If you build it (blog it) they will come - Before ActiveRain and Now

If you build it blog it they will come - Before ActiveRain and Now

I read Sally's post about blogging about life before an after ActiveRain and I thought it would be fun to enter the contest. Then I started reading some of the amazing stories that others were submitting and I started to second guess myself. I am not an ambassador. I'm not a top producer. I don't have hundreds of thousands of points. I've never had a featured post. I am still learning how to get around and how things work. I haven't even been on ActiveRain for a year. I've only recently been blogging regularly.

Gosh, stop the whining already. I couldn't stand all that chatter in my head. I decided that the quickest and easiest way to shut up the head chatter was to go ahead and write the post.

I got involved in ActiveRain through the Crystal Coast Chapter of Women's Council of Realtors. The then President, Marian Goetzinger and President Elect, Amy Hahn, had just returned from a NAR and WCR convention and they were talking about ActiveRain. I was developing condos and didn't have time for blogging. Who would want to know what I was doing anyway. That wasn't the last of it. They talked about ActiveRain at just about every Women's Council board meeting and program.

More than a year later on November 14, 2008 I joined ActiveRain - I remember the date as it is my Mom's birthday and my sister's birthday. It took me until December 3rd to publish a post. I wrote mostly about our local chapter of Women's Council. To tell the truth it was a diversion from a yucky market with no business. I had gone from developing condos and doing resales with 3 office assitants and 6 agents and a six figure income down to 1 part-time worker and 3 agents (2 of the 3 being my partner and me) and no income. My cash flow was non-existent. I really wasn't sure if I was going to stay in real estate. I was putting in a lot of time and taking on the duties of assistants long gone with no profit to show for it.

Over half the agents in our local board had part-time jobs. I though about what else I would do and frankly nothing made sense. The econmy had taken a huge hit in October 2008 and was in the toilet. With so many people out of work finding a job wouldn't be a simple thing. As a 50% owner in my real estate company I was carrying half of the expenses to keep the doors open and that was draining. When I wasn't wearing 4 different hats at the office I was running numbers and trying to refinance properties, consolidate some debts, and trying to rein in our spending at home. My income, 401K, IRA and investment accounts were all heading south while my expenses were holding steady. Without my husband, Henry, holding this all together by increasing his work load at his law practice things would have been out of control.

With no clear direction to turn I decided to try and "ride things out" with real estate. Ride things out? What a term - like we were riding out a storm and then things would go back to "normal." Now I realize that this "is" the "new normal" and I need to adjust not wait.

In September 2008 I was elected to the office of 2009 President Elect for the Crystal Coast Chapter of Women's Council of Realtors and I felt compelled to live up to my commitment. I sporadically blogged during the winter and spring, held a couple of first time buyer seminars, worked the couple of leads from the seminars and generally hung on.

May came and with it the Mid-Year meetings in DC for the National Association of Realtors and Women's Council of Realtors and as President Elect of our local chapter of WCR  I was expected to attend. I had never attended a national convention. I always thought the National Meetings were for top-producers, bigger offices and that someday it might be for me too. How wrong I was. What a treat! I had a blast. The speakers were top notch, the vendors were abundant and the information was leading edge. The panel discussion at the WCR venue was on ActiveRain, WordPress, Twitter and Social Networking. Every one of the national speakers talked of the importance of ActiveRain and social networking. I came home pumped and overloaded with tips, tricks and ideas.

I started blogging on ActiveRain in a new way. I was learning more and reading more. One Saturday morning I logged in to ActiveRain and found Katerina Gassett offering a webinar on RealBird  and it was to start in just a few minutes.  From that webinar I wrote a post about a subdivision in my area and embedded a RealBird search widget into the post, that was early June. I've had 3 direct leads from that one post. Two did not pan out and the third I am still working which could be a listing as well as a property purchase.

In June I read some of Katerina's blog posts and signed up for her September SEO to the Top Webinar.

I blogged about the local nail salon and spa. Weeks later I got a call at the office from a lady in Virginia who was gathering with family at the beach and wanted to treat her Mom on her 60th birthday to a day at the spa with the girls in the family. She found my post and called the salon to find they were closed on Sunday. Not knowing where to turm she called me the author asking for help as the local expert.

August came and I attended WCR Leadership Academy in Chicago with 255 other local chapter President Elects from around the country. Amy Chorew, national speaker and technology adviser, spoke on technology and the importance of social networking including ActiveRain.

I had a lead from another post with a RealBird widget. She eventually bought in another area, but I have a new relationship.

I blogged about my new camera back in April and three weeks ago my phone rang and it was an ActiveRain member in the Lansing Michigan area asking me about it.

I blogged about my new phone in September and last week my phone rang and it was a Realtor in Phoenix Arizona who found my blog post in a Google search and wanted to know about apps for the phone. He was not on ActiveRain. I sent him an invitation to join ActiveRain.

The first week of September I started Katerina's webinar series on SEO to the Top and I've been learning to write posts in a way that Google likes to read them. I've been working on one subdivision in my area as my learning and testing ground. I just Googled the search term I'm working on - lands end emerald isle - found one of my Localism posts on page 1 followed by my Trulia post. On page 2 I found 2 of my ActiveRain blog

s posts and my nc-emeraldisle-blogspot. My goal is 4 out of the 10 spots on page 1 of google by the end of this year for that search term and then branch out to other neighborhoods.

Last night I was getting ready to go out to dinner when the phone rang again with a fellow ActiveRain member from Currituck County calling about a potential listing referral.

Then there are the people on ActiveRain that I've contacted and they helped me, Bob Stewart, Brad Andersohn, and Mama Liz that I talked to this week when I needed help. Fred Carver's post on RainCamp screams the ever increasing need for Realtors to blog and blog successfully.

I no longer feel like I'm hanging on waiting for the market to come back. I feel pro-active. I feel hopeful. I feel like the blogging I'm doing on ActiveRain is having a real and tangible impact. I feel excited. I feel like the tide is tuning for me. I can't wait to see what comes next.

I truly feel the title of this blog, If you build it blog it they will