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Are Complete Profiles important? You be the judge!

"New client called me from co. website...I was the only one in my office w/my profile filled out!" This was a quote that came through my twitter stream earlier today from my friend Kristina Cusick. She was so thrilled to receive a new lead straight from her company website. Why? Because she had taken 10 minutes to fill out her profile completely.

Each day as I navigate through ActiveRain I come across profiles of members that are left vacant. Most do not even have a profile picture. This saddens me because it sends off the impression that either they are incompetent and do not know how to complete the profile, or the member is just too lazy to take time and fill it out.

On twitter, I see friends say all the time, "If you don't have an avatar, I am not following you!" The main reason for that statement on twitter is that people are constantly making spam accounts that are used to just push junk on clients. If you actually took the 3 minutes to fill out a twitter profile and upload a photo, you will gain confidence in people instantly.

Then, while writing this post, I came across another post on Sara Bonert's blog that she just published about Terri Lussier's Awesomest Zillow Profile. In this post, Sara discusses the importance of Keyword Rich information on your profile. There is a graphic there that shows how Terri's social media profiles are dominating Google.

If you do a google search of: "Use this section to write about yourself - don't be shy - Why should a buyer or seller want to work with you? Do you have any certifications and qualifications? What sets you apart from other agents/loan officers?" You will find over 18,000 members on ActiveRain that have never even filled in the description sections of their profile! That means 18,000 members are missing the ability to be distinguished in google searches with their profile page.

So, my question to you is this? Have you set up your profile on ActiveRain & other social media sites? If the answer is no, have I convinced you yet of the importance of a complete profile? I surely hope so!

If you are not sure where to begin to enhance your profile, here are some great tutorials to help:

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Posted by Jeremy Blanton ActiveRain Corp. on 07/01/2009 09:00 PM

Comments (44)

Setting Up Your Profile in the ActiveRain Channel

profile, completed profiles

Originally posted at: The Official ActiveRain Guide: Are Complete Profiles important? You be the judge!

Post is included in group: "Whacked"!!!
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Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies

44 Comments on Are Complete Profiles important? You be the judge!

JUL

Jeremy - you bring out great points as well. I know sometimes I get started on a profile and need to go back to finish it. Updating information is important too. There is so much to keep up with and yet it must be done. Thank you for your post.

Jeremy - these are excellent points about filling out a profile, the idea is to let the consumers get to know you.

Jeremy - Are you telling me it is time to pimp my profile? Yes, it could use a makeover. Thanks for the reminder.

Jeremy - Great post! Not only will you're clients take you seriously, but you might also take yourself more seriously based on an increased sense of confidence.

I get calls all the time when people search our office website. Of course, it doesn't hurt being at the top of the list alphabetically, but so many of our agents don't even post their picture, much less make any changes to the templated website they provide us.

It wouldn't hurt for me to go spruce up the AR profile again........

I believe after reading my posts and wanting to know more about me (doing business with me), they will stumble onto my profile. Like you, I believe it is of utmost importance. I change it once a while to improve on it too.

Jeremy,

Mine is in a continual state of tweak, but it was a breakthrough when I realized I shouldn't just duplicate the info on my real-estate website. I had been missing a chance to a) look a little different b) perhaps appeal to another "type".

I'm bookmarking for further improvements. Many thanks for always helping us!

Jer...

I really need to get back on mine for much needed updates! Thanks for the reminder!

More work... I don't know if I really want to say thank you, LOL. Just kidding. Yes, I tweaked it before, and will tweak it again and again. As I learn more, understand more, I change more.

Thank you, slave driver!

Jeremy - Great points. Every so often, I go back and tweak my profite on my social media. Most leads I got said they like to read my posts and profile.

Jeremy, important post. I've made copies of my profiles on various social sites so I can coordinate them. Just got a buyer from our web site who read and liked our profiles and that's why he chose us.

Sharon

I am surprised that so many have not filled out their profile! I hope they will follow you advice and take some time to do this.

Jeremy - When I was looking online for an agent in San Antonio (while still living in PA), I went through a ton of possibilities, but went with the one who had the most interesting profile, told me his value to me (without selling it to me), and had a picture that looked like it was shot after 1984.

Jeremy a complete profile is an online business card for sure.

I have no clue what the stats are on AR profile hits but on our website, 8% of hits go to our profile section. We only average about 10k hits a month, but having 800 people checking one out each month, makes one really think what they are saying about themselves. It's kinda spooky too. But I am a numbers guy, so that is the reality from us. I have no clue if that is typical or not. Cheers.....

Jeremy, while our profile may be complete, it is in constant need of update - I appreciate you reminding me!

Jeremy, I've seen some agents on Active rain leave the original text in their introduction. So you see this beautiful professional looking picture and under it is "this is where you tell about your skills" I like it, it cracks me up, but if I was a client, probably wouldn't call...

I have gone through a few phases... perhaps it is time for a new update on the "pimp my profile" parade...

Hi Jeremy... The only reasons people would choose not to fill out a profile are either they have nothing to say about themselves, or they are too lazy to time block and just do it. In either case, I would have to ask myself whether those are things that would make me want to use them as my agent.

Not sure what huangqin was trying to say, but thanks for noticing those os us who do complete profiles!

Jeremy--When I have a referral I start with my AR friends and check their blogs AND profiles. If they don't blog, I don't hold it against them if they have an awesome, detailed profile! And AR allows us to put so much information on our profiles it is a shame not to put good information up!

I recently sold a nice home to an out of town buyer who read my profile on my company site www.tomlinsonspokane.com

I was very flattered. The agents in our company for the most part have good profiles/bios. I was pleased as punch that she picked me, and bought a home to boot!

