I've mentioned before of my involvement with a new start up company called Telivant.

I'd like to explain a little about what Telivant is and why it was developed.

Most of us here on Activerain have obviously taken the plunge into blogging and yet we are still a small minority of Realtors and Lenders that are blogging.

When I started blogging on Activerain in 2006, I didn't know a thing.

I quickly learned that blogging brings results from consumers contacting me to list or sell their home in Ann Arbor.

I also learned along the way about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how blogging helped all of my web-sites move up the search engines.

As time went on, like many of you, I became the go-to person in the office when anyone had a question.

A simple question from another agent, "like how do I add a photo or a video" was a 10 minute interruption of time to show them how to do that one "little" thing.

But, most of the questions were too many and too deep to spend the time to "How Do I Blog For Real Estate Sales"?

As the years have progressed I have been fortunate to teach many classes on blogging both locally, in Michigan and at International Conferences.

You can not learn blogging at a seminar or conference.

There are some in the blogging classes, that wanted to know:

• "Why should I blog?"
• "How do I start a blog?"
• "What should I blog on?"
• "How much should I blog?"
• "Which platform should I start on?"

As the leader on the product counsel of Telivant, which I was given the theme of Connect My World  we have taken the topic of blogging and broken it down into step by step learning modules, where people can LEARN at their own pace to really grasp the concept.

Now, I know most of you blogging here, don't need that module (much)...but I know you have agents in your office ask you, "HOW DO I?"

Telivant affords each individual to spend as much time as needed to learn any of the basic concepts.

Each module is broken down into a How Do I Guides?

If you know how to do something, then just move on to the next step in the training module.

The CEO of Telivant, Rick Rabideau,is a PhD in Adult Learning. He has worked as a VIP at several Fortune 500 Companies, including Apple.

"Unlike children, adults have a lifetime of experience, so we learn differently. It is unfortunate that most courses in the real estate industry follow the pedagogical techniques that work well for children. Adults learn best when the learning experience is filled with stories, metaphor and analogy."

In creating the blogging module, I invited some of my fellow bloggers who are highly successful to participate in the module, How Do I Leverage The Experience of  Successful Bloggers.

Katerina Gassett
Cindy Haydon
Debe Maxwell
Jeff Dowler
Bryant Tutas
Lenn Harley

This is absolutely one of my favorite modules, and YES I even still learn from the best!  

In a question and answer webinar format these 6 highly successful bloggers answer the questions?

Perhaps you would benefit from the Telivant Leaning Experience, perhaps you know of someone in your office or sphere that benefit from the Telivant experience. There are many more tools available on Telivant:

• How do I Drive My Sales
• Increase My Tech-Ability
• Develop my Talent
• Increase my Efficiency
• Reduce My Costs
• Connect My World

You can also connect with us on Twitter, Telivant blog and our Facebook page.

Telivant is a membership based community.

If you decide to sign up use my code and get an extra 5% off your membership. But, more importantly "do you know an agent in your office that would benefit from this training?"

Blogging is just one small part of the site. We have an entire library of Tips, and a Smart Phone Center for FREE. A really great How Do I module is on how to back up files to an offsite location and How Do I create a narrarated home tour for my out of town clients using the MLS?

Missy Caulk
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This week I had Mary McKnight updated my fan page Ann Arbor Real Estate Talk on Facebook. She added my home search site to it.

Mary wrote a post on how to do it on her blog, Sacrilicous Marketing.  She has been able to integrate search sites for Tiger Leads, 1ParkPlace, Wolfnet, Z57. But, really she is so smart I am sure she can figure out how to do your search site.

While your over there I also have another new fan page for A2BreakingNews. Pat Kitano created that one for me. I ONLY invited Ann Arbor Area friends to that one, because it is really targeted to everyone in Ann Arbor. Since then I have connected with many Ann Arbor people I did not know before.

I am big on letting people who know what they are doing DO IT, when it comes to programming. Sure I could learn it, but why?

Too busy doing what I do best which is sell real estate.

If you are looking for a face-lift on facebook, give a shout to Mary and Pat, they did an excellent job and I am looking forward to the fruit of it.

Disclosure: Neither Mary or Pat paid me for writing this or even know I did.

Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

• Free Home Evaluation

• Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

• Google Profile

• Market Reports in Real Time Updated Weekly

• Profit from Technology for Realtors and Lenders

Do you use a lot of Google products?

