FREE online Computer classes|Learn or go the way of the dinosaur

Computer literacy is key to connecting with the first time buyers-they are younger and use the computer.  Are you reaching them through your efforts?  How this Minnesota Realtor had an Epiphany! 

Approximately 18 months ago I sold 7 condominiums to various Twin Cities investors.  We collectively agreed to share the responsibilities for showing the properties as well as splitting the costs for 7 weeks.  Each investor client was assigned a designated week and duty for marketing.  When advertising for prospective tenants, we did the following:  classified ads in the Star Tribune, classified ads in the Pioneer Press, Classified ads in the Minnesota Daily, posted flyers at all available spots at the U of M, St Thomas, St Cathrine's and Augsburg, posted at the coffee shops bulletin boards, and posted an online ad at Craig's List. 

Guess where all but one of the tenants were found?  Craig's list.  The one tenant that came from the Star Tribune was found by the tenants parents-they were searching for places for him as he was out of town relocating back to Minnesota after college.  They still read the paper because they are of that generation.  I confess, I am also of that generation and but I now forgo the local paper.  Since college, I've read the Wall street Journal.  I do so daily and wouldn't miss it.  It goes extremely well with a hot cup of coffee and my cereal in the AM.    BUT, I also get my daily news from sources such as Drudge Report and Breitbart. 

From this rental experience, I became aware that I needed to learn the computer better.  While I wasn't incompetent, I can always improve.  I enrolled in the E-Pro course that Fall.  If you are a Realtor and plan on staying a Realtor, you NEED to take this course.  I'm not kidding.  You will learn a ton.  Also, one of your assignments will be to set up your blog at RealTown.  I initially let blog remain semi dormant, then I started to get into it.  My advice is just start.  Did you know that Yahoo loves RealTown?  Prove it to yourself-write a local blog post and check for the title key words.  You will be in the top 20 almost for sure.  From my own observation, it appears that Google likes Activerain and will index them more often than RealTown, but they still index RealTown too.  I could be wrong, but that's what I think I've noticed.  Anyway, the point is you need to hone your computer skills and you need to become an E-Pro.

Besides E-Pro class, where do you go?  Did you know that HP offers FREE online computer classes-24/7?  Here is the link:  http://h30187.www3.hp.com/all_courses.jsp

Another resource that I've found that you might like comes at it from an internet marketing angle.  Sometimes learning a topic from another angle will give you an edge in your business-such as real estate sales.  There is a guy named Eric Holmlund at http://www.ericstips.com/  He has great little 15 minute video.  I think his subscriber list is about 33K people.  I think he's refreshing because he provide a lot of value and isn't trying to sell you something every five seconds.  That isn't to say he won't have something to sell you in the future.  From his most recent blog post and video, he offered these online learning resources for the basics:

http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/ctla/basic_skills/basic_skills.shtml
http://www.spclc.org/curriculum.html
http://www.ctdlc.org/remediation/ (includes quizzes)
http://www.basiccomputerinformation.ca/
http://www.swfpcug.org/faq/