Still wondering if Twitter is useful for business? Take a look at Yammer

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

One of the top questions I get when I write about twitter.com is “I’m not sure if it’s useful for my business. “

If you are looking for a strictly business micro-blogging platform, you would do well to give yammer.com a look.

Yammer allows you to set up private networks where you and your team members can communicate about (and collaborate on) various projects. Only people with your corporate email address (ex., yourname@close-more-loans.com) can join your network.

Yammer cuts down on back and forth emails that may clog up your email network.

A note of caution – if you are using Yammer to communicate about client loan file status, remember your responsibility to maintain each client’s privacy. Even though your Yammer networks are supposed to be private, remember this – if you don’t want the world to see it, don’t post it on the Internet.

Yammer has a great video tutorial here.

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Wondering how to incorporate the various social networking tools in your mortgage business? A Mortgage Virtual Assistant can help you choose only those tools that will work well for your business.

iContact Tip – Cancel a Scheduled Message

By JC Kadii, Mortgage Email Marketing

Several of our mortgage email marketing clients use icontact.com, which provides a lot of features for the price. Some of the features that come standard with an icontact account include: autoresponders, a good amount of storage space for your images, the ability to create multiple lead capture forms (and tie each form to its own autoresponder), and more.

Someone recently asked me how to un-schedule a schedule email so that you can make changes.

The process is fairly easy.

  • Log into your icontact.com account.

  • Click the Send tab.
  • Click Pending Messages
  • Click the red icon next to the Scheduled date.

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JC Kadii, MortgageEzines.com. 770-469-7385.
Did you know that the estimated 2008 ROI on email marketing is $45.65 for every $1 spent? (Source: Direct Marketing Association). Email marketing is an effective, affordable way to stay in touch with your leads. We offer turnkey mortgage email marketing, custom email newsletter template design, and more.

How to Export One Folder (Outlook 2003 Tip)

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

In response to my blog post, Quickly File your Outlook Emails,
Eileen Begley, Monterey Real Estate asked:

Hi Jackie; Is there a way to save/export just one folder? I have client folders and would like to somehow include those emails with the closed escrow file. Thanks!

Well, this one’s for you Eileen.

To export just one folder.

  • Click the File menu.

  • Click Import/Export.

  • Choose Export to a file.

  • Click Next.

  • Choose Personal Folder File and click Next.

  • Select the folder you wish to export from the list, click the include subfolders box if you want to include subfolders.

  • Create the name you’d like to use for your exported file. Decide if you want duplicated items created.

  • Click Finish – and you’re done.

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Through http://www.close-more-loans.com/, JC leads a team providing top notch administrative, internet marketing, and technology services to mortgage professionals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to visit the website and sign up for the More Closings email newsletter to receive the report 6 Steps to More Referrals.

Walk the Talk and Make a BIG Difference!

One of the reasons people give for not volunteering is that they don’t have the time. Renae puts together an awesome list of completely doable ways each of us can contribute to making society better.

I am going to recommend that AR features this post. Join me, won’t you?

Via Renae Bolton ~ Marketing 4 Realtors (Marketing 4 Realtors):

After reading Seth Godin’s blog entitled National Day of Service, I was inspired!  I’ve already started my family on the right path toward creating a better environment by starting our goal to go green.  You can join me by reading my post on One Million Acts of Active Rain Green.  In Seth’s post, he discussed several ways we can make a difference by volunteering.  Everything isn’t always about giving money, nor is it always about being local.  I’m taking from his post and re-blogging some of the things we could do online.

