Typically, when it comes to the sale of real estate, the seller pays the entirety of the realtor fees as part of the transaction. Among these fees, approximately half goes to the realtor representing the seller and the other half goes to the realtor representing the buyer.

As the realtor representing the seller, he or she is supposed to hold the seller’s best interests at heart. This would mean getting as many potential buyers to come look at the property as possible, as this would increase the likelihood of a successful sale.

However, there are a number of realtors who don’t completely operate in this fashion. They may only show the property to buyers that that they also represent. This limits the buyer pool and potentially limits the amount of money involved in the final sale; this is not in the best interests of the seller.

Why would the realtor do this? If he or she is representing both the seller and the buyer in the transaction, he or she effectively earns double the commission that he or she would have otherwise. Is this ethical? How would you feel, as the seller, if your real estate agent was acting in this fashion?

You don’t have to break the bank to get your hands on a newer Google Android smartphone. Case in point is one of the newest offerings joining the shelves at Rogers Wireless in Canada: the Acer Liquid MT.

This is an upgraded version of the original Acer Liquid and later the Acer Liquid E. The smartphone takes on much the same kind of shape and styling, but its features have been updated. The smartphone is preloaded with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and it is powered by an 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

Other notable features include the 3.6-inch capacitive touchscreen (roughly the same size as the iPhone 4), 5.0 megapixel camera with 4x zoom, built-in GPS, and integrated 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity.

If you choose to sign a new three-year service agreement with Rogers Wireless, you can buy the Acer Liquid MT smartphone for $49.99. Alternatively, the phone is also available on a month-to-month basis for $349.99.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but the right picture can leave you speechless. While you could certainly buy a range of artwork, it may sometimes be more appropriate to rent the works to suit your purposes.

To do that, you may want to inquire with Art Rental and Sales. This not-for-profit program is run by the volunteer Associates of the Vancouver Art Gallery and it has been in operation since 1952. The funds raised help to support the Gallery.

Take some time to browse through the various artists who approach a wide range of styles. From abstract to landscapes, they really do run the gamut. While most rentals are monthly, they also do weekly rentals for the movie and TV industry.

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

Dare to be a little different? WordPress is an incredibly robust and flexible platform, allowing for all kinds of different themes and layouts. One of the more interesting ones released recently is Nanoplex.

Rather than adhering to a more typical layout for a WordPress blog, Nanoplex offers a look that is perhaps closer in scope to certain smartphone or tablet applications. There are huge splashes of color for each post snippet and several elements are strategically placed asymmetrically for a special aesthetic effect.

For the most part, the theme is designed as a one-column look with navigation placed as a series of links toward the top of the page. Inside each post, you are given a dedicated box toward the bottom for the author’s image, an author-specific RSS, and a category listing.

Check out the live demo at WordPress.org, which is also where the free download link for Nanoplex can be found.

What’s happening in the blogosphere? Let’s have a look.

Josh Rimer starts us off with a look at what went viral last year on YouTube. When you look at the success stories, you can be better equipped to produce a hugely popular video of your own. What video inspires you the most?

Mark Nichol helps you improve your writing skills by providing five keys to better sentence flow. It’s not just about spelling and grammar; sentence structure and word choice can make huge differences in how your writing is perceived.

Shely Kneupper Tucker gives us a big slice of depression cake, which also happens to be known as wacky cake upon occasion. There’s nothing quite like chocolate brownies… without milk, bugger, or eggs.

Justin Germino is breaking the confines of 140 characters by taking a look at Deck.ly. The service effectively lets you send out tweets that are longer than the prescribed Twitter limit, but it requires readers to click through to another page.

Ray Ebersole recognizes that simply going through the motions is insufficient. That’s why he reminds us that doing your job is not enough to be successful. Perception is so much more important than the actual outcome when it comes to overall success.

If you’re new to the realm of Internet advertising, you could be hit with all sorts of acronyms that might not make very much sense to you. What do all these letter combinations mean? Here are a few of the most common examples.

CPM: Cost per thousand impressions. This would be the amount of money you would pay to have your advertisement (typically an ad banner) displayed on a site for one thousand page views.

eCPM: Effective cost per thousand impressions. This is the estimated cost for the same thousand page views as above, but it is based on actual performance through the other configurations described below.

CPC: Cost per click. This is the amount of money you’d pay for each “click” on your advertisement on a given website. Depending on the CTR (click-thru rate), the resulting eCPM can vary dramatically.

CPA: Cost per action. In affiliate marketing, this is the money you’d pay for each completed “action.” The “action” could be a generated lead, a referred sale, or any number of other actions that the site visitor would need to complete.