There is so much concern and “Buzz” about Google shutting down Picnik.com, I decided to provide you with some alternative tools for editing and customizing your graphics, photos, and images.   While Picnik.com will be shutting down in April 2012, here are some other options you have available immediately.

FotoFlexer – Create some dazzling photo and image effects in your browser for FREE.  Use Animations, resizing, coloring, contrast and more.  Take a look at These 5 Demo’s for a quick tour of what FotoFlexer has to offer, you’ll love some of these cool features.  Smart Scissor is a favorite feature.

Pixlr – and for Picnik users, try Pixlr Express.  You’ll love the Editor, the Pixlr-o-matic, the Pixlr Grabber for Firefox and Chrome browsers, and the Pixlr Imm.io hosting, all of which are very robust and user friendly cool features.

LunaPic – This site will rock your world!  Lunapic offers more choices and options for photo editing and custom effects than some of the paid software applications I’ve purchased and used in the past.  Use vignettes, color bars, animated imaging, picture frames, retro color, collages, custom text, reflection animations, slide shows, and a ton more.  One of the most feature rich FREE online editors available.  You’re gonna love this site.

FreeOnlinePhotoEditor – A really simple and easy to use photo and image editor for those “quick fix and gotta go” graphics.  Very basic but simple and fast.  Some of the other online photo and image tools include:  OnlinePhotoTool.com: Online photo editor,  Automatically resize your images when sending it by email,  Create an Image from your RSS feed,  Create Image from your Tweet and Twitter account, and Create, save and email screenshots.

BeFunky -  Be Funky lets you do some pretty amazing things with your photos and graphics.  Most of the features and tools are focused on creating cool, fun, and funky effects and artwork.  The site’s name says it.  Some of the effects available would take hours to create in Photoshop or other high end and costly photo/image editors.

Definitely worthy of a visit and tour.

Photoshop.com – That’s right, you can use Photoshop online and for FREE.  You’ll need to register, but I promise it will be worth it.  The Photoshop tools are powerful and very easy to use.  Be prepared to spend a little time here, you’ll be amazed at what they have to offer and allow you to do online for free.  I’m not going to lie, this is one of my favorites and my personal replacement for Picnik.com closing down.

GIMP – GIMP is very similar to Adobe Photoshop except that GIMP is FREE.  It does require you to download the software but one huge benefit to that is it will never be bought and shut down on you.  It is a very powerful and feature intense program so unless you’re really experienced with editing and graphic design, or you have more time than it takes to close a short sale, you may want to stick with one of the others.

I personally like to use GIMP for graphic design more than image or photo editing.

Combine all these together and you’ll have more FREE editing tools and features than you’ll ever need or use and absolutely FREE.  Take a few moments to review each site, bookmark them, then give each one a try to see which one(s) best meet your photo and image editing needs.  Enjoy! 

Back in the day, a few of us discovered a really cool tool from Google known as "The Wonder Wheel" which helped members with keyword selection for their SEO friendly blog posts.  Now that the Wonder Wheel is gone, I get literally hundreds of requests from members looking for good alternatives to enhance and better the "Keyword" content on their blogs, sites, posts, and blog titles.

Understanding The Importance of Keyword Searches:

Search engines like Google focus on returning the best quality and "Best Available" SERP's (Search Engine Results Pages)  It's all based on what "Keywords" or phrases are being typed into the Search box.  Search engines simply want to return the best available matching content based on both short-tail and long-tail keyword searches.

The two things people search most are: the item, the person, the company, the thing or service, and then a geographic or what many refer to as a "hyper-local" location.  Having this knowledge about search engines and keywords is the first step, the next steps will hopefully help remove the guessing game of...

"What are people looking for and typing in the search box of search engines?"

No pun intended (well, maybe a little...) SEARCH NO MORE!  While we can never really be 100% certain of what people are searching and the exact keywords or terms they're using, these keyword tools will help you not only define what IS being searched on the web, but how and what keywords to be using when creating and refining your blog titles and blog content.

Keyword Tools for Your Blog

Introducing Google's Keyword Tool:

In the "Keyword Search" we typed "Real Estate in San Francisco" which seems like a pretty reasonable search that most web surfers would type if interested in looking at Real Estate in San Francisco.  Interestingly the "Keyword Tool" came back showing that there is a larger percentage of people searching San Francisco Apartments which might make sense considering the space and demographic of San Francisco.

