Myrtle Beach Real Estate Expert

Embracing Change for the Future of Your Business~ Are You Willing?

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:34:39 -0600

Technology is constantly changing the way businesses act and conduct business daily. How willing are you to adapt to the changes as they come along and incorporate them into your business plan? If you are not, you may want to re-think before your all your business has been captured by your competitors.

This is a movie review of Transformers 2, but since I didn't care for the movie that much, it turned more into a lesson on how to embrace change for your business. In fact, if you want, you can skip right to around 1:24.

I reference Blockbuster Video and how they have not been able to embrace change as fast as competitors like Redbox which are not slowly putting them out of business. You need to embrace change in your business and integrate social media into your plan if you have not yet. If you refuse to embrace change, you will end up just like Blockbuster in a few years....an empty building with a for lease sign in front of it. Please take a few moments to watch:

The Moral of the story? Technology is constantly changing the way we handle our day to day businesses. Be alert to these changes and be willing to embrace/implement them into your business plan. Even if you feel you do not like it, or feel it is a waste of time, you need to at least test out the new technology to see if it will help or hinder your business before you form an opinion on them. Assuming they won't work because of something you hear from somewhere else could be fatal to your business. Plus, we all knows what can happen if we just assume....

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If you would like to be a part of one of my upcoming Webinars to learn how to use your blog to increase your rankings in search engines as well as writing appealing posts to consumers, click here for more information.

Feel free to subscribe to my blog to keep up to date with my latest posts of tips & tricks to enhance your experience on ActiveRain. If you would like, you can sign up to receive updates via email directly in your inbox.

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My Early ActiveRain Christmas Present to You! Join my Webinar at 1PM EST today for free!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:50:37 -0600

Normally, I have my Blogging Basics 101 Webinar on Mondays at 1PM for just our new members. But, I decided today that I would offer a special treat & open the class up to everyone on the network who wants to join. So, come join me in about 15 minutes for my class. It will be approximately 90 minutes long.

In this class I will teach you:

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

So, here is the special link. See you soon! If you can't stay the whole time, that is fine, come for as long as you can! This is my early ActiveRain Christmas present to you! We will start the actual webinar at approximately 1:15 so hurry!

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Claiming Your Domain Name For Your Outside Blog~ A Tutorial

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:31:24 -0600

Each time I teach a webinar class, one of the things we spend a good amount of time covering is how to claim the domain name for your outside blog. When you become a Rainmaker, a custom domain URL is part of your benefit. You do not need to go to godaddy.com and purchase a domain name. So, I decided that I would take a moment tonight and do a brief tutorial on how to claim your domain for your Outside Blog through ActiveRain.

Also, if you were wondering if an outside blog would be a benefit for you, you may want to check out a few great features of the outside blog.

First, a few of the awesome themes available:

And here are a few of the awesome widgets available:

So, if you have not yet become a Rainmaker and started your Outside Blog, try it today! Also, if you would like to learn more on how to optimize ActiveRain & your Outside Blog, see if my Blogging Basics 101 class is right for you!

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A Birth, Blogging, & Business Trips~ My whirlwind life over the past week.

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:41:59 -0600

So in case anyone was wondering, where in the world have I been? Well, the past 7 days have been nothing short of a whirlwind! Last Friday I awoke at 4:30 in the morning for a last minute decision to head to REBar Camp Raleigh-Durham aka #REBCRDU. I drove the quick 3 & a half hour drive and was instantly greeted by many of our wonderful members. I got to enjoy a wonderful day Lori Bee, Daniel Rothamel aka The Real Estate Zebra, Kathy Carson, Thom Abbott, C-Tann Starr, Lane Bailey Debe Maxwell & so many others.

David Patterson did a great job opening up the event & gave ActiveRain some major props. As the event began, in true Barcamp Fashion, I was asked to participate in a Blogging 101 Session. It was great to share about all the wonderful features of ActiveRain as well as how a blog can be used to increase your business. I had a great partner for this session in our very own Debe Maxwell. There were about 125-150 in our class with standing room only.

