Builder Websites & Internet Marketing

Internet Classified Ad Usage Doubles Since 2005

2009-06-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

According to the latest Pew Internet Research study nearly 50% of all Internet users are using online classifieds. Forty-nine percent of online adults surveyed said they have visited sites like Craigslist, Kijiji and Oodle, up from only 22% in 2005. The study says that 9% of Internet users visit these sites on any given day, compared with 4% four years ago.

Online classifieds are particularly popular with 25 to 44 year old Internet users, more than half of whom use Internet classifieds, while just under half of 18 to 24 year olds and 45 to 54 year olds 49% and 48%, respectively use online classifieds.

Those figures fall for users over 55 with 35% of 55 to 64 year olds using classified websites, while 26% of Internet users over 65 do.

Use of classified sites also increases with income and education, with online adults earning $50,000 or more, as well as college graduates, considerably more likely to have visited them. The Pew Research study highlights the growing importance of online classifieds to Internet users and reflects the changes in the audience for classified ads in terms of those who place them and those who make purchases using online classified websites which devastated a key revenue source for traditional newspapers.
Craigslist is by far the most used website in the United States. In March 2009 all classified websites averaged 53.8 million unique visitors, up 7% from February. Craigslist alone had 42.2 million unique visitors in the month of March (out of the total 53.8 million total users). Newspaper classified revenue fell from 17.4 Billion to $10 billion over the same period with real estate classifieds down 52% since their peak in 2006. Total Internet ads revanue for newspapers in 2008 was $3.1 billion according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Just as past studies of online users have shown, adults living in households with incomes of $50,000 or more a year are significantly more likely to visit and use classified ads sites than lower earners. More than half (56%) of higher income Internet users use sites like Craigslist, compared with 47% of those making $30,000-$49,999 and 42% of those making less than $30,000 a year. In addition, online adults making $50,000 or more are more than twice as likely as those earning less than $30,000 a year to use online classified ads on a typical day.

The Internet continues to be the strong point in business and live with the numbers clearly showing adaptation by the average user.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

Building Business through Social Networking

2008-09-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

Nearly everyone has heard of Myspace, Youtube and the other social networking giants even if they may not yet have an account. Mentioning Myspace to older relatives instantly brings the thought of Dateline 'To Catch a Preditor' yet that is far from the actual truth as to what social networking websites are about. The Web 2.0 ideology brings to light the true social medium of the Internet connecting millions of people worldwide sharing ideas, information and products 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year.

The Internet now contains more than 500,000,000 domain names (website addresses) with hundreds of thousands more registered each week. Somehow companies continue to believe that 1 (one) single lonely website is going to be ranked high enough to reach all prospective buyers in all potential areas. Simply put one website cannot be everything to every search engine and the odds are a single website without any outside help will not be ranked well online. One option to improve the odds is using social networking websites to place the website address, company information and products or services on thousands of places worldwide.

One of the most popular business focused websites is http://www.linkedin.com/ enabling users to join for free, setup a professional profile, experience, website links, contact information and even testimonials. The Linked In website provides an online directory of business contacts, feeds content (your information and website) to search engines and functions as an online resume. Myspace http://www.myspace.com/ is typically known for teen and young adult visitors though more than 1/2 million visitors are over the age of twenty five (25). Builder Consulting setup a Myspace account years ago http://www.Myspace.com/BuilderConsulting and posts new websites launched, updated information, contacts and connects with other industry professionals worldwide.

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ or Ning http://www.ning.com/ and YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ are other viable online sources for social networking. Whenever video is used on your website use YouTube to host the video, add your keywords and embed the video within your website. This provides double duty by freeing up resources on your website and reaching millions of potential customers using YouTube. This video from Mike Brown of Brown Midwest has been viewed dozens of times on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lauDSiZ_hN0 while also being featured on the home page of the company website http://www.brownmidwest.com/.

KEEP IN MIND that unlike traditional media or marketing what is posted online tends to stay online. Search engines cache information and webpages meaning they download and store the content on their servers to provide the fastest results for search queries online. Consider how many millions upon millions of websites are online then consider how fast the Search Results are shown when using Google or Yahoo. The search is being completed within the directory of pre-searched and ranked websites stored by the search engine. A search engine does not truly search the Internet; it searches the pre-determined list of websites and rankings already stored.

