Google is the most recognized name in search engines but Google provides more tools than just searching online. One of our favorites is Google Docs. Google Docs are free online documents (think online Microsoft Office) that are stored and created online. Google Docs can be shared with anyone and can be accessed by any computer so you can cut that cord. 

What kind of documents can you create with Google Docs?

• Spreadsheets – think Excel
• Documents – think Word
• Presentations – think PowerPoint
• Forms – yeah, Microsoft doesn’t do that with an Office product
• Drawings – think Publisher but a much more scaled down version. 

How can you use Google Docs in your day-to-day real estate business?

• Listing marketing plans for sellers - Use Google Spreadsheets to give your sellers an easy way to see how the marketing is going for their home. Provide links to any online marketing so they can see it at any time. You could even create separate tabs in your workbook for showing feedback, inspection responses, etc. You can grant your sellers access so they can view this doc from the comfort of their own home – or the movie theater with their phone! 
• Listing maintenance – The marketing plan for sellers is just as valuable to you! Stay informed about your listing marketing status from anywhere you go! This is a GREAT tool for real estate teams or for collaborating with your real estate virtual assistant.
• Contact databases - Create and maintain your contact database with a Google spreadsheet. Contacts can even be easily imported from Outlook. (P.S. If you are still using Outlook we should talk.)
• Forms - Would an online questionnaire help you figure out what your buyers want? Would you like an easy way to gather testimonials? Google Forms allows you to easily create custom forms and provides a link to the form for you to send to people. You can even embed the form in your own website. The really cool thing about Google Forms is that once a response is entered on the form, Google creates a spreadsheet and collects and organizes all of the data for you. Uber easy. 
• Office sharing - Google Docs provides an easy way to share all of your office forms with your real estate agents, whether they work in the office or from their home office.

Getting started is simple.
Go to Docs.Google.com
You will need to create a Google account if you do not already have one for Gmail, YouTube, Docs, etc.
Create your first document by clicking on ‘Create’.
After you create your first document, you can click on the ‘Share’ button to share with the world or selected people you know. 

Do you have any other ideas about using Google Docs for real estate business? We’d love to hear them!

1. Google Chrome

If you are still using Internet Explorer I highly recommend you give Google Chrome a shot. It is a much cleaner internet browser that is much quicker than I

E. There are fantastic plug-ins that make it much easier to use, as well.  The crashes & freeze-ups that come along with IE are much more reduced in Chrome.

2. Gmail
Are you managing several different email account? A personal email & a business email PLUS others? Gmail removes the need to visit various email sites to check your different email accounts. If you know your password for say your Yahoo! email, Gmail can pull your emails straight into Gmail. One email account to check. Simple. Using Outlook? Do you find it a pain that you have to be at a certain computer to check your email? Gmail solves that as well since it is web-based. Want to switch without a ton of hassle? Ask us to help you!

3. Scribd
Scribd is an online document host. Upload your files and share them with the world. You can embed them into your website, email a link, and much more.

4.  Point2
Point2Agent provides agents with customizable template websites for a nominal fee. We use it daily to help agents syndicate their listings to over 40 real estate listings sites online. If you need a website or want to change your current host, check them out.

5. Grooveshark
Because sometimes you just have to JAM! Keeping your nose to the grind is difficult for any extended period of time. Having your favorite playlist in the background makes it more enjoyable. Grooveshark is a web-based music player. You can upload your own music or listen to the albums others have loaded. There is no downloading so it is legit. You can ‘store’ albums to your account, create playlists, and share your music with others via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services. Find your jammin’ real estate virtual assistant on Grooveshark. Groove on!

This has to be the biggest complaint and hurdle I’ve heard from Gmail users – the inability to use photo signatures. So, many people continue to use Outlook. For many real estate agents, Outlook isn’t the most effective program since they usually have more than one computer and Outlook doesn’t sync itself (hint hint Microsoft).

Well, there is a solution – Wisestamp. Wisestamp is an extention/add-on for Google’s Chrome browser and Mozilla’s Firefox (as well as Thunderbird and Flock).

By the way, if you are still using Internet Explorer, I HIGHLY recommend you stop. Chrome is my preferred browser because of its great speed and infrequent crashes and freeze-ups.  However, the MLS still doesn’t support any other browser except IE so you’ll have to use it for that.

With Wisestamp, you install the extension, create your email signature and voila, you’re ready to go! Photo signatures in Gmail. Easy.

