Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Apr 02, 2008
Chip Hughes of RE/MAX Hills & Valley in Branchburg, New Jersey and owner of BranchBlog, a blog dedicated to real estate trends, community events and other stuff happening in Branchburg NJ has been one of my clients for many years. Chip came on board with VirtuAllin in early 2003, back when nearly all of our clients were RE/MAX of New Jersey clients. VirtuAllin's second client ever was Mark Schilling, Information Technology Manager for the New Jersey Region of RE/MAX. He loved our work so much that he recommended us to all of their (then approximately 2500) agents.
I'm thrilled at the opportunity to interview Chip and get his perspective on Virtual Assistance.
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Apr 01, 2008
Bob Carney of GotBob4Homes , FocusOnFrederick and Bob's Brain Dump knows internet marketing for real estate. I was fortunate enough to "meet" Bob via our shared social networking addiction, Twitter . We struck up a friendship... and then a partnership when we reworked his Advanced Access website and converted it to Joomla . It was Bob's first time working with a Virtual Assistant and he was kind enough to allow us to interview him about the process.
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Feb 25, 2008
Since the wonderful Got Bob? Bob Carney was cool enough to post over at
Active Rain and his '
Bob's Brain Dump ' blog about his recent experiences with the Joomla content management system, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to blog more about exactly what Joomla is and why you might find it beneficial in your real estate marketing plan.
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Feb 07, 2008
Everyone is Twitterpated these days, right? Well, just what is Twitter , and why would it be useful for you as a Realtor to get in on the twit action?
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface. You sign up and you get a twitter page such as @virtuallin where you can make a post of up to 140 characters to update the world about what you're doing. If you have other twitter users who 'follow' you, they can see your posts live.
To me, twitter is more like a cross between instant chat and a forum - you can twitter via your mobile and connect with folks while you're at lunch, in the car, on the plane, or sitting at your desk.
Benefits of Twitter
So, you've got Twitter now and don't know why? Some of the benefits of twitter may not be apparent at first. I'll go into a few here and don't hesitate to twitter me if I leave anything out!
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Jan 31, 2008
Freelance Switch has done it again - they've created yet another amazing article that makes it seem as if their writers are hovering over my shoulder watching me run my VA business! This wonderful post about balancing your work life with your personal life when you're an entrepreneur offers excellent advice on how to set boundaries and avoid burnout. I highly recommend you run over, read and bookmark this article!
Is Your Work/Life Balance Killing Your Chances Of Freelancing Success?
Lea Woodward
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Oct 26, 2007
Bleeecchhh! I've gone from a PR of 4/10 to a PR of 2/10 (insert expletive here) - boy, all from having a wee few paid links on my site? A gal just can't get ahead, LOL. While I'm not alone - the news about Google's Halloween page rank update is all over the web - it's a shame that my small site is lumped in with some of the bigger sites that sell text link ads such as
The Washington Post ,
Forbes ,
Engadget ,
Search Engine Journal , etc.
Technorati Profile
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Aug 08, 2007
Alrighty, the wonderful Anna Baron of The Virtual Link tagged me, so here goes nothing:
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Jul 23, 2007
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, so {josquote}I must admit to being insanely flattered by the recent and huge influx of Virtual Assistants who have adopted Joomla{/josquote} as their content management system of choice. A content management system or CMS is a method of creating a website utilizing software to enable easy updating of files, images and documents. Rather than creating a website with pure HTML or be kept hostage by a template site provider, a good CMS can make it easy for non-coder's to add content to a website anytime they wish - as easy as working in a Word Document. Drupal and WordPress are famous CMS systems, as is Joomla.
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
Jun 01, 2007
It's Friday and as an interlude, I wanted to do some quantification. I've been reading "The E-Myth Revisited," by Michael E. Gerber which discusses taking your small business past the "Technician" stage, whereby there is no real business, only YOU - to a place where you have systems and processes in place to the point where someday if you stepped out, your business could go on without you.
Today, {josquote}I'd like to learn your thoughts about Virtual Assistant's and get your ideas on what makes a good Virtual Assistant{/josquote} and the experiences you've had (if any) working with a Virtual Assistant.
So, feel free to add your comments to this post below - include your website and you'll get a link back to your site for the effort!
Posted by: Cheryl Allin in Untagged on
May 22, 2007
At first, I just thought it was an issue with my browser or bandwidth - perhaps I needed a quick cache clear or reboot, but I realized quickly that ALL Advanced Access websites were totally offline today. After doing a quick search, I found news at Active Rain that indeed, AA were having some "power" issues and needed to relocate all of their servers to another location.
Of all the various scenarios I've heard over the years with multiple hosts, both big and small, this is a first for me. I've heard the "denial of service" attack, we're working on it. I've heard the "close your browser and reboot," it's all your own fault excuse. I've heard the "you're using unsupported xyz." IMHO, it just seems a little fishy.
There's an unsubstantiated rumor over at Active Rain that they're moving servers to obtain new IP's due to spam black listing. If all of their IP addresses are black listed from most servers due to spam, few of their subscribers would be able to get any email through to anywhere.
Follow up - May 24th: It's official - on behalf of a client who has an AA website and Comcast as her ISP, we contacted a rep at Comcast because she has had serious email trouble. It seems Comcast blacklisted the entire Advanced Access range of IP's due to spam issues. The rep at Comcast stated that the blacklisting of all AA sites wouldn't be listed unless the management at AA contacted them directly to work out the issues.
So, you can firmly bet that the "power outtage" is a cover story for AA moving their entire server base to new IP's - however, it may be a short-term solution if Comcast quickly detects this move and simply blocks the new set of IP's. Be warned!
