Last evening I read a really interesting article over on HubSpot about the differences between businesses who blog and those who do not.  Did you know that companies who blog receive 55% more traffic than one who does not?  Over the past few weeks I have helped many of our members figure out how to have their blogs be seen by the public and show up well in the search engines in my Blogging Basics 101 webinar and many had no idea how powerful a blog could be for your online presence.

As I shared the other day, one of the biggest reasons to become a Rainmaker is so your posts will be able to be seen by the search engines and also consumers.  If the consumers are not able to read that what you have written and contact you directly for business, what is the purpose in writing?

I wanted to see if this 55% more traffic held true for our members on ActiveRain, so I decided I would pick two members.  I picked a random rainmaker that had 79,000 points and a random non-rainmaker that had just over 81,000 points.  Both began writing on ActiveRain within 2 weeks of each other and predominantly wrote posts about their local area and consumer centered posts. Here are the results:

The graph on the left are 8 posts from someone who is not a Rainmaker and posts are not able to be read by the public or indexed by the search engines.  The graph on the right was from a Rainmaker.  You can see that there is no comparison between the two.  Someone that is a Rainmaker is receiving 386% more views of their blog posts over someone who is not!  This number was astounding to me.  It made me realize right away the power of being a Rainmaker. On average that means that the post is being read by close to 500 others outside of the ActiveRain network.

I also want to point out, that this number does not take into account the views your posts will receive on Localism and also on your outside blog which also have strong web presences just like ActiveRain does.  Are you convinced yet that maybe you need to be come a Rainmaker?  If not, here are over 1,500 testimonies from our members,

In case you are still hesiatant to spend the money to become a Rainmaker, I want to offer you a special promotion to try out our Rainmaker membership that over 80% of our members have.  If you click on this special promotion link to upgrade, you will be able to try out all of the premium member benefits for the first month for only $5.00.  There are no long term contracts to sign, so if you do not see the results you want, you can cancel at the end of the first month and it has only cost you $5.00.   In addition to trying out our Rainmaker membership, you will also be eligible to take my Blogging Basics 101 Webinar where I will personally teach you everything you need to know about blogging, ActiveRain, and how to use both to optimize your online presence and take you to page 1 of Google.

Are You Ready to take your blogging career to the next level?  Get started today!

As I have shared over the past few weeks, I have been extremely busy with Webinars for our new members teaching them how to write posts effectively for search engines & also to be appealing to consumers.  In the classes I share how to write posts to rank well in the search engines as well as making your posts appealing to a consumer who comes to read what you have written. 

During the webinars, one of the questions that normally comes up is Why do I need to be a Rainmaker?  While there are thousands of reasons why everyone should be a rainmaker, I decided to just share 6 of the most important ones.

• Google Dominance-  This is a no-brainer.  If you write it properly, it will rank well in Google.  It doesn't take months and years to start ranking well in Google.  If you don't believe me, read about one of the members who became a Rainmaker in less than 10 hours of sending two posts public was #1 & #2 on Google!  If you take the training that ActiveRain offers our Rainmakers and put it to use for you, the same results can be yours. 

• Blog views get a steroid injection.  If you are trying to figure out how to get more traffic to your blog, then a Rainmaker is a great option.  Did you know that our Rainmakers Average 500 views per post?  Here are some really interesting stats from a member who recently became a rainmaker.

                   Before                                                                         After

These stats were taken immediately after becoming a Rainmaker and you can see the results.  In an instant their blog traffic increased 4 times what it was on posts before being a Rainmaker.  This happens instantly because when you become a Rainmaker you get to have your posts show up in the search engines and also be read by consumers. 

• Increase of Income- This is probably my favorite reason for becoming a Rainmaker.  Once you become a rainmaker, you can really increase your revenue.  I don't need to prove that a Rainmaker Membership can increase your income, many of our members already have:

Over the past week or two, I had two referrals from my friends here at ActiveRain, AND one of the biggest closings we've had in months.  The closing came from a consumer who found my blog months ago and became a "fan". -Jason Crouch

While almost 60% of the members who joined Active Rain at the same time I did, have not used  this amazing marketing tool, I have garnered close to sixty (YES, sixty!!!) new clients through my blogging on AR.  I literally credit ActiveRain with saving my business during these trying times. -Mirela Monte

• Posts show up on Localism.  "The World's Most Complete Neighborpedia"  When you are writing content about your local area this gives you a great secondary avenue to share your information & increase your Internet exposure by double instantly.
  

