What Blogging Platform Is Right For Real Estate Agents

Real Estate

I want to discuss some of your options for choosing a platform to run your blog on. Some will debate which is better to use or it does not really matter which one is better, it is the content that makes the blog a success. I do agree it is all about the content that the blog contains, however in real estate you want to take it a step further and see which one will be best to use for your overall business. Real estate professionals rely on several online tools to help boost their business, so choosing a blogging platform should be taken seriously from the start.

Most Common Blogging Platforms

  • Blogger.com
  • Typepad
  • WordPress.com
  • Standalone WordPress
  • Point2Agent

The first three on this list are free platforms that require no money upfront and you can begin blogging right away. Many real estate agents and brokers have gone this route for the simple fact it requires no setup or coding on your part. You simply go to the site, sign up for an account, choose your theme options and you are ready for your first post. Here is a MAJOR draw back to the free blogging platforms, your URL.

yourname.typepad.com
yourname.blogger.com
yourname.wordpress.com

People either link straight to the free blog or have it iframed (embedded in their website) so the viewer never leads the current site or knows the blog is hosted else where. The problem with linking straight to the blog from your current domain is anytime someone links to your blog, that link will not count towards your current real estate domain.

Anytime another site were to link to your blog, your free blog account will receive the credit and not your real estate website. But I thought backlinks were a good thing for my website? They are, but you want those back links going to your main domain name and not your blogger (typepad, free wordpress) account. It will be those accounts that will be receiving the credit and not your main site.

WordPress Standalone Platform

This the choice I recommend and prefer over any other platform available online today. The platform is also free, you can download it from wordpress.org. Standalone wordpress does require you to setup your database and upload the files to your web host. Once setup though, you can hire someone to configure a custom look tailored to your current site or do it yourself. There are some really newbie friendly WordPress real estate themes such as Agent Elite template which is very easy to use and to make beautiful real estate sites as you can see from this detailed review of Agent Elite websites.

Benefits Of Using WordPress Standalone

  • Search engines seem to love it (really they do)
  • Highly configurable
  • Plugins make adding new features very easy (just upload and activate the plugin)
  • Backend system makes adding/changing content a breeze
  • Themes can be downloaded
  • Large user support

In The End

You can choose whichever platform you like, I just wanted to go over some of the negative things regarding the several platforms that are out there. I suggest using the stand alone wordpress theme for your real estate blog, the ease of use and true power built into it makes it a winner in the eyes of many.

A Home STD Test Kit Offers Privacy and Peace of Mind!

Health and Beauty

If you discover that you’ve been exposed to an STD such as chlamydia, gonorrhea or even HIV, it’s imperative that you be tested to determine whether you’ve contracted the disease. You’ll be able to start important, even life-preserving treatment immediately if you have picked up the disease. If you find that you’re clean, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you can continue intimate relationships without passing on an STD.

However, many teens and young adults don’t want to go through the expense, hassle and possible embarrassment of being tested for an STD at their doctor’s office or a clinic. Others would like to know the results of the test just as soon as possible. For these people, STD Test Kits to do at home testing provides the perfect solution to the problem.

Many companies offer in-home test kits at a relatively low price. The kits are simple to use; a patient provides either a blood sample or a swab of a bodily fluid. The kits provide detailed instructions since most people using them have never had to take their own blood sample or provide a swab of a bodily fluid. Most kits request some demographic information which doesn’t identify the individual taking the test. People who have reviewed the in-home kits report that their privacy was protected at all times.

A home STD test kit can be immediately ordered through an online retail website. If the kit is ordered, it generally arrives in the mailbox in a package that doesn’t identify what’s in it. Once the sample is taken, it’s put in a return mailer and sent back to the lab. Some companies claim they’re able to return results by phone or mail in just a few days; others take a couple of weeks. Many people say waiting for the results is the most difficult part of the entire process.

Worrying whether you’ve been exposed to an STD can be a traumatic experience. Having to go through the testing to determine your exposure can magnify the trauma, but a home STD test kit offers you needed anonymity and confidence in knowing you’re taking the right steps to prevent potential serious consequences. If you don’t want to go to your family doctor or the health department to get a test, it’s worth the money and time it takes to test yourself at home.

The Raw Food Vegan Diet

Health and Beauty

A raw food diet takes the vegan diet to a whole new level. It has shown to improve the general health in people who strictly adhere to the premise and eat only raw or warmed foods. The raw food vegan diet has shown to significantly improve vitamin and mineral intake in a person getting their entire caloric intake from raw foods. As a result of eating only raw vegan foods, a participant can expect significant weight loss while eating more food.

