If you’re like me, you get a lot of email.  I recently went on my own little jihad of unsubscribing from everything that I hadn’t read in the last four or five months.  My goal was to reduce the sheer number of incoming emails that I have to wade through to get to the relevant stuff.  But even after I went through and deleted the “optional read” items, I had over 200 emails I hadn’t yet dealt with.  It was overwhelming.  So, I set up a system.

I decided to sort my incoming emails into categories so I could deal with similar items all at once.  Here are the categories I created:

• Check On Me/Track Me  (these are ongoing projects that don’t need my daily attention, but once a week I’ll check to see what’s outstanding)
• Print Me (since I’m not often near a printer with my laptop)
• Process Me (these require some action or research on my part, this includes things like setting up new social media profiles, answering questions on social media sites, TweetLater alerts, Facebook requests, etc.)
• Read Me  (anything that is not time critical, but which is still of interest)
• Research Me  (I’m currently doing research on a new health insurance policy, so this is in there, but it could be anything where I am collecting data to compare and contrast)
• Respond To Me  (these are emails that require a personal response from me for one reason or another)
• Schedule Me (these are items that require me adding them to my calendar.  Ideally, I’ll get to the point where I have my calendar online and I can have my assistant handle these emails)

Sort – Don’t DO!
My first goal was to take the items from my inbox and move them into the categories.  The important thing was not to get distracted by doing anything with each of them, but just to figure out the appropriate category and move them immediately into that box.  This took some discipline on my part and I found myself more than once “doing” instead of sorting, but I got it done in about half an hour – and I deleted a lot of stuff that was no longer relevant along the way.  Not bad. 

Quick Wins
Then I went through and did the quick win items.  I printed all of the “Print Me” items and filed them away.  (Something else that should be outsourced to an in-house assistant whenever possible.)  Then I scheduled all of the “Schedule Me” items.  Within just another half hour, I was done with another 20 items from my list. 

Delegate
Then it was time to sit down and plow through the Process stuff.  I found that I could outsource a goodly amount of my Process stuff to my assistant.  So that got stuff off my desk as well.  Now I’m just left with 75 emails that require a response from me – however brief.  That’s a much ore manageable number than 500.  I can deal with that. 

Remove Distractions

I moved all of my read emails to a “Completed” folder so that I can search easily if I need to find something, but they aren’t sitting and staring me in the face.  Now, the only things in my “Inbox” are items to be categorized.  I can breathe again!

Get On Track

So how is your email box looking?  Does it seem like a monster stealing away your time and energy?  Try what I did and take items down to bite-sized pieces.  Good luck and happy sorting!

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2009, Kelle Sparta.

I received this email in my box a couple days ago.  Thought you would like to know:

New DPA Legislation

January 12, 2009

We have been informed that a bill to reinstate reformed downpayment assistance will be introduced as early as tomorrow. The bill is expected to be introduced by Congressman Al Green (TX) with bipartisan support. The bill will have the same language as unanimously passed last year by the House Financial Services Committee.

We will keep you informed as we continue to support efforts to reinstate downpayment assistance.

AmeriDream

"Doing things right for America's homebuyers"

www.AmeriDream.org

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2009, Kelle Sparta.

Hey there!

As you all know, I've been playing with the new tool called BlitzTime - it's an online speed networking site.  In an hour, I can learn something new and talk to six people who could potentially get me business.  It's awesome.  I've gotten something productive out of every session.  Below I've listed a few events coming up that might spark your interest and ]gasp!] they are all FREE!

The Events
I'm speaking at an event called Driving Sales through Search Marketing & Google Advertising.  Sadly, for those of you on the east coast, it may be too early (it's 8:05am EST).  But for you early risers everywhere else (and trust me, I'm not one of them - 8AM is a stretch for me), you can come out and learn about improving your SEO in a free seminar.  It's only an hour long.  My presentation is about 10 minutes and then you get in some good networking, plus it will encourage you to get started on the site (you'll be amazed how many events there are - and some are specifically real estate related). 

Inside The Elevator
This is another great event.  Here's the description:  Need to hone your elevator pitch? Want to get some honest feedback or just practice? That's what we do Inside the Elevator.

Each session we review a new tip and then break into a series of one-on-one sessions that let you practice your pitch with a number of different people. You'll also give your feedback to a those same people to help them hone their pitch.

Practice makes perfect - Inside the Elevator!