Most of us do...did you know you can find out everything you have stored by going to Google Dashboard?

I'm not going to go into eveything you can see because that is the point of the video, but you can access all the information in one place.

If you use Google docs, reader, gmail, YouTube, Alerts, Calendar, Chat etc...

Of course you can manage your privacy setting there, and Google only stores what you haven't put at private.

Google dashboard was released in November but I have not had a chance to look play with it.

The video is easy to follow to check out your Google Dashboard and see what all you are storing and change some things if need be.

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Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

• Free Home Evaluation

• Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

• Google Profile

• Market Reports in Real Time Updated Weekly

• Profit from Technology for Realtors and Lenders

How much is too much?

I'm talking about the web-sites you maintain and your Internet Presence.

Sometimes it can get a little overwhelming, especially with blogs that you have to keep up with. I am thankful that my AnnArborUndressedBlog, (outside Activerain blog) auto posts from my Activerain posts.

It took a while to get the search engines to like AnnArborUndressed but now since Activerain changed the outside blogs to be the authority blog it moving up in the SERPS. 

Are you new to Activerain?

If so and you have tried the FREE version; it is time to upgrade to the paid subscription. This is where the power of blogging can change your future and bring in business. If you need help give me a call.

I have a couple of static sites: MissyCaulk.com and MissyCaulkTeam.com. One is new but with the old domain name. Dakno redesigned it and I post all my listings on there. I can also add community information and neighborhoods so it is not totally static.

The MissyCaulkTeam site is a Point2Agent site. I have imported by RSS feed my blogs. I use this site because it syndicates my listings to agents all over S.E. Michigan to agents that have accepted a handshake agreement. I get a few leads from it a month, so I've kept it. But, it doesn't really work well with Fox Fire or Safari and I hate to go over to IE. It is suppose to but it always logs up.

AnnArborRealEstateTalk is my blog about Ann Arbor and Saline. I rarely post fun stuff, or technology things over there.  Just information for the consumer. I posted on Land Contracts being acceptable for taking advantage of the First Time Home Buyer Credit. I have about 51 comments and requests to read the legal decision.

I also have a photo blog, that I just use my cell phone to snap a photo when I am out and about.

That is easy to maintain, just snap and send to it automatically.

I enjoy taking photos around Ann Arbor and Saline. It makes me see my communities with a new lens. 

My new baby is a Posterous Blog. I am having fun with that as you just submit a page you are reading, a photo, or whatever you are doing on the internet and it automatically posts it. Posterous blogs are FREE, and you can have as many as you want. If you haven't set one up yet, you should, they are fun. Just email anything you want to post or add the booket in your tool bar. Nobody comments too much you just get sent a bi-weekly email and can look at all the ones you are subscribing too.

Of course I have a company web-site Buy Ann Arbor Real Estate but never get leads from it. I heard Google doesn't like template sites and I have found that to be true.

One of the sites that requires very little maintenance is my A2BreakingNews.com site.

This site is basically Twitter Feeds that come in for certain pages, like Saline, Ann Arbor, Food, Wolverines, Sports, jobs, and of course Real Estate.

Once a week, I am honored to post on AgentGenius Magazine. Lani asked me to post on Sunday's recently so my first political post went in yesterday on Climate Chains.

Sunday's are going to like the Sunday morning shows on TV, so all the posts will be political. I think this will be a good fit for me.

I love the writers at AG, if you haven't visited there you should check it out.

The site that brings me the most business is my IDX Home Search Site; SearchAnnArborHouses.com 

This is my Pay Per Click home search site. All my sites have a place to search homes and go straight to this Home Search Site.

Sometimes I wonder... is it just too much...but my theory is you never know which portal a consumer is going to find you on.

When the phone rings or you receive an email with someone finding you online and needing help to buy or sell it makes it all worth it.

Remember this post was about web-site and blogs; NOTHING about Social Media Communities.

As the year 2009 winds down, my static's are showing that about 70% of my closings have come from Internet Buyers and Sellers.

It use to be the opposite, but most folks are not moving UP in Ann Arbor or Saline or Down-Sizing. So we have to be continually bringing in new business from the Buyers & Sellers on the internet moving here. 

They are waiting...but I am NOT.