  1. Teach someone how to sell their services on Craigslist, or how to use the web to find a job.
  2. Build a Squidoo lens every day for a year about a favorite author or musician and dedicate the proceeds to charity. 300 a year could earn tens of thousands of dollars for a cause you care about. That adds up to serious money.
  3. Start a blog and profile one worthy non-profit every single day.walk the talk
  4. Find an artisan and redesign their website or help them figure out how to promote their work.
  5. Create and promote an online petition for a cause you care about.
  6. Make a video that teaches people how to do better in a job interview or balance a checkbook or spot consumer fraud.
  7. Start a Facebook group for like-minded people who support the same non-profit you do. Commit to spending time to promote it, organize the people there and actually create outcomes of value.
  8. Write ten letters a day to corporations seeking donations for a local homeless shelter.
  9. Find a tool that non-profits need online, and then organize some brilliant people to build it as an opensource utility.
  10. Find a cause that supports soldiers or diplomats or other public servants that are on the road, and make it easier for them to connect with people back home.
  11. Use Copilot to diagnose and fix computer problems for people or causes that can’t afford fancy IT support. It’s free on weekends.
  12. Find an entrepreneur in the developing world and become her email penpal. Daily advice and encouragement might save hundreds of lives.
  13. Lobby Congress with letters and blog posts to make a change to a law that doesn’t benefit you at all, but helps the community in the long run.
  14. Write a great wikipedia article every day about a person who is changing the world for the better.
  15. Find video and remix it into an insanely viral video that promotes a cause that you believe in.

I’d love to hear from anyone who would be up for any of these suggested ways to make a difference.  After all, isn’t it the responsibility of those of us who are able to help make a difference for those who are not?  Not just in Garfield Heights, Ohio but around the world.  Each one of us can make a difference.  Will you join me?

~Renae – Market 4 Real!_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Need help with consistently marketing to your leads and your listings? Don’t put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients and your listings into SOLD properties!

One Mortgage Professional will Win $3,000 in Internet Marketing Services

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

With the combination of the tight mortgage market, and the fact that more and more people are using the Internet in their home search, incorporating Internet marketing in your mortgage business is not an option, it’s a requirement.

My company is introducing a contest to help 1 Mortgage Professional springboard their internet marketing. The 1st prize winner gets 6 months of Mortgage Internet Marketing services, valued at $3,000.

Details and requirements will be announced next week.

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Through http://www.close-more-loans.com/, JC leads a team providing top notch administrative, internet marketing, and technology services to mortgage professionals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to visit the website and sign up for the More Closings email newsletter to receive the report 6 Steps to More Referrals.

Outlook 2007 – Create an Appointment from An Email – 2nd Method

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

In a previous post, I shared a method (Outlook 2007) for creating an appointment from an email. The 1st method makes a copy of the email message.

But what if you want to move the email message to your calendar?

In that case, you would use the second method.

2nd Method

  • With the email open, click the Move to folder button.

  • Move the email to the Calendar folder.

.

This method removes the email from your inbox, and places it on your calendar. If you delete the appointment, you are also deleting the email.

For additional information: see our Clearing Inbox Clutter class for Outlook 2007

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Through http://www.close-more-loans.com/, JC leads a team providing top notch administrative, internet marketing, and technology services to mortgage professionals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to visit the website and sign up for the More Closings email newsletter to receive the report 6 Steps to More Referrals.

Outlook 2007 – Create an Appointment from An Email – 1st Method

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

One way to keep your inbox clear of clutter is to take action on every email that comes into your box. Here are two ways to create an appointment from an email.

1st Method

  • Drag the email to the calendar on the To-Do Bar.

  • The email changes to an Appointment.
  • Make sure the date and time are correct.
  • This method copies places a copy of the email on your calendar. If you delete the email, the appointment is not affected.

For additional information: see our Clearing Inbox Clutter class for Outlook 2007

For the second method, click here.

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Through http://www.close-more-loans.com/, JC leads a team providing top notch administrative, internet marketing, and technology services to mortgage professionals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to visit the website and sign up for the More Closings email newsletter to receive the report 6 Steps to More Referrals.

Office 2007 – Save Time with the Quick Access Toolbar

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

In this post, Save Tons of Time by Customizing Your Toolbar, I revealed one of my favorite Office 2003 time savers, adding buttons to the toolbar.