Virtual Tweetup
Are you a big fan of Twitter?  Come out to the Virtual Tweetup (this one is today, so don't fart around looking at it).  Here's the description:  It's a big, big Twitter world and sometimes you just can't get out to meet up with your followers.

Now you can - all without leaving your house. Each week we host the Virtual Tweetup, where you talk voice-to-voice in short, personal conversations. It's conversation - Twitter-style! After each conversation we'll re-mix into another then another then another for about 90 minutes.

Gather followers. Find new people to follow. Talk with people you only read about on Twitter.

It's a party in YOUR house! Just remember to BYOB. :)

Money Makeover
How about a money makeover?  Here's the description:  Start 2009 with a powerful, uplifting and informative “Money Makeover!”

Join me, Tony Mack, on the Blitz Line for an evening, “Money Makeover” seminar, presented and facilitated by Glenn Smyly - Founder of the Free Money Makeover System and Contributing Author of Roadmap to Success with Ken Blanchard and Stephen Covey.

In this seminar you will identify, discover and reveal to yourself any “X” Factors that are causing you to sabotage your success, wealth and prosperity!

You will eliminate these “X” factors forever!

You will create a firm positive foundation for your personal beliefs and relationship with money, wealth and success!

Participants of this presentation have doubled their income and net worth shortly after completing the seminar and so can you!

We look forward to sharing this informative evening with you!

Social Media Blitz #5:  The ROI of Social Media
Love Social Media? Love Social Networking?

The Social Media Blitz is like a Meetup where you don't have to leave your home making it a virtual tweetup! At the Social Media Blitz you'll have one-on-one conversations with at least 10 different people over the phone.

Before the on-on-one networking begins we're going to have a group conversation determining the ROI of a social media strategy. Should we be using ROI as our metric for determining success? If not, then what should we be using to determine success of the time and effort we're putting into social media?

These questions and tons more will be addressed during this speed networking event.

AND MANY, MANY MORE!!  Come on out and join us today!

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2009, Kelle Sparta.

I went onto a website today (I'm not going to tell you who - I don't want to give them any credit for this) to look into their CRM software.  I had heard that it integrates with Google Apps and I wanted to see what it had to offer.  But when I got there, the site had demos - which I thought would be a great way for me to determine if I was interested enough to take the next step.  The problem is that they wanted my information before they would show me the demo.  This was NOT OK with me.  Why?

It's a Trade
They were trying to get me to buy their product.  Letting me see the demo is part of the sales process.  It provides no value to me other than determining whether or not the product will work for me.  It's something that I shouldn't have to pay for with my contact info.  If I am to turn in my contact info, it needs to give me something of value in return - and a sales pitch isn't of value to me.

The Lesson
If you want someone's contact info, give something that is of value whether or not someone uses your services because they haven't yet decided whether they are using you.  Otherwise, you're asking for people to do what I did - leave your site and never come back.

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2009, Kelle Sparta.

OK - I know - I'm slow.  I've been resistant to using Twitter.  I set up my account ages ago and haven't really done much with it other than the occasional update.  (Although I did use it extensively for PodCamp Boston 3 notifications and that rocked.)  But now I'm getting started.  And so, as I do when I start any new venture online, I called my friends and asked for some advice. 

Yesterday I posted a blog from Shannon Cherry about how she does her online presence with Twitter.  Now, I'm going to offer you the tip on how she does this.  There are two services called TweetLater and Twitterfeed. 

TweetLater
This service allows you to schedule your Tweets for a later date/time.  So, for instance, if you know you have a listing coming on Tuesday or an open house scheduled for Sunday, you can schedule your tweet for it to go out at the approriate time.  That way, if you're not near a computer, you can still be promoting. 

Post Later
Also, for $9.95/mo. (cheap!) you can use their PostLater option.  This allows you to schedule a post to be posteda t a later date/time.  Now, why would you want to do that?  Well, I know that I often have burst of writing productivity.  I won't write for days and then I'll have like 5 posts at a time.  That's not very effective.  But if I scheduled those posts out over time, then I'd be consistently putting stuff out.  Plus, if you're running multiple blogs, you can actually schedule a post that isn't time sensitive to run today on one blog and three months from now on another which will allow both posts to be indexed by Google.  (It won't index both of them if it finds them posted too close together.)  I haven't determined whether it works on AR or not yet.  I tested the site and it gave me a "maybe, maybe not" answer, so I'm going to have to check that and get back to you. If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments.  Thanks!

