidable, maybe you find a great deal with a rival provider that's too good to pass up, or maybe your provider goes out of business. What happens then? The email that you had printed on your business cards and in the Yellow Pages will now be entirely inaccessible to you once you leave that provider. Think of all the hassle of updating all your online services with your new address and getting in touch with all your contacts to update them. In short, it will be a mess. Ideally you don't want real estate leads slipping through the cracks because you decided to save a few bucks on your Internet bill.

Two-thirds of Buyers Are 'Addicted' to Online Property Listings
Online property listings are the new crack. At least, that's what a new poll commissioned by Discover Home Loans suggests. According to the poll, 67 percent of home buyers report feeling addicted to looking at online listings, and 78 percent admit to looking at listings while at work. The revelation of this fairly benign addiction was just one part of the poll that looked more broadly at consumers' use of online technology during the home buying process. Overall, 76 percent of buyers said technology made them smarter home buyers and 69 percent said it made them more confident. Here are a few more interesting results from the poll: 72% of buyers explore a neighborhood using online maps or map apps 55% research a neighborhood using local websites Social media wasn't a big player in the buying process, with only 25% using it to "collect ideas" and just 29% soliciting opinions from friends and family on social networks The Internet played a large role in submitting paperwork, however. 71% of buyers submitted docs to their lenders online, while 68% used the Web to submit documents to their agents Online calculators are an important tool: 70% used them to estimate their monthly mortgage payments, 61% to discover how much home they could afford, and 52% to see if they were financially ready to buy a home A whopping 92% of buyers said technology saved them time, with 93% stating that technology allowed them to do things remotely that they would otherwise have to do in person

Friday Freebie: Get Your .REALTOR Domain Name Before It's Gone!
Realtors, the moment your web presence has been waiting for is finally here! As of Oct. 23, members of NAR and CREA can claim their very own .REALTOR domain name. Even better--if you're one of the first 500,000 NAR members or the first 10,000 CREA members, you'll able to register your first domain name FREE for one year. Here's how. Claim Your .REALTOR Website Domain NAR has made the domain registration process pretty easy. In fact, the most difficult part will probably be deciding what domain name to register (see the guidelines here). Below is the step-by-step process: Go to https://www.claim.realtor/ Enter your name, zip code, and area code number in the pop-up box when prompted Select the domain names(s) that interested you from the generated list of suggestions, and click "Add to cart" If none appeal to you, you can try another is the Search bar at the top of the page Once all of your selections have been added to your cart, click "Proceed to Checkout" From there, you'll be prompted to log-in to your NAR or CREA account and walked through the checkout process. Once you've claimed the domain name(s) you want, you can use them in a few different ways. If you have an existing website, you can redirect visitors who type in your .REALTOR address to your current site. If you'd like to change your existing site's default address to your .REALTOR domain, ask your website company or administrator to change the Domain Name Servers (DNS). You can also claim a FREE realtor.com profile website. This is a great option if you don't have a site currently or just want to take advantage of having an extra spot on the web for consumers to find you. These profile sites let you display your social media streams, client recommendations, listings and more all in one place. You can see an example profile site here. Remember, only the early bird gets a free .REALTOR domain. Claim yours today!

Keep Your Real Estate Clients Safe with These Internet Safety Tips
Hackers are out there and they're coming for your grandparents. Well, not really. But with all the leaked photos, breached data, and credit cart theft on a massive scale—you need to learn how to protect both yourself and your clients. The digital age has brought powerful tools to tech savvy agents to sell homes and manage transactions but you need to protect yourself online. Here are some easy ways to keep your real estate business secure. Lock the door: Password protect every single device you use to handle or store client information. Be it a simple pin or swipe code, this extra level of security will keep most people off your device if it's found or stolen. A laptop was stolen in 2007 from a Home Depot employee that contained the personal information of over 10,000 employees. Thankfully, the data was not the target of the theft (the laptop was) and the system was password protected. Don't take these risks, make sure to password your phones and devices to give your clients an extra layer of security. NOT public domain: Putting passwords on your office Wi-Fi connection goes without saying, but public Wi-Fi can still pose a problem. While getting work done at Starbucks or other public places is normal, hackers can use these public places to steal information. Because public Wi-Fi connections are usually not encrypted, you are at risk for a data breach. The easiest solution is not to use work devices on public, unsecured Wi-Fi. If working at coffee shops is a must, you can download software to protect your information when using unsecured Wi-Fi. Ask your ISP what kind of services they can offer to better protect you in public.