Then, on Monday I headed out of town for Washington, DC to speak to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Mid-Atlantatic Region. The drive up north was great and I really enjoyed traveling up I-95 and seeing all the fall colors of the trees lining the highway. It reminded me of my days of living in Pennsylvania and traveling to the beach during the fall. The vibrant colors of the leaves always put a smile on my face. In fact, the hotel I stayed at had some wonderful colors right outside my window.

Tuesday morning I joined Victoria Baker & Darrin Friedman at an even that Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage hosted called Real Estate in the Round. It was an event that had over 400 agents in attendance from all around the Baltimore/DC metro areas. Once again, I was given the opportunity to share all about the benefits of ActiveRain and how this wonderful network can be used to increase your bottom line.

This was a great opportunity to meet many wonderful agents and introduce them to ActiveRain. Many new members signed up that day and before long will be experiencing all the same types of success stories that so many of our members already have.

On Tuesday Morning, I headed to Reston, VA for an opportunity to share my Blogging Basics 101 class in person with about 20 Coldwell Banker Agents. I shared with them in person the tips to writing a successful blog to make it show up well in the search engines while having an appealing blog for consumers. After we finished in Reston, VA we then drove to Columbia, MD and did the class again for another branch of their brokerage. In total, over 20 new members signed up on Wednesday and are trying out ActiveRain as a new Rainmaker!

As if my week had not already been hectic enough, as I finished up my final class in Columbia, I received a call from my father & my wife. In panic, I quickly excused myself from the classroom to see what was going on. I was greeted on the phone with some really shocking news! My father informed me that I was about to become an uncle again!

My brother & sister-in-law that were expecting in December had made a visit to their Dr. that day and she made the decision that it was time to have the baby now! So as I drove home on Thursday from the DC area, I was constantly informed with progress reports on the birth of my nephew. Then around 4:30 I received the big news.

My nephew Jace Gabriel was born at 4:12 PM. He was 7lbs, 5oz and 20" long. Both him and mom were healthy & doing great! I was delighted to hear this news, so as I drove home from DC in the remnants of Hurricane Ida, I knew I would have to add a stop onto my already 9 hours of driving at the hospital and see the newest addition to the family.

I was glad that I did. Here is a picture of him that I shot at about 5 hours old. He is beautiful and wonderful. It reminded me of the day my little girl was born and my life forever changed.

So while in the last week and a half I have driven over 1,800 miles, spoke in front of almost 1,000 people, it was all definitely worth it! The new friendships formed, the great knowledge I learned & also shared made each & ever minute spent valuable to me. Not to mention the blessings of a growth in my family while gone!

So in case you were wondering, I am still alive, I am still teaching the basics of blogging. I have been busier than ever while loving every moment. Over the next few weeks I have several other brokerages & MLS's set up to speak about ActiveRain & the basics of blogging 101.

So, if you have a brokerage or MLS that you wish for me to teach the basics of blogging to, feel free to contact me and we can see what we can do to schedule something over the next few weeks. I'd love the opportunity to share about all the wonderful features of ActiveRain as well as the power of having a blog on the world's largest real estate network!

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Is Your Blog Seen By the Public? If Not, Your Competitors Thank You!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:56:24 -0600

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!

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6 Reasons Why Everyone Should Be A Rainmaker

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:02:25 -0500

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!

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If You Don't Like Used Car Salesman, Why Do Your Blog Titles Sound Like Them?

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:16:59 -0500

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.

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Take Rainmaker Webinar Today, the #1 Spot on Google 10 Hours Later!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:45:50 -0500

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

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5 Things To Do if You Didn't Make it to Raincamp Today

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:00:59 -0500

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.

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.
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?
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!
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
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!

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First Day of ActiveRain Webinars, A Huge Success!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:01:37 -0500

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.

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ActiveRain Announces Blogging Basics 101 Webinars

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:00:27 -0500

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 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!

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The Results are in! Here are the Winners from Our Listing Contest!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:37:21 -0500

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!

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Enjoy One on One Blog Training from ActiveRain

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:46:30 -0500

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:

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.

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Social Media Isn't for My Age Group! Really? Some Facts to Ponder.

