Welcome to SoundBiteBlog.com. This website focuses mainly on providing Real Estate, Mortgage, and Local Area information for consumers and residents in Western Puget Sound, we also share our passions, expertise, and practical insights on Internet marketing and technology, including social media/networking, SEO, website design, and custom web applications. SoundBiteBlog is an award-winning joint venture between Mark Flanders of Pastik Design and Rich Jacobson of Keller William West Sound.

Within the pages of SoundBite is an eclectic collection of articles covering a wide variety of topics we hope you'll find interesting, engaging, and helpful. Rich is committed to relentlessly representing his client's best interests and empowering them to make informed decisions. Mark finally decided what he wanted to do when he grew up and gets excited when the code he's written solves a customer's problem with blinding efficiency!

The Saturday S.M.A.C. Award goes to…

March 31st, 2007 by Mark Flanders

Tony Gallegos

Tony Gallegos Photograph

The Mortgage Cicerone

(S.M.A.C.) SoundBiteBlog’s Most Active Commenter Award

Maybe I’m just in love with the sound of my own writing, (How’s that for a mangled metaphor?) and maybe not. But if you have ever maintained a blog you know that blogging is often like writing in a twilight room. You can’t really tell how things are turning out until the sun rises. A blogger writes about what he or she finds interesting. A blogger has no idea for a while if anybody else is interested, or if (dare I say it?) the writing just sucks! The only way to find out if your blog is any good is to keep on plugging away, and wait for the day to arrive when visitors start leaving comments.

Comments validate the blogger’s work!

Good comments or snarly comments; I’d rather have something over nothing. At least I know someone is reading.

Let me introduce you to Tony Gallegos. Tony maintains his own blog for Loan Officers. Tony has the dubious honor of becoming SoundBiteBlog’s very first recipient of the SMAC Award. Tony has been consistently reading and leaving comments on SoundBite articles for a while now. I have no idea how he discovered SoundBiteBlog in the first place. But Tony’s feedback is greatly appreciated. With Tony around, I don’t feel like I’m blogging in the dark! 

If you read Tony’s impressive resume, you might get the mistaken notion that Tony is a boring, analytical type of guy. You might think that right up until you come to his recently posted video, “Who said geeks can’t rap?”. Then you get an entirely different perspective. There is definitely a sense of humor lurking under the hood of the Mortgage Cicerone!

The variety of subjects on The Mortgage Cicerone keeps it interesting. I visit regularly now to see what Tony has found to write about. He must be a full-time reader because the number of sources he has for information is huge. You can find snippets from the Associated Press, the Baltimore Sun, the GMAC Investor Forum, BankRate.com and Savage Insights, just to name a few. I wouldn’t have found the aritcle on Savage Insights except for Tony’s blog, and it’s one of the best articles for Loan Originators I seen lately. Thanks Tony, that one was a great piece!

When he is not busy pointing out promising articles or interesting news, Tony also writes his own articles. Check out this article on Credit Reports and Newlyweds. It’s a great subject and offers solid advice to consumers.

Here’s a short collection of some other excellent posts:

The highest accolade one blogger can give another is link on the main page. It is a vote of confidence; a “Blog Nod”, so to speak. If you glance to the right of this article you will now find The Mortgage Cicerone in SoundBite’s very short list of read-worthy websites. It’s not there because Tony leaves lots of comments, it’s there because it belongs there. SoundBiteBlog is a consumer website. The Mortgage Cicerone is an industry website. Sometimes though, the two different types of information overlap.

If you have read this far, take a wander on over to Tony’s corner of the internet. Take a peek at a few of the articles posted there. Tony, like Sparky and I, is blogging in the dark too. So leave him a comment or two! He’ll appreciate it and his articles are worth reading. Tell him Buckwheat sent you.

Tony, Sparky and I thank you for all of your feedback and your involvement in our site!

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