Top 5 Mistakes Real Estate Agents Make Online
1. Equating a social media presence with a social media strategy. Anyone can create a Twitter or Facebook account, but not everyone can use social platforms as a business tool. Before you start posting, take time to hone in on what you want to accomplish overall and on each channel. Set consistent and realistic goals for the three "Ps" (posting, performance, and paid) and then stick with them. It's possible to track performance of social content without using a paid service. Google's Analytics Academy offers free videos that walk you through how to use their tools to track and collect actionable data, as well as how to create reports that evaluate digital marketing performance. It might seem obvious, but many agents treat their professional accounts as though they are personal accounts. Consider the content that you are sharing and how it reflects on your business; sharing political views, off-color humor, or using an poor-quality image as your profile cover are all common mistakes. Connecting with potential clients on social media can be tricky. Requesting to friend a potential client on social media can be off-putting, especially to younger buyers. A recent panel of buyers at the Florida Realtors Conference & Trade Expo revealed that young buyers draw a strict line between professional and social connections. As on participant said, "No Facebook. Your liking a picture of me on the beach with my girlfriend is weird."

9 IFTTT Recipes For Real Estate Professionals
If This Then That (also known as IFTTT) is a free service that has become the go-to app for automating tasks between various web-based services. Whether it's on the web or through select iOS and Android apps, IFTTT offers nearly infinite ways to get the services you use working together. IFTTT offers channels for up to 124 different services and application, spanning from popular social platforms like Twitter and Facebook, blog platforms like WordPress and Tumblr, Google services like YouTube, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar and more. I know many real estate agents employ a lot of these technologies in their day to day work, so figuring ways to get things to work in tandem is quite handy. The service works on the simple premise that if a certain event triggers on one of the services you've added, then perform a task on a second service--hence, If This Then That. These events are handled by what are called recipes. You can browse the large library of shared recipes, or start dreaming up your own new recipes. To get you started, I've put together nine different recipes that can help you get started with the popular web automation service. iOS IFTTT Recipes For Real Estate When you meet a potential new client, wouldn't it be handy to add an event to your calendar to help recall when you met them? Just set-up a new Google Calendar and hook it up with this recipe.

4 Hacks For Using Gmail Like a Pro
Gmail is one of the most popular and functional tools for managing your email. While Google's service has been around for well over a decade, there are definitely some great features that people aren't leveraging to their best advantage. Here are a few tips on how you can make your inbox more efficient and get Gmail working for you. Combine multiple email inboxes into one place Being able to combine all your mail into one central place is easily the best thing about using Gmail. I personally have 10 different email addresses all flowing into the same inbox. Over the years, you may have signed up for a Hotmail or Yahoo account, or maybe have a work account that you'd like to bring into your inbox. You could have a brokerage email as well as an inbox for your own real estate domain. You should be able to do this with most email setups, it just requires you to be able to forward you existing inbox to your Gmail inbox. Here's a couple resources on how to get that going for you. How to Send and Receive Hotmail from Your Gmail Account How To Merge All Of Your Inboxes Into One Gmail Inbox Get Started With IMAP and POP3 Once you get this setup, you will be able to send and receive email through your Gmail account. Nobody on your email list would even know that you're using Google's service.

Easy Way to Add a Photo to Your Gmail signature
Gmail has a rather complicated way of inserting a photo into email signatures. Perhaps Gmail does not want a lot of data saved within their servers because they request that users store photos on a photo hosting website (which uses a different server), making the process of adding a photo to the signature cumbersome. What I've observed is that although the majority of Tech Helpline users do have small JPEG files for profile pictures, some don't. I have even seen some Gmail users have very high resolution pictures in their email signatures, using over 10MB. Take that storage and multiply it by all the hundreds of thousands of people who use Gmail, and well, the storage levels add up quite a bit. However, we have found a work-around to host your image on a server without the hassle of actually finding a host server. Simply put: make Google host it for you by following a few steps. We found the following information at this website and after testing it a few times, we find that it works. Here is what user FC posted on the website: Issue How to add a picture file stored on my PC to my Gmail signature, without using any third-party service or application. Solution You can't directly upload a picture and use it as signature. Gmail only accepts the URL for the image file (the picture must be stored online). So if you don't want to upload the file to a third party service, this tip is for you.

4 Stealthy Ways to Monitor the Competition
Admit it--you've Googled yourself. At some point, most of us have. As a business person, this is actually a great idea. It allows you to monitor your online reputation, gauge the success of your SEO efforts, and even do a little damage control, if necessary. But here's a question--have you Googled your competition? If you haven't, they may rank higher in search engines than you and you won't even know it. (And if that's the case, you can bet consumers are calling them instead of you because they're easier to find.) Search engine rankings are only one way to monitor other agents in your market. All day long, people are tweeting, posting, and sharing things with each other on social media and other places on the web. By "listening" in on your competition, you can get a better idea of who they're doing business with, how they're marketing themselves, and what others are saying about them. If you want to keep your sleuthing on the down low, there are plenty of easy ways to do that. Here are four: 1. Use Facebook Interest Lists Facebook is an important marketing channel, so you'll want to keep an eye on what others are doing in this space. If you don't want others to know whose real estate business pages you're watching, there's an alternative to "liking" a page. Simply create an Interest List and add any pages you want to keep an eye on to that list. Since you're not actually liking the page, it won't show up on your profile. Create an Interest List of any competitors whose pages you want to monitor. Facebook will automatically update you on activity on your list. To view all recent posts from list members, simply click the list's name. You can find it on the left sidebar on Facebook's main page under the subhead "Interests." This is the first of two "undercover" Facebook strategies (see #4 for the other).