Unfortunately, this feature was removed in Office 2007. Instead, it has been replaced by the Quick Access Toolbar.

  • Position your mouse in the blue area next to the Ribbon tab.

  • Right click, then choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar.
  • Under Choose commands from, change Popular Commands to All Commands.
  • Select a command, click Add.

Add the rest of the commands to the list, and click OK.

Source: Webinar – Favorite Software Shortcuts – Office 2007 version

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Through http://www.close-more-loans.com/, JC leads a team providing top notch administrative, internet marketing, and technology services to mortgage professionals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to visit the website and sign up for the More Closings email newsletter to receive the report 6 Steps to More Referrals.

MS Office 2003 – Save Tons of Time by Customizing Your Toolbar

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

Did you know you can add buttons to any toolbar in the Microsoft Office 2003 suite (Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, etc.)?

Why would you use this, may ask? I have found that adding a couple of buttons to the toolbar for frequently used commands speeds up my productivity.

Here’s an example. Microsoft Excel doesn’t have a button to delete a row. Clicking on a button is a lot faster than having to go through the Edit menu each time I need to remove a row.

Here are the instructions for adding the Delete Rows button to your toolbar. Although this is an Excel command, similar steps will work for all MS Office programs.

  • Right click in the blue area to the right of any of your toolbars.

  • Click on Customize.
  • When the dialog box pops up, click on the Commands tab.
  • Under the Categories list box, click on Edit.
  • Scroll down the Commands list box until you come to Delete Rows
  • Click on Delete Rows and drag it to any toolbar.

The next time you need to delete a row, simply click on the button you’ve added to your toolbar.

Now, go and experiment to see how many buttons you can add to your existing Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint or Publisher toolbars to save you tons of time.

Source: Webinar – “A Few Favorite Software Tips”

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Through http://www.close-more-loans.com/, JC leads a team providing top notch administrative, internet marketing, and technology training services to mortgage professionals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to visit the website and sign up for the More Closings email newsletter to receive the report 6 Steps to More Referrals.

Migrating your Do Not Email Lists to Constant Contact

By JC Kadii, MortgageVirtualAssistant.comSM

While conducting a 1-to-1 training session in constant contact recently, a client brought up an interesting question.

She was changing her email marketing provider to constant contact, and wanted to make sure that anyone who had unsubscribed from the previous service could not be added into constant contact.

Simply copying her active lists from the old service to constant contact would not work, because she wanted to make sure the unsubscribes could not be added by mistake.

She had a point, since the penalties for non-compliance with the CAN SPAM ACT can be as high as $11,000 per occurrence.

This is the process I showed her for making sure any unsubscribes could not be added into the constant contact list.

Create a list (text, csv, or Excel file) of your “Do not contact” list.

Click Contacts, then Add or Import Contacts then Create a New List.

Follow the prompts to import your file into a new list.

Once the list is imported, Click Contacts again.

Scroll down to the “My Lists” section.

Click the name of the lists – another window will pop up.

Change the drop down box at the right hand side of your screen to “100 per page,” this will make the process go much faster. Click update. Now, instead of seeing 10 contacts, you’ll be looking at 100.

Click the check box next to: Select all contacts within this list.

Click the button next to “Do Not Mail.”

If you have more than 100 contacts in your list, go to the next page of contacts, and repeat the process until you’ve tagged all of your email addresses.

Want more information? Contact us about 1-to-1 Constant Contact training.

Click here to get a free 60-day constant contact trial, and a $30 credit when you become a paying customer.

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JC Kadii, Mortgage Virtual AssistantSM . 770-469-7385. Through http://www.close-more-loans.com/, JC leads a team providing top notch administrative, internet marketing, and technology services to mortgage professionals. Mortgage professionals are encouraged to visit the website and sign up for the More Closings email newsletter to receive the report 6 Steps to More Referrals.

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