Social Networking Websites tend to be free but the content is still a reflection of your company, services and products. Ensure anything posted online accurately and professionally markets a business; online users will include or exclude your company based upon the ease of use, access to information and overall feel from your website or any third party source.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.builderconsulting.com/
Building Better Websites & Online Success Since 1995
913-814-8844 Corporate Offices

Return on Investment (ROI) from Internet Marketing

2008-02-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

In 1999 Yahoo went public and quickly became the top Search Engine used by millions of Internet Buyers worldwide. Microsoft Network (MSN) and America Online (AOL) were the top competitors with little heard about Google. Move forward to 2008 and Google has become an adjective "Do You Google?" or "Google it" commanding 60% of the online searches. Naturally businesses and Internet Marketing companies spend the majority of online budgets on Google AdWords pay per click advertising. Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft bCentral are often overlooked or ignored missing millions of potential buyers. The largest is not always the best and marketing dollars should be invested where the best Return on Investment will be accomplished. Advertisments for 'Kansas City New Homes' on Google AdWords can cost up to $3.85 per click reaching 60% of the online users. The same advertisment on Yahoo averages $1.31 per click with 18% of online users. with a mere 14% of online users Microsoft bCentral advertising will cost $1.12 per click. A monthly budget of $500 would give:
129 clicks (potential buyers) from Google
381 clicks (potential buyers) from Yahoo
446 clicks (potential buyers) from Microsoft bCentral
Others considerations for online marketing are demographics and usage - consider that Yahoo became the top Search Engine 8 years ago and remains the top destination for finance and business users. Google has the largest porportion of teenage users making it perfect for marketers wanting to sell IPOD's, concert tickets or Teen Magazine. Researching the demographics to ensure your marketing dollars are reaching the proper audience is more important than the total number of users on a specific search engine. Pay Per Click alone is not an effective long term marketing solution. Pay Per Click is effective for targeted traffic with a set budget yet will constantly cost more for less results or traffic as others bid against you for the top spots.
Developing a professional website incorporating the key aspects of design, Search Engine Optimization, navigation, usability, content, purpose and one-click call to action opportunities is the best overall solution. Investing more in expert website services will reduce the costs required for constant paid listings when your website shows up naturally online. Websites listed through pay per click that are poorly designed or ineffective are PAYING to exclude themselves from buyers!
Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson http://www.builderconsulting.com/

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tips

2007-06-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

When planning and executing an effective Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization program it is important to understand that Search Engines often change rankings within their directories. A Search Engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) is simply a database of pre-approved website listings. This means that your next Google Search only shows the results of the websites that have previously been added and ranked in the Google Database Directory of websites!

When Google, Yahoo, MSN and the other search engines add new websites to their directory your website ranking will be affected. If there were 1 million new websites added to the search engine directory this month it is likely to move the rank of your website in the Search Results. Sometimes the website may rank higher while other times the addition of large numbers of new websites may bring the website rank down. When executing an effective Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing campaign remain focused on the long-term advantages and goals when the rank of the website changes each month.

Keep these 5 guidelines in mind when assessing search engine optimization efforts:

1. Content Changes on the Internet
Websites are updated, new text may be added, new images or pages may be developed and content changes on the website. Other websites are also changing and updating content to improve their rankings which may affect where your website is listed even if you make no changes. Any and all changes made to the website may affect the ranking at any time.

2. Search Engines Constantly Change and Evolve
Every Search Engine is constantly trying to improve the Search Results for users online. The algorithms or programs used to determine how a website is ranked are updated and modified frequently affecting how your website will be listed.

3. Size Does Matter Online
Websites or marketing pages with a single page and links to other websites are often ranked low or even excluded from Search Results. Since all pages of your website contain different text and content every page added over time can affect rankings. The QUALITY of the content is more important than the quantity since a properly developed and optimized website will always rank higher. When expanding the website keep your primary phrases and keywords in mind and be sure to incorporate them.

