Real Estate Web Design

Time for three more grammatical lessons to help you expand your knowledge of the English language and (hopefully) seem smarter when you write things. This section will cover apostrophes, double negatives, and making confusing word choices.

7. Improper Usage of Words
We are all guilty of this. Maybe some of us more often than others, but I know you're not perfect and you have made a mistake before. Misusing words is one of the most common (and most annoying) grammatical errors out there. Some of the more commonly misused ones are:
- There, Their, They're
- It's, Its
- You're, Your
I'm not going to give an explanation of every one of these, because that would take all day. But the basics to know are these:
- An apostrophe followed by other letters means a merging of two words. So You're means You Are. Same goes for They're. It means They Are.
- It's means It Is. It does not insinuate that something belongs to It.
- There is a place, and Their means belonging to Them.
If you want additional explanations, and examples of more of these misused words (yes, there are more of them!) go here.

8. Apostrophe Disasters
Apostrophes are pretty basic. You use them for (mainly) two reasons. The first is to show ownership. The second (as we learned above) is to merge words. But you can't just make up your own word merge and throw an apostrophe in there. That's not how it works. Anyway, here are some examples of those:
- Ownership: Tim's bike, the Realtor's blog
- Word Merge: Don't = Do Not, Could've = Could Have
As with everything, there are many, many more examples of how people screw these up, and the best ones I found are here. One additional thought on apostrophes... If you are writing about the 1980s (or whichever time period you like the most), there is NO apostrophe! Leave it off.

9. Don't Do Double Negatives
Double negatives surprisingly go unnoticed by many writers. This is one of the reasons I highly recommend reading what you write before you publish your post (or whatever you're writing). A double negative sentence is where you use two negative words in combination, therefore making it a positive. For example: "I don't want nobody to come visit us next month," actually means that I do want people to visit. The correct way to say this would be, "I don't want anybody to come visit us next month." Don't and Nobody are both negatives, so they cancel each other out. Here's some more information on double negatives, including a list of common ones.

And so comes the end of our grammatical lesson. Stayed tuned for the next awesome series. It'll be a good one, I promise!

Labels: Grammar Errors, Real Estate Blog

Earlier today I was browsing Facebook like I normally do, just to see what everyone else in the Real Estate blogging world was doing, when I came across this group. I found it to be a fairly interesting concept, so I did some additional research on the matter. It seems that people are using sites like Moniker.com to "flip" domain names.

No, I'm not kidding. Apparently there is a broad and vast market for domain names. Not surprisingly, either. I recently had a client who badly wanted to buy NaplesRealEstate.com, and of course, it was not available. She was able to find other domain names that were suitable to her needs, so it all worked out.

With the recent flux in SEO concerns, people are buying up domain names by the dozens just to keep their competitors from owning them. It's getting cut-throat out there, too! Since we're based in Fort Myers, FL, we have a lot of clients that are selling in Fort Myers, Naples, and other Southwest Florida communities (we do have clients all over the world as well, but I can't speak on their behalf since I don't see as much of the competition in other parts as I do in my own backyard). With our clients alone, I see the need for better and more keyword-rich domain names, simply to improve their searchability (is that a word?). So I know real estate agents all over the world are dealing with this issue too.

I find it fascinating that the market for a non-tangible item is so hot! It seems that the domain name market is most definitely a seller's market right now. So if you have domain names that don't benefit you (based on your keywords), and you don't want to hold onto them any longer, you could potentially turn a profit. There is always somebody, somewhere, that wants what you have.

Labels: Domain Names, News, Real Estate Blog

Welcome to Part II in our grammar series. This installment will teach you about proper sentence structure, quotation marks, and how to properly use commas. Stick around and learn a little!

4. What's in a Sentence?
The most basic sentence you can build will need only one word: a verb. For example, "Go!" could be considered a complete sentence, because it doesn't need any additional words to make a statement. However, when writing a blog you're going to need many additional words to get your point across, so I'll give you the basic rundown of the sentence parts and which you need. First, you need a verb. No sentence is complete without one. A verb is an action word, like run, write, blog, go, stop or whine. Next you will probably want a noun. A noun is a person, place or thing. If you're not sure if something is a noun, just ask yourself if it is a person, place or a thing. Dog, house, James, and peanut are all nouns. He, she and it are pronouns, which can be used in place of the noun when you have a sentence like this: "She runs fast!". Now on to adjectives. Adjectives are descriptions of nouns. In the sentence "The blue car was totalled," blue is the adjective. Finally, we have adverbs. Adverbs describe the verb. So an adverb would be "fast" in the sentence, "She runs fast." The following are two sentences, one is complete and the other is not. I'm not telling which is which. You figure it out.