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:38:49 -0500

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.

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Are Blogs a Thing of The Past? Some Interesting Statistics

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:57:10 -0500

It seems that everywhere you turn lately you are hearing buzz words like Social Media, Web 2.0, and the latest buzz word, "New Media." You hear experts debate the best way to use twitter and facebook to increase your business. Tweets from celebrities like Oprah & Shaq are posted all over the news and discussed by millions. All of this buzz and hype have people seeking more information on how to use these two services to generate business.

But, one of the other types of social media and in my opinion the most effective avenue is being pushed to the wayside. The amount of hype that you hear about writing blogs and using one for business seems to becoming a dying breed and lost art form. That being said, I decided that it was time for me to do some research to see if blogs really were losing steam and becoming an ineffective means or if the "gurus" were just omitting an important component to any social media strategy.

The first thing I wanted to see is what is driving traffic to ActiveRain. Are search engines still what brings people to your site, or are they finding your sites through other social media means like Facebook & twitter. Over 75% of the traffic Came from search engines. On the other hand, the two social media giants, Facebook and Twitter are only accountable for 1.65% of web traffic. Seeing this, was a major shock to me. I thought for sure that both would be in the top 10 and probably bring somewhere from 12-15% of our traffic. In retrospect, if you remember my post about the importance of labeling images, we learned at that time that 3.65% of our traffic comes from image searches. That is more than double two social media giants!

Since it seems like social media is not great for directing traffic, I next decided I would see how a blog ranks in comparison to regular websites. Whenever I ask someone if they use a blog on a regular basis, the top objection/reason they say is "they already have a web site that gives them an Internet presence.

I started doing some typical searches that a consumer would do to see which show up higher in the rankings. My first keyword I did a search for was Austin Relocation Package. The #1 result out of over 600,000 for that term was a blog by member Jason Crouch that he wrote in March 2008. What was even more interesting was that Jason's website, only ranked #6.

Next, I decided to do a search for a community that Virginia Hepp, another member markets on both her blog and also on her website called Copper Bluffs in Mesquite Nevada. The Results were astounding! Virginia's ActiveRain, Localism, and Outside Blog captured places 1-6 while her personal website showed up in the results at #8. If you don't believe me, take a look at this search for Copper Bluffs Mesquite Nevada Real Estate.

As I continued to do searches, this seemed to be the recurring theme. Blogs consistently outranked personal websites on just about any and every search term I used. This leads me to the conclusion that if someone is just using a website and has no active blog that they are updating on a regular basis that they are missing out a major chunk of potential business.

The third test that I used was to check activity from and whether it has decreased over the past few months as Twitter and Facebook have grown.

A few months ago I wrote a post titled: 40,000 Visitors To Your Rainmaker Account in Just 25 Days! This post shows how over a one month period of time I wrote 25 posts that garnered well over 40,000 visitors to my blog. I also went on to share in that post how the best performance I ever had on my regular website was just over 3,000 hits. My blog had more than 13 times the amount of traffic! Since this was written several months ago, I decided that I would run the numbers again to see if my blog is decreasing in traffic since other social media sources are gaining such popularity.

For the last 25 posts, the total number of visits is 47,881 in comparison to the 40,699. This averages out to a 6% increase or almost 300 more clicks per post. This would lead me to believe that instead of my blog losing traction to other social media realms, it is actually gaining popularity over the past 5 months and becoming a stronger tool in social media arsenal.

So in closing I ask this question to you, Are blogs a technology of the past and something you should not focus on any more? From the research I have done, I do not believe that statement to be true. In fact, I believe the opposite. Your blog is something that needs to be the main component to your social media strategy that you should focus on. What do you think?

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Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Voting for the Best Listing Post has Opened! Check Out the Finalists & Vote Now!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:14:58 -0500

Well, the listing contest was a great success! We had 52 entries! Now comes the exciting part. Here are the top 10 entries and a survey that follows to allow you to vote for your favorite post. Remember, when picking a post, choose your favorite based on the content & creativity of the post, NOT the quality of the listing. Voting will be open until Sunday, September 20th at Midnight.

