The amount of information available to us out on the interwebs is astounding. How do you make the most of all that information out there? How can you keep up with the latest information to enhance your real estate business? Sure, you can bookmark all of your favorite sites, but it is really cumbersome and time-consuming to go to each site and find all the articles you need to catch up on. You need a more efficient work flow.
RSS Feed Icon
Enter RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a nifty piece of technology that allows information providers to feed stuff to users automatically. I am sure you’ve seen this icon on different site around the internet. This symbol is your clue that there is a feed available on the site, so you can subscribe and receive timely updates about things that interest you…this could be any kind of information, blog articles, news items, LinkedIn updates, etc. Accessing the feed is as easy as clicking on the icon.
The Feed Reader is Your Friend
There are various ways that you can gather the articles and information from RSS feeds. I use Google Reader . There are others out there, including one built in to Internet Explorer (search IE Help for ‘Feeds’). It’s really simple to set up your feed reader – you’ll be up and running in a matter of minutes.
Now Go Browse
When you come upon a site that you like and want to stay current on, just click on the subscribe link or RSS icon found on the page. An icon may appear somewhere near the address bar of your browser, too. Either one works. You may need to click again to verify how you want to subscribe, but there is not much more involved.
Speed Reading
When you have a free moment in front of your computer, when you are on floor duty or whatever, go in to your feed reader and scan through the headlines of all of your aggregated articles. Everything will be there in one place so you can keep track of things you’ve read, mark things as favorites, save things for later, or click through to the original website to leave a comment or whatever. Once you get the hang of scanning through your reader, you will be amazed at the number of articles you can devour in a short period of time. You are gonna be so smart!
Some Sites to Get You Started
Here are a few of my favorite sites, recommended to increase your knowledge in real estate topics and in technologies related to the business. Trust me, if you start doing a little reading, you are going to amaze yourself at the things you’ll learn. I have no formal training in any of this computer stuff and have learned just by reading and trying things. Don’t be intimidated by the ‘T’ word – Technology is your friend!
Here are a dozen sites to get your feed reader warmed up!
And don’t forget to click on the little orange RSS icon at the very top right of this page to subscribe to my Tides updates, which will include lots of nifty tidbits of advice to keep you flowing in this New Media stuff!!