People talk. They talk about the good, the bad and the ugly and in today’s online world, they are talking online. Are they talking about you? How do you know?

Google Alerts are a great way to monitor your name, your brand, and your reputation. You enter in your name, your company name, or any other keywords you want to receive updates for and Google will let you know when it comes across any of those phrases on the web.

Some ideas on how to use Google Alerts:

• Your name- see where you are appearing online and if your clients are talking about you.
• Your company name – see what people are saying about your company.
• Your slogan- have a great slogan? Is it copyrighted? Find out quickly if anyone else thought it was great and is now using it.
• Listing marketing – set up a google alert for your listing address. Use the alert to let your sellers know of the marketing your are providing for their property.
• Research & Education – I have a google alert set up for ‘real estate’ + ‘social media’ so I can stay on top of new developments as they happen. You may want to set up an alert for your niche, say “South Bend” + foreclosure.
• Keep an eye on your competition. Keep you Google Alert wide enough to capture your competition in its results. If your website is optimized for Notre Dame Real Estate, set up a Google Alert to find any other references to Notre Dame Real Estate. This can help you learn of new competition and to stay ahead of them.

Need help setting up an alert? Just ask.

Consider this post to be a spilling of the beans. I had an idea nearly a year ago that would provide a way for real estate agents to market their listings to students looking for housing. Being that I live so close to Notre Dame this was a local issue. A client asked me if I knew of a resource to market listings near campus. I said I did not and moved on. A few days later I was talking to my mom in the kitchen and told her the idea I had about starting a website catered to such real estate and I told her I was starting it. CampusHomesOnline.com was born! Through the help of a Twitter friend (well, most of his work is in this thus far) we are close to a beta launch.

CampusHomesOnline.com is a centralized and national listing service for real estate agents, property managers and homeowners to advertise homes for sale/rent, apartments for rent, and game day rentals to students and renters. Listings are a flat $29 for a 6-month ad – no hidden fees, no commissions like other listing services. Visitors features include:

• Ability to save searches and retrieve results later
• Sign up for email notifications of new listings that match their search criteria
• Ability to text a listing to a friend
• Save searches to a custom URL to share with friends and family
• Search by miles radius from campus (.5 mile, 1 mile, 1.5 miles, etc.)
• Listings are limited to 1.5 miles from a campus to keep content relevant

Advertiser features include:

• Copy a listing to carry over information to a new listing
• Spotlight advertiser packages
• Featured property packages
• Web 2.0 Widgets to place on your website or in blog posts
• HTML code for Craigslist

We are very excited about the launch. Sign up for information regarding the release!

All Campuses ~ One Site ~ Housing U

Want to stay on top of your favorite blog or news feed but don’t want to keep checking your RSS feed or visiting their website? Not even sure what an RSS feed is? I like to have these posts automatically sent to my inbox so I don’t have to remember to visit any other websites – I’ve got enough to remember.

www.feedmyinbox.com is a service that allows you to enter the URL (web address) of any site and your email address and you will be sent an email on a daily basis when new posts are available. I use this for things like a Craigslist search. Craigslist doesn’t offer email notifications when a new item is for sale that matches my search criteria (say ‘couch’). So I go to Craigslist, do the search for a couch, then copy and paste the URL (http://southbend.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=couch) into www.feedmyinbox.com’s form. I enter my email address and I receive daily emails with new couches for sale on Craigslist. Keeps me from missing anything good. Try it with my website! Enter www.myassistantcan.com into feedmyinbox’s form and stay up to date with me!

Have any questions, please let me know.

Tired of the same old fonts available in your programs? Then check out this fantastic list of cool, high-quality fonts from Smashing Magazine.

Need help installing a new font? You can find a tutorial at Microsoft’s website.

Or, if you prefer a totally custom font of your own handwriting, you can do a YouFont. Simply fill out the template, upload the file and then they create a font based on your own handwriting. It’s $13 – pretty cheap for a custom font! Plus, you don’t pay until you approve the font.

See a font you like but don’t know what font it is? Trying to mimic a corporate font? You can upload a file with the font here and find out what font it is.

It’s overwhelming keeping up with current and new technology. Luckily we have a friend in Kim Komando.She will gladly do the work for you!

Kim has a TON of information and she gladly shares it with her radio listeners and web visitors. She takes new technology (hardware, software, programs and apps) and gives you the low-down on each. She can help you make a purchasing decision or solve a technology-based problem.

I listen to her show whenever I can and subscribe to all of her newsletters.