4. Inbound Links from Other Websites and Directories
In an ongoing attempt to exclude marketing websites the Search Engines have given higher rankings to websites which have more links TO the website from other websites considered to be of high value. This means that having a link to the website from website not listed in the directory or another website ranked poor does nothing while a link from a highly rated website that has been online for many years will improve the rank of YOUR website!

5. It Takes an Expert
Search engine optimization is an art developed over years of experiance and research. Knowing what search engines share data with others, how the cross linking works, what content and design affects rankings and how to properly submit a website and webpages to the thousands of directories is extremely time consuming. Search engines are constantly changing ranking methods and adding new websites which requires ongoing research and tracking by consultants and SEO experts.

Searching online may be discouraging when other websites rank higher than yours that have apparent deficiencies such as lack of content, no keywords in the title or META tags and a limited number of pages. Sometimes the rank of a website makes no sense considering the known standards used to rank and sort Search Results.

Often times the age of a website (how long has the website been online and ranked in the directory) and number of other websites with high ranking that link to the website can provide a higher rank for a poorly designed older website over a properly designed new website...at least until the new website adds creditability.

Not all websites are created equal and neither are the thousands and thousands of inferior website designers who lack true skill and understanding of the Internet. Make sure your website is Search Engine Optimized and keep the long term goals in focus as you see the webite rank differently over time.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
Internet & Technology Expert since 1995
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

Build Your Website for the Home Buyers

2007-04-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Having been in business for over 12 years building over 600 websites nationally we have had numerous customers request music, audio and video to automatically play on their websites. While many website design companies do this without thought (the customer asked for it) few consider the problems this will cause the customer. Statistically speaking having music or video automatically start on websites will lose business since the large majority of Internet Users consider it annoying.

Technically having music or video on a website will keep 58% of all potential home buyers from ever viewing your website since they are still using Dial-up internet connections which cannot properly facilitate this. Many website designers fail to focus on what their customers customer is looking for when creating a home builder website nor the technical numbers.

Home buyers want a visually and cosmetically appealing website that downloads fast and is easy to navigate so they can find a new home. Anything else is a distraction that loses the customer and the potential sale on a real estate website. When Internet Users want to be entertained they visit www.YouTube.com and even that website does not automatically play music or videos until the customer requests!

The overwhelming majority of home buyers who visit your website are doing so at their office during the week. Considering this fact most of the home buyers who visit a website at the office that starts playing music from their work computer will instantly turn the website off so not to be caught. Builder Consulting spends between 20-30 hours a week (myself and our Internet Marketing staff) researching online usage trends, technical changes, home buyer studies and Search Engines to ensure the websites we build produce the proper results for the customer.

Below are a few articles and feedback on the use of audio/video on websites:

Business Community comments and information about music on websites:
www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts_SEO.asp?TID=322&PN=4&TPN=1

Nifty new service from Yahoo enables consumers to provide direct feedback and answers to questions such as music on websites:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070113153650AABqZMz

What other website companies say about music on websites:
http://www.oakridgewebdesigns.com/musicweb.htm

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
http://www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

Integrating the Internet in Traditional Marketing

2007-04-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Real estate has always been about Location and the number one location for reaching home buyers today is the Internet. Studies from the NAHB and NAR attribute as much as 86% of all new home buyers using the Internet as a primary resource when searching for a new home or builder. Less than 10% of the marketing budgets today are spent on the Internet. Integrating the Internet with traditional marketing continues to be a challenge even the largest builders or real estate companies find daunting.

Browse through any local newspaper or magazine and you will find a real estate agent with a full page ad featuring a huge self portrait, small images of homes for sale, a phone number and maybe a tiny line of text with a website address. Read a few more pages to find an ad for a beautiful new home community listing the Community Name in large print across the top, photos of the area, prices and a phone number but no readily available website address. Advertising offline needs to focus on driving buyers online to your 24 hour 7 day a week Internet Sales Center.