TwitterFeed
This is something that definitively works because I'm already using it.  I've connected my Twitter account to my AR blog via the RSS feed.  Basically what that means is that I'm Tweeting automatically every time I post a blog post.  And, because I've also connected Twitter to my Facebook account (something you do in the settings on Twitter), it's also sending my blogs posts as updates on my Facebook profile.  So I'm getting triple duty out of my blog entries.  And, if I were to use the "PostLater" function on TweetLater, I'd get even more out of it every time it posted to a new blog.

Now I've been told by some social media mavens out there that some of these tools are frowned upon because they take the personal out of the social, but if it's my plan to manually input my blogs posts and post them to Twitter anyway, I don't see the harm.  It gets me started.  And that's a step in the right direction.

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2009, Kelle Sparta.

My friend, Shannon Cherry, posted this blog on her site today and I wanted to share it with you all. So, with her permission, here it is...

Ok, I’ll admit it. I cheat when it comes to social media.

I send out automatic DMs (direct messages) on Twitter, among other places.

And many of my PR and social media marketing colleagues would say I am absolutely wrong… and lazy.

Why would I do such a thing?

I’m a busy woman! As much as I appreciate the new followers and friends who come my way, I have a job to do: getting clients publicity.

But most people don’t know (until now) that my Twitter welcome message isn’t me… well, it is me, just automated. (Want to see it? Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/shannoncherry)

It’s all due to the way my auto welcome message reads. I don’t link or promote myself. I try to engage and start a conversation by asking questions.

And at least twice a day, I get a DM back from people who want to talk.

Once I get THAT DM, I reply and begin building a (hopefully) productive and mutually beneficial relationship.

So I am NOT going to Twitter hell. I am just keeping things manageable.

That doesn’t mean I don’t reach out to the others who didn’t respond to my DM. I understand that they’re busy too!

PS- A special thanks to Nancy Marmojelo who helped me understand that it’s cool to cheat!

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If you're interested in learning more about Shannon and what she talks about (she's WAY COOL), you can find her blog at ThePowerPublicist.com.

If you want to put added ‘flavor’ in your publicity efforts, you may want to join her for Attract More Clients & Customers - and Get a Little Famous in 2009.

----------------------------------------------

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2009, Kelle Sparta.

Accomplishing Multiple Goals At Once
I am a huge fan of getting more than one use out of something that I do.  When I do teleseminars, I record them so that I can use the information later on my website, in a podcast or in a product.  When I run errands, I try to group all my errands onto the same day so that I can be efficient about getting from one place to the next.  If I am traveling someplace, I try to visit those I know on the way.  If I update one friend from far away whom I haven't talked to in a while, I cut and paste the info and update everyone else who hasn't heard from me.  In this way, I get a lot done with the least amount of effort.  I call it optimizing.

Optimizing
Most recently, I've decided to optimize my life.  I looked at my carbon footprint.  I looked at my income and expenses.  I looked at how I live my life and the resources around me.  I looked at my health.  I looked at everything.  (Basically, I did a more in-depth version of the process I take my real estate coaching clients through when we start.)  And what I realized is this.  My car lease is ending on February 2nd, so I'm giving up my car.

Five Birds - One Stone
I bought a bike last month - a really cool one that I love to ride.  (This was important because I know myself and I know that if I don't like riding it, I won't.)  This way I can get to the T (the subway in Boston) station by my house quickly - it's only a mile away.  And, once I get used to riding it - which I haven't yet - I'll be able to ride further distances.  Most of the city is within 5 miles of me.  So, now that I have an alternative form of transport as well as  buses and a Zipcar lot within a couple blocks of my house, I'm ready to give up my car.  Here's what I'll accomplish in that one move:

• Reduce my expenses by $500/mo. between the car payment, insurance, parking fees, maintenance, and parking tickets.  This is Boston - you can't go without a ticket every now and again, no matter how careful you are.  Sure, I'll have to pay for a Zipcar occasionally and pay for the buses/subway but it shouldn't come to more than $100/mo. most months since I work from home.
• Increase my walking and bike useage which will increase my overall health and, hopefully, facilitate some weight loss.
• Reduce my carbon footprint by 7.99 tons of CO2 per year (including the secondary footprint).  I tend to drive even when I could walk - it's inevitable.  The buses are already running and already burning the gas, I'm going to make use of them.  Plus, when there's an event in western Massachusets that I need to go to, it will encourage me to carpool with someone, thereby reducing the footprint even further.  And, when I go south to visit family, I'll take the train instead of driving - again reducing the footprint of my existence on the planet. 
  