• ActiveBlogs- Think of the endless marketing opportunities by having your blog show up on it's own domain name.  For example, which would you prefer seeing on a business card? http://activerain.com/blogs/jeremy or http://activejeremy.com?  Just how Localism gives you another avenue to share your content exponentially, your ActiveBlog does the same thing by offering a third place to syndicate your content to.
  

• Top Notch Training- The training & knowledge you can obtain on ActiveRain is alone enough reason to become a Rainmaker.  Between the webinars offered by ActiveRain and also the great information shared by members you can learn enough to revolutionize your business and take it to the next level.

So if you are not yet a Rainmaker, what have you been waiting for?  Get started today for only $5.00 for the first month. Or, if you would some training on how a rainmaker can increase your business, feel free to sign up for my Blogging Basics 101 Webinar where I will teach you personally how to get the most out of your membership. 

What are you waiting for?  Let's take your blogging career to the next level today!

As a staff member here at ActiveRain, I probably read anywhere from 100-200 posts a day.  Well, not really read the entire post, but I look through at least that many daily.  One of the things that baffles me daily are the titles of posts.  Have you ever seen some posts with titles like these?

• Just Listed 3BR/3BA home for $199,900
• Hurry, 8,000 Tax Credit Expires soon!
• Home Sales Increasing, Buy Today!
• Now is a Great Time to Buy!
• Great Custom All Brick Home
  

I could continue on but I think by now you get the idea.  If you notice, all of these types of titles are nothing more than a cheesy tag line used in advertising.  Unfortunately, your blog is not meant to be used as an advertisement.  The point to writing your blogs is to share with consumers information that they want to know. 

I have covered this topic in my webinars the past few weeks for our new members that have not yet become a Rainmaker.  Many people over look the importance behind the title of your post and do not place a lot of thought on it.  The title is one of the most powerful parts of your blog posts for search engine optimization or SEO.  If you are using generic sales ad statements in your title then you are missing the ability to use your keywords & help your post to rank well in the search engines.  Also, I am not exactly sure how many people search for things in Google by phrases like: Just listed 3BR/2BA home on Cul-de-sac, Now is a great time to buy.  Why?  Well see what happens when you type in Now is a great time to buy.  When I just did that, the results brought back 307 million results.  Or, if you search for the term Just listed 3BR/2BA $199,000.  This brings back homes for sale in California, Philadelphia, and who knows where else.

So, instead of these very general sales ad titles, how should you be titling your posts?  Well, it is actually rather simple.  You want to be more specific on the title of your post.  Also, be sure to include your longtail keywords.  For example, if I was going to write about a new listing, the title should be something more along these lines:

Home for Sale in The Farm at Carolina Forest in Myrtle Beach, SC~ 123 ABC St. Myrtle Beach, SC 29579

The example above is targeted on my Keywords.  My keyword is the community, The Farm at Carolina Fores in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Also, by including the address in the title, it allows consumers who drive by the property and write down the address of the property to find my blog post.  If neither of those pieces of information is included it makes it very difficult for consumers to find the blog post.

In the example Home Sales Increasing, Buy Today, the title should be changed to something resembling this:

Sold Homes in The Gates Austin, TX increases by 12%. An Austin Texas Real Estate Market Report

This title once again Targets on the longtail keyword which is Sold Homes in The Gates Austin, TX.  Also, we have used other keywords that someone might use when doing a real estate search by saying Austin Texas Real Estate Market Report.  

These are just two basic examples of how to attract more readers to your posts just by making some simple changes to the title of your posts.  Use this tip and watch how your posts will begin to receive more traffic and better results in the search Engines.

As I have mentioned over the last week or so that I have recently started teaching some webinars for our non Rainmakers.  In these webinars I am teaching them how to write effective blog posts to rank well in Google as well as be appealing for consumers.  Yesterday, I taught a class that included one of our new members, Leilani Souza.

