Learn the New Technology
Internet 101: Computer Workshop for Realtors
* Essential websites for Realtors
* Options for getting your own website
* Look under the hood of a website, learn what makes it tick
* Beginner, intermediate, and advanced welcome
* Questions and comments welcome
* Repeat class - each meeting will cover new ground
* Okay to print out these notes or link to this page for your reference
Subjects Covered
Essential Websites
Learn to use the Internet effectively. An overview of essential websites for doing business as a Realtor in the State of Arizona. Find out what the sites are and how to use them, how to keep track of username/password data, and how to work with tech support.
Social Networking Sites
Bring your questions about Facebook, Twitter, Google, Craigslist, Youtube, ARMLS, chat, text, and keywords.
Website Options
Learn your options and responsibilities when it comes to getting a website. This class will explain how to get a free website, as well as how to register a domain name and set up a site.
Website Mechanics
Look under the hood of a website to find out what makes it tick. You will learn how to find source code, how to build a link, add a photo, set the title, and add meta headers. Learn how you post a website page, learn about CSS and how websites display search information. The class will also describe other computer languages used on web sites.
Macintosh Basics
Your instructor has been using Macintosh computers since 1986. Please bring your questions if you have recently switched, or are contemplating switching to Mac.
Learn to use the Internet effectively. An overview of essential websites for doing business as a Realtor in the State of Arizona.
Essential Sites
armls.flexmls.com
Arizona Multiple Listing Service, searches, client contact system. ARMLS gives free classes at their learning center on Priest Drive near the 202 Freeway. Soon, ARMLS will give classes at SEVRAR (see SEVRAR.com below under Realtors organizations). Username - your agent ID (initials + 3 numbers); password - you pick, update every quarter.
Pay your ARMLS annual fees in June: go to armls.flexmls.com, choose Daily Functions from the menu bar, select Billing (you may be asked to login again) and fill in the billing form.
armls.com
Arizona Multiple Listing Service website. It is the gateway for the MLS website offering news and information; pay MLS fees here. Sign up for MLS classes here: log in, go to "training" and click on the class you want to sign up. Use the same logon info. as armls.flexmls.com.
www.azre.gov (aka www.re.state.az.us)
Arizona Department of Real Estate, 2910 N. 44th St., Phoenix, 85018. License renewal, list of agents in the state. This is where you enter your continuing education credits. Be sure they have your correct email address. Login in your license number, plus the last four of your Social Security number, or you can set up a username/password combination once you have logged in.
Three Realtor websites (national, state, and local - you join all three when you join the local association):
Realtor.org (national)
National Association of Realtors. Resources, update your listing, pay dues. Username - agent ID (initials + 3 numbers); password - you choose.
aaronline.com (state)
Arizona Association of Realtors, 255 E. Osbourne Rd., Suite 200, Phoenix, AZ 85012 602-248-7787. This is where you will find the latest version of the BUYER'S ADVISORY. Username - your email; password - you choose.
SEVRAR.com (local - East Valley)
Local branch of Realtors association. Sign up for classes. Make sure they have your correct email address. Username - your email address; password - you choose. Find other real estate boards: ired.com/boards/az.htm. Pay your December/January membership fees through your board website, or by mail.
zipformonline.com
Fill out contracts online, then print or sent by email.
Username - your email address; password - you choose.
www.supraekey.com
Lockbox key, get help, information, check activity on your listings, give feedback on houses you open.
To log on, choose "KIM Web (for agents)" from the drop-down menu at the top, or scroll down and choose "Agents - Log on to KIMweb"; enter your username, the serial number on the back of your Supra key, and password, the four digit number you use with your key.
Your broker's website probably offers a wealth of essential links, due diligence information, contracts such as referral agreements, disclosure forms not on ZIPforms, etc. Be sure your photo and current contact information are correct on the agent roster.
Free website at your broker's site Your broker's site may offer a free website.
sureclose.com (or your broker's e-close software)
File contracts with your broker through the Internet. Help create a paperless office.
News and Networking
Realtormag.com
Realtor Magazine online.
http://sevrar.com/Communication/FastFactsNews.aspx
Fast Facts News online, a publication of SEVRAR.
http://sevrar.com/
Sevrar News Magazine online.
brokeragentnews.com
Broker Agent News online.
aarnews.com
Arizona Association of Realtors News online.
asreb.com/journal/journal.html
Arizona Journal of Real Estate and Business, published by the Arizona School of Real Estate and Business asreb.com - link to school.
ired.com/ International Real Estate Digest, source for real estate information.
realtown.com
Online community for Realtors.
facebook.com
Top social networking site.
twitter.com
Top site for sending messages to an audience.
activerain.com
Top real estate blogging site.
