I have used Outlook to do this very same thing for more than a decade now, but the downside was that Outlook is only located on a single computer.  If I didn’t have my laptop with me, I was lost.  I tried accessing my work email using a smart phone, but then I had copies on one account, and copies on my laptop in Outlook, always trying to remember which device I used to respond to which email…  It was only making matters worse.  That is, until Gmail rolled out their new POP3 import features and Gmail app for my Blackberry.  Wow, what a lifesaver!

Frequently Asked Questions…

• Why is this better than regular POP3 Outlook? Because Gmail is on the internet, no matter where in the world you are.  You do not need to lug around a laptop to access everything in a central location.
• Why is this better than using IMAP in Outlook? Using the IMAP feature in Outlook still leaves a copy of your email on the original server(s).  This can be considered a benefit since you will still be able to access your email even without Outlook…  Although, if you have a quota or space limit on your work email that is lower than Gmail’s impressive 7+ Gigs, you will not be able to hold on to as much of it.
• Why is this better than email forwarding? Simply forwarding all your other email accounts to your Gmail address does not allow you full control of your email.  It becomes difficult to sort and manage which emails came in through what account, and does not allow you to send email from any address other than the main one. It also creates issues with some spam filtering services since you will be forwarding all your spam as well as your legit email, possibly flagging you (or your mail server) as a possible spammer.
• How does Gmail make life easier with smart phones? Gmail has a mobile app for Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia S60, and Windows mobile. Using this mobile app will let you see the exact same thing on your phone that you see on the Gmail website.  If you read an email on your phone, it shows up as “read” on the Gmail website as well.  If you send an email on your phone, it also shows up in your sent folder on the Gmail website.

Becoming Familiar with the Gmail Layout…

Gmail is a little different than other email systems. Take a look at the screenshot below to familiarize yourself with the layout, and some of the features.

• Gmail groups related emails together…  So if you received an email, and then responded to it, those two emails will show up in the same line together with a number (2). If the person then responds back, it will show a (3) since there are now 3 emails relating to the same subject, etc, etc…
• Another big change is that Gmail does not use “Folders”, it uses Labels…  Basically all your emails are always located in the same folder, there are never any “sub-folders”. Once you get used to this way of organization, it becomes very useful since each email can now have more than one color coded label attached to it. You can then select the label you want to view on the left menu and Gmail will show you all messages that have that label applied to them.
• You are able to write custom rules that can do almost anything to a message when it first arrives, like adding a “star” to all emails that are from certain people, or automatically deleting emails that have certain words in the subject line. The various options available here are extensive and may be covered in more detail in a later article.
• Gmail also uses little arrows “›” and “»” to give you a little info about who else the email was sent to. Gmail will display a single arrow ( › ) next to all messages sent to your address (not a mailing list), and a double arrow ( » ) next to all messages that were sent only to you. * I believe this feature can be turned on/off via settings.

Ok now. On with the walkthrough!

* This walkthrough assumes you have a Gmail account, and are logged in.
* You can click on the following images to enlarge them!

Step 1 - Click the Settings link at the top of Gmail

Now we are going to add our new email account, click the settings link at the very top of the page.

Step 2 - The “Accounts and Import” tab

Go to the Accounts and Import tab at the top and then click on Add POP3 email account at the bottom, a new window will pop up.  Just for an example, the screenshot below also shows a few accounts that I already have setup with this Gmail feature. Do not be concerned with the Send mail from another address button just yet, we will cover that later on.

Step 3 - Fill in the email address that you want to have Gmail check

Step 4 - Fill in your email account information

Gmail will try to automatically add the POP server that it “thinks” is the right one.  This however, may not always be correct.  Please check with your email service to find out what their settings are. For my example below I am showing settings for the Crossroads Realty email service.

POP server: server.xrdsportal.com, port: 110.

Also on this same screen, check the box next to Label incoming messages. Then click the drop-down menu and select New label… When a small box pops up, enter the name you would like to label all messages from this account with.

Step 5 - Select “Yes, I want to be able to send mail as”…

If this is the first time you are setting up a POP3 account, Gmail will now present you with the following window to also setup the SMTP account. This will enable you to send emails from either your Gmail address or this other address we are setting up right now.  If for some reason this is not the case, you must click on the Send mail from another address button that I mentioned back in Step 2.

Step 6 - Fill out your name as you want it to appear to people you email

Step 7 - Select the second option, “Send through … SMTP server”

These settings will differ depending on what email account you are setting up, for my example below I am showing settings for Crossroads Realty email.
SMTP server: server.xrdsportal.com, port: 587.

