Friday, March 26, 2010

Canada’s Economic Action Plan Creates Jobs and Improves Social Housing in Ontario

ORANGEVILLE, ON, March 26, 2010 — The Government of Canada announced today that a housing co-operative located in Orangeville will receive more than $187,000 through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, as part of the social housing renovation and retrofit investments.

The announcement was made by David Tilson, Member of Parliament for Dufferin – Caledon, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

“Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, our government is taking action to help ensure our economic recovery and create the conditions for long-term growth," said MP Tilson. “Funding renovation and retrofit projects, like this one, will not only improve the quality of life of its residents by keeping their homes safe and affordable, but it will also help stimulate the local economy and create local jobs.”

The Government of Canada, through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, announced $1 billion for social housing renovation and retrofit. Of the $1 billion, $850 million is being delivered by provinces and territories on a cost-matched basis for existing federally assisted social housing projects which they administer on behalf of the partnership. The remaining $150 million is being delivered by CMHC for existing federally assisted off-reserve housing which it directly administers. Eligible repairs include general improvements, energy efficiency upgrades or conversions, and modifications in support of persons with disabilities.

The housing co-operative that will receive a contribution from the Government of Canada being announced today is Shaw’s Creek Co-operative Homes Inc.

“We congratulate and thank the federal government, MP Tilson and CMHC for making a sound investment to help ensure that this affordable community is preserved as a legacy for the long-term benefit of its residents,“ said Ken Elliott, President of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. “Today’s announcement is an excellent example of stimulus funding that works towards preserving jobs, assisting the local economy, and protecting valuable affordable housing assets for Canadians.”

“We are delighted that our co-operative will benefit from the federal government’s renovation and retrofit initiative delivered by CMHC,” said Robert Dicks, Vice-President of Shaw’s Creek Co-operative Homes Inc. in Orangeville. “Not only will this funding make our co-op more energy efficient, but it will ensure that the homes at Shaw’s Creek Co-operative Homes Inc. are available to meet the needs of future generations.”

More information on this and other measures in Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the federal government’s plan to stimulate the economy and protect those hit hardest by the global recession, can be found at: www.actionplan.gc.ca.

To find out more about how the Government of Canada and CMHC are working to build stronger homes and communities for all Canadians, call CMHC at 1-800-668-2642 or visit: www.cmhc.ca/housingactionplan.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Listing Descriptions - 5 Strategies to Improve Your Quality

Are you still writing the same enthusiastic listing descriptions as when you first started in the business, or are they starting to look a little stale? Poorly written listing descriptions will cost you buyers as surely as poorly taken pictures will. Below are some tips to make your descriptions more effective.

1. Pull out a thesaurus. Don't write beautiful and gorgeous for every listing you take. They are not all beautiful and gorgeous. If you think they are, use different words for the same meaning to break up the monotony of your text.

2. Make sure you are listing some of the best features into the description as teasers, but leave some room for imagination. You don't want to give it all away. If you do, the buyers have no reason to contact you.

3. Be creative when describing a home, but also be truthful. If a living room is small, use cozy. If the windows are older, just comment on how much light they let in. No need to stress the negatives. The buyers will do enough of that when deciding on the offer they will make.

4. Be enthusiastic and passionate about your work. People love working with people that love what they are doing. If you convey that enthusiasm and passion in your listing descriptions it will show your sellers how much you love your job, and bring you more buyers as well!

5. Proofread, proofread, proofread. Nothing shows a lack of professionalism or lack of effort more than misspelled words. Start at the bottom and read it right to left, bottom to top. When proofreading it helps if the words are out of order. If you read in the normal manner then you will usually see only what you expect to see, not the errors in your description.

Writing effectively, even if it is just a paragraph for a listing description, is part of what makes you a great agent. Buyers and sellers want the best agent they can find to list and sell their homes. Don't let poor writing hold you back.

Serita Diana has 5 years experience in the real estate industry. She was also fortunate enough to participate in the Mike Ferry assistant training program, and is now the owner of Executive @ssist, specializing in real estate virtual assistance and assistance to the small business owner. In addition to her real estate experience, Serita also has an AA in Business Management. Serita is also an instructor for Academy of Virtual Entrepreneurs, where she instructs other aspiring REVAs how to be great real estate virtual assistants. For more information about Serita visit http://list2closeassistant.com, or if you are interested in classes please visit http://www.aove.org/courses.html.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Serita_Diana

It's Your Career - I'm here to Support YOU!

Constantine Isslamow Real Estate Broker / Mortgage Broker

Century 21United Realty Inc. Brokerage / CENTUM Core Financial Inc.

Independently Owned and Operated

Friends, followers, and connections are the way of the future.
Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn

CENTUM Core Financial Inc. Brokerage License #: 10642
Constantine Isslamow License#: M08005391

Friday, March 12, 2010

How to Use Twitter As Part of You Internet Marketing Strategy

Social media marketing has become an almost essential part of any internet marketing strategy. It is free and can have really great results if done properly.

If you are marketing on the Internet then you should be using Twitter as one of your free marketing methods. Here is a brief overview of how to do it.

First, you must have a Twitter account. When you create your Twitter account, do so using your name and a photo, not some cartoon or icon. It's not only about building relationships here, but branding yourself and building your presence. Your Twitter page will appear on a Google search of your name. Mine appears on the first page of Google search for my name.

Once you have an account you need to get some followers. When people follow you your tweets (mini posts) will appear on their wall when they are viewing their Twitter page.

