On any given day, you can practically look around and discover an unlimited source of advertising avenues waiting for you to take ownership and include your web site address.

Some of you have actively investigated any available avenues in the media that “the other guy” is not taking full advantage of. For example, community bulletins and functions, athletic events, or even local sports team/league sponsorship.

Others of you may be starting from scratch to advertise your website address on your business cards, post cards, flyers, mailers, and any other print materials.

It is important not to neglect the offline marketing of your website. Even the simplest of your business tools can be an advertisement for you. For example, do you have your website address on your voicemail greeting? We have been reminding our clients about this valuable ‘ad’ since our very first Marketing Tip. If a prospective client calls you and wants info right away, you can still give them a resource even if they get your voicemail - your website. An example greeting might go something like this, “Hello, you’ve reached Pro Agent, please leave a message and I will return your call. In the meantime, please visit my website at Pro Agent dot com.”

Don’t forget your local news outlet. Newspaper websites are among the highest ranked by major search engines and most used. Whether you advertise in a print version, online version, or both, of your local media publications you are placing an ad that is likely to be viewed by a large number of people.

Do you use any novelty promotional items such as pens, hats, sweaters, mouse pads, etc? Your website address should be prominently featured on all of these. Don’t forget your real estate professional ‘must haves’ like your name tag and sign riders…those need your URL too.

Add your website address to your car with a back window sticker, license plate frame, or magnetic sign.

I understand that everyone is scaling back on many of these materials right now, but whatever you have out there, you need to use it to get the best return on your investment.

The point is you want the people in your community to come to you for real estate information and to hire you to handle their real estate transaction. You can’t be everywhere at one time, but your website can. Don’t forget to tell people how to get there! Make sure your URL really is everywhere YOU want to be.

As a reminder, your websites are on servers which are off-site, running in a fire proof and earthquake proof building. There have been no outages of Advanced Access websites reported at this time.

Thank you for your support.

Throw the keys in the trash and walk away?

Does that sound right? Of course not! Why would anyone do this? You never would.

Now let’s take a trip back in time…

You are sitting down at your computer because it’s time to decide on your domain name for your new website. You sit and ponder what the catchiest name will be. What will look great on your business cards? This domain name has to be just like the shiny new car in your driveway; your status symbol on the Net. After much thought and care, you register your name. Same great feeling – you are excited, you are proud. You can’t wait for the leads to start rolling in when you get started. What do you do next?

When you registered your domain name, what did you do next? Unfortunately, many people register their domain name, and then throw away the keys! Do you know your domain name expiration date? Do you have your domain name login and password saved in a paper or electronic file so you can keep your account updated? Is your domain name locked so that no one else can take it from you? These are the “keys” to owning your domain name – keep them close to you!

Do you know your domain name expiration date?

You don’t own your domain name for life. Your domain name is set up to be renewed on a regular basis, just like a lease. If you don’t renew your name, someone else can buy it, and you will have no recourse, and no location on the Web for your site; the domain name becomes ‘up for grabs’.

Even if you had a domain name registered through Advanced Access, your domain name remains yours as a completely separate entity from your website. Renewing your website contract does not renew your domain name.

Find your expiration date at http://www.whois.net/.

Do you have your domain name login and password saved in a paper or electronic file so you can keep your account updated?

In order for you to receive important information regarding your domain name, such as renewal notices, your email address needs to be updated on your domain name account. Email is the only way that your domain name registrar will notify you of your approaching expiration date. If your domain name is set up with auto-renew, you will need to keep your credit card updated. This means that if you change your email address, credit card number or expiration date, you will need to remember to update your domain name account as well. In order for you to have access to your domain name, you must have your login and password for your domain name management.

If you don’t have this information, you can visit your domain name company’s website. Many registrars offer an ‘I forgot my password’ option (which will only work if your email address is updated on the account). Also, many registrars have customer service phone numbers where you can inquire about retrieving your login and password information. Each company is different, and has a different process for releasing this information.

Find out who your domain name registrar is at http://www.whois.net/. Scroll down below the registration information and look for the section that says, ‘Current Registrar’. This is the company you will contact regarding your domain name information.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about using Yahoo Answers to engage people in conversation. Yahoo Answers is an easy way to provide your real estate expertise to people in your area, and even from outside your areas of service. It is a great way to find out what people are asking about or thinking about when it comes to real estate.

This is part of the interactive Web (Web 2.0). It is another way to “pound the pavement” to make connections. And it is more important than ever.

The first thing to understand about using social connections online to generate business is that it won’t always generate business. It is the same concept of walking door to door passing out your notepads and American flags on holidays, hoping you get to shake hands with someone and plant a seed to earn their business. Canvassing your neighborhood to connect with people and establish yourself as a trusted name in real estate is still important, it’s just that the neighborhood has changed a bit.

One thing people often overlook is how wonderfully the Internet is divided into billions of little sections. If you want to find people who only wear blue, you can. There is probably some forum somewhere that people are having serious conversations about wearing blue. The same is true for real estate, except it’s a far less obscure subject. There are not only mainstream social sites, but there are niche social sites specifically for real estate. And, you’re in luck, real estate is one of the hot topics of the day!

The only way to truly understand the best way to navigate a social site and become involved in the community is to join and click around. Each site is a different experience for each person. If you want a place to start, I bet you can find some friends and clients you know on Facebook. Start there, and look for all the real estate groups and join some that you find interesting, or start your own. You know how to talk to people already; you do it all the time. Now you can pound the pavement 2.0 style: wearing pajamas and drinking your coffee!

Want to share some fun Halloween stories as a family? Visit Scholastic’s website for great story starters.

Dress up your website for Halloween with some free Halloween Clip Art courtesy of Hershey’s Chocolate.

Send your favorite people a spooky Halloween greeting card online:

123 greetings - http://www.123greetings.com

Yahoo Greetings: http://www.yahoo.americangreetings.com

USA Greetings: http://www.usagreetings.com

Blue Mountain: http://www.bluemountain.com

Of course, safety is one of the most important things to consider for you and your family.  Be sure to check out these tips to keep your loved ones safe this year.

And please don’t forget that your safety is just as important; these tips aren’t just for kids.  There are important reminders for us “big kids” too!