Most Internet Users will use a Search Line to type a community, builder or location name (i.e. Kansas City New Homes). If the Search Results do not display your website then you just lost the opportunity to sell that buyer a home. The Internet is being used to exclude as much as include you based upon locating your website and delivering it properly to the buyer. Home Buyers are searching for information online that is quickly displayed, organized, cosmetically appealing and consistent. Websites should be attractive but understand attractive does not mean effective on the Internet. Nationally only 42% of Internet Users have high-speed Internet leaving 58% with slow dial-up connections to view websites.

A pretty website designed with FLASH movies, music and large high-quality photos will never reach 58% of the people using the Internet. Internet Buyers have ADD typically waiting less than 20 seconds for content before moving on. There is nothing more annoying than to finally locate a website only to be presented with the ‘Loading’ (please wait a few minutes to see our website) screen.

Consider next the home buyer who has high-speed Internet who decided to look for new homes before bed on their laptop. With their husband or wife sleeping beside them a website blaring loud music awakens their spouse so they immediately close the website moving on to another. Many marketing or advertising methods are used simply because it is the way things have always been done not because they produce results. Billboards deliver a split second visual message which is effective for branding but difficult to deliver a message.* Home buyers were using the Internet twice as much as a newspaper by 2003 while the money spent on newspaper advertising was over ten times what was spent online. **

Old habits are hard to break; our industry will not change marketing habits overnight although you can start small and work your way into the Digital Age. Place your website address prominently on all advertising, business cards, company vehicles, signs, letterhead, community handouts and floorplans and every email you send out.

Integrating websites with offline marketing is extremely important keeping in mind that online buyers are not looking for entertainment; they are looking for a place to call home.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
913-814-8844 Office
www.BuilderConsulting.com

*NFIB 3/14/2002 “Should You Advertise on Billboards”
** NAR 2003 “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers”

Real Estate Marketing: Integrating the Internet

2007-03-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

Real estate has always been about Location and the number one location for reaching home buyers today is the Internet. Studies from the NAHB and NAR attribute as much as 86% of all new home buyers using the Internet as a primary resource when searching for a new home or builder. Less than 10% of the marketing budgets today are spent on the Internet. Integrating the Internet with traditional marketing continues to be a challenge even the largest builders or real estate companies find daunting.

Browse through any local newspaper or magazine and you will find a real estate agent with a full page ad featuring a huge self portrait, small images of homes for sale, a phone number and maybe a tiny line of text with a website address. Read a few more pages to find an ad for a beautiful new home community listing the Community Name in large print across the top, photos of the area, prices and a phone number but no readily available website address. Advertising offline needs to focus on driving buyers online to your 24 hour 7 day a week Internet Sales Center.

Most Internet Users will use a Search Line to type a community, builder or location name (i.e. Kansas City New Homes). If the Search Results do not display your website then you just lost the opportunity to sell that buyer a home. The Internet is being used to exclude as much as include you based upon locating your website and delivering it properly to the buyer. Home Buyers are searching for information online that is quickly displayed, organized, cosmetically appealing and consistent. Websites should be attractive but understand attractive does not mean effective on the Internet. Nationally only 42% of Internet Users have high-speed Internet leaving 58% with slow dial-up connections to view websites.

A pretty website designed with FLASH movies, music and large high-quality photos will never reach 58% of the people using the Internet. Internet Buyers have ADD typically waiting less than 20 seconds for content before moving on. There is nothing more annoying than to finally locate a website only to be presented with the ‘Loading’ (please wait a few minutes to see our website) screen.

Consider next the home buyer who has high-speed Internet who decided to look for new homes before bed on their laptop. With their husband or wife sleeping beside them a website blaring loud music awakens their spouse so they immediately close the website moving on to another. Many marketing or advertising methods are used simply because it is the way things have always been done not because they produce results. Billboards deliver a split second visual message which is effective for branding but difficult to deliver a message.* Home buyers were using the Internet twice as much as a newspaper by 2003 while the money spent on newspaper advertising was over ten times what was spent online. **

Old habits are hard to break; our industry will not change marketing habits overnight although you can start small and work your way into the Digital Age. Place your website address prominently on all advertising, business cards, company vehicles, signs, letterhead, community handouts and floorplans and every email you send out.