The biggest argument against beginning any kind of vegan diet is that is it too difficult to implement. With proper planning, research, and guidance from the experts, the adaptation of a normal SAD (Standard American Diet) is not that hard.

First, do the proper research to insure that you will be getting the proper nutrition with the drastic change in diet and make a plan. Clean out all the processed garbage and meat sourced foods from the kitchen. Put back all the ingredients needed to make this healthy lifestyle change. There are even vegan meats to make the transition easier and you can find The Best Vegan Meat on internet.

Some vegans choose to prepare a shopping list and then prep a certain amount of foods that are kept on hand and can be prepared in a very short time. Since the majority of foods are raw and organic when purchased, there is some significant prep time that must be figured into your schedule. Prepping the majority of you food for the week on one day, goes a long way to making a vegan diet easy to follow.

Conduct Your Own Patent Search

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It is natural for an inventor to presume that the brilliant brainwave which resulted in an innovative idea is ‘original’ in all respects and no body has thought of this before. It is also natural for the inventor to proceed to protect his idea by patenting it. But before acquiring a patent, the innovator or inventor has to find out whether his idea has been patented before. To do this he needs to do a patent search and for that there are patenting agencies like Invent Help that could help.

It is the responsibility of the United States Patent office to grant patents for any invention or innovation. Since there is no dearth of new inventors and no shortage of patent applications, the office is flooded with more than 350,000 new patent applications every year. To hasten the process of patenting and also to reduce their work load, the USPTO encourages inventors to do the patent search themselves. The USPTO lists all patents that have been granted since 1970 and a patent search can be done online by typing related keywords. This service is available free.

Before conducting any free online patent search, it is important to remember that the USPTO database contains some 33 million patent documents which are regularly updated every week. According to instructions given in the USPTO website, there are seven steps to do the patent search, which must be followed one after the other. Using the USPTO database, you can not however access patents issued prior to 1976, unless you start the search with the class and subclass alone. Therefore it is necessary for you to identify the class and subclass of your invention to do a search of pre-1976 patents also.

In case your online search does not yield any positive result, it could be a cost-effective and a wise decision to consult a reputed patent attorney or patent agent. These are skilled, experienced and knowledgeable professionals, who can help you with patent searches as well as advise you on other patent-related issues. Since they also double up as your legal counselor and spokesperson, they could even argue on your behalf and fight your case, in case the USPTO rejects your patent application. Instances are not rare when further design alterations and modifications are done on a design patent and re-submitted for their approval.

A rough and preliminary search done by a patent agency like Invent Help can reveal whether your invention idea has been patented even at a conceptual level as explained on Invent Help reviews. A patent search costs a few hundred dollars, of course the cost varies according to the nature of the invention. You also have the option to have a comprehensive patent search done, which will cost you around a thousand dollars.

It is very common that a patent will get rejected as the idea or invention, however novel or brilliant it may seem apparently, has been patented before. Thus it is wise to check whether the idea has been patented or not, before starting to develop a working model. Once you know that a patent has already been granted, you can further work on how to make your idea or invention different and unique, which will be treated as good as new.

What Every Patent Needs

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What are the four necessary parts of a good patent definition? These same four items are also necessary parts to file a patent, be of economic value and prevent your invention from being stolen. They are:

The invention must be novel

Being novel means that it can not be known by others or used by others before the inventor claims to have invented it. The invention can not be previously patented or publicly disclosed before the inventor’s claimed invention. In other words it can not be an infringement of someone else’s patented work. The patent must be applied for within 1 year after public disclosure or use. Professional patenting firms like InventHelp can help.

The invention must not be obvious

This means that the invention can not be a clear replacement for an original. The proposed invention can not be obvious to a person with average skill in the knowledge area of the invention. An example might be a red toy car. A blue toy car would be an obvious extension of a red toy car. However a toy car that transforms into a robot is not an obvious extension of a red toy car.

Very basic level language must be used

Supplied drawings must be clear and sufficient for a comprehensive understanding of the invention. A person with skill in the knowledge area must be able to understand the invention completely, in order for it to be patentable. If fear of having the invention stolen motivates the inventor to leave out essential elements of the invention, then it is not patentable. Trade secrets may be a better alternative in this case. However trade secrets can be very difficult to protect especially from disgruntled employees.

