Archive for General
Be My Valentine?
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It’s Valentine’s Day! Will you be mine? Remember the days of passing Valentine’s to everyone in the class? Or how about making chains of cupids or homemade Valentine cards? Now we “passs” Valentine’s online via Facebook and the other social networking sites. I love all the pretty flowers, hearts and puppies I have received the last few days.
Social networking has made it much easier to stay in touch with the ones we love – friends, family and even those online friends that we have never even met IRL (in real life). Will you get a video valentine this year, or will your best gift still be a box of chocolates?
Valentine’s Day started in the middle ages and is regarded as a celebration of love and affection between lovers. It is celebrated by many countries and is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. Of course, now it may become a high Internet traffic day with all the online greetings.
Let me know how you are celebrating Valentine’s Day. I look forward to seeing you on the social networking sites!
Cell Phones, Texting and Your Customers
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85% of adult Americans own a cell phone.
52% of Americans send test messages.
A recent study on Wireless Internet use by Pew discovered that more than 50% of American adults use their mobile phones for non-voice data each day. Non-voice data includes using smart phones and cell phones for texting, taking photos, playing games, surfing the Web and sending email.
And here is a scary statistic: 25% of Americans admit that they text while driving.
Lucky for us, companies like Vlingo have invented “voice user interface” technology that allows people to control their cell phones by talking to the phone. “We often like to say 26 percent of people admit to driving while texting. We are sure that underestimates the problem,” said Dave Grannan, of Vlingo. Click here for more results of the Vlingo survey. Let’s all pledge to text only while parked.
The Pew study says, “Sending text messages remains the mainstay activity for cell phone users.” As companies seek ways to engage buyers through permission-based mediums, texting will no doubt continue to be hot. Read More→
Learning About Finances
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We just opened a bank account for our 10 year old, so that he can start to learn more about managing money and building wealth. There are several things we want him to understand sooner than later:
- Stuff costs money and that money doesn’t grow on trees – you have to earn it, save it and work for it.
- How to balance a bank account. How to both add and subtract money. AND that checking your balance doesn’t account for checks that you have written but that have not cleared the bank.
- Having a debit or credit card should not give you feeling that you can charge, charge, charge. At some point you have to pay for it!
- Saving money and investing is the key to financial freedom and potential future retirement. Saving just 20 cents of every dollar earned can amount to a lot over a lifetime.
Hopefully we can help him learn these lessons as a child. As an aside, I know a lot of children who have cell phones but Read More→
The Tale of 10 Cats and Giving Back
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We just returned home from taking a donation to the Etowah Valley Humane Society and visiting with the staff and cats and dogs in their care. They have the cutest litter of kittens there too. Groups like the Etowah Valley Humane Society work hard year-round to give back. They take in and care for thousands of stray pets while seeking the perfect adoptive families. If you are looking to add a best friend to your family in 2010, please consider adopting one. And for those of you who already have furry friends, please spay or neuter them. There are lots of low cost spay and neuter options available.
This is a photo of Tux. He is one of out 10 cats. I was a “kitty foster mama” for a number of years and while fostering hundreds of kittens, I ended up with a few of my own. Luckily we live on a farm, so there is plenty of room. Here are the stories of my 10 cats and how they ended up at Thistledown.
Josie – If you follow me on Facebook, you will see a lot of photos of Josie. She is our oldest and by far most spoiled cat. I adopted her in 2001 from a pet shop in Marietta for $20. She was born on a construction site and rescued as a stray. At 6 weeks old she weighed about 6 ounces and was flea infested. Now she is a fat, sassy house cat who lives like a queen.
Daisy & Inky – These sisters were part of a litter of 9 that were dumped on our road along with their mother. The rest of the litter we fostered, vaccinated and adopted out to friends. They live happily in the barn and prowl for mice.
Whiskers & Patches – The twins, as my son likes to call them, were dumped on our road on my birthday. My husband arrived just in time to see kittens scampering all over the road. He and another driver scooped them up and home they Read More→
2010 Leadership Circle Reception at IBS
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It is already time to start making plans for the International Builders Show! I have my hotel room and still need to book my flight – how about you? Now I’m starting to fill my calendar up with all the important and fun networking events. Here is one that you won’t want to miss!
Join the NAHB Professional Women in Building and Whirlpool Corporation for the 2010 Leadership Circle Reception on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at Casear’s Palace Hotel in the Roman Ballroom One-Three. Best of all, you can bring a guest! I’m going to see if Mitch Levinson wants to go (after all, he is also a member of Professional Women in Building).
Who Got Their Chocolate in My Peanut Butter?
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This article first ran as a MIRM Profile on NSMC eNews in October 2009.
How did earning your MIRM influence the creation of the company mRELEVANCE?
Mitch Levinson, MIRM, CMP, CSP and I met for the first time at the 2007 IRM Commencement Breakfast, the year we received our MIRM designations. Ironically, Mitch had lived and worked in the Atlanta market for 10 years prior to moving to Chicago – where he is now based — but we had never met before! We both attended the NAHB Spring Board of Directors meeting that year, and Mitch gave me advice on some Web site improvements I was making at the time. Soon after that, his company (MLC New Home Marketing) started doing the SEO for my two sites – Atlanta Real Estate Forum and Flammer Relations. Then MLC New Home Marketing hired Flammer Relations, Inc. to write press releases for their company and help with content on their blogs.
This is very much the “who got their chocolate in my peanut butter story,” as the two companies, Flammer Relations and MLC New Home Marketing, complemented each other nicely. Flammer offered content and a strong knowledge of how to blog and moderate sites to attract the search Read More→
Selling to Women? Consider Social Networking
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Do you have a product or service that you want to sell to women? Did you know that a recent BlogHer poll found that 50-percent of women use social media daily! Women reported spending less time following mass media, including television, newspapers, magazines and radio, but 55-percent of those polled are blogging, 20-percent using Twitter and shhhhh- here’s one statistic you might not want to tell your competitors – 75-percent of women are participating in social networks.
Social networks are for kids you say? Not so, Baby Boomers are the fastest growing demographic on social networking sites such as Facebook and Read More→
Top 5 Reasons Your Business Should Have a Blog
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Are you still wondering why you should have a blog? Whether you are a restaurant, clothing store, veterinarian, boutique, hardware store, small business, large business, attraction or school here are the 5 reasons WHY you should have a blog.
1) Your blog is your basecamp. This is where your social media marketing program starts. Launching a social mediaprogram without a blog is like trying to drive a car without the keys.
2) Social Media Optimization. A well-built blog with an effective social media optimization program provides valuable search engine optimization for your main Web site in terms of increased keywords and links. Don’t over look SMO it’s the cousin of SEO and the more keywords and links you have, the easier it is for search engines to find your site and ultimately your store or service.
3) Blogging makes you more approachable by providing a relaxed voice for your company. Unlike a corporate site, a blog encourages conversation Read More→
Amazing Incentives for Home Buyers
Posted by: | CommentsThere many never be as many reasons to buy a new home ever again! From auctions, to tax credits to incentives for energy efficiency, it is absolutely a fantastic time to buy. Here are three programs home buyers need to be aware of:
First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit – $8,000
Georgia Home Buyer Tax Credit – $1,800