Now this is only the second post about this in a day that I've read. This time, there are tutorial links. Thanks a million, Jeremy. I suspect that quite a few folks here (self included) are really about to see an explosion in their business from this...

Jeremy,

Very well said. I had a boss once that always said,"People buy from people". If people don't feel they know you, they will go to someone they do.

Jody

Great advice. I thought I had my profile completed, but just recently I've started adding testimonials. Keep up the good work.

My profile's pretty complete though after seeing Sara's post earlier today, I need to check my keywords.

JUL

Irene brought up a good comment - I wonder how much of my profile is duplicated from my personal web site -- will check that out. My profile is complete, but I'm sure going to check your link for optimizing it.

I recently invited a friend to join AR as she's new in the staging business. I checked out her profile, and she had filled virtually nothing out - only uploaded a photo. I was disappointed.

Tim, interesting stats!

Just last week, I had an ActiveRain contact who told me right up front, "I saw your Activerain profile..." So it does make a difference!

I did (and posted) a 2-part study of Activerain profiles, about a year ago, based on members' profile points and focusing only on those with 1300 points or better. Then I set out to modify my profile and mimic the "best" ones based on that criteria. Funny thing, the better my profile got, the more profile points I earned.

As an Activerain insider, Jeremy, I'll bet you could identify the top 50 profiles based on profile points without having to do all that grunt work I did - it might be interesting to members and provide a range of good examples for people to see some of the things that make a good profile.

Great points Jeremy. I think people have good intentions to get started and then just seem to never get back to it...too bad that consumers are looking at their profiles and maybe would have chosen to contact them if they had taken just that little bit of extra time to finish.

Jeremy, this is a good reminder that was important even ten years ago. FYI, you have a spam comment above and I have seen it on two other post as well.

My broker has been trying to develop a web site for a few months now. Its been up for a few. Im the only one that has done anything with it.

Blanton - Seems to me this is something very simple that everyone should do. I'll probably update and hopefully improve my Zillow profile shortly and I'm always looking for better ways to enhance my AR profile. I haven't found what I'd call the "Perfect Pitch" just yet... but that just keeps me on my toes:) Thanks for the reminder, my friend.

Judy- That is exactly what I am saying! Start Pimping that Profile!

Irene- You make an excellent point. You can make tweaks to each profile to show you have creativity. Also, what you write in a different place might appeal to someone that you didn't appeal to somewhere else with your profile.

Joan- I hope they will take my advice too!

Matt- It is sad how many are still using their 1970's glamour shot!

Tim- those are some staggering statistics!

Tim & Pam- You are spot on! They are in constant need of updating. Just like your website, adding fresh content to your profile makes the Google Monster very happy!

Steve- I think right away that they don't know how to do it. So they just leave the profile empty.

Bethann- That is awesome that they chose you based on your profile!

William- It was kinda funny that I was writing mine at the same time as Sara. Both though hold major nuggets of information!

Joe- This has always been an important part of business. Back before the internet was even around. Unfortunately, many never take advantage of it!

Sardi- I don't think you ever will find the perfect pitch. As the business constantly changes, so will your pitch!

Jody- "People buy from People" That is an excellent point!

Margaret- I am not sure if we have a stat that runs on that or not. It would be interesting though if I can find one to see who has the best ones.

It's still a people business !!!!

Of the 18,000 Rainers who haven't filled out profiles, how many have more than 10,000 points? My guess is that most if not all of these profiles are abandoned.

Now that you mention it, I better double check my Profile. I'm usually pretty good but there's always room for improvement to sparkle and shine and make that personal connection!

I better go check mine too...just when you think you're getting caught up on all the techie stuff, there's something else to do! Thanks for the reminder, Jeremy!

18,000 - that's a lot of lack luster profiles on AR...off to tune mine up now as well!

Jeremy, this is a great post. There are many agents in my office who don't have a complete profile. Part of me wants to remind them that they are really missing out, but they haven't jumped on the 'internet' train, so it would be kind of like preaching to a brick wall.

Also, it's tough because maybe I don't want all that competition! I'm very torn because on the one hand, I really stand out. On the other, I want to help everyone succeed...but I fret, will that end up putting me into a larger pond and I will suddenly become a smaller fish?

Hey Jer,

Thanks for the reminder and also for the help. This is a very good help for all, the new member as well as the seasoned member. Have a GREAT 4th my friend.

Fully filling out an online profile, no matter where it is, is very important (which reminds me, I need to work on my AR profile a bit). It is important for all of the reasons you and the commenters have mentioned.

One aspect that a lot of folks overlook, however, is having a current picture, if the profile allows a picture. I get it-- we all know that you think you looked a lot better when you got that picture taken 10 years ago, but you look pretty darn good now, too. Personally, I don't like it when folks have a picture that they KNOW isn't accurate. It tells me that they are afraid of who they are. Never be ashamed or afraid of who you are. Be who you are, and people will respect you all the more for your honesty and sincerity.

Christianne--

Don't worry about becoming a smaller fish. Fish don't shrink-- they can only grow. A bigger pond just means that you have more room to grow.

Jeremy - Spending 5 or 10 minutes can potentially bring in 5 to 10 more deals a year... hmmmmm, what to do ? Is a no-brainer ! Great post : )

JUL

Hi Jeremy, Great post and this is soooo true, I have like 3 or 4 other profiles on other networks not including my website, and let me tell you it is so important to have a complete profile. I guess some folks just don't get it. So unfortunate!!

JUL

Jeremy,

Great post. It looks like you are going to force me to work. I knew a profile was important, but I didn' realize all the ways that I could improve it. I have several profiles on differnt sites. They will now become a priority.

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