Due Diligence
aaronline.com
Access the latest version of the Buyer Advisory.
recorder.maricopa.gov
Maricopa Recorders Office, look up deeds, other legal documents.
maricopa.gov/assessor
Maricopa Recorders Office, look up property information.
http://azgs.az.gov/efmaps.shtml Fissures Map (AZ Geological Survey site)
http://fcd.maricopa.gov/GIS/maps.aspx Flood Planes (Flood Control District of Maricopa County)
http://azdeq.gov/environ/waste/sps/siteinfo.html Superfund Site maps (AZ Department of Environmental Quality)
Other suggestions: websites to check freeway construction, airport locations and flight paths.
Other Sites
Realtor.com
Resources for the public and for Realtors.
zillow.com
Ballpark estimates on satellite maps, other information for the public and agents. Complaint: how can they dare calculate prices for all the houses, even if they are not currently listed? They simply pull these prices out of their nether regions, and their "zestimates" are wildly inaccurate.
maps.google.com
Look up driving directions, satellite maps. Google will also show you real estate listings. Go to maps.google.com, then click on the link that says "show search options." This will bring a new drop-down menu, choose "real estate." Then enter the city and state, and click on one of the red dots for more information. You can also search by price range, number of bedrooms, etc.
craigslist.com
Free online classified ads.
youtube.com
Post videos and virtual tours free.
BuffiniAndCompany.com Realtor-recommended training program for new agents.
Recommended for learning to do short sales and foreclosures: Distressed Property Designation.
When you get your own website, start a link page offering the following links:
lenders
title companies
home warranty providers
inspectors
appraisers
computer tech help
Option 1: Free websites
Numerous online companies offer free websites.
Advantages - easy to build, often using a template you can modify
Disadvantages - may have to put up with banner ads, URL may not be branded
Cost - none
Recommendations -
Your broker's website may offer you a web page.
Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) - Qwest DSL, Cox cable, etc., all offer a complimentary website.
Facebook - social networking site, you can set up the URL Facebook.com/yourname, sign up at http://facebook.com
Google blogspot - free blogging site, your URL will be yourname.blogspot.com to sign up, go to Google.com and search for "blogger" under menu option "more," or go directly to http://www.blogger.com/
Active Rain - blogging site for real estate professionals, sign up at http://activerain.com/.
http://wordpress.com/ is another popular place to start a blog.
Other places that offer free sites:
FortuneCity.com
Homestead.com
Webs.com
Lycos.com
Angelfire.com (Lycos)
Tripod.com (Lycos)
Option 2: Semi-custom sites
You sign up with a company that offers templates and hosting, you build your own site and update it yourself.
Advantages - You build your own website using templates provided by a company. You may use a variation of their URL, or you may lease your own URL.
Disadvantages - May be time consuming to learn and update.
Cost - Monthly fee may vary depending on what company you choose.
Recommendations - Here's one they have been advertising on TV and radio lately, templates, prices start at $5 a month - intuit.com.
This company is connected with Activerain.com: http://www.intagent.com/. Another company that markets to real estate agents: alamode.com A package deal students recommend Superlative Realtor Websites: BrianFord.com
Set up an advertising system that will generate leads for you. Property Nut offers ads for $10 a month. They capture contact information and send it to you. Go to PropertyNut.com.
Get a URL with your property's address. There are many ways to do this, but if you have a website, contact LaVonne L. Salisbury lsalisbury[at]azgat.com at azgat.com Great American Title, who can set you up with widgets to showcase your property with a URL like: www.yourlistingaddress.epropertysites.com. You can showcase each listing with a slideshow (virtual tour) and put the URL on sign riders. The epropertysites.com site will also let you print color brochures.
Option 3: Lease a domain name and build it yourself
You may lease a domain name for a nominal cost, then lease storage space on a server. It is called "hosting" your domain, or domain hosting. The host's server will broadcast your site to the web.*
Advantages - You have total control over your site.
Disadvantages - May be time consuming to learn and update.
Cost - Nominal costs for domain leasing, hosting, and software.
Recommendations - Network Solutions, Go Daddy (local company). For software options, see Website Mechanics.
* You could broadcast your own site, but you would need a stonger Internet connection, about $8,000 worth of hardware, and $400 worth of software. The cost of having your own server only makes sense if you are a television station, a post-production faclilty, a university, or some other big user who can save money by hosting their own sites, or if you are leasing space to others.