*** This setting is very important when using Gmail to check your work related emails.  People you send email to will see that the email originated from your actual work email address and not your Gmail one.  It is often considered very unprofessional to use a personal email address to conduct official business.

Step 8 - Verify your email account

At this step you will need to go access your email however you normally would for the account we are setting up.  Check your email by whatever means you used to and find the verification message sent from Google. Get the code that is in the email, and then come back to type the code into the box on this screen and then click the Verify button.

Step 9 - Set your reply option

At this point you should be back at the same screen we started from under the Accounts and Import tab.  Look for the setting shown below so that you can set Gmail to Reply from the same address the message was sent to. This makes sure that when you reply to a work email, Gmail will use your work email account to send the response back.

This setting is also very important when using Gmail to check your work email.

Step 10 - Your Done!

Congratulations, you are now setup to have Gmail fully manage your other email account! There are so many ways to customize the Gmail interface that I can not go into all of them in a single article.  I plan to write additional articles in the future to go over some of the many optional features in greater detail.

One last step that you may want to do for now is color code each label in your Gmail account.  You can do this simply by locating the label on the left side of the Gmail interface, click the small square next to the Label in Gmail’s menu as shown on the right, and pick the color you want.  All your emails from the account we just setup will now be color coded so that you can easily tell them from the regular Gmail emails.

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NewEgg.com lists the 22-inch monitor originally as $199.99, marked down to a typically low NewEgg price of $169.99.  When you add in the mail-in rebate of $50, this brings the total cost down to $119.99.

Each customer or business is allowed to claim the mail-in rebate for up to Ten monitors.

Of course if you live in California, New Jersey, or Tennessee, you will have to pay sales tax…  Although NewEgg does have this item marked for Free Shipping, a very nice bonus since monitors are usually pricey items to ship.

Here are some quick specs:

• 1680 x 1050 Max Resolution
• 1000:1 Contrast Ratio
• Tilt: –5° to +25°
• 5 ms Response Time
• Anti-Glare & Anti-Static
• 15-pin D-sub (Analog VGA)

This item is covered under NewEgg’s Monitor 30-Day Return Policy and also HP’s 3-year parts, 3-year labor, 3-year onsite limited warranty. Next business day exchange also available.

Product Link:
HP LE2201w Black 22″ 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor

This Rebate Offer Expires on Halloween - October 31st, 2009

Here’s the Rebate Form:
HP Smart Buy Business Monitor Mail-In Rebate

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The only times I have actually caught these infections BEFORE they were installed, they seemed to always come in an email claiming to be either a Windows Update, Internet Explorer Update, or a Flash Update.  Needless to say, these legit programs will NEVER send updates in a lowly email.

Although now, it seems these fake anti-virus programs are also spreading through various forms of scare tactics that lead users to misinformation websites encouraging the use of these programs.  My golden rule to you would be…  Be wary of any program that you have never heard of that asks you for money.

It was interesting to see on some of these infections that the fake anti-virus had completely re-written the Security Center in Windows. It had all the same fonts/icons/sizes that I almost got fooled for a second until I read the security recommendations under each section that directed the infected user to register their copy of the program in order to be protected.

Once infected, the cure is usually not too painful for the tech savvy of us.  Download the most recent version of Malwarebytes from a clean, uninfected computer.  Rename mbam-setup.exe to some new random name.  Copy over to the infected computer via CDR or USB drive.  Install, run, and remove the infections.

Good luck!

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Trulia, Inc. (www.trulia.com),

a U.S. residential real estate search engine, has revolutionized
online home search by offering home buyers the best place
to start their real estate search. Consumers can quickly and
easily access information on homes and review local real estate
guides and agent-buyer discussions to help them make better
decisions in the home-buying process.

Trulia Snapshot

5.0 million unique users per month
6.8 million visits per month
3.0 million homes for sale
75.0 million property records
40.0 million page views per month
12.0 minutes average time on site per visit
Trulia.com Monthly Traffic

Trulia users are a valuable, affluent audience.

35+ years old………………………………….66%
Married/committed relationship………………..74%
Have children…………………………………..41%
Currently a home owner………………………….. 60%

Annual Household income over $100K…….42%
Annual Household income over $200K……. 11%
Graduated from college…………………….81%
Have a graduate/professional degree……..36%
Actively employed…………………………..80%

• 72% plan to purchase home in the next year
• 53% plan to buy a home in the next 6 months
• 42% are pre-qualified for a mortgage

The following are statistics that I have compiled from our company website:
CrossroadsRealtyNJ.com

Since the day I started tracking it, the search engine giant Google is consistently #1 when is comes to bringing visitors to our website. Most of the other top website sources continue to fight for their place to this day.