Leilani took some of the tips I shared during our webinar and has implemented them beautifully!  One of the things I always try to do is keep an eye out on my students to see how I can help them and how their posts rank.  Well, last night, only 10 hours after our class was over, Leilani sent a few blog posts public that have already claimed the #1 & #2 spots on Google!  Google has already indexed her blog and placed her at the top of the search engine where she belongs.  See below:

I am so proud of my student taking the basics to blogging and putting them into action.  She can already see the results and things will only get better from here!  On the other hand, I am guessing today that the agents that have dominated those positions are quite upset to see them lose rankings so quickly.  This is a great example of the power of being a rainmaker and how it can increase your online presence dramatically.

If you have been sitting on the fence on whether or not becoming a Rainmaker is right for you, sign up for my webinar and start seeing results like Leilani's Blog.  I guarantee it will be the best $5.00 you ever spend!

To make things easier, I have included the form below to sign up

Well as many of you know, today was a very big day in the life of ActiveRain as it marks the first ever Raincamp event.  That being said many from around the northwest have converged on Seattle today to hear great & power presentations from the staff of ActiveRain.  From what I have heard so far, the presentations by Ben, Brad, & Bob have been wonderful as well as the panel discussions by some of our members.

But, if you were like me, you were not able to make it to Seattle today and so you were a little bummed to miss out on the great opportunities to connect with fellow Rainmakers & learn some awesome information to increase you business.  So, I decided that since we were not there, we needed some things to do.  Here are 5 things for those of you who didn't make it to Raincamp today in Seattle.

1. Try & Break Brad's inbox.  If you missed it before, TLW and gang tried to break his iPhone once by flooding it with comments & email.  Unfortunately, it didn't work, but who says we can't try again?  So, visit Brad & lets try again.
2. Visit this post and place your special requests for a Raincamp to come to an area near you. It can't hurt to ask right? 
3. Sign up for a Webinar.  As many of you know, I am running some great webinars for our new members who have not yet become a Rainmaker.  If you are not a Rainmaker, please fill out the form & sign up today.  It will change your career, I Promise!
4. Follow the twitter stream on tweetgrid.com.  Simply visit that site, type in the search box #raincamp and you will be able to see everyone mentions about Raincamp today.  So far there have been tons of great pictures & videos from members there.  There has also already been a great post about Raincamp that was posted just as the day began.  Check it out here
5. The last thing is to help bring a smile to your face since you were sad about missing out on the First Ever Raincamp.  Watch this video and I promise you will have a smile on your face! :) 

Happy Blogging to everyone!  Have an awesome day!

As I mentioned last Friday, ActiveRain Announced Blogging Basics 101 Webinars for our new members.  The response has been tremendous so far!  Tonight at 6PM I held our first webinar and the responses from our members who attended were fantastic.  Here are just two of them.  Also, after you read their comments about the webinar, please take a minute to visit our new Rainmakers and give them some encouragement as they begin their blogging careers. 

"From my first phone call with you this afternoon, I knew the Webinar would be a success for me! You were approachable, kind, patient – all things I needed to overcome my fear of starting to blog. I think I’m up to the challenge – keep an eye on me!!"- Debbe Perry Carolina Property GMAC Real Estate

Thanks so much, Jeremy for tonight's webinar on Blogging Basics.  You nailed the subject perfectly for the novice!  I've heard "the fuss" about blogging for over a year now, and could only ask myself what on earth I'd find to say everyday, and why the world at large would want to listen.  Now I get it.  Thank you.  It opens up a whole new world of possibility!- Barbara Beers Re/Max United

Thanks to everyone that attended today and remember, if you are a new member here at ActiveRain that has not already upgraded to a Rainmaker account, feel free to click here and fill out the form at the bottom. Spaces are limited and are on a first come first serve basis.

Also, if you are a broker of your own company and would like to have a webinar to give your agents a jump start to their blogging career, contact me directly for more information.

Last week I wrote about the exciting new one on one training program that ActiveRain is offering for those who want to become a Rainmaker.  Well the response has been so great that I have been very busy with those sessions.  But, many have asked if I can do this as a live webinar so they can see things live as I point them out.