The patent claims must be clear and specific

The patent claims are the most difficult, but the most important part of a patent. They are the intellectual property that you are requesting the patent office to protect. These claims must be specific and clear, otherwise the patent office will not accept them. Even if the patent office does accept them, they must be defensible in court. Only an experienced patent lawyer or patent agency such as Invent Help would likely be able to foresee potential problems with claims. Many parts of the patent can be done by the inventor, but the claims are not one of them. This is the area where a patent lawyer can really be worth the cost.

Tips for Choosing the Best Weight Loss Supplements

Health and Beauty

With so many weight loss products in the market it’s really hard to choose the right supplement that works. The following tips will help you choose the best and effective weight loss supplements.

Always go for the natural (semi-processed) weight loss supplements, such as the Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic. Such supplements don’t have side effects as compared to chemically synthesized supplements. They help you lose weight in the safest way possible as you can see from Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic reviews.

Always go for publicly approved weight loss supplements. Before they get approved they are clinically tested to check if they are safe for human use and if they are at all effective. To confirm approved weight loss supplements check if they have an FDA (Food Drugs and Administration) approval.

Always check for the side effects associated with a particular weight loss supplement. This will help you to avoid using supplements that will make your health condition worse.

Get weight loss supplements that contain green tea extracts, Vitamin C and alpha acid. This is because these substances are proven to eliminate body fat by increasing the body’s metabolic rate.

Consult your doctor to help you choose a weight loss supplement. Doctors are the right people to help you choose a supplement since they know the safe products in the market and what can work for you since they have your medical history.

Most of all identify your weaknesses and get the best weight loss supplement for you. Take for example individuals who are overweight due to emotional eating. These people eat because they are emotionally distressed but not because they are hungry. The best supplement for such a person would be an Appetite Suppressant as compared to a Fat Burner. This would have solved their main problem.

Skip Prices

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People hire skips for all sorts of reasons and skip prices are usually determined by the needs of the individuals. When you hire a skip you can reasonably expect the hire company to dispose of the rubbish for you. If you are renovating a residential property or having a clear out of old furniture then the amount of rubbish generated will, in part determine the price of your skip hire.

Skip prices for industrial purposes may be calculated differently as it involves the disposal of industrial waste and the nature of that disposal is determined by the type of rubbish that has been generated. There are strict guidelines that relate, for example, to the disposal of anything that contains hospital waste.

As a general rule skip prices differ depending on how long the hire period is and size of the skip that is needed. If you have a lot of bricks, dust and kitchen or bathroom fittings to dispose of then you will need one of the larger skips and this can be quite expensive. Another factor that determines skip prices is the location of the person or company that wants to hire.

When you need to hire a skip but cannot afford to pay a lot of money then you might want to consider looking around for a cheap skip. Prices for Skip Hire Barrow In Furness can vary quite a bit, a lot depends on what you want the skip for, the size of the skip, the length of time that you want it, and your location. If you live miles from any skip hiring company then a cheap skip may very well be out of the question.

Not matter what sort of rubbish you want to get rid of you should still enquire whether the company that you are hiring the cheap skip from are registered with the local council. Where the skip is placed will have an effect on how much you have to pay for hiring it.

If it is on the public highway then generally speaking this will involve an extra cost, but if there is room on your own driveway then this will cost less. Just as with any other skip, you need to be clear about how much rubbish you need to get rid of when you are looking around for a cheap skip – the larger the skip that you need then the more it will cost to hire.

How To Find A Good Realtor

Real Estate

Most people who are buying a house will pick a realtor to help them. There are a lot to choose form and you want to make sure that you find one you can trust. It can be a difficult task to contemplate if you have not done it before or have no one you can go to for help. However, it is possible to find a trustworthy realtor you just need to know how.

It is a good idea to interview them first. Many people will just go to the yellow pages and ring a few up, but you need to have a list of questions prepared and if possible visit them in their office. If there are a lot to choose from, you will probably find talking to them on the phone will be better. You should find that by the answers you get, you can judge whether they are trustworthy or not. You could always go to see them after you have interviewed on the phone, if you want more reassurance.

It is a good idea to ask them for references. They should be able to give you details of past customers, who you can contact and ask questions. Happy customers will be willing to talk to you about the service they got and why they were pleased with it. It can be one of the best ways to judge someone.