Maybe creating a Blog post with the Title "San Francisco Apartments" and then provide content on how those living in "San Francisco Apartments" could qualify for a great loan, with great rates, and possibly become first time buyers and first time homeowners.  Would this be a worthy option and idea worth trying?  This is just a sample of how you can use these Keyword tools to better your content, your traffic, and hopefully your business.

Give the Google Keyword Tool a Try

Check out the Google Keyword Toolbox

Soovle Is Another Great Keyword Tool

Soovle.com search multiple sites and returns most searched results on multiple platforms of your choosing.  You can select from up to 15 sites at one time to get the most poplar searched "Keywords" or related "Phrases" on those individual sites.  Here are the results as I started typing the keywords "Real Estate" when suddenly I realized that if I stopped typing, the Soovle tool kicked in and started solving...

I was personally pretty excited to see that on the Yahoo site, "Zillow Real Estate" was a pretty popular search by consumers and Internet surfers.  (I do hope you have a profile setup on our site for those visitors to view)

• Go Ahead, Take Soovle For A Spin

SEOBOOK Keyword Suggestion Tools

SEOBOOKS Keyword suggestion tool cross-references Wordtracker.com, Google, and others.  It displays links to related search results, semantically related phrases, and offers a new CVS exporting option which rocks.  SEOBooks combined with Google Insights will provide you with a wealth of FREE data and information to set you on your way using "Keywords" effectively in your online marketing, advertising, and blogging endeavors going forward. 

Check out SEOBooks, you won't be disappointed.

"The objective of a business website or blog is to attract potential buyers and convert them into paying customers. Keywords can help. Use appropriate keywords on your site and you’ll attract visitors who want to buy the types of products you offer."    Source: Wordtracker

"Hover your mouse above for hidden message"

I'm always looking to provide better, faster, more efficient, and cost effective ways to help get the job done, but I'm only one grain of sand on a very large beach. If you find this content useful and worthy, take a second to reblog it. You can help spread the ActiveRain love across larger beaches much faster, and by doing so, you're helping to take the" "keyword" message further and make the process easier and better for those that might be following you or your blogs. Thanks.  :-)

My hope is to encourage anyone and everyone that reads this to DREAM BIG and then LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

What will you do with your future? You really only have two choices...

You can choose to just survive, or you can choose to succeed. Know this though, if you do choose to succeed, and you decide to prosper, and commit to focused and clearly defined goals, then anything is and will be possible because YOU were born to succeed!  Your very BEST can still be in front of you.

YOUR future is in YOUR hands. Inside you is untapped potential. You have unlimited value and your dreams can definitely come true but ONLY if you believe they can. You are unique and very special which NOBODY can ever take away.  You can achieve whatever you put your mind to so choose to enlarge your vision.

Retrain your brain, increase your confidence, attract the GOOD around you, and seize the profitable opportunities in and around your path. Step forward daily and positively engage relationships. Unleash your maximum wealth and don't forget to "DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT!" 

Prepare for your success and believe in yourself.

Plan before you do anything. Ask questions and question everything. Avoid the negative and move outside of your comfort zone. Let go of the past and remember, NEVER GIVE UP!!

Share this with anyone you know that might need a bit of encouragement and inspiration in these challenging times. It might make a difference in their day . . . and maybe, just maybe . . . their entire year! 

I wish the VERY BEST to you all in 2012~

Is your Real Estate Marketing Plan ready and in place for 2012? 

This post might be useful in helping you determine where to best spend your time and money for maximum results.  Online and offline, you're going to need a business plan with goals.  Here's a great article and resource to help get you started. 

These are just a few ways I’ve seen large and small business owners and marketers fail or lose business from their online efforts or lack thereof.  There is no perfect science for online success, but there are some simple principles and methods that should be considered if you’re serious about building and growing your online presence and business.

TOP 10 WAYS TO LOSE ONLINE BUSINESS

10. Don’t market and advertise your page or site properly and effectively.

Word of mouth is just the beginning of getting the word out to your potential prospects and clients.  Linking to your site from every possible social network and profile on the web is an often missed opportunity by many.  Adding links back to the mother-ship in your email signatures and other strategic locations can never hurt the volume of visitors you'll generate.

(Not understanding and maximizing SEO may also be one of the greatest missed opportunities)

9. Use controversial content that creates “camps” or makes people choose “in” or “out”

Your opinions and expressed feelings regarding Politics, Religion, and a variety of other topics can and will create a parting of the ways with much of your traffic if you’re not careful.  Avoiding the “Like” versus “Don’t Like” or “I’m with you” vs “Against You” is advice I hear often from successful professionals online.  Don’t make readers choose a camp, it may not be yours.