Integrating websites with offline marketing is extremely important keeping in mind that online buyers are not looking for entertainment; they are looking for a place to call home.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844

Sources:
*NFIB 3/14/2002 “Should You Advertise on Billboards”** NAR 2003 “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers”

Microsoft Outlook Tips & Tools for Real Estate

2006-12-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Outlook Tips & Tricks (Outlook 2000 & Above)

Schedule E-mail Responses in Your Outlook Calendar
If you receive an e-mail message in Outlook and you don't have time to respond to it immediately, you can easily add it to your calendar and schedule a block of time when you will be able to reply.

To turn an e-mail message into an item on your calendar:
1. Drag the message from your Inbox onto the Calendar icon on the Outlook Bar or onto your Calendar folder. This will create a new appointment item.
2. Enter the date and time you want to reply and specify any additional options you want. (The body of the e-mail message is automatically added to the appointment.)
3. Click Save and Close to add the appointment to your calendar.
Outlook will automatically notify you when it is time to respond to that e-mail.

Forward an Outlook Contact to Someone Else
If you have contacts stored in Outlook that you'd like to send to other people, it couldn't be easier. Just go to your Contacts folder, right-click on the contact you want to send, and then click Forward. A brand-new e-mail message will be created with that contact included as an attachment. Just enter the e-mail address of the people you want to forward it to and click Send.
When the recipients receive the contact, all they have to do is to drag the attachment onto either the Contacts icon in the Outlook Shortcuts bar or onto the Contacts folder in the folder list; it will be added automatically to their contacts list.

Outlook Can Automatically Delete Unwanted E-mail
The Outlook Rules Wizard is an easy way to delete unwanted email or junk email without having to read through it first. This is also great for known viruses as the following example from the ILOVEYOU Virus:

To use the Rules Wizard to automatically delete any e-mail with the subject "ILOVEYOU":
1. Click Inbox. Then, on the Tools menu, click Rules Wizard.
2. Click New.
3. Click check messages when they arrive, and then click Next.
4. Select the check box next to with specific word in the subject.
5. In the text area below, click the blue, underlined phrase specific words.
6. Here you can specify which words Outlook should look out for. For example, in the Add New text box, enter ILOVEYOU and then click Add. Repeat for any additional terms you want to check for. When you're done, click OK and then click Next.
7. Select delete it.
8. Click Finish.

To apply the rule to e-mail already in your Inbox, click Run Now. In the Select rules to run list, select the check box next to the rule you just created, and click Run Now. This will delete all e-mail in your inbox with the subject "ILOVEYOU." When the process is complete, click OK.
Now, anytime you get e-mail with the subject "ILOVEYOU," Outlook will automatically move it to your Deleted Items folder. The e-mail will still be available in your Deleted Items until you empty the folder.

You can also organize messages using the ‘Organize’ Button on your Outlook Bar.
1. Select the Email you would like to delete or create a ‘Rule’ for by clicking ONCE in it so that it is highlighted.
2. Click on the yellow ORGANIZE button located at the top of your Outlook bar
3. The ORGANIZE Box will appear above your emails as featured below
4. Select MOVE MESSAGE TO and choose DELETED ITEMS for messages you wish to have instantly deleted. You may also choose to have messages moved to other folders you have created to store or organize them as desired.

Creating Folders in Outlook
If you have lots of email that you need to store for reference such as client contacts, technology information, purchase receipts or other items you can create custom folders to store them in.
To create folders:
1. Select File from the main menu, click New then click Folder (make the ‘Select Where to Place the Folder’ is the Inbox for best results).
2. Type in the name of the new folder and press return or enter. This will create the new folder in the current Outlook Bar although you may click and drag the folder to any Outlook Bar you desire.

Note: You can also use the Rules (see deleting unwanted email) to create a rule which will automatically deliver email to specific folders when it arrives. This is handy if you would like all emails from a vendor, client or specific email address to be placed into their folders for later viewing or automatic organization.

Add Contacts Quickly in Outlook
If you receive an e-mail message from a person whom you want to add to your Outlook contact list, here's a quick way to do it:
1. Open the e-mail message that contains the name you want to add to your contact list.
2. In the From box, right-click the name you want to make into a contact, and then click Add to Contacts on the Shortcut menu.