With that being said, I am proud to announce that I will now be offering Live Webinars each week for those that are new to blogging and have not yet become a Rainmaker.  These webinars will be on Monday & Wednesday every week. In the beginning there will be 3 sessions per week. Monday will host 2 webinars, one at 1PM EST and another at 6PM EST.  Wednesday's session will be at 1PM EST.  Each webinar is limited to only 25 seats, so the make sure you register immediately.  The sessions will last aprroximately 60-90 minutes in length.  Unfortunately, if you are already a Rainmaker, this class isn't for you.  But, there is a great training session that Steven is offering for those that are currently a Rainmaker.  Check out his full schedule here.

What will be covered in the Webinar?

How to Optimize Your ActiveRain Profile.
How to Insert Photos into your Blog
How to Insert Hyperlinks.
Setting up Your Outside Blog.
How to write effective blog posts for consumers & search engines.
How to use your blog to connect with your community.
Topics to write about on your blog.
Question & Answer

How Much?!? How Much?!?

This is the greatest part, these webinars are only going to be $5.00 per person! But wait, theres more!  The $5.00 that you spend to join these webinars is not going to go to waste.  Not only will you receive a top notch training session on how to write blogs effectively to show up in the top of search engines which is worth much more than $5.00 in itself, you will also be given one full month to try out our Rainmaker Membership.  That includes your posts being indexed by search engines, the ability to send those posts to Localism and also posted to your personal Outside Blog.  As a final bonus, you will receive 1,000 bonus points for attending the webinar.

Why do I want to be a Rainmaker?

There are plenty of reasons why everyone should want to be a Rainmaker.  I am going to share just a few.  First, becoming a Rainmaker means that your posts will have the ability to harness the power of our 160,000+ members and the massive amount of search engine dominance that ActiveRain possesses.   Over 75% of ActiveRain's 2 million visitors per month come directly from the search engines.   Also, Rainmaker accounts consistently outrank members personal websites in searches.  Our Rainmakers posts average 500 views per post.  Others are receiving much more traffic (25,000 views!).

How do I sign up?

Well signing up is rather simple.  Simply fill out the form below with your contact information and I will send you an email confirming your session and also how to register.

If you were wondering why you would want to be a Rainmaker, here are 6 reasons why everyone should be a Rainmaker. Also, here are some awesome results from a member who took my webinar: Take Rainmaker Webinar today, the #1 spot on Google 10 hours Later!

Many have been waiting patiently for the final results from the recent Listing Contest.  As I mentioned in the post announcing the top 10 finalists, there was a lot of wonderful entries, 52 to be exact!   The 10 finalists were then upon in a poll by you, our members to determine the overall winner. 

Our Members here on ActiveRain came through strong with 210 votes for their favorite listing during the voting time.  That being said, here are the final results:

Congratulations to our winner!  Dick & Dixie Sells with their listing on Winding Wilow Drive.  They are the winners of 10,000 bonus points!  Also, a big congratulations to Maureen Megowan and Cindy Jones who won second and third place respectively.  Also, each of our 10 finalists will receive 1,500 points for making it to the final round.

While bonus points were a great reward for entering the contest, the bigger reward learning how to write your listing posts effectively and implementing those strategies into your post.  If you missed our contest or the original post, make sure to read on how to post your listings effectively and start integrating some of the tips.  By doing this, you will be able to increase your Internet exposure on your listings while also making them more appealing to consumers.

Congratulations to all who entered and especially to our consumers.  For all those whose entered, I wish that now the ultimate prize comes your way from your listing post, A SOLD SIGN!

Today I am excited to announce some exciting news for our new members on ActiveRain.  I was recently asked by Jon and Bob to assist on our newer members in optimizing their blog so that it will show up in the top of search engines results as well as train them on how all the various features of ActiveRain work.

Introducing One on One Blog Training

Starting today, new members can schedule a one on one blog training session with me.  One of the biggest fears that new members face is writing that first initial blog post.  Many are afraid that what they write will not be good enough or that they will mess things up by writing a bad post.  Beginners end up scaring themselves from ever actually writing that first initial post and end up never realizing the benefits of ActiveRain. Trust me when I say, I can relate.  I was so nervous when I started here and my first few posts were terrible.  (If you don't believe me, read my second post on ActiveRain, it was the worst I have ever written!) But, as I continued on, things changed and the success stories started to pile up for me just like many of our other members.