8. Spend too much time just playing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.

If you poke 3o people a day on Facebook, that’s nice.  If you tell everyone following you on Twitter your play-by-play plans for the day and share photos of every image your eyeballs land on, that’s really cool.  If you’ve signed up on over 15+ social networks and feel guilty that you haven’t visited each one and updated your status, you may want to get help!?! 

STOP IT! Your business should come first!

7. Focusing on making money instead of providing value-added content.

Sell, Sell, Sell.  Me, Me, Me!  This won’t work off-line, and it certainly won’t work online.  Providing value with absolutely no expectation of anything in return over time will produce relationships which are necessary if you ever want to do business. This doesn’t mean to give up the farm and all your goods, just use a strategy that builds like, trust, and a rapport.  The rest will fall into place when you connect and meet IRL.  (In Real Life)

6. Trying to build traffic and analytics instead of building quality relationships.

Some people get very excited about the amount of traffic their sites and blogs generate every hour, day, and month.  They feel and believe that just because they are on the first page of the search engines for certain keywords and phrases that they are successful. Even with 500 hits to your site an hour, if you haven’t created or built one single relationship, then what is the point?  Don’t count hits, count trips to the bank.

5. Don’t know your markets, your products, your tools, and your service areas.

Let me look into that for you…  I’m not sure?  Hmmm… that’s a great question?  Let me see, not sue what I can do?  Not sure if that’s an option?  What does that mean and where did you hear that?  Are you kidding me, are you nuts?  These are all comments and signs that you may want to know a little more about your market, product, business, or service.  You are the expert, it’s no different when your doctor says… “Hmm… I’ve never heard of that before…”  Yikes!

4. Lack in response time to online contacts.  The sting and power of the 1st hour.

100% of online contacts have the option of being mobile and 100% of people usually are.  What percentage of people want to “WAIT” to hear back from you for any reason at all?  NONE. This is why text messaging has become the fastest and most popular way for the world to communicate.  It is the number one communication tool besides face-to-face and the phone.  Answer your phone.  Respond to email quickly.  Online contacts will often wait 3-5 minutes before they’re gone…FOREVER!

3. Don't use a good CRM to manage campaigns and follow-up with online contacts.

If you can’t remember what you ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner two weeks ago on Thursday, then there is no way on earth you’re going to remember what you’re suppose to do two weeks from tomorrow at 10am, 1pm, and 7:30pm regarding your business, clients, follow-up, or personal life.  Most people can’t even remember what to get at the grocery store so they bring their detailed store CRM with them.  (The Shopping List)  You NEED a “shopping list” for your business as well.

2. No calls-to-action, no methods of next-step, and no form of contact capture.

Your website may get hundreds of hits. Your various blogs may have thousands of readers and subscribers.  Your real estate MLS or IDX might produce millions of visitors but if you have no form of contact capture or call to action, then why even bother being online, spending the time, money, and effort to build your online presence and empire?  It’s OK to give information and share value-added content but don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.  Use multiple and creative ways to capture contacts.

1. Don’t update ALL your online profiles and sites: email, phone, contact info etc.

You have a company website, you have 3 niche websites, you have 4 really cool traffic driving blogs, and now you’re on more than 15 20 30 different social networks and sites including Four-Square, Yelp, and Google+.  Changes in real life are inevitable so don’t forget to make those changes online as well.  Watch out for “Page Cannot Be Displayed”  “500 Server Error” or that infamous phone recording “This number is no longer in service” and the worse one is when the email auto-responders says “mailer daemon YOU@email.com is undeliverable.”  Make sure you Keep track of your online bread-crumbs.

“Maybe I should rename this article the “10 Ways To Grow Your Online Business!”

Recently I was invited to join this investing opportunity using "Groupon" buying power to purchase Real Estate.  Is this a fad, a trend, or will it become a standard in the home purchase and selling process?  I've used Groupon to make "deal" purchases for smaller material items in the past but never considered investing in purchasing real property in this manner? 

I remember hearing that someone put their home on eBay and sold it.  I was told another homeowner put an ad on Amazon, and I've seen hundreds of homes on Craigslist and other classified sites but Groupon power?  I'm curious how many others have this happening in their areas and if so, what are your thoughts? is this something you would participate in? 

Can they really do this?  Dumb question: Looks like they already are...

Would your potential clients or past clients go for an opportunity like this?  Would you?