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Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

• Free Home Evaluation 

• Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

• Google Profile

• Market Reports in Real Time Updated Weekly

• Profit from Technology for Realtors and Lenders

This morning I updated FireFox 3.5 for my browser. WOW

• It is faster
• You can download fonts
• Data is secure
• Nothing on the web, or cookies all the data can go away when you log off
• You can clear recent history from 2 hours, one day, a week whatever
• If you forget where you are you can just go back to your history
  
• Support for video is amazing
• Location surfing with maps

Here is the video that says it better than I can.

One thing I really like is when I want to go to another new tab, I no longer have to go to the File Menu. I just click on the + sign and a new tab opens up.(see screen shot)

Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

• Free Home Evaluation

• Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

• Google Profile

• Market Reports in Real Time Updated Weekly

• Profit from Technology for Realtors and Lenders

Have you set up your Google Profile yet?

I set up mine several months ago and added it to my email signature.

This morning I logged on and iPrint is giving away FREE, Google Profile Business Cards. (25) No shipping or handling. It is available to the first 10,000 people that register.

I thought I would use them when competing for a listing to leave with the future sellers.

To set up your Google Profile just go to Google, you obviously need a GMail account. Then you add all your social networks and voila folks can find out all about you.

As I said I use it in my email signature like this:

Thanks,

Missy Caulk
Keller Williams
Associate Broker

Graduate Real estate Institute  GRI
Certified Internet Professional  e-PRO

Cell 734-216-2822
Fax 734-864-1545

Click here to Search All Homes For Sale in Ann Arbor

Read my Ann Arbor Real Estate Blog

About Me

Here is an example of how some of mine looks, yours will look differently depending on how many social networks you belong to.

Ok have fun!!!

This week I posted I had a big transition I was going through and gee that seemed to get a lot of attention. I felt bad because I thought, "oh no they are thinking it is going to be something WOW."(or something personal)

I mentioned in the post that once you get through the getting through the getting through it is worth it. It was a hard decision one I had stuggeled with for 3 years but I knew in my gut it was the right thing to do.

Back over a year ago I had my Ann Arbor Real Estate Blog built my Dakno Marketing and have been really happy with the results so I had contracted with them to build my new web-site.

Since I began blogging on Activerain in December of 2006 I had worked really, really hard to get my old web-site with my old domain up in the Search Engines. There was a lot of junk in the source code that I was not aware of until learning about things like that here. I didn't want to let go of all the work to get good SERPS and then just abandon it.

Now the name of my site is MissyCaulk.com.

Looking back, I would never have chosen my name but that was 1999 when that was the thing to do. So I had to stick with it or start completely over.

That is when I looked at Dakno to build my new site with my seasoned domain name...MissyCaulk.com

Brad Carroll and Bobby Carroll suggested keeping the same theme and look of my blog.

I ONLY wanted three main modules on it because I think consumers are really looking for houses, market reports and local information about where they are going to relocate.

The Market Reports link to all of my Altos Reports for Ann Arbor and Saline.

There are several really cool features I am excited about and one of them is the interactive maps where I can link to all the neighborhoods in Ann Arbor and Saline.

That is proving to be a time consuming as I research and add content about each neighborhood with photos of the different styles of homes found in each neighborhood.

There is also an interactive map for all of my listings, where they can schedule an appointment, find out more details or request more information and add in my Real Estate Shows. 

Another feature I as super excited about is that I can build my own content and pages. I was not able to do that on my own static site and had to wait for the web master to make any changes.

Now I can just go in and build a page for Buyer and Sellers and add content. This is where I am been linking to some of my older but still local information posts from Activerain.

For example the History of Ann Arbor and the History of Saline, and Information on Schools.

The back end of the system is called Agent Back Door and this is the power of the site.

From here I can add my Team members, assign leads, add content, neighborhoods, pages, add new listings, manage or change my responses, add testimonials and condo information.

So now do you know why I said: "get through the getting through the getting through it is worth it."

I have barely scratched the surface of what I will add to this new website.

Thankfully the support with Dakno.TV the tutorials on Agent Back Door are incredible. Finally, when I mess up on a weekend by adding the wrong Google Analytics code, Bobby and Brad jump right in and get my site back up and running.

Yea, I really did it deleted the whole thing after 18 hours of working on it.

One big benefit of Twittering with the Dakno boys.

So what do you think?

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Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822,by phone,txt. or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

Thinking of selling your home?