This creates a new contact with that person's name and e-mail address already filled in. You can also fill in any additional information you have about that person, such as a phone or fax number, and then save it in your Contacts folder for easy access.

Send an Office Document Without Opening Outlook
Ever need to get that important Word document to your boss in a hurry? Here's how you can do it without even opening Outlook.
1. On the File menu, point to Send To, and then click Mail Recipient (as Attachment).
2. Fill in the Receipts, Subject, and message boxes and click Send.
Or if you have Word 2000 and above:
1. On the Standard toolbar, click E-mail.
2. In the To and Cc boxes, enter the recipient names separated by semicolons.
3. By default, the name of the document appears in the Subject box. If you want, you can type your own subject name.
4. Click Send a Copy.

Using this tip is a lot easier than going into Outlook, creating a new message, and browsing for the attachment on your hard drive.

This tip also works in Excel and PowerPoint

Give E-Mail a Custom Look in Outlook
If you use HTML as your new message format in Outlook 2000, you can use stationery to change the background and fonts used in the message.
First, make sure you are using HTML as your default message format. To do this:
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. In the Send in this message format list, select HTML, and click OK.
Now, whenever you want to use stationery to give your e-mail a custom look:
1. Click Inbox.
2. On the Actions menu, point to New Mail Message Using, and then click More Stationery.
3. In the Select a Stationery box, select the one you want to use and click OK.

Create a Meeting Request with a Contact in Outlook

To quickly schedule a meeting with an Outlook contact or members of a distribution list:
1. Open your Contacts folder, and drag a contact or distribution list onto the Calendar icon on your Outlook Shortcuts bar. This will automatically create a new meeting request addressed to the person or group.
2. Enter start and end times for your meeting, and select any other options you want. Then click Send.
You can also drag contacts into your Inbox to create new messages addressed to them or into your Tasks folder to assign them a task.
Drag Addresses Between To, Cc, and Bcc Fields in Outlook

When composing or replying to an e-mail message in Outlook, you can easily rearrange the names of the people receiving the message by dragging their e-mail addresses between the To, Cc, and Bcc address fields. Just select the name or names you want to move and drag them into the destination field.
If you have errant semicolons in the To, Cc, or Bcc fields, you can remove all them by pressing ALT+K.
Type Dates in Plain English Using AutoDate

When setting a due date for a task or follow-up flag in Outlook, there have traditionally been two ways to enter it into the date field: Type in the date (attempting to format it exactly as Outlook expects it), or select the date from a small pop-up calendar. But there's an easier way.
With Outlook 2000, you can type a description of the date, and it will automatically convert the description to a number format. For example, if you type one week from today in a date field, Outlook displays the numbers that represent the correct month, day, and year.
You can also type in a firm date using a common format such as the following:
March 12th
April twenty-fifth
Second of Nov.

Abbreviations such as "Mon." for Monday and "Aug." for August also work. You can even type in the names of most holidays that fall on the same date every year, such as Veteran's Day, Christmas, Independence Day, or even Mexico's Cinco de Mayo.

Map the Address of an Outlook Contact
Outlook can automatically map the address of one of your Outlook contacts by looking it up on the Expedia.com Maps Web site.
To see a map of a contact's address:
1. Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
2. Click Contacts on the Outlook Shortcuts bar.
3. Double-click the contact whose address you want to locate.
4. Under the address button, click the down arrow, and then click the type of address you want to find on a map—Business, Home, or Other.
5. On the Actions menu, click Display Map of Address. Your Web browser will open up and display a map of the contact's address using the Expedia.com Maps Web site.
On the Expedia.com Maps Web site, you might need to first specify additional information in order to display the map. If the Web site can't display a map for the address, verify that you have entered the address correctly.

