Technology For Agents

Ryan Paul over at Arstechnica reported yesterday that the big campaign to have everyone download Firefox 3 was a resounding success.  Their goal was a mere 5 Million downloads.  The actual numbers hit were around 8, that’s EIGHT, million downloads of the awesome browser known as Firefox 3.

I was one of many who downloaded the browser and I’m certainly impressed.  Faster load times and session restoration (if you’re browser somehow closes then the pages you were on will usually come back) are a couple of the big changes that went into place.

In regards to making entry into the Guiness Book of World Records, Ryan had this to say:

I also asked Dotzler some questions about the process through which Mozilla’s download day statistics will enter the Guinness World Records. The server logs and download information will be given to an independent review board consisting of Corey Shields and Paul Vixie, which will then conduct a thorough audit, weed out duplicate and incomplete downloads, and determine an exact number. The download day event, which was orchestrated by Mozilla’s global marketing team, has been one of Mozilla’s most successful awareness campaigns to date.

Looks like time will tell; though server reports should be pretty concrete evidence that the record has been broken.  Great job to the Firefox 3 team!

If you’ve downloaded Firefox 3, what do you think?

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One of the ways you can sign contracts using your Tablet PC is using a piece of software named PDF Annotator.  I’ve personally used this to have my clients sign contracts to buy and sell real estate, so give it a shot!

You don’t need to have a tablet PC per say, but a tablet component to your computer is a necessity.  Here is a selection of writing components you can attach to any laptop to enable the ability to digitally sign your contracts.

I love it when developers keep their products fresh and up to date, and PDF Annotator 2 comes with a bunch of nifty new features.

• Page Manager
• Toolbox
• Stamps
• Bookmark Manager
• Auto-Smooth (smooths out hand drawn lines to be perfect)
• Enhanced Full Screen Mode
• Enhanced Text Search
• Continuous View
• Pan Mode
• Page Navigation
• Enhanced Menu/Toolbars
• Enhanced Text Box Styles
• Enhanced Rendering Engine

Existing users can purchase a single license update for $34.95, but new users will have to pay the standard $69.95.

Update: PDF Annotator does not currently support Apple products.

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Is that logo familiar? I’d be confident to say that it’s the non-official online document of most real estate transactions.

CutePDF is free software you can download and install on your computer to enable the option to print virtually any document to a PDF. I say “print” because the process is just like printing to a traditional printer.

So how does one print to a PDF? What does that mean? Let’s say you are creating a flyer for a listing, and you’d like to send over a rough draft to your client. Do you send over the gigantic source file? I’d hope not!

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HitTail, an excellent provider of real-time long tail analysis, has recently announced their HitTail Premium plan; offering discounts to existing members.

Current members can get a discount rate of $19.99 a month, or $199.99 annually to upgrade their subscription. The new plan includes new tools for segmenting paid versus organic website hits, and additional online tools for using Google Adwords with HitTail.

• See exactly how people are finding your site in real time
• Have keyword recommendations emailed to you or delivered in a secure RSS feed
• Use HitTail on your secure, https pages
• Generate Google and Yahoo! Sitemaps for your website
• With “Growth View” watch as your long tail grows wider (more hits) and longer (more new keywords)
• Insert HitTail keyword suggestions directly into a new Google AdWords campaigns
• Separate and analyze site traffic coming from organic versus paid search
• Boost click-through rate with those same long tail suggestions coming straight from your audience
• Lower the cost of your search advertising campaign by targeting effective long tail keywords instead of more competitive ones

I currently use HitTail to monitor traffic on my site, and it’s always nice to see a real-time version of incoming visitors (and the links they used to get to me), versus the delayed method that Google Analytics uses.

When it comes to analyzing incoming visitor traffic, do you think you need a premium service like this as an agent?

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Keeping track of my mileage has always been a chore. I’ve tried them all; clipboards, spreadsheets, even the good old pen and paper. Regardless of the method I use to track, the habit of jotting down my mileage each day is one that I just haven’t grown into.

As an agent running a small business, it’s best practice to track my mileage; especially for tax deductions come tax season. I did a quick search on Google for an online mileage tracker, but I didn’t seem to find one that was suitable or easy to use. I don’t really want an extra piece of software on my computer, so I’ll rule that option out.

I want something web 2.0. I’m thinking an Ajax filled, intuitively simple, and filled with as little hurdles as possible. I’ll keep searching for a nice one to review soon, but in the meantime:

What do you use to track your mileage?

More Helpful Tools

There are a couple of nifty tools to use along side your mileage tracker when we finally figure out which one is the best one for real estate agents.

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