In 2006, Realtor.com held the #2 spot as Yahoo climbed up behind them at #3. Then, right around April 2007, Yahoo passed Realtor.com and never even looked back. During late 2007, Realtor.com managed to hold onto the #3 spot, but then, Trulia was starting to become strong competition. For almost a full year after that, Realtor.com and Trulia.com would trade places fighting for the #3 spot, each taking a turn in the spotlight for short amounts of time. That is, until we redesigned our company website and added a few key features.

The battle between Realtor.com and Trulia for the #3 spot would have still continued on until today if it was not for the new features of our redesigned website. Our new website started syndicating all active listings to Trulia during July 2008. Since that time, the amount of visitors that Trulia brings us has far exceeded that of not only Realtor.com, but also Yahoo. And when looking at the numbers, it is hard to imagine a chance for recovery anytime soon.

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Today I received a domain notice in the postal mail marked “URGENT- OPEN IMMEDIATELY” with a return address of Processing Center, PO Box 4668 #82011, New York, NY 10163-4668.  This letter was NOT from the company that I registered any domain names with although it implies just that.  This is a scam and I want to warn anyone else out there that may be fooled by it.  If you own your own website name, or “Domain Name”, you may get this or a similar notice sent to you also.

Upon reading the notice letter, it resembles a typical invoice with options to pay for placement in major search engines based on a 2, 3, or 4 year term.  More specifically, the letter asks for bewteen $119 and $199 to be mailed in to them via check in order to avoid “cancellation” that would make it “difficult for your customers to locate you on the web”.  The letter also states that “You must complete your domain name search engine registration to guarantee your listing on the web”.   This is not true, this is nothing more than a marketing attempt that preys on peoples fear.

Nowhere on the letter does it mention their company name, logo, or a place where the name is actually registered.  It simply requests that checks are made payable to “Domain Registration”.

Attached to this post is a scanned copy of the actual letter I received if you want to take a closer look.

DomainNoticeScam.pdf

Do not send these people money for any reason!  If you have already sent in money to this company (or a similar scam company), I suggest you contact the BBB right away.

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• 3/08 - Animoto Videos for Facebook application
• 3/08 - Export directly to YouTube
• 6/08 - DVD Quality Videos via Download or a mailed Disc
• 6/08 - Animoto for Business (commercial use)
• 8/08 - Animoto for Education (learning)

I have already tried out the Facebook app and the YouTube export and they work beautifully. Next I have to check out the DVD download and see how it looks on my Flat Screen TV. Not to mention the possibilities with Animoto for Business…

Animoto for Business should come in very handy for our real estate agents here at Crossroads Realty. Some real estate agents and brokers are using Animoto videos to highlight featured homes that leave a long lasting impression in their clients minds. After all, an Animoto video is a drastic change from the standard slideshows and some of the less innovative virtual tours out there.

If you want to see an example of how one real estate agent is using Animoto for Business, check out Herman Chan’s California based real estate website.

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If you happened to get infected with one of these programs, I have found a new scanner that will actually get rid of it for you.  Now…  I typically scan with Symantec AV Corp, AdAware, and Spybot…  Although, none of these were able to get rid of the program entirely.  Well…  Thanks to a topic I found over at Bleeping Computer, I was able to remove Antivirus 2009 from a few infected computers using Malwarebytes.  This new scanner (well, it’s new to me at least) will remove several of the rogue antivirus variants as well as other spyware & adware objects that my other scanners missed.  I think I will be adding Malwarebytes to my personal arsenal from now on.  Oh, one other thing, I only needed the FREE version to get rid of the infections!

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The program “WinAntiVirus Pro 2008” may sound like an authentically named anti-virus program, but beware! It is only one of the many names now popping up on computer screens all over the world.

These programs are hiding behind the promise that they will clean your computer from harmful viruses and malicious software. It is only after installing these programs that some users finally realize “WinAntiVirus” is nothing but a virus itself!

If you trusted one of these programs to scan your computer, it will display a list of many “infections” that it claims you computer has, although none of these are usually legit. The program then offers to remove the infections, but only after you have purchased a licence for the “Full” version of the program which costs around $40.

If you think that there is no way anyone would fall for this scheme, think again. Watch the special report video below of a woman who is seeking a class action lawsuit against the source of one of these programs.

Here is a list of more programs like this:

• WinAntiVirus Pro 2008
• WinAntiVirus 2008
• WinFixer
• XP AntiVirus
• Vista AntiVirus 2008
• SpySheriff
• DriveCleaner
• PC-AntiSpyware
• SystemDoctor
• UltimateCleaner

For a longer list click here

Do not be fooled!