Please take a few moments & view the top 10 listing posts. After you have finished, you can then vote for your favorite in the poll below. So, without further ado, let me introduce the 10 finalists! Each of these members will win at least 1,500 points for making it to the final 10. One lucky winner will win 10,000 points for the best post. You, our members will choose 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place. So please take a moment to read these posts & then vote for your favorite!

4-bedroom, 4+ acres, 4-car garage, 4 SALE, Tulsa, Oklahoma $300,000 - 1727 S 151 E Avenue- Lori Cain

Custom Detached Home Montclair Country Club, Prince William County, Dumfries VA- Karen Kruschka

George Washington Didn’t Sleep at 1806 Courtland Street but You Can- Cindy Jones

Conover NC Brick Ranch on 1.65 Acres- Mike Kelly Jr.

Brand New 3 Bedroom Townhouses in Haymarket, Starting at $219,990-Chris Ann Cleland

Lunada Bay Palos Verdes Estates Condo For Sale- Maureen Megowan

1731 Winding Willow Dr. Trinity Florida 34655 For Sale In Heritage Springs- Dick & Dixie Sells

Fairlea, WV Commercial Land For Sale Near Greenbrier Valley Medical Center- Rebecca Gaujot

33 Peddlars Drive - The Greens - Branford Connecticut Short Sale Townhouse- Donna Bigda

Home For Sale in Peel Village 25 Terra Cotta Cres., Brampton, Ontario L6W 1B9- Al & Peggy Cunningham

Now that you have read all the posts from our finalists, it is time to vote!

In case you wanted to see the other great listing posts, take a few minutes to check some of these wonderful listings out. There are some great features that can be found on so many of the listings below to enhance your listing posts. Just for entering the contest, these lucky members will receive 500 bonus points for their entry.

Marco Island: Sands B404 - Beach views!- Natalie Kirstein

Beautiful Single Family Home On Maverick Golf Course Is looking For A Fun Loving New Owner!- Cindy Cranston

Home For Sale: 117 Belmont Drive Hendersonville NC- Robin & Sue

Riverfront Condominium, Vero Beach Florida, Riverview In Grand Harbor- Barbara Martino-Sliva

China Spring Dream Home--JUST REDUCED!- Wendy Montoya

1480 Foxmoor Ln Elgin, IL - Great 4 bedroom on large fenced corner lot!- Vicki Watzlawick

28458 NORTH SHORE RD, LAKE ARROWHEAD CA 92352 ~ A SHORT STROLL TO TAVERN BAY BEACH CLUB- Kat DeLong

420 Blooming Meadows Rd - Holly Springs NC - Real Estate- Nellie Lytvinenko

Introducing Big Canoe- Charlie Ragonesi

31 Bonnybrook Drive, New Milford, CT. Go Green, Go Clean and Save Green $$!-Andrea Swiedler

9195 Red Baron Reno Nevada Real Estate - Just Listed- Terrie Leighton

Northern Liberties Real Estate - 1309 N Lawrence Street Unit 10 - Purchase or Rent to Own- Christopher and Stephanie Somers

Lake Monticello Open House Sunday Aug. 30 - 8 Wildwood Drive- Pam Dent

Featured Listing Friday-Tim Mcintyre

HOME FOR SALE - Gilbert Arizona - E. SANTA FE LANE- Harry F. D'Elia

12410 Cobblestone Dr. Hudson, FL. 34667 / 2/2/1 on Bear Creek, Huge lot- Roy Barnhart & Gail McKay

Franklin, NC 115 Buck Mountain Estates ~ New Custom Home for Sale- June Tassillo

1939 8th St SE Canton, OH 44707- Deborah Wilson

Move To Edina – 6025 Wooddale Ave – Charming!!- Chris Prescott

Frederick Maryland Home For Sale - Featured Listing 551 Ellison Ct in Frederick MD 21703- Fernando Herboso

202 Elm Street Windsor Locks CT- Matt Listro

Highlands Lakes NJ Foreclosure - An REO gem among Vernon-Sussex County homes for sale- Irene Kennedy

