I'll be covering some of the free tools you can use to grow your business and walking the audience though some live "how to" sessions on each of my selected tools. This will not be just another list of free websites, but a thorough analysis of a few real winners in the "FREE" category. I say "free" because nothing is really free. And some of the sites I'll be presenting have options that eventually require that you pay... and you should!
Sarah, Heather and Kim have all written posts about Twitter today.
I thought I'd add my two cents and show you what you can find if you're paying attention. I monitor the use of the word "realtor" on Twitter, for example. Here's the conversation over the past 24 hours. It's a mix of consumer and REALTOR® voices.
I see at least two opportunities to start a conversation with a consumer. How about you?
LindaDavis@jefftippett I did that too many times and finally broke down and bought another. I'm a two power cord realtor now. 14 hours ago
wtfamandah We're calling a new Realtor tomorrow. Thanks for screwing us over. Now we have to pay for something we're not gonna be living in for longer 15 hours ago
Pistachio@jimphelps awesome idea, but i'm past answering the phone when it's him. had realtor remind him we'll file another police report if he calls 18 hours ago
lexikate Our realtor told us that our negotiations have been a "hellish nightmare." 20 hours ago
jaybowman put off another 3 days by a Realtor with an out of town seller... aggrivating people think their house is worth gold with a hole in the roof 21 hours ago
Arielle8 OMG!!!!!!!!! The realtor called a short while ago to get our atty's info so that he could send contract papers to buyers atty!!!!! Yay! 21 hours ago
It's been a while since I put up the last video tutorial.
So when Bill Herold sent me an email with a question about his comment signature, I saw it as an opportunity to do another. Bill wrote,
"My problem in looking at blog responses is that my name shows up as: Bill Herold edit delete and others show up with regular signature, company names, designation, etc"
Bill said he had searched and couldn't find out how to do this anywhere. A video tutorial is really overkill for this one, but I'm using a new screen capture software and truth be told, I'm looking for just about any excuse to use it. :)
It wasn't until two weeks ago, during a telephone interview with The Internet Marketing Center, that I recognized this milestone was approaching. When the interviewer asked me how Real Estate Shows got it's start, I realized that the timing of our Valentine's Day greeting templates was a wonderful coincidence. I've told my Valentine's Day story many, many times, but I've never written about it. This seems like the right time.
What happens when you don't hire a videographer for your wedding?
You end up with no wedding video. I know that seems obvious. When my wife and I made the decision to only hire a photographer to shoot nothing but black and white photos, we thought it would be cool and artsy. In retrospect, it was just short sighted. As the years passed, what we really wanted was to be able to sit in front of a TV, cuddle up and watch our wedding video. But we didn't have one.
What do you do when you have a lot of extra time on your hands?
If you're me, you play on the computer - a lot. And that's exactly what I did. I played with technology. During the months after I left my former company, I spent a lot of time researching and testing new software. I found an application (Mac only) that made the Ken Burns effect simpler to produce than iMovie and decided I'd use my newly found free time to make a Valentine's Day present for my wife - a DVD Movie of our wedding. So, I scanned in all of our old black and white wedding photos, hundreds of them, and made a five part DVD of our ceremony.
What happens when you present a gift publicly and everyone in the room cries?
If you're me, you enjoy the moment for about a minute and then a voice inside your head says, "hmm, why isn't anyone using this technique to present houses online?" As I watched the different parts of the video on the TV screen and judged the people's reactions, I realized that when you use the Ken Burns effect on inanimate objects, it feels a great deal like you're watching something shot with a video camera.
I played around with the idea inside my head for several months before deciding that this might be worth pursuing. I didn't register the domain name, RealEstateShows.com, until almost four months later, on June 3, 2003. It would be another 6 months of research and testing before any Shows, all hand made at the time, were presented to the first real estate group. After that first presentation, almost another year would pass before we felt we'd learned enough to fully define, simplify and automate the process online.
What happens when you really enjoy doing what you do for a living?
Time flies really fast. Five years have passed since that Valentine's Day present was popped into the DVD player. In the three years since we automated the service online, over 30,000 real estate agents have set up accounts at Real Estate Shows. I'm proud of what our team has created.
What do you do to celebrate five years?
I decided to memorialize this day by sharing one of the segments from the DVD that began as a Valentine's Day gift and ended as a business. Here it is.
On March 19, 2008 from 12:00 Noon to 1:45 PM in Room 505, I will be speaking at the Colorado Realtor Rally to be held the Colorado Convention Center. 
It's been a while since I put up the last video tutorial. 
It wasn't until two weeks ago, during a telephone interview with