To get followers first you must follow others. Start by doing a search within Twitter. Search for someone related to the topic you are involved with. For instance, if you are involved with a company that uses attraction marketing you may want to search for Mike Dillard. Once you get to his page you will click on the word 'Following". It will be on the right side of his page. This will bring up a list of people who follow Mike Dillard on Twitter. Then you go through this list and choose people to follow. Some of those people will automatically follow you back. You will also have people start following you simply because you active on Twitter.

There are also use free tools like Twello.com and Twollo.com also make building a following pretty simple (the latter lets you set up auto-following based on keywords).

Do not follow more than 100 to 150 people per day. Twitter considers this too aggressive. They may close your account. Also, you must keep your ratio of followers to following within 10%.

If you are a Twitter newbie remember that as with any social network, it's about relationships. If you are too aggressive in promoting your business people will simply stop following you.

Twitter Tips Tweet (post) at least once or twice a day. As you build a large following you will want to increase this, as only a small portion will be likely to see your Tweet at the time you Tweet it.

Provide value (content) primarily, not spam! Give Them Something to Tweet About! Your Tweets should be pleasant, consistent, uplifting, entertaining and/or educational. Adding tweets directly related to your product or opt-in page is fine, after all that's why you are doing this, right?. You should keep this at about a 1/3 ratio. One promotional tweet for every 3 content tweets.

ReTweet (RT) content that you like! If you are getting lots of RTs on your content then you know you are on the right track! You can use Twitter's 'Retweet' link, or to add a short comment, just click the 'Reply' link (you have to float your mouse over the right side of the post to see the 'Retweet' and 'Reply' links appear), and type 'RT' prior to the @username.

Thank your followers who RT'ed your Tweets. This is very important especially for content that you have written or even RTs of your products or opt-in Tweets! And, be SURE you are following them! This is done by the @Reply. This is a great way to build relationships.

Reply to your @Replies - Your @Replies view (found in your @Replies view which is on your 'Home' page right above your 'Direct Messages' ink on the right sidebar, where you will see @YourUserId) shows messages that are directed personally to you as well as recommendations for you. Reply to as many of these as you can! You can combine multiple replies with a short 'Thnx 4 RTs & Shouts' or similar if you get a lot of them.

Watch your DMs for any personal messages. This may mean sifting through lots of spam. DO NOT follow links here, this is where many Twitter viruses have been and still are spread.

There is a service called SocialOoomph.com it does a lot for free, allowing you to auto-follow-back and schedule Tweets ahead of time. This is a great tool as it allows to leverage your time by scheduling Tweets for the whole day.

Now you that you have the basic idea go and get tweeting!

By the way, I learned all of this from the education provided at Carbo Copy Pro. You can read more helpful internet marketing tips on my blog.

Hi I'm Terrie Taylor, an Internet Marketer working with a company called Carbon Copy Pro. I also have a blog where I help other marketers get started or improve their skills. You can learn more about me at http://www.TerrieTaylor.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terrie_Taylor

It's Your Career - I'm here to Support YOU!

Constantine Isslamow

Real Estate Broker / Mortgage Broker

Century 21United Realty Inc. Brokerage / CENTUM Core Financial Inc.

Independently Owned and Operated

Friends, followers, and connections are the way of the future.


Twitter
/ Facebook / LinkedIn

CENTUM Core Financial Inc. Brokerage License #: 10642 Constantine Isslamow License#: M08005391

Thursday, March 11, 2010

5 Tips For Attracting Great Traffic to Your Website Regardless of Your Small Budget

Online business owners need to drive traffic to their websites. But many people have financial constraints to pay for advertising. Even though there are many strategies for driving traffic to a website, the final strategy depends on the time available as well as your budget to grow your online business.

This article outlines the most cost effective strategies for generating visitors to your website.

1. Give free reports and articles


People like freebies. So offering them with your website URL included, the freebies become an effective and cheap way to increase traffic to your website.You can write short and useful reports containing your website link and offer them for free. You can put these reports in a website where the visitors can leave their email address before downloading the articles or reports. This can help you build a list easily.

2. Blogging

This is also an effective strategy for increasing traffic to your website. You can describe the products and services you offer in your website through blogging. Add some links on your blog to your website. Regular blogging with fresh content will result in indexed website by search engines. Your website will rank high on the search engines and this increases visitors.

3. Publish your own newsletter

A better place to regularly offer free content and tips is your own newsletter. This will help you build traffic. Your newsletter should contain links to your website so that many people who read the newsletter can visit it.

4. Start your forum related to products and services offered in your website


You establish yourself as an authority in your topic if you have your own forum on your niche. If you assist people in your niche by giving answers to their questions in the forum, traffic is drawn to your website. This will be a result of your website URL in your signature in forum posts.

5. Trade links with websites with high popularity ranking


Search for websites related to what you offer on your website and exchange links with them. This works effectively if the sites rank high in the search engines. After you have done that, some visitors will come as a result of the websites with which you exchanged links.

http://www.WealthCreationEmpowerment.ws

http://www.CreateWealthNow.co.za

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elphas_Mdluli

It's Your Career - I'm here to Support YOU!

Constantine Isslamow

Real Estate Broker / Mortgage Broker

Century 21United Realty Inc. Brokerage / CENTUM Core Financial Inc.

Independently Owned and Operated

Friends, followers, and connections are the way of the future.


CENTUM Core Financial Inc. Brokerage License #: 10642 Constantine Isslamow License#: M08005391