3151 Bolero Pass Atlanta Georgia 30341 HOME FOR SALE- Sally English

Freeport Waterfront Home - Welcome To 648 Nassau Avenue- Geri Sonkin

Are We Compatible? West Orange, NJ House Sale- Bev and Bob Meaux

SHORT SALE - 1 RIPLEY LN., MUTTONTOWN, NY - BEST BUY IN TOWN - $1,250,000- Rosalinda Morgan

Highly Upgraded Aliso Viejo Condo is Waiting for You! 22681 Oakgrove Aliso Viejo for Sale- Christine Donovan

West Hartford 4 Bedroom Colonial . . 9 Wardwell Rd . . $379,000- Ed Silva

Family Home Seeks Loving Family to Share Laughter and Good Times!- Lesley Lambert

15806 White Canyon Lane - New Listing in Summerwood / Susan Brown, Your Texas Connection, Keller Williams Realty- Susan Brown

Best Buy in the Mountains - $9,900 Lot in Bear Paw Lakefront Resort, Murphy, North Carolina- Kate Wheeler

Yukon Oklahoma Resort Like Acreage Property- Joe Pryor

For Sale: 2-Family Home in Southbridge, MA - $160,000- Kathryn Acciari

New Beginnings in Greenlawn- Marie-Denise Kratsios

Vacant Land For Sale in Sneads, Florida- Paula Stone

Welcome Home to 9908 North 120th East Avenue in Bailey Ranch Estates, Owasso Oklahoma!- Bob Haywood

$204,900 - 2 Bedroom 2 / Bathroom Chic, Green and Energy-Efficient Condo in Carnegie, PA- Christa Ross

Fayetteville homes for sale in Fayette County Georgia, 175 Gray Fox Point- Richard Weisser

650 Slyvan Hill Rd Saxe Va. 6 BR 4 BA-7000 sq ft. $595,000- Pat Preston

Anthem Highlands - 2899 Ainslie Lake Avenue- John Novak

Tri Cities Washington | Commercial Building Lot & Acreage in West Pasco- Colleen Lane

Home for sale in Firelight Highlands Ranch CO - 10721 Briarglen Circle- Rita and Brian Burke

A huge thank you to all our members who participated in this contest! It was a great success! Also, be on the lookout for the final results after voting has closed. I will announce the winners right here on my blog.

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Updating your ActiveRain Photo to HD~ A Simple How To Instructional Video.

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:28:32 -0500

In case you missed it earlier today, ActiveRain introduced the ability to now upload an HD profile picture in which you can crop & edit right on the network. If you missed the announcement, take a minute to read all about it on Brad's post: It's time to update your photo- In HD. To me, this is such a wonderful feature because for some reason, it seems the pictures of me where I am actually smiling and have my eyes open always have someone else in the photograph. (I should win an award for the worst person ever to be photographed.) Now, I can use some of those pictures & crop out the surrounding people without needing to use photo editing software.

The video below will show you just how easy it is to use this feature. I uploaded a new photo of myself, edited & saved it in less than 2 minutes. Remember though, when choosing your new profile photo, make sure it is at least 600 x 600 pixels wide or you will receive an error message. As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me for help!

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Creating & Uploading a Custom Header to ActiveRain and Your Outside Blog~ A Video Tutorial

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:14:00 -0500

I get asked often how I created my custom header for both my ActiveRain Blog and also my Outside Blog. The process of creating one is actually pretty simple to do. Instead of doing a tutorial with screen shots, I thought it might be easier to see how I created my header & uploaded it in a video format. So, I made a generic header for my blogs today & taped it as I made them.

The entire process from beginning to end only took me about 5 minutes. I actually spent more time locating the photograph I wanted to use & enhancing that. So, if you are unsure about how to design your own header, watch these two videos below and you will be on your way to creating a great looking new header for your blog in no time!

This first video walks you through the process of actually designing the header. It shows you how to re-size, crop, and also add text to your photograph. I used a free online photo editing software called picnik.com to create mine. If you have photo editing software that you are familiar with, you can use that & have the same results by following the steps.