Talking to the broker might help you. They may not want to say bad things about the realtor though but if they are happy to be open with you, and then they might be able to give you some indications as to what the realtor is like.

You want to gauge what the communications skills of the realtor are like. You want them to be able to listen to what you want and then act on that. If you give them the maximum price you can pay and they show you houses that are more expensive then this can be very frustrating. If this happens frequently then you need to change, because they just want you to spend more money so they can get more commission and are not thinking of you.

They should remember all the details of what you are looking for and show you properties that are most relevant. If you have to keep reminding them of your needs, then it can be frustrating and is a sign that they are not very good.

However, you did need to explain clearly to them, what you want. They need to be able to be inside your head knowing your requirements and if you cannot tell them, then they will not be able to help you. If you want a nice area or good schools, for example ask them which areas that might be. They should be able to anticipate your requirements a little bit too.

24 Hr Locksmith

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Safety is a little something that is generally looked at by individuals. Individuals hunt for safety in virtually anything, from financial requirements to home security, individuals seek the greatest means to shield themselves. One of the best things to shield of course are your investments is to find great protection measures. A really good security measure will certainly enable you to feel secured and shielded with your resources. Without your assets carefully secured it will be a simple prey for fraud and burglary making you lose your properties investments and cash in the same method.

Some protection measures are not successful, even expensive protection measures can easily in some cases be tampered easily specifically on rural locations like the Detroit. In the Detroit individuals are really at expert levels when it pertains to stealing from companies and houses. Exactly what homes need is a skilled Metro Detroit Locksmith who recognizes the work around on the Detroit.

The most significant benefit of locksmith Detroit is that they are effective and trustworthy. If you are locked up in your house because you left your keys they could assist you anytime because of their 24 hr locksmith. These professional locksmiths from the Detroit are specialists to aid you in addressing your lock problems.

Of course there are some individuals, who think they could possibly seek the assistance from their next-door neighbors or buddies, yet inhabiting the Detroit is tough and many of these people who live here have a huge propensity to really rob you out. Of course in selecting the proper locksmith you really should select on a locksmith business that is certified so that they can address your security concerns without you having problems in counting on them or your own safety.

3 Tips To Choosing The Best Foundation Contractors

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Choosing a contracting company can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. All contractors will want to promise you heavens. And as human beings, we tend to believe people much a faster. We do not give a second thought, that’s how we end up with crappy contractors. But here is how we can avoid this frustration….

1. Ask Your Friends And Colleagues.

Among your friends and acquaintance, you won’t miss satisfied customers. Your friends will refer to you the best company whatsoever that did their repairs for them. Here, you may also dig more information about company’s reputations and customer services. And also, the kind of repairs the company does and their quotations. Just talking to your colleagues, you could find lots of information.

2. Professional affiliation And Credentials.

The companies that you are hiring need to have a membership. They need affiliations. And the best professional body for contractors that i know of is… Better Business Bureau. A contractor that has a BBB rating of A+, is a good contractor to work with. Another thing to find out is….

Whether they carry out liability insurance and Texas Worker’s Compensation Insurance. Let them also show you the latest project they have worked on. And ask them, if they can provide referrals to the latest finished project. If they have done well for their clients, chance are their clients will talk well about them.

3. Question Their Expertise – How To Go About It.

You need to ask lots of questions to know if they know they fields. This is the only way to avoid crappy contractors. But before you ask those questions….. You need to have a wealth of knowledge about foundation repairs.

That’s the only way of getting the value out of the interviews you are going to have. If you have done earlier process of knowing the foundation process you are ok. Here are some of the questions you need to ask them.

First, How long have they been in the fields? 20 plus years is good, but don’t rely on me in this one. I am a perfectionist. Second, Do they have a warranty to their product? Third, how are they and their employees trained in general? Fourth, how many ​types foundation piles in general do they have and can work with? To the best of my knowledge, we have at least 2o standard types. Last but not least, ask whether their material holds any patent. And if they do, they should be quick to show you.

There are a lot of questions you can ask the foundation contractors. The key here is having knowledge before hand so that you can get the best out of your interview.

Hiring the best foundation repair company in Dallas TX is an easy process if you know what you are doing. And following the above suggestions can ease the process even better. But one suggestion that I would like you to take is.. Do lots of research about the process. You may think you have found the best contractor in your State. But if you did a little more research you could get a better option with a better deal. Foundation repair process is not like a marriage, where you can lose everything. So take your time and hire wisely.