"Last week admitted that the market is experiencing difficulties."

"Prices of fuel and food inflation increased to 5%."

Don't forget to pay attention when you write your blog. I sure wouldn't want to hire someone that can't write a complete sentence, especially considering that person would be writing descriptions of my house to be used in online and print marketing!


5. Quizzical About Quotes?
Aren't we all? Quotes are pretty easy, if you can remember the rules. But if you can't, then just come back here for a reminder.
1. Punctuation goes inside the quotes only if it applies to the quote itself, or if it ends a sentence.
Sophie said, "I know!" Sophie asked, "Do you like my dress?" Did Sophie say, "Eat your peas"?
2. When using a quote at the beginning or the middle of a sentence, it needs to end with a comma.
"Here's your package," said the UPS man.
3. When quoting a quote, use the double quotes first and the single quotes inside of those.
"She said, 'I have an idea!'" repeated Mary.
4. When you quote numerous paragraphs of text, only the last paragraph gets end quotes, but all the paragraphs get beginning quotes.
"Paragraph one.....
"Paragraph two.....
"Paragraph three....."
For additional rules about quotes, check here.

6. Crazy Comma Conundrums
Commas can be a source of great confusion. The most basic rule for commas that I can give you is this one: use a comma if you need to separate things, or if there should be a pause in a sentence. Of course, you also use commas when listing things, in dates, and in quotes.

Here are some good examples of comma usage:
I'd like to eat steak, crab cakes, or pasta for dinner. I would not like chicken, pork, or fish.
Her daughter was born on March 8, 2008, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Unfortunately, I will not be attending Inman this year.
Your ultimate goal, to sell a house, won't come true unless you market yourself properly.
I love my dogs, but they certainly annoy me.

Here are some examples lacking commas:
I want to go to the beach home to change and then the restaurant.
Obviously your plan won't be successful.
I want to date a soccer player not an attorney.
Helen you can't go to the movies!

For more on commas, check out this site.


Come back next week for part III of this series, and lots of other great stuff that is sure to come!

Labels: Blog Mistakes, Grammar Errors, Real Estate Blog

This one is an oldie but a goodie. If you've been in the online networking/real estate blogging/technologically advanced world for a while, then you're already following 900 people on Twitter and have probably amassed quite a following yourself. However, this blog is aimed at all the newbies out there that might not know what I'm talking about, or even what Twitter is. So here's a rundown.

Twitter is a social networking tool that basically allows you to update all your followers (kind of like "friends", for you myspacers and facebookers) as to what you're doing at any time of the day or night. You can update as often as you like, and you can also send messages to specific people, or "nudge" people (also similar to a Facebook feature called the Poke). You can have mini conversations, connect with people you may not have otherwise found, and keep in touch with people who are just as busy as you are.

Now, the all-important question... Why do you need this? The answer is simple. As a real estate professional, it is expected of you to network, network, network and know everyone that's anyone. The internet and the technology age are great benefits to you because now you have so many ways to connect with people, so there really isn't any excuse for you to be out of the loop anymore. Twitter just helps you stay in touch with a myriad of people that may or may not be useful to you in your career or personal life at some point down the road.

Here are two posts that I found especially useful in giving real-life situations where one might rely on Twitter to make a connection and make something happen. The first one is by Jeff Bernheisel, whom I just recently had the pleasure of "meeting", and the second is by Jay Thompson, a blogging veteran. Both of these a great examples of things that could really happen, but won't if you aren't using Twitter! Just a suggestion: I highly recommend both blogs. Put them on your summer reading list.

By the way, I found Jeff Bernheisel because he was showing up on Jay Thompson's Recent Visitors (that's a widget for your blog, courtesy of MyBlogLog.com) when I just happened to visit Jay's page. I didn't know who he was, so I clicked on him and went to his blog to check it out. We'll talk about MyBlogLog some other time though... *hint, hint*

Labels: Stuff You Need, Website Tools

I recently saw this blog post, which I found to be hysterically funny, over at Agent Genius. Go read it, it will make your day. It made me realize how often I see mistakes in other blogs, as well as in emails and other types of online communication. I think that typing makes people less worried about misspellings, incorrect word usage, and improper punctuation than if they were writing by hand. You know, like we all did back in the day... "which was a Wednesday, by the way," according to Dane Cook.