Option 4: Lease a domain name and hire a webmaster
Hire a company or individual to do everything for you.
Advantages - You get a great website with minimal effort.
Disadvantages - Finding the right company and interfacing with webmaster are key to making this option work for you.
Cost - This is the most expensive option, although cost may vary widely.
Recommendations - Numerous companies advertise to Realtors, so collect their ads, interview them, and then decide. The instructor's mentor will build real estate websites, contact KC Kyle.
Q & A
How do you advertise your website?
Print the URL on your business cards, brochures, listings, and letterhead.
Optimize your site for search engine compatibility using keywords and content.
The more sites that link to you, the higher your ranking in search engines.
What is the best option for a website?
Any of the options listed above may work for you, but the best option is the one that you can update on a regular basis to keep the content fresh.
Learn to Read and Write HTML
HTML is a universal language that any computer can understand. The commands tell the computer how to display the text.
Example 1: to indicate a line break, use the code <br>.
Example 2: to indicate center, put <center> before the text and </center> after the text, followed by a line break <br>.
Example 3: to indicate a font size, put <font size="+1"> before the text and </font> after the text.
To insert a jpg or gif, use this code:
<img src="url where the image is stored" + dimensions of the image>
To insert a link, use this code:
<a href="URL where you want to go">text you want to show</a>
To insert an email link, use this code:
<a href="mailto:email address">text you want to show</a>
See examples: You can look at the html source code on any page ending with .html. Just choose "view source" or right click on the page.
Example of an image:
Example of a link.
example of a mailto
Two Parts of a Page: Head and Body
At the top of an html page are the headers. The headers include the title and meta heads. The rest of the page is the body. The following commands indicate these parts:
Open html page <html> close html page </html>
Open title <title> close title </title>
Meta heads <META NAME="description" CONTENT="enter concise description that includes keywords.">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="list keywords and key phrases.">
Open body <body> close body </body>
Within the <body> command, you may include background colors, and colors to use for text, for links, etc. For example: <BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#FF0000" ALINK="#000088>
Setting up Tables
Within the body, you may wish to set parameters for the page, such as width, background colors, spacing, alignment, and other features. The commands for setting up tables are as follows:
<table> starts a table </table> ends a table.
<tr> starts a new row </tr> ends a row.
<td> starts a new cell </td> ends a cell.
Here is how the commands may look at the beginning of a table: <table align="center" width="600" cellpadding=10><tr><td>
Here is how the commands look at the end of a table: </td> </tr></table>
Putting it All Together
Here is an example of how this looks at the beginning of a webpage:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Write Your Title Here</TITLE>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="your concise title here.">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="your keywords and key phrases here, separated by commas">
</HEAD>
<BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#FF0000" ALINK="#000088" background="../background.jpg">
<table align="center" width="600" cellpadding=10><tr><td>
Here is an example of the ending of a web page:
</td></tr></table>
</body></html>
To see a very simple webpage, where you can look at the source code and see what's going on, click here: http://steamboats.com
Use the Correct Order for Tags
You can use as many commands as you want, as long as you open and close them in order. The commands cannot overlap. If you set a font, you must close the font; if you center something, you must end center. Here is an example:
<table align="center" width="600" cellpadding=10><tr><td>
<center><font size="+1">text goes here</font></center>
</td></tr></table>
Meta Tag Help
Search Google for "meta header generator" or "meta tag generator" to find a site that will help you build effective meta tags.
What are the best keywords?
Ask Google.com's keyword tool - click here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Forms, CSS, and JavaScript
CSS is a language that streamlines formatting throughout a website. JavaScript is used to set up forms, create special advanced graphics, search, or perform other functions. Forms may also be built using HTML.
The script is dropped into the html page. Here is an example of JavaScript:
Here is an example of an HTML form:
Software
Some html programs offer shortcuts and let you check the syntax to find errors.
Good text editing programs:
For the Mac: BBEdit $35, not available for Windows
http://www.editpadpro.com/ $50; also available free for non-commercial use (practice): Edit Pad Lite
http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/ $40
http://www.htmlbeauty.com/ free
http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html Notepad2 - free
Wysiwyg Software
Wysiwyg (pronounced "wizzy-wig") stands for What You See Is What You Get. Dreamweaver is an example of software that falls in this category. Here is a list of programs: WYSIWYG choices.
Tutorials to Learn Code
HTML tutorial
Intro. to CSS
Software to Post to the Internet
FileZilla Windows and Mac
Interarchy Mac only