For this our second "notes" let's talk about addresses. E-mail, Web, URL... nowadays everybody wants to know your "address." So what do you tell them and what do you put on your business card?
First and foremost is your E-mail address. The tell-tale for an e-mail address is that hard-to-find-on-the-keyboard "at" sign - @ (It's shift-2.) If you see @, you're looking at an e-mail address. What's before the @ is your user name, the one you should be able to choose. What's after the @ is where your e-mail box is located - normally the domain name of the people who sell you net access (like aol.com). ALWAYS be proactive in choosing your e-mail address. If you don't come up with a good one on your own, you'll end up getting one assigned like "gsx432bv" or something worse.
URLy birds. When you're ready to promote yourself on the Net, you'll probably want a URL, which simply means an address on the World Wide Web. A web address is different than an e-mail address, so you're going to end up with two on your business card. Your web address is simply the location of your page(s). If you "rent" space from some provider, then your web address will be something like http://www.provider.com/realtor. The "http://" can now be dropped as "assumed." What's left - www.provider.com/realtor - shows you the marketing impact of where you place your page.
Taking this address thing to the highest and best level is the process of creating your own "Domain" name, which allows you to establish (kinda' like a trademark) your own distinct www.janerealtor.com address. Besides the obvious marketing advantages of such a name, you also get "portability" - the name can move with you between companies or countries. The real icing on the cake with a Domain name is that e-mail and web addresses can come together - www.janerealtor.com can also have an e-mail address of jane@janerealtor.com, info@janerealtor.com, or anything@janerealtor.com. The down side is that a Domain Name costs more to create, register, and maintain. But it's still less than a yearly yellow pages display ad.....
So get out and strike URL! What you put on your "web site" or "web page" will be the topic for our next "notes." Until then.... e-mail me! - chas@mnrealty.com
*Original Copyright 3/97 by Chas. Campbell with permission to publish granted to MAR/MN-CRS