Join us for a group buying discount & group leverage Meeting

"We have negotiated with the builder a discounted price on duplexes near Round-Rock (Austin). We are combing the group buying power to get better prices and create a rent protection concept. The duplexes' (2 units each) price is based on a group purchase."

NEW Concept: “Groupon” Purchase of Duplexes
Tue. 9/13/11 7PM - In the room & via web
RSVP for details

Investment Highlights

Regular price: $260,000 – $270,000 per duplex ($130,000-$135,000 per door)
“Groupon” price: $249,900 – $259,000 based on a minimum purchase of ten duplexes (20 doors)

Myself and others could sure use your help, advice, and feedback here.

This is happening right here in the Bay Area, just about an hour away and I'm curious what my ActiveRain friends would advise or do themselves? No need to pull punches here, give me your honest thoughts and opinions. Usually, I'm the one trying to give information and advice but this time I need yours? Thanks.

HOT AUGUST TOPICS - Real Estate Tech Savvy Speakers offering FREE Training and Support

This is possibly one of the best months of FREE Tech and Real Estate support training ever. There's going to be some awesome topics covered this month with some absolutely amazing speakers and presenters.  I hope you'll stop by and take advantage of these FREE classes, sessions, and webinars. 

Thousands of industry professionals pay big money, travel long distances, and invest great deals of time and money to learn what these folks will be sharing with you this month.  The best part is that they are doing it in the convenience and comfort of your local business or home office. All you need is a computer with Internet access and a reserved virtual seat, that's it!

This month we are offering some great free training and support webinars, take a look then RSVP, we'd love for you to join us.

Is this form is not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

~ To All ActiveRain Community Members and Friends ~ HOT AUGUST Training & Speaker Calendar with News Updates

AUG. SUPPORT CALENDAR FREE Real Estate Support and Training Webinars V.I.P SPECIAL GUESTS... Look who's coming to Zillow Academy in August! Sign up early, these FREE webinars will be filled quickly and are limited to the first 1000 attendees. Tom Ferry, Chris Smith, Michael Krisa, Ben Kinney, Jared James, Krisstina Wise and more... POSTLETS IS NOW FREE! Yes it's true!  Head to Postlets.com NOW The Postlets PRO paid subscription service is now FREE to all agents and users.  Create, publish, syndicate and share your real estate listings across web channels. NEW RECORDED CLASSES Did you sign up for a Webinar or Speaker and miss it?  We know you have busy schedules so we've recorded some of our BEST WEBINARS for you. COOL STUFF IN THE NEWS Client Listing Report Updates - New On Zillow Zillow Goes Public - Read About Zillow on NASDAQ Inmans Innovator of the Year - Read More... Zillow Search by Price Cut - Here's The Details GET FREE Co-Branding - Promoting You is KEY Want a career at Zillow?  YES, Show Me The Money CONNECT WITH US Friend us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Read our blog CONTACT US Zillow Academy 999 Third Avenue, Suite 4600 Seattle, WA 98104 Add us to your address book SHARE THIS EMAIL the campus Toolbox REFER AN AGENT THE PREMIER AGENT Zillow Mobile IS Global  - Choose your device: iPhone, Android, iPad, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry.  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | read our blog | forward to a friend

Copyright © 2011 Zillow Academy

Sign-up quickly to save your seat, you'll also save a ton of costs and expenses because again, these classes and sessions are all complimentary.  I hope you'll join me, I'm certain you'll learn and Enjoy~

Getting exposure to a sellers property is obviously a no-brainer, but simplifying the process, and finding more efficient ways that cost less that get you a higher return on your investment and efforts is just plain smart.

That's why I'm happy to announce that the Postlets Pro program is now free.  That's right, we are opening up this program, which was previously a paid subscription-ONLY program, to everyone for free!

Anyone who knows me will tell you how excited and passionate I am about Real Estate technology, but when I get to share a really cool product that totally "rocks" and has now been made available for FREE, I get more than just excited. 

"Postlets is a listing syndication site offering some really cool Real Estate marketing tools."

