Another great brand launched today with the unveiling of weedott.com’s new logo by Arranging Pixels.

weedott is a new Florida based social media and consulting firm that helps business owners learn about and implement web 2.0 solutions.  They wanted a logo that was fun and flexible and they’ve got just that-  with any luck we’ll see the weedott logo as commonly as facebook’s!

Amy Jantzer and Matt Kruse are the founders of weedott and will be co-authoring a book on social marketing and web 2.0 in the very near future.  Look for more information on weedott soon- it’s a great up-and-coming that is sure to make some waves.

The websites are rolling off the line here at Arranging Pixels!  Today we’re proud to announce the official launch of www.SteveFusilierandCo.com.  A new website for the great agents at Steve Fusilier and Company.

Steve and his team of real estate agents have over 100 years of combined real estate experience and it shows.  They focus on residential and commercial real estate on South East Orlando near Lake Nona.

Please take a look at www.SteveFusilierandCo.com

We’re proud to announce the launch of www.droppedbythefarm.com by the Florida Insurance Specialists.

FIS needed a new website to provide quotes to home owners whos policies have been cancelled by State Farm.  FIS will be launching a large direct mail, radio and billboard campaign in conjunction with the new website.

If your insurance carrier is not renewing your home owners insurance policy visit www.droppedbythefarm.com today and get your free quote.

On a personal note- FIS saved me over $500 per year on my home owners policy in early 2008!  Not only are we the site developer- we’re also a client.

In an effort to spread the word about emailStationery.com and our new Facebook Fan club, emailStationery.com is offering the Complete Email Branding Package at a huge discount.  Normally priced at $299, you can purchase the entire package for $195.

visit www.emailstationery.com and use the coupon code FACEBOOK2009

Hurry this special offer expires at 11:59PM on Saturday February 28th.

We’re very proud of our newest site www.thefloridalivingteam.com.

Steve Glose, a top Central Florida REALTOR originally hired Arranging Pixels in February of 2007 to develop his real estate website.  After 2 successful years and nearly a dozen closings www.thefloridalivingteam.com has gotten a fresh new look.

The new website features a map based MLS search from WolfNet, featured properties and a blog.

Steve uses a combination of on site and off site blogging along with SEO techniques and PPC advertising to drive traffic to his website.  We hope the new look will increase his lead conversion, length of time on site, and repeat visits.

Check out the new site www.thefloridalivingteam.com

Many of you who have sat through my classes know that I’m not a big fan of professionals using free email addresses in business.

A domain name with matching email address is not expensive, and shows the public that you take your business seriously.

There are a million reasons for having a domain name and matching email addresses; we’ll cover those in another article- for now lets look at the reasons NOT to use a free email address for your business:

1. An email address that does not include your domain does not promote your website. If my email address was kgranger@gmail.com you wouldn’t know my website address, but if it was kgranger@arrangingpixels.com— instantly you could find my website.
2. Free addresses do not offer flexibility on outbound mail. Did you know that bellsouth.net and rr.com do not allow you to send email while on another network? Have you ever been on the road and your outbound mail will not send? Don’t trust your outbound messages to a “personal” email address.
3. What if you move out of a rr.com or bellsouth.com area? How would people find you if you were all of a sudden on comcast.net or embarq.net? What if you want to change from cable to sattelite? What if you want to move from your standard bellsouth connection to VoIP? If you have an email address with your home internet provider you’re obligated to stay with them or you lose your email address!
4. Yahoo and Gmail addresses arent all they are cracked up to be either. Ever wonder why Gmail still says Beta? Because they do not want responsibility for your email if they have a failure. Anyone can get a gmail or yahoo address in minutes- does that show a comittment to your clients? When I engage with a business online and they use a yahoo or gmail address I’m immediately on guard.

Purchasing a domain name can cost you as little as $10-$15 per year… and a quality hosting program can be as inexpensive as $10 per month. If you do not take your business serious enough to make this small investment- be prepared for your clients not to take you too seriously either.

An agent shared a great story with me last week on how technology has impacted his business.

He was working with some buyers from the UK when a new property came on the market the agent emailed his clients a copy of the MLS listing.  The client was interested and asked the agent to go take some additional photos, so the agent headed out to the property- technology in hand.

He took photos with his digital camera- transferred them to his laptop and emailed them to the client through his Sprint Card— he then made a Skype call to his client through the internet.  The client checked their email and they had a conversation about the property…  Pretty cool, but here’s the best part———  The client loved the property, so while they were on their Skype call the agent prepared the contract using his Adobe Acrobat and sent it to the client!   The offer was written, signed and submitted to the sellers in under 20 minutes all because of the agent’s use of technology— and the agent never left the property!

Imagine how that transaction would have been different 10 years ago!?!

Can you Imagine-

• Taking photos with a 35mm camera, going to Walmart having the film developed and sending it via Airmail to the UK
• Waiting for the client to get the photos and call you on a very expensive long distance phone call.
• The agent prepares the contract and “Faxes” it over another expensive international phone call.
• The client signs the contract and “Faxes’ it back to the US over yet ANOTHER very expensive phone call.
• The agent receives the fax and turns around and “Faxes” it again to the selling agent.
• 3 generations of faxes the selling agent faxes it over to their sellers—
• The seller signs the agreement and “Faxes” it back to the selling agent
• The Selling agent “Faxes” it back to the buyers agent
• The Buyers agent “Faxes” the fully executed contract over a very expensive phone call to the US.

Do you think all that could be done in 20 minutes???  Can you imagine if we had to throw some addendum’s in there?  WOWZERS!  How times have changed- for the good!  Embrace Technology!

For all you real estate agents who need to upload photos to the MLS, KWLS, Truilia, Boolia, and Foolia- here’s a great photo resizing tool that will resize a whole folder full of pictures in just a few seconds while keeping the originals the same. Its call PixResizer and it can be downloaded here

The tool is very small and takes just a minute to download and install.  Once you have PixResizer on your computer you can point to an individual photo you want to resize or a whole folder full of photos, then choose the desitination folder, the length of the longest side of the photo and push the button-  and Viola

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

For the month of January we are happy to announce our $20.09 in 2009 promotion. You can purchase 1,000 full color business cards- full color on the front and back, with a UV coating for only $20.09 plus $9.95 shipping and handling.

To take advantage of this offer you must place your order before 1/29. Offer is not valid on previously placed orders. All artwork must be print ready. Custom Business Card Design is an additional $95.

We’ve finally gotten settled into our beautiful new office!  Our new home has more room than we knew what to do with it, so the guys bought a ping pong table!  We’ll broadcast our next ping pong tournement online!

Okay- all joking aside the new office will allow us to serve our clients better and be able to grow over the next couple of years (hint hint- send us referrals)

Please come visit us @ 2151 Consulate Drive, Suite 21, Orlando Florida 32837!