Beware of any program that you see in a pop-up or in advertisements. Do a quick Google search before clicking on them and see what you may be in for in the long run. Some of these are becoming quite hard to get rid of.

If you are looking for reputable software to scan for infections, download a legit anti-virus program from a well know company like Symantec (Norton), McAfee, Kapersky, or Sophos. You would also be wise to download an anti-spyware scanner as well. A few I can personally vouch for are Ad-Aware SE, Spybot - Search & Destroy, Windows Defender, and HijackThis.

UPDATE:  I found a scanner that will get rid of these fake antivirus scanners, read my update to learn more.

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This article covers the top ten points to take into consideration when communicating through business email with clients and colleagues. For most cases, write any business email as if you were writing on letterhead or talking face to face with the person. You want to present yourself in a fully respectful, professional manner.

• Your email should be free of spelling errors, use full sentence structure, and use proper grammar. Try to include a greeting (Hi, Hello, etc.) and have a proper sign off (Thank you, Sincerely, etc.) at the bottom. If your email program does not have a built-in spell checker, you can always do a copy/paste in Word for long letters and use that one. Sometimes I just need to check the spelling of a single word, so I use Google as a spell checker buy searching for the word and see if it corrects me.
• DO NOT USE ALL CAPS. Use proper mixed case letters and proper punctuation as though you were typing on letterhead or sending postal mail. When you use all capitol letters, IT LOOKS AS IF YOU’RE SHOUTING. While this is sometimes tolerated more in the “subject” line of the email, it should never be used throughout the entire body of the message.
• Sometimes the “Subject” line can determine if your email will ever be opened in the first place. If this is your first contact with a person, be sure to have a concise “subject” of your email that clearly indicates what the topic of the email is. Misspellings, all capitols or all small case can lend to the impression you may be spammer. Also, never leave the subject line blank, I am sure there are at least one or two words you can throw in there to describe the contents or your email.
• If you are responding to a business request, be sure to respond by the next business day at the very latest. If you are not able to fill the request at that time, you should at least send a response back letting them know that you did in fact receive their request and you will be sending more information soon. The keyword there is “soon”.
• When addressing an email to a large group of people, you should list their email addresses in the “BCC:” (blind carbon copy) instead of the “TO:” field as a courtesy. When you do this, each recipient will get a copy of the email but they will not be able to see the other addresses you sent to. This protects the privacy of your recipients from both each other, and also spammers.
• Refrain from sending chain letters, virus warnings, and jokes via electronic mail. Chain letters are also a good source of spam and are technically forbidden on the Internet. In the end, these emails just end up using valuable space in the recipient’s inbox. Also, apply common sense “reality checks” before assuming one of these messages are even valid in the first place.
• Make sure that any message you respond to was actually addressed to you. You might have been CC’d (carbon copied) rather than the primary recipient and a response from you may not necessarily be required.
• In order to ensure that people know who you are, be sure to include at least a line or two at the end of your message that includes your name and contact information. Some email programs let you create a file ahead of time and add it to the end of your messages. This signature file, or “sig”, acts as your business card. Your signature file should not exceed 4-5 lines of information. Having an excessive signature may give the impression that you are egocentric.
• If you ever receive a nasty email from somebody, try not to respond to it right away, if at all. People are very bold and overly critical on the other side of this screen at times. Once you hit the “Send” button, there is no going back. Sending heated or emotional messages is called “flaming”. If you happen to receive one of these flame emails, take your time to determine if the email warrants a response or if the person was just trying to get a rise out of you. This is also sometimes referred to as “trolling”.
• Finally, If you need to send a large attachment, it is good practice to compress or “zip” the files before sending them. You should contact the recipient ahead of time and find out if there is a limit to the attachment size they are allowed to receive. Also ask them what a good time would be to send the large attachment. One last point on the subject of attachments, make sure the recipient has the proper program to view your file you are sending. While everyone can probably read a standard JPG Photo or PDF file, not everyone has the latest version of PowerPoint or Word installed on their computer.

This list is in no way the be-all and end-all to Netiquette, these are just the main ten points that come to my mind with proper email techniques.  For a much longer and also more descriptive list of tips, visit NetManners.com where there is much better coverage on this subject.

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After my first look over, there does not seem to be too much different in the functionality of the new resource center now referred to as the “Solution Center”. All I can see at this point is layout and cosmetic changes. For example, the login section in now located in a column on the left fo the page instead of the right and the graphics have been changed. As I learn more information on this new Realtor Solution Center, I will let you know.

You can check out the new solution center HERE.

Also, I would ask that you let me know your thoughts on this new look and if it has any impact on your business.

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