• No more shovelling the driveway.  I live in a three-family at the moment and the deal we have is that those who want to park in the driveway shovel it.  Now that I will no longer have a car, I don't have to shovel the driveway.
• No parking woes.  Since I will no longer be driving, I will not have to worry about parking.  Whee!  (This can be a real hassle in the city.)

Doing Something Uncomfortable
Yes, it's uncomfortable for me to let go of the convenience of having a car.  I've owned a car continuously since I was sixteen.  My early driving years were spent in southern California where the culture is to drive everywhere.  (Really an odd thing since it's the one place in the country where the weather is always fit for biking.)  I'm REALLY uncomfortable with the idea of not having my car.  Which is why I'm doing it.  I know that the biggest changes are the ones that make us uncomfortable. 

What You Own - Owns You Too
My boyfriend has a saying that ownership is bidirectional and he's right.  As much as I own my car, it owns me.  I have to maintain it, find a place to park it, lock it so that no one steals it, clean it, etc.  It takes time and money.  So in letting go of the car, I'm also letting go of a little of the pull on my personal resources.

Getting a GREAT Attitude
I also know that attitude is everything, so I've been cultivating my awesome attitude.  Yesterday, I went out for a bike ride - it was brisk but beautiful.  I rode my purple bike and rang my bell just because.  I had my bell sing with the birds in the trees on the bike path.  I smiled at people as I went.  (I tend to growl at other drivers - people in Massachusetts aren't very good drivers.)  I noticed my heart racing as I pedalled my bike and I gave myself kudos for the aerobic workout I was getting.  I enjoyed the wind on my face - even though it made the pedalling harder.  I laughed out loud with the freedom of biking in the open air.  Then, later that evening, I walked a few blocks from where I had parked my car (I know, but I still have it for the moment), and I enjoyed the walking.  By the end of the evening, my joints hurt and my muscles were sore, but I felt triumphant.  I was getting healthier and better prepared for my life without a car.

Challenge
So here's my challenge for you as you consider the coming year.  What one thing can you do that would improve your life, improve your bottom line, and improve the environment or your community?  Think outside of the box and get creative.  If it makes you uncomfortable - even better!  It means you're growing.  The New Year is coming.  What will you make of it?

Giving Up My Car - An update

More On Ending My Car Lease

What Is Freedom?

Blogging for PR

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2008, Kelle Sparta.

An accountant friend of mine who knows that my boyfriend and I are looking into buying the house that he lives in sent us this article recently.  It's got a [gasp!] positive message for potential first-time home buyers.  You guys should check it out and send it to all of your buyers who are on the fence.

It May Be Time to Think About Buying a House

The New York Times - Your Money Section, December 5, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/business/yourmoney/06money.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2008, Kelle Sparta.

Blogs Get Scraped
You may have noticed that on each blog entry I do, I have a signature at the bottom that includes links to my website and details about me.  I do this for a reason.  There are robots out there in the world that will take and "scrape" your blog for articles relevant to what the site is that they are searching for content for.  They will then (without permission) post your blog on their site so as to drive traffic to their site. 

Google Alerts
Now, I have a Google Alerts that keeps track of when my name, my company name, or the name of my book comes up on the web.  So when I get scraped (and it happens often), I can find out where it went.  And, if they didn't maintain my links intact, then I can comment on the post and ask that they reinstate the links. 

Let Them Have the Post
Notice I DIDN'T say that I could ask them to remove the posting.  Because I don't want them to.  Sure, they stole my content.  But they could have had it for the asking if they kept the links in place.  I am perfectly happy to have my stuff show up everywhere - with my links in place.  Why?  Two reasons. 

Driving Traffic Directly From Scraping Site
Perhaps someone will find my site as a result of reading the article on their site.  After all, they're scraping all sorts of relevant content - they should reach some of my target market too. 

Driving Up Your SEO
And, more importantly, each incoming link to my site increases my SEO.  A link about real estate training to my real estate training web page.  A link about real estate products to my real estate product page.  A link for real estate coaching to my real estate coaching page.  A link about internet training, to my Web 2.0 Training for Realtors (sign up before the end of December and save $100.) web page.  How great is that?  (And did you notice the little trick I just did with putting all of those links in?  Now when this post gets scraped, my SEO will go up even more.)