How To Post Your Listings on Postlets

1.  Create and setup your FREE account on Postlets.com

2.  Using the easy-to-use forms, create your listing

3.  The Custom HTML code allows you to post to classified sites

4.  Share your listing using the social media tools provided

5.  Listings will automatically be syndicated to several search sites

Now that Postlets PRO is FREE, look what's included in every new Postlet listing:

	Multi-page format. We've taken the standard template and blown it out into a multi-page website. Think of it as a standard postlet after an extreme makeover.  You'll love it!  See Sample
	Huge photos. How does 700x525 pixels strike you? For the non-techies, that's twice the width and twice the height of those in the former Postlets postlet layout. This is Huge. See Sample
	3x more photos. A picture is worth, well, you know. So "18" pictures will be a mouth-full. It's no secret that photos help sell, and Postlets gives you plenty to make your listings stand out above the rest.
	Slideshow viewer. What would be the point of having all those photos if you can't show them off. Postlets uses a best-in-class Flash slideshow viewer to put your property in the best light. Thumbnail previews, artistic transitions, simply beautiful. You know me and these gadgets....  lol~
	20 professional and stylish themes. Take a peek.
	Full-size embedded map. Large format Google Maps are seamlessly integrated into PRO listings.
	Neighborhood information. GreatSchools and Walk Score provide detailed maps and information about local schools and nearby stores, restaurants, parks, etc.
	Video integration. Embed a video that you upload to YouTube directly into your listing.
	Your branding on every page. Your personal photo and logo show up on every page. Big Smiles!
	MLS-compliant version. Use the optional non-branded version as the virtual tour with your MLS.
	Tracking via Google Analytics. Measure and track your visitor traffic to your listings by linking a Google Analytics account, this will also help you gain a better understanding of your audience.

Folks, this is HUGE!!  Many of you have paid for this service in the past and know it works.

Knowing that generating exposure to your sellers available property is the key to getting it sold, I'm confident that the Postlets syndication and marketing tools will be very beneficial to both you and your sellers.  NO MORE CHARGE! NO MORE COST! NO MORE EXCUSES!

Zillow recently acquired Postlets and will now be also providing some educational training and FREE support webinars at Zillow Academy.  See the training calendar on August 4th for more information and details, or you can just RSVP here if you'd like.  We'll cover a ton of great tips and how-to's in a single one hour session, and it's free too! Come check it out.

I've been asked to moderate for three separate panels this Monday at the WTM Presents event which will take place on-line.  It's a FREE "virtual" event where we'll be interviewing and dissecting the minds of top Agents, Brokers, and Real Estate Technology enthusiasts from all around the Country. 

The three panels will include:

• Top Agents Panel
• Brokerage Panel
• Technology Panel

The list of questions and topics I have compiled is one I feel will benefit ALL of our attendees, but I'd also like to solicit your thoughts and ideas as well?  What is the one question you'd ask or the one thing you'd like to know if you had the Top Producing Agent or Broker from your area captive and under the influence of truth serum sodium pentathol?  lol~ 

You can visit WTM Presents.com for more details and to register, but please take a moment to share your question or topic here.  I'll be going through your comments and adding them to my existing list for next week.  This event will be recorded so if you can't make it, you'll be able to review the virtual panels at a later and more convenient time if needed.

Some of our distinguished guests include:
Jay Thompson, Nicky Dou, Diane Guercio, Jeff Buettner, John Mark Mitchell, Lori Bee, Glenn Sanford, Jason Lopez, Ricardo Bueno, Joey Sampaga, Nick Taylor, Jesse Romero and more. A great list of Active Industry Professionals serving as our panelists for the day.

Working The Magic will also be streaming the event "LIVE" on Facebook.  I appreciate you helping me out with this, your questions could help you and others all over the Country finally get some of the answers they have been looking for which may have taken longer to find if it weren't for your participation.  Thanks.

UPDATED: 6/13/2011

Here's the recorded panel sessions from this event, we had a great turnout and for our "first-time ever" virtual panel, I want to personally thank all the panelists and the "behind the scenes" staff that helped pull it all together and made this event a total success.  Watch for more of these Real Estate Insight Series coming soon in the days ahead.  :-)

I want to take a moment here to wish Jon Washburn ALL the very best in his new and future endeavors. Jon Washburn and Bob Stewart brought me into the rain, gave me shelter during the storm, then encouraged and supported me while I helped them build and grow this great network.

I owe a great deal of my experience and success to these guys for giving me the chance, for supporting me through thick and thin, and for bringing me on board to the AR team and family.  I am forever grateful to them for letting me take deep root in the soil of this great community. 

Thank you Jon for a wonderful journey! May all things good and prosperous be yours and in abundance.  The direction and path you are taking today is exactly where you are suppose to be at this time in your life and during your adventure...

Stay true to your passion my friend... always! Do something "AMAZING!" Crush It!