Free Home Evaluation

Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

Google Profile

On of the things I heard about at ReTechSouth was about catergorizing your friends on FaceBook. I spent last night doing just that. I actually wish they had come out with this before I had over 1847 friends.

Now I don't really have 1847 friends...many are aquaintances. Aquaintances are important people in your life too. According the The Tipping Point, aquaintances make great Connectors. One of my friends on Facebook wrote on my Wall, "Gee I'm glad I knew you when". 

So when Facebook came out with this Friends List I was glad to be able to put my Friends and Aquaintances in groups. I have all my blogging friends in one group, college friends in one etc...You can set up as many lists of friends as you want and just like in Outlook where you use Categories a person can be in more than one group.

I am doing an Advanced Social Media Class tomorrow at Keller Williams and I am saving the one for Ann Arbor Area Realtors to walk them through it.

Here is a easy video tutorial that will show you how to do it. I am a visual learner so it was helpful to me. It was created by TubeNinja on YouTube but Steve Schuitt in real life. Steve does really cool, helpful videos so check him out. You can also follow him on Twitter.

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Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

Thinking of selling your home?

Free Home Evaluation

Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

Google Profile

Look at the NEW Vflyer format.

I was so excited when I got this from Aaron today. I think it will be a great addition to our outside blogs.

Not only that but you can now add your listings to Facebook with one click. No more entering your listings to Facebook through one of the apps.

Here are the few I submitted last night.

Here is how you do it after you have created it:

Now the really cool thing is this new style Vflyer, it will fit great on our Outside Activerain Blogs.

This is a "short sale" listing in Ypsilanti that my Team member listed this week. Pretty cool how it fits isn't it?

1164 Oak, Ypsilanti, Mi 48198 - $99,000.00 Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 1.1 Year Built: 1956 Subdivision: Forest Lawn Lot Size: 60x130 School District: Ypsilanti Square Footage: 983 Agent Name: Missy Caulk Broker: Keller Williams MLS #: 2902021 Price: $99,000.00 Additional Pricing Information: Subject to Short Sale Approval 1164 Oak Ypsilanti, MI 48198 View Map View More Photos Range/Oven Full Refrigerator Washer/Dryer Dishwasher Basement Fenced Yard Grass Lawn Welcome to 1164 Oak, Ypsilanti, MI 48198. Lots to like about this solid, ranch on a quiet, private cul-de-sac, from the updates to the price! New Kraftmaid kitchen, Pella patio door,front door @2005! Newer Wallside windows, back door, chimney, gutters, soffits. 2008-new furnace, thermostat & chimney liner!!! All appliances, even washer & dryer (newer). Deck right off the kitchen is perfect for grilling! With the $8,000 First Time Buyers Credit this year - why wait? Subject to bank approval of short sale & seller's approval of bank terms. Missy Caulk 734-216-2822 Powered by vFlyer.com Equal Housing Opportunity VFLYER ID: 2335827

All information in this site is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and is subject to change

Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-216-2822 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com

Our TEAM of 6 buyer associates are available to help you relocate to Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea, Milan, Ypsilanti Township, Clinton, Manchester, Whitmore Lake, or throughout Washtenaw County, MI.

Thinking of selling your home?

Free Home Evaluation

Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS.

Google Profile

Thanks to Joel Busrlem at the future of Real Estate Marketing for his post today on 5 Ways to Managing Your OnLine Reputation. One of the new apps to do this is StepRep. (If you don't subscribe to this blog you are missing out).

Here is a short one and half minute YouTube video that will get you started with StepRep.

Although it is still in beta, I went and tried it out and you can see the new widget on my side bar. It searches the web for all the places you are mentioned and you have the opportunity to rate the information as Good, Bad, Irrelevant. If you rate it good, you can add it to your widget which it creates as you go through all the places you are mentioned.

Although I still love Google Alerts for instant results when I am mentioned in a post or online, I think this app is cool. You will notice I came up for Localism, Activerain and my outside blog. Also Joe Manausa's post on The Carnaval of Market Reports that he puts together each month for agents that want to participate.

I did find a post by Jay Ehert of the Marketing Spot blog where he had mentioned one of my posts here back in July. In light of all the social media sites we are joining it is important that we monitor our online presence.

Contact Missy Caulk & Team

734-821-0757

Search the Ann Arbor Area MLS