10 Ways Technology Can Save Agents Time and Money
The Web celebrated its 25th birthday last month, according to the Pew Internet Research Project. It's hard to believe, but true. And despite some early skeptics, the web has been saving people time and money ever since its debut. It's easy to think of examples. Email, something we now take for granted, saves people the time and expense of sending letters. Netflix saves its subscribers the hassle of schlepping to the nearest video store--and the monthly cost of unlimited streaming is far less pricey than the per video charge (and late fees!) that Blockbuster once charged. Over the past quarter century, the Web has affected virtually every industry and many aspects of our lives. Real estate has been far from immune. Gone are the days of printed MLS books or of being chained to an office desk and landline. Mobile technology has enabled agents to conduct business from anywhere, and websites, social media, and more have made the Web an affordable and efficient marketing channel. In what other ways can the Web make agents' lives easier? We've rounded up 10 of our favorite examples of how technology can save real estate professionals time and money. 1. Build a DIY Website - Gone are the days when coding knowledge was necessary to build your own website. Today, multiple turnkey website solutions exist. If you're looking to build a site for your business, we highly recommend exploring real estate specific website solutions. They come loaded with features agents need, like a built-in IDX search and specialized templates. Other solutions, like WebsiteBox, offer a wealth of backend tools like an integrated CRM, drip marketing capabilities, Google Analytics, and more. Most can be set up in under 15 minutes.

Heartbleed: How to Make Sure Your Data is Safe—and Keep It That Way!
This post comes to us from the Market Leader blog: You may have heard about the destructive security bug, "Heartbleed," that attacks a vulnerable flaw in major online security systems enabling it to access encrypted data. Warnings about Heartbleed are loud and alarming for good reason. Don't ignore the ever-increasing need for vigilance in protecting your data. The Heartbleed Bug launched about two years ago, and there's no way for you to know what may have been compromised by this vulnerability, including Web, email, instant messaging, and some virtual private networks. So we encourage you to practice good security measures, like remembering to change your online passwords. (Yea, yea, we know—it's like hearing your dental hygienist reminding you to floss—but it's gotta be done!) Here are some excellent tips on protecting yourself and/or your brokerage along with links to more technical details and helpful information to use with your sphere of influence. What can you do to protect yourself from Heartbleed? Change your passwords every few months. Especially passwords on financial accounts (banking, credit cards, etc.) and any site you regularly shop on. Before going to the trouble of changing all 250+ of your passwords, take a peek at the great list Mashable.com put together to prioritize websites where you should consider changing your password. Be a little leery of public Wi-Fi networks. As suggested in NPR's blog post by Elise Hu and Steve Henn, limit your Internet behavior to non-transactional based or using websites that access financial information while on the Wi-Fi at Starbucks or other public places.

Real Estate Domain Extensions
If there's one thing we keep an eye on around here, it's domains (we're an exciting bunch, we know). We had just done a lot of reading on the recent .realtor news when a friend mentioned that .estate is now available. That got us wondering: What other real estate-related domain extensions are coming up for grabs in the near future? As it turns out, quite a few are slated to become available in 2014, including .realestate and .realty. Here's a complete list along with the anticipated release timeline for each: .apartments Q2 2014 .casa Q2 2014 .condos Q2 2014 .estate Currently available .haus December 2014 .home Q2 2014 .homes Q2 2014 .house In sunrise .immobilien In sunrise .land In landrush .lease Q4 2014 .mortgage August 2014 (tell your mortgage broker friends!) .mls Q2 2014 .place Q2 2014 .properties Q2 2014 .property Q2 2014 .realestate Q2 2014 .realty Q2 2014 .reit Q2 2014 .rent Q2 2014 .rentals Q2 2014 .villas Q2 2014

What’s New with Craigslist?
In November, a flurry of articles covered some big changes in the way real estate is represented on Craigslist. It's been a few months, the dust has settled, and it's time to take another look at the reported changes and the current conditions. The Sky Is Falling The changes in Craigslist were greeted with a collective gasp. Many industry commentators called it a major change in the way real estate agents can market properties. The technical explanation is that Craigslist discontinued the use of certain HTML tags used for the creation of enhanced listings. The practical impact is that, if you were using an application that created pretty, branded Craigslist posts (you know, the kind that looked just like a flyer), your ads would now just look like everyone else's. And, just as important, you couldn't include any links. Looking Good I'm not a real estate agent, so I can't regale you with any personal experience. Instead, all I can do is tell you what I see from a consumer's perspective. I visited Craigslist and checked out some listings in my area. Guess what? They still contain all the information I want about a property – including property photos, a map, number of beds/baths, etc. I can copy and paste a URL to search for more information.