The ARE-TEC Blog: All Things IDX, Website, and Techno-geek

  A little while ago, Jim Marks asked a question about whether address searches were valuable or not, trying to spur some discussion on that, among other things. Allow me to answer. To provide the agent perspective on address searches. Yes, they're valuable. In fact, on my listings search where ...

Do you auto-tweet your posts from here on ActiveRain?Can I ask you why?Did you know you can do that in a vastly better way that will - brand yourself - give you an idea of the power of your Twitter network - not waste 20% of your tweet!As a Twitter old-timer, here's why I don't think you should a...

I work hard on my little local blog and website. I'm the local expert, with fabulous information that I'm trying to get out there - and it's frustrating being the little guy with limited resources when the big national players can walk all over me in the search engines. But I fixed that - or I'm ...

Spring has hit my city!  The palo verde are in bloom, the weather is warm - which all means it's time for a thorough house cleaning to clear out the winter dust and clutter.It also reminds me to do the same with my blog.I've been working on some course materials for a new social media designation...

I love when a plan comes together. Introducing -> Marin Fine Properties. Tres chic, no? See what can be done with the right tools? I love the combination of things that are powerful on their own, and yet work so well together: the Altos market charts, the Google neighborhood map, the integration ...

More buzz today as Listing Router hits the new ActiveBlogs...Basically, Listing Router is just a call to action for your readers, right?  It gives them the opporunity to search for homes, and if they type in your area on your page, then that person gets sent over to your IDX search.So if we think...

I'm so excited.  We just added the ability to send listings to Twitter and Facebook from our IDX.  So the people searching for homes on your site - if you're one of our customers - can tweet about that cool new house they just saw.  Or they can post a link to Facebook to tell their friends and fa...

It's too late to get a free lunch, but don't let that stop you. REBarCamp takes place Tuesday, January 6th at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square, New York, 9am - 5pm. You can register here. You'll have to pay for your own lunch at this point, but given that the rest of the conference is free, th...

One, two, three.  Here we go:I was a cheerleader for a roller hockey team.  Don't ask.  Please.I rarely remember my dreams, but I nearly always wake up with a song stuck in my head.  Typically, something very annoying.  I wrote a 9 page analysis on the caloric value of peanut M&Ms, including a si...

On my mind today: I have this frequent conversation with one of my pals regarding her website.  She wants to do these lengthy explanations of things, not try to direct her site visitors down any specific path.  Which would be great - if she were running an information site, making some revenue fr...