While We're On The Subject
Don't forget to put a copyright notice in the footer of your pages to protect you.  And, if you have one already, remember that you need to change it to 2009 in a few days.  We want to be accurate.

Conversion Tools
Remember also that your blog is advertising.  Use it to convert lurkers into leads.  Add a conversion tool like the one I have below.  It references a free training program I have available online.  All you have to do is tell me who you are and give me a valid email address.  If you have a white paper or recorded class you can trade to buyers or sellers in exchange for their email address, then you're styling too.

Include a Share, Digg, or Delicious Button
You want people to be able to tell others about the cool things they read on your blog.  Make it easy for them to do so using a simple button.  Getting your posts included in these directories also does wonders for your SEO.

And - here it is - my signature...

Get my book The Consultative Real Estate Agent: Building Relationahips that Create Loyal Clients, Get More Referrals and Increase Your Sales.

Do you want information on how to coach your clients through the sales process? Sign up for my FREE 10-Part Audio training program.

Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2008, Kelle Sparta.

UPDATE!  March 2009

I learned something new recently. You want to keep your signature small. You'll notice that on my more recent posts, I've removed this signature entirely. The reason is because of a conversation that I had with our own Brad Andersohn. He bet me 50,000 points that if I took my signature off my blog more people would subscribe to it. Well, I have gotten a few more subcriptions - but I can't tell if those are from the lack of a signature or the couple of posts I've had featured. But I will say that I'm getting more comments.  You'll notice that the signature (which I left in above to preserve the original intent of this post) is significantly shorter than the post just before it.  So if you are going to use a signature, make it short and sweet and not too salesy.  It seems that any sales content is considered taboo.  According to Brad "if they want to know more about you, they'll go to your profile page" and all of our selling content should be there.  Live and learn!

I just answered a post about someone setting up a website and wanting to install Google Analytics (which is a traffic tracking and analysis program you can get access to for free from Google).  My answer was so detailed and long, I thought it might make a good post here.

Dear Stephanie,

Google analytics are pretty simple to use.  You sign up through http://www.google.com/analytics and then set up a profile for your site (it will take you through the process).  Once you have your profile set up, you can get a code to add to your website.  Go into the HTML view of your site and drop the entire code script into your page using the cut and paste function.  Drop it in right before the "/body" tag which is usually right before the end of the page.  (There may be some footer info after it, but it's close.)  Then you wait.

You'll need a few months of data to establish a baseline of traffic - perhaps more since you're starting a new site,  If you still have access to your old site, don't forget to put 401 redirects from your old pages to your new ones so that you don't lose the benefit of your old SEO.  And if your new site comes with a new URL, don't forget to register your URL with DMOZ.com and link to your site from all of your public profiles.  This will cause your site to get indexed faster and get you traffic faster. 

Once your google analytics are up, you'll want to start looking at the numbers.  Check to see what blog posts yielded what kind of traffic (you'll have to compare by dates and those clicking through from Active Rain).  Google will tell you what the "referring sites" are, so that you know where people are coming from.  Basically, you're shooting for more of what makes people come to you.

You can also set up "conversion goals" which registers how many times people actually do what you want them to do when they are on your site.  (I.E. do you want them to fill out a "contact us" form or order a white paper, etc.)  And, you can use analytics to test different pages to see which ones convert better.  This is what marketers call A/B Testing.

Whew - I've got so much more to tell you about this.  There's no way I can get it all in here.  Clearly, I need to do a podcast on this topic.  I'll let you know when I do.  Best of luck with your new site!

HINT:  Read the comments - there's some good stuff in there on SEO too.

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Kelle Sparta, author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent, is one of the top innovators in the industry. She thinks outside of the box and she does it with style, which is how she managed to sell 25 houses her first year in the business in a market just like this one in an area where she had no sphere of influence! Kelle's innovative techniques took her to the top of the market in 1993 and they can take you there now. Kelle has coached agents from around the country who have been producing as much as $45 million per year in gross volume. Now she brings her unique style of real estate to you. Her dynamic presentation skills, high energy approach, and brilliant new ideas are sure to be the highlight of your day. Kelle is the founder of Sparta Success Systems, a real estate training company that provides products, coaching and training to empower agents and brokers to create lives and businesses they can love. For more information, visit her website at http://www.spartasuccess.com/. © 2008, Kelle Sparta.