Delay Delivery of an Outlook Message
(great for sending clients messages at pre-determined times automatically)

If you are responsible for sending out information on a regular schedule, here is a way to do that even if you have to be out of the office.
To delay delivery of a message:
1. In Outlook, create a new message.
2. On the File menu, click Properties.
3. On the General tab, click Send Options.
4. Click the Microsoft Exchange Server tab.
5. Under Send This Item, select In, type a number, and select a time interval from the drop-down menu. For example, if you want the message sent in two days, type 2 and select days from the list.
6. Click OK twice.
7. Click Send to place the message in your Outbox for processing.
This procedure only applies if you've installed Outlook with the Corporate Workgroup/Other option. To determine your installation type, on the Help menu, click About Microsoft Outlook. You will see "Corporate" in the About Microsoft Outlook dialog box if you have the Corporate Workgroup installation.

Organize Outlook Messages By Sender
To quickly and easily organize the messages in your Outlook Inbox according to who sent them, on the View menu, point to Current View, and then click By Sender. Now, your messages display in a list grouped by sender. This also works for any of the items on the Outlook Bar such as ‘Received’, ‘File Attachment’ or ‘Size’ which are standards.

Change Your Calendar Display in Outlook
You can use the mouse to customize the number of days displayed in the Day/Week/Month view of the Outlook Calendar. Instead of displaying the Calendar in one of the standard views (Day, Work Week, Week, or Month), you can use the mouse to display two days at a time, or 20.
To change your Calendar display:
1. Click the Calendar icon.
2. If you are not already in Day/Week/Month view, on the View menu, point to Current View, and then click Day/Week/Month.
3. In Date Navigator (the small calendar next to the appointment area), drag to select the dates you want to display.

Do Not Send Large Files or Mass Emails Using Outlook!!!!!!
Sending large files, images, Publisher and other documents through Outlook may lock up your computer, the server and/or the Internet connection you are using at the time. If you send emails with more than 20 addresses listed as the recipient you may be ‘BlackListed’ by email servers as a ‘Spammer’ and your emails will never be delivered. If you prefer to send mass emails use an online service or consulting firm to do this and break large emails up into smaller multiple emails (send documents one at a time for example).

Quickly Address a Message to Contacts
Creating an e-mail message in Outlook that is addressed to multiple recipients can involve several steps: First, create a new message; next, open your Address Book; and finally, add the recipients to the To line one a time.
Try this simple shortcut instead:
1. Click Contacts.
2. Select the contacts you want to send a message to by clicking the first contact, holding down CTRL, and then clicking additional contacts.
3. Drag the selected contacts onto the Inbox on the Outlook Shortcuts bar (or in the Folder List).
A new message appears with the names of the contacts you selected on the To line.
This method also works when you need to send a message to only one contact.
Note: You can select the contacts and then click New Message to Contact on the Actions menu instead of dragging the contacts onto the Inbox.

Display Two Time Zones in Your Outlook Calendar
The ability to view two time zones at the same time is very convenient if you plan conference calls or meetings with people in another time zone.
To add another time zone to your Outlook calendar:
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Preferences tab.
2. Click Calendar Options.
3. Click Time Zone.
4. Select the Show an additional time zone check box.
5. In the Label box, type a description.
6. From the Time zone drop-down menu, select the time zone you want to add.
7. If you want your computer clock to automatically make daylight saving time changes, select the Adjust for daylight saving time check box. (This option is available only in time zones that use daylight saving time.)
Now you can be sure you are choosing the appropriate times when scheduling meetings and conference calls around the world.
Note: You can quickly switch your current time zone to the second time zone by clicking Swap Time Zones, which is located in the Time Zone dialog box. This affects all times displayed in Outlook as well as times displayed in other Microsoft Windows®–based programs.

View Your Inbox and Calendar Simultaneously
If you use both my Outlook Inbox and Calendar constantly you can open them side by side on the screen instead of clicking back and forth between them.
1. Quit all other programs.
2. Click Inbox on the Folder List to open it. (If the Folder List is not displayed, click Folder List on the View menu.)
3. Right-click Calendar on the Folder List, and then click Open in New Window on the shortcut menu.
4. Right-click an empty area of the Windows taskbar (bottom main windows menu – not in Outlook), and then click Tile Windows Vertically on the shortcut menu. Or resize the Calendar and Inbox so they can fit side by side on your screen.
Now you can view both easily. When you are done for the day, quit Outlook by clicking Exit on the File menu. This way, your settings are saved, and the next time you open Outlook, the windows will open side by side.