Now that we have created an awesome looking header, it is now time to insert it onto both our ActiveRain profile & also our Outside Blog. This video will walk you through uploading the picture to both places.

As always, if you run into any problems, do not hesitate to contact me. Now go off & add Jazz Up Your ActiveRain & Outside Blog with a Custom Header!

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How to Insert Photos into your blog & Placing Properly to Make Them Pop!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:24:28 -0500

The number 1 question that I get asked each week by new members is how to insert photos into your blog and move them around. I would guess this question comes up anywhere from 3-5 times each week. Adding photographs to your ordinary blocks of text in a blog post can take your boring posts to another level.

However, many are confused on how to insert photos, or use the different components of ActiveRain's photo editor, so I am going to break this down into several components.

The first part I am going to show you is how to insert photos either from your computers Hard Drive, or from a link to the photo on a web hosting service like Flickr. (Remember to read the TOS of the web hosting site before uploading photographs for commercial use.)

The one advantage to loading your picture to a web hosting site first is that it gives you another link in your blog that helps to build your SEO & Google juice by linking from the photo site to your blog. You will notice that since I uploaded the picture of the Lilly Pads from my photo account, I have the ability to go back & place a link on it as well back to the photo album. Since the picture on the left came straight from my hard drive, there isn't a way to link back to another area. The other nice thing by linking this photograph is that if someone wants to see it much larger, they can click on the picture and will be directed straight to where the photo is available in full size.

This first video will just show the 2 different ways to insert a picture onto your blog. I broke this tutorial into two parts to keep the videos from becoming too long. When you are actually inserting the picture into your blog, you would do both processes of both tutorials before clicking the update button.

This second video shows you how to align the photo in your post, re-size it & also place some white-space around your picture so that the words of your post do not run into your picture.

Here are a few final reminders for inserting photos onto your blog:

Do not use any photo that is not yours without written permission from the owner. Using a photo without permission can result in an instant lawsuit and cost you thousands of dollars!
Remember the importance of labeling your photos!
Keep your photos on your ActiveRain blog under 550 pixels in width. Any wider than that and you can run into major layout issues on your Outside Blog.
Turn off Pop-Up Blockers. The number #1 issue that people run into when trying to insert a picture is that they have a pop-up blocker that is prohibiting them from loading a photo. Sometimes even after changing the settings they run into issues. If this is the case, hold in the CTRL button on your keyboard when clicking the links and it should allow the boxes to load properly.
Give Credit to the Photographer. Some places have a creative commons license which allows you to use another persons photo, but you must give them credit for taking the picture.

The photos I used for this demonstration were taken from my Flickr Set that were taken on my recent trip to Atlanta & our journey to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

I hope this tutorial answers any questions you may have on how to insert an image into your blog. If you have any other, do not hesitate to contact me.

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Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Inserting Links into Your Blog

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:00:01 -0500

I get asked several times a week by members on how to insert links into blog posts. So, I decided it was time to do a blog post about how to do this. Watch the short video below as I walk you through the process of adding links & unlinking on your ActiveRain blog.

As always, do not forget to label your link! It takes only a second but can really increase the power of your blog exponentially!

If you are having trouble viewing this video, click the button to watch in HD & you can view this tutorial in full screen mode.

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Hasta La Bye Bye!~ It's Vacation Time!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:26:34 -0500

Well, the time of year has come for Jeremy & his Family to take a vacation. We will be packing up the car & heading towards Atlanta, GA. This year we decided to incorporate visiting family with a vaction to have our very own away from home staycation. Rainers, have no fear, while i will be gone for the next week, I still will be checking in from time to time.

But, if you have questions & need an immediate answer, I would suggest contacting either Bob or Brad. It might take me a few extra days to respond as I will probably either be at The Georgia Aquarium, the Atlanta Zoo, The World of Coca-Cola, or maybe even touring the CNN building. (Ya never know, maybe I can get my own TV gig if I visit CNN)

I know some of you may be saddened by this void of Jeremy on the network, but have no fear, I will still be lurking around & ya never know when a tutorial might pop up on my blog. Also, if you want to follow along on our journey, feel free to check out my photo blog & facebook page that will be updated regularly of our journey via my iPhone.