Anyway, here are the first three tips in a series of three. In case your math is worse than your grammar, that's nine tips total.

1. Don't Space Out Over Spaces

All sentences and paragraphs need spaces, and you should probably use them properly to avoid irritating your readers. One thing that I see frequently that annoys me is spacing that changes throughout a document. For example, I have seen documents where the writer uses double spaces after each period until about halfway through, and then switches to using a single space after each period. That annoys me, and I can't imagine that I'm alone on this one. So here are the rules for spacing.

• Each word gets one space after it.
• Sentences can have either one or two spaces after the period, as long as you are consistent. The rule used to be that you needed two spaces but it has since changed. I think either is acceptable. Personally, I do two spaces because that's what I'm used to.
• Colons get two spaces after them, like a period.
• Commas, apostrophes, quotations and all other punctuation get one space after them.

For more on spaces, check here.

2. Spell Check is Your Best Asset

I know you thought it was your amazing ability to balance a spoon on your nose, and while that might impress the ladies (depending on who you're dating!), it certainly won't help you look like the polished, educated, professional real estate blogger you are. When your blog or email or, yes, even your property listing, is littered with misspelled words, it makes you look careless and rushed, and possibly even less intelligent. Just to clarify, even one misspelled word can cause that impression. That's why I so highly recommend spell check. I know for a fact that Outlook and Word contain spellchecks, and so do the most popular blogging platforms. So there really is no excuse. Which brings me to my next tip...

3. The Importance of Proof-Reading

As we all know, spell check is not fool proof. Sometimes you can accidentally allow it to replace a misspelled word with a word that doesn't make sense, you can accidentally type a word correctly correctly twice, or you can leave out a word altogether and that can cause a lot of confusion. I always reread everything I type after I run spell check, just in case. Also, if it doesn't make sense written down, read it out loud. Yes, the person in the cube next to you may think you're temporarily insane, but at least the recipient of your letter (or your blog readers) will have a good impression of you!


If you're looking for spelling errors, you won't find any. But have fun looking anyway. Who knows, you might find something else that's wrong *wink, wink*. Check back next week for more of these cool tips, and let me know if there's one in particular that you want to know more about.

Labels: Blog Mistakes, Grammar Errors, Real Estate Blog

Yes, it's true. CyberSunshine is now on Active Rain. The blog on Active Rain will feature some (but not all) of the same posts you see here on your favorite blog in the whole wide world.



If you want to check out the Active Rain blog we have, you can do so by clicking here. See you there!

Labels: CyberSunshine, Real Estate Blog

Labels: CyberSunshine

Here we are with the last installment of The Blogging Basics. Hopefully you've learned a thing or two. If not, keep reading and maybe you'll learn a thing or two in this post! Here are the final two tips in this series to making your real estate blog a success.

9. Love the Links
I know it probably seems like a dumb idea to encourage people to leave your blog by providing them with links to other blogs, but trust me, it will pay off. I try to link to other blogs at least once per post. Sometimes I can't do that, and that's okay. Sometimes I can link to 10 other blogs, and that's great. Just keep it in the back of your mind to link out in your posts. The reason you want to do this is twofold: first, you're being friendly to whoever you linked to by providing that link. Second, you're showing the search engines that you're related to whoever you linked to. Not related like cousins, but related by a common interest. So if you link out to another real estate blog, the search engines see that and know that you have a common interest with the other blog, and that helps your page rank. You also need to link to yourself. This is a good way of keeping people on your blog, and showing that you have other interesting topics to write about. If you check out this post I did on our blog, you'll see that I linked to our own blog twice. Look at that, I just linked to my own blog in order to show you how I linked to my own blog! Its pretty easy to squeeze those links in once you get the hang of it.

10. Write Often, But Not Too Often
I try to publish a new post about twice a week. Sometimes there may be three in a week, and sometimes there may be one. But for CyberSunshine, two a week is good. When you're writing a blog, you have to remember that people don't always have time to keep up with your every thought, so I don't overload the posts. It's never a good idea to write 800 posts a day, unless your blog is super successful like Problogger. At the same time, you don't want to only write one post every other week, because then people stop visiting your blog since you never have new content. It gets old going to a blog and seeing nothing new day after day. And if your readers are bored with your lack of content, I can assure you they won't be your readers for very long.

Thus concludes our series. I have a few more series ideas in mind, but you'll have to wait and see what I've got up my sleeve. In the meantime, if you have a series or a post you'd like me to write, email it.

Labels: Making the Most, Real Estate Blog