View Web Sites in Outlook
If you have a Web site you frequent (for example, a vendor's site, or your company's intranet), you can access it in Outlook 2000 or XP by specifying it as the home page for an Outlook folder.
You can create a new folder for the site or assign a home page to an existing folder. To assign a home page to a folder:
1. Right-click the folder you want to assign the folder home page to, click Properties on the shortcut menu, and then click the Home Page tab.
2. In the Address box, type the address of the Web page you want to use as the folder home page, or click Browse to select from a list.
3. If you want to see the Web page whenever you click the folder, select the Show home page by default for this folder check box.
Now, when you select the folder, the contents of the Web page will appear in the Outlook window. You can also add a shortcut to the Web page on the Outlook Bar. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Outlook Bar Shortcut to Web Page.

Create an Outlook Message Signature Using FrontPage
You can jazz up your Outlook message signature using Microsoft FrontPage® (or your default HTML editor).
To create a message signature using HTML:
1. In Outlook, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. Under Message format, select HTML from the Send in this message format drop-down menu. Then click the Signature Picker button.
3. In the Signature Picker dialog box, click New.
4. In the Enter a name for your new signature box, enter a name.
5. Under Choose how to create your signature, select Start with a blank signature, and then click Next.
6. Click the Advanced Edit button. Outlook will then launch FrontPage (or your default HTML editor), and you can take full advantage of the features in the editor to create your signature. You can embed graphics, add hyperlinks, or even animate your signature using DHTML.
7. When you have finished creating your signature, save your changes and exit FrontPage.
8. Click OK twice.

Find Out if someone received the email you sent
With the Read Receipt feature in Outlook, you can track if and when someone has read an e-mail message you've sent. So, instead of wondering, "Has he read my e-mail yet?", you can know for sure. Here's how:
1. Before you send your message, on the View menu, click Options.
2. Select the Request a read receipt for this message check box and click Close.
To automatically track all e-mail that you send:
1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Preferences tab, click E-mail Options, and then click Tracking Options.
3. Select the Request a read receipt for all messages I send check box and click OK.
Now as soon as the recipient opens an e-mail message you've sent, Outlook automatically sends a message back notifying you that it's been read. Or if the recipient deleted the message without reading it, Outlook will inform you of that too.

We have a detailed version of this document including Screen Shots and Photos of the methods availalbe for email - For Further Questions or Information Contact Builder Consulting www.BuilderConsulting.com or give us a call 913-814-8844 ask for one of our Internet Consultants and we will be happy to email any additional information.

Thank you!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
CEO - Internet & Technology Expert
Phone 913-814-8844

Email: rjackson@builderconsulting.com

Award Winning Websites, Virtual Tours and Technology Services for Real Estate Since 1995

Builder Websites, Real Estate Websites & The Internet

2006-12-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Reaching Buyers Through the Internet

The real estate market today is slower than previous years and doing 'the same old' thing simply does not work. People are still buying homes, interest rates are low, housing prices are excellent and there ARE buyers out there. The media continues to portray doom and gloom for the real estate industry while many trying to sell a home are confused about what to do or how to reach those buyers currently looking for a home.

Buyers Use The Internet -With the housing boom many website companies created ineffective websites and nobody noticed. Simply building the home was enough to sell it so builders, real estate companies, communities and the entire industry never had to analyze the effectiveness of their website. An example of this is Foxfield Village new home community in Olathe Kansas where two websites were developed by two seperate website companies for the different phases.

Search online for Foxfield Village and you have the following results with # 1, # 3, # 4, # 7 top search results are all websites by Builder Consulting to market Robben Development (www.RobbenDevelopment.com) townhomes in Foxfield Village: http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGki90Fm9FPx0Agnml87UF?ei=UTF-8&fr=slv7-&fr2=sfp&p=foxfield+village

A website produced by another company for the same community does not show up AT ALL - even when searching for the community name. Having a properly developed and marketed website is far more important than simply having a website. If you build it they will NOT come, it still remains that Location Location Location is key even on the Internet.

Visit some well designed builder websites such as www.DamascusNewHomes.com or www.DHLV.com to see how an effective builder website should function.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844