Iowa, Are YOU on a quest to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Get Recognized?
This post is a result of two posts by my friend Richard Weisser down in Georgia. The first post was "How do you expect to get drenched in the rain if you don't even want to get your feet wet?" dated 5/21/09 in which he offers 6 suggestions to those of us here in Active Rain. In addition he also offers his personal guarantee "So, for those of you that want to succeed at blogging, I offer you this challenge. Before you throw in the towel, write at least one hundred quality posts before you make your value assessment. It takes that long to develop the correct skills and disciplines and also to create a body of content large enough to have a significant SEO impact on your business. Now that is some guarantee wouldn't you say? Richard then follows that post with another post titled "Achieving national celebrity status as a result of ActiveRain blogging becomes a reality! (of sorts)" where he talks about a recent interview with Realtor Magazine on line where he was interviewed about blogging for business. So, IMHO, Richard is not only a celeb but one that knows where of he speaks.
With the numerous posts talking to newbie's here in Active Rain on how to be a success in their blogging venture to improve their visibility to the public I am setting out on a quest. I am not going to suggest things to newbie's or those that are less active on AR; I am on a search for some of these folks for introduction to our AR family. Here is my 2 step plan:
- Go on a state by state search and post between 5 and 7 people each Saturday
- Then you the MEMBERSHIP will be able to see and encourage them by responding to their most recent post
The end result will be, hopefully, an increase in activity with more members becoming visible. Now there is a really BIG problem with this plan. I will not be able, my rule, to suggest those that have not done a post or even posted their picture. You see there won't be any secret agents, lenders, stagers, inspectors, etc. shown. Sorry, if you want to be considered I need to see who you are, sorta like your picture on your business card.
Today I am looking at the state of Iowa, where we have a total of 521 AR members as of this morning. I would say that with that many members 
Lucky Lang #1 and 
Jason Smith #2 could have some competition coming up behind them. So, say hello to:
Laurie Culp with Century 21 Signature Real Estate in Des Moines, IA.
Born and raised in Central Iowa. I would like to quote her from her first post where she was talking about two short sale success stories, "We CAN help these people who desperately need it. Though short sales are often tricky and take persistence, the reward of helping someone escape a 10-year blight on their credit is worth every hour spent and every problem solved." Say hello to Laurie.
Stephen Riso with NP Dodge Real Estate in Council Bluffs, IA.
Stephen Riso became a member in October and wrote his first post January. He, like many of us was wondering why more first time home buyers haven't taken advantage of the tax credit being offered to them. Drop by and offer some encouragement to Stephen.
Barbara Kay with NAI Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial Company in Des Moines, IA.
"PARACHUTING", all I can say that Barbara has coined a new term and I will just let you read her first blog. Take a stop by her blog and encourage her to continue sharing her knowledge. You may want to offer your opinion of what she calls parachuting, too.
Eric Yerke with Coldwell Banker Hedges in Cedar Rapids, IA.
Eric sez, "Believe it or not, I got into this business by chance. I bought my first home for sale by owner without proper representation." Hmmmm. Now he is looking to Active Rain for education and all of the fine folks here to share their knowledge with him and help him become a success.
Jody Lautenbach with Century 21 Premier Associates in Pella, IA.
Jody wrote her first post in 2007 wondering what the market was doing. She then came back in March of this year encouraging the buyers to come back into the market. I am thinking that she would like a little bit of help in getting up and running here in the Rain.
Josh McNair with Stan Brough Realty in Clive, IA.
Josh became a member in February and wrote his first post that same day. He is a commercial REALTOR® and has worked for the same company since 2005. I am sure that he has a good knowledge of commercial real estate and would be someone that would be a good resource. Stop in and say hello.
Tabitha Zesch with Hunziker & Associates, REALTORS in Ames, IA.
Tabitha also became a member in February and like Josh wrote her first post that same day and then returned in June to write her second post. Her first post was about using rental property to get clients down the road and was an interesting read. Then she asked, in her second post, which social networking sites are the most popular. I would think there are a couple of folks here that would like to help her with that question. Let her know what you think.
Be looking for your state coming soon to a post near you. Next I will be visiting Idaho; if you know of someone celebrating a birthday in Idaho soon just email their name to me and I will acknowledge one person.
Please stop by and encourage these guys and gals and let's see if we can improve some of the participation. Thanks for stopping in.
If you are looking for a very simple way to move up in your standings for the state that you live in, here are two small suggestions:
- Make one comment on someone's blog post.....Just pick one of the Featured Posts and read it then comment on what you read and
- Complete your profile and then if you are looking for other suggestions,
- Click here and here and here for more help.
Thanks to Active 
Brad Andersohn and 
Jeremy Blanton for their contributions. BTW, don't let these guys scare you they are really docile.
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