Overcoming The Fear to Blog

That is where I come in.  As a member of the network for over a year and a half and also the author of over 500 posts, I have learned how to write effective blogs. The past 6 months have been spent writing step by step tutorials on how all of the different features of ActiveRain work and how to use them to enhance your blog.  You can see those posts on my outside blog. During that time, I have learned first hand the many  features of The ActiveRain Network.

What Will I Learn in Our One to One Training Session?

During your One on One Training session we will cover:

How to Optimize Your ActiveRain Profile.
How to Insert Photos into your Blog
How to Insert Hyperlinks.
Setting up Your Outside Blog.
How to write effective blog posts for consumers & search engines.
How to use your blog to connect with your community.
Topics to write about on your blog.

Each session will last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.  If you are a new member that has not started your blogging career because you have not been sure where to start, this course is for you!  Or, if you have been blogging for a while as a free member, this is an excellent opportunity to try out all the great features of ActiveRain as well as get some excellent training on how to maximize your blogging efforts.

Because ActiveRain feels so strongly in the power of the network, they are offering a special promotional rate for non-rainmakers to sign up as a rainmaker for the first month for only $5.00.  In addition to that $5.00, you will also receive the training session from me.

******ATTENTION RAINMAKERS*****

I Just Talked to Steven about the Webinars he is hosting for our members that are already Rainmakers and this is what he said the classes cover:

"Each class will cover seo blogging to dominate google search results, setting up the outside blogs,and how to write a blog including adding links,pictures,making a picture a link, embedding maps, widgets, and video's, AR syndication, RSS, blog settings and blog customization, hit router, referral network, as well as any questions they may have!"

So for all of you current rainmakers, check out the Calendar for upcoming classes & Register NOW!

If you are currently not a Rainmaker, simply fill out this form below and I will contact you directly to schedule your session.

Yesterday I received a call from a member who was interested in the new One on One ActiveRain Training Program for new members to get their blog on ActiveRain enhanced & fully optimized. While we were discussing the benefits of becoming a Rainmaker, the member made a statement that I have heard more and more recently.  She said, "Jeremy, I work in an area that is made up of an older generation.  They aren't into twitter and Facebook and all this Internet stuff.  So, I don't know if writing a blog would be a big benefit to me."  So, I asked a few more questions about the demographics and came to the conclusion that it appeared the average age range she was referring to was somewhere between late forties into late sixties. 

So this morning I started to do some research to see what type of age groups are making up social media and if older generations are participating or if they are non-existent.  The first place I started was here on ActiveRain.  I remembered the wonderful article by Art Kruschka titled: The View from the 84th Floor (which btw, Happy Birthday Art!) in which he wrote about celebrating his 84th birthday on Monday!  Art has been a very active member here on ActiveRain.  In fact, since starting here in March 2008 at the young age of 82, Art has published 566 blog posts!

Next, I decided I would visit both my Facebook business page & also ActiveRain's to see what the age breakdown looked like.  Here are the results:

This first graph is from my personal Facebook business page.  You will notice that only 35% of my group is under the age of 35.  While 35% of my fans are over the age of 45!  Also, I have twice as many fans over the age of 55 than I do between 18-24.  That stat really shocked me!

This graph is for fans of ActiveRain's fan page on Facebook.  The numbers here were even more astounding.  Fans under the age of 35 only make up 18% while there are just as many fans over the age of 55.  Fans over the age of 45 make up almost half of the members. 82% of the fans are over the age of 35!

After viewing these two graphs it leads me to believe that while many believe that Facebook is just for teenagers and college kids it appears that the majority of users are those over 45 years old by a long shot.  With that being said, I started to doubt the validity in the statement that the older generations are not on the Internet and definitely not involved with social media.

Are you still thinking this might be the case?  If so, let me share one more thing that should solidify my results that social media and Internet marketing isn't just for kids. 

Ivy Bean just celebrated her 104th birthday the beginning of this month and has become an instant celebrity.  Where you might ask?  Well on twitter of course!  I just followed her on twitter and became her 46,000 follower!  At first when I heard about her being on twitter, I thought it was some promotional stunt that someone was trying to just collect followers.  But when I investigated things I found out that it was legit.  Take a minute to watch this awesome video from Ivy.

So I ask if this statement is true?  Older generations are not reading blogs or using other social media platform.  I will let you be the judge of that.  My personal opinion is that it is the exact opposite, more and more are signing up for these different social media platforms every day.