I hope everyone has an awesome week and I will see you all on Labor Day!

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Also, lets connect on these great social networks:

Inserting Video onto Your Active Rain Blog

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:04:32 -0500

I just finished reading Erin Golding's post: How on Earth Do You Blog So Much and in there, she made the following statement:

(I can't figure out how to embed videos into my ActiveRain blog so if anyone can help, that would be great).

I wanted to make sure she got the answer, so the first thing I did was read through the 80 comments thinking for sure someone had left a link to a post on how to do this. To my surprise there was none. To my even bigger surprise, when I searched ActiveRain for an post I couldn't seem to come across an updated blog post with information on how to do it. So, Erin, this tutorial is for you!

If the video is too small to view, try watching in HD.

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Managing Widgets for Your Outside Blog

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:53:56 -0500

Many have asked how to add, remove & change the order of your widgets on your outside blog. So, today I put together a short tutorial on how to do all of this. If you are not familiar with how these widgets work, watch this simple 3 minute video & it will walk you through step by step.

If you are having trouble viewing what I do on my screen, click the full screen tab & watch.

If you are not familiar with what some of these widgets are, visit these posts in my widget series where I explain the some of the most popular widgets available for your outside blog:

Widget Wednesday~ Tips to Enhance Your Outside Blog- Part 1

Widget Wednesday~ Tips to Enhance Your Outside Blog- Part 2

Widget Wednesday~ Tips to Enhance Your Outside Blog- Part 3

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Would You Like 10,000 ActiveRain Points?

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:46:38 -0500

Last week I wrote a post on Effectively Posting Your Listings to Your Blog. I shared a few tips on how to write blogs posts about your listings to appeal to both consumers & also search engines. I also shared a few things that will hurt your chances of a consumer coming back repeatedly to your blog.

Many of you have seen the recent influx of points so generously being given away by Bob. The only logical thing for me to do was be more generous. Unfortunately, since I am still the new guy in the community builder realm of ActiveRain, I have been put on a quota of points to award per month. Unlike Bob & Brad who have been given the platinum cards with unlimited amounts, I've only been given the gold card which I found out quickly does have a maximum limit.

That being said, I decided that since I can't give everyone 10,000 points, I could at least host a contest! Besides, who doesn't love contests? The last one that Jason Crouch sponsored had over 80 entries! I wonder if this contest can break that? So, without further ado, here are the details:

Contest starts today & runs through Midnight CST August 31st.
All entries must be written after time of this post.
All entries must be linked into the comment section of this post. Entries that are not left in the comment section of this post will not be awarded any points.
Posts that look like they have been copied & pasted from the MLS or any other Newsletter service will be disqualified from the contest & not receive any bonus points.
You may enter as many times as you wish, but will only receive points for 1 entry.
At the end of August 31st, a Panel of staff judges will chose the top 10 posts. The top 10 posts will then be placed into a poll where the members of ActiveRain will chose First, Second, & Third Place winners.
Points will be awarded as follows:
- 1st Place: 10,000 points
- 2nd Place: 5,000 points
- 3rd Place: 2,500 points
- Top 10 Finalists: 1,500 points
- Just Entering Contest: 500 points
The top 10 finalists & also winners of this contest will not be based upon the listing itself. In other words, it doesn't matter if your post is about a 10 million dollar mansion, or a $10,000 piece of land. The winners will be based upon the quality of the post, additional content about the surrounding areas, & use of extras like video & slideshows. Creativity & content will out weigh design & layout.
Lastly, your posts will be judged upon grammar & spelling, so make sure to use the spell checker & proofread your post. Posts containing several spelling errors or typos may be removed from the contest.

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Happy Birthday ActiveBrad!

Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. (ActiveRain Corp.) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:16:57 -0500

Just wanted to take a minute to wish a special birthday to my fellow community builder Brad Andersohn. I find it a privelege & honor to work alongside someone who is so passionate about ActiveRain as I am! I hope you have an awesome day my friend! Party like a rockstar!

Make sure you take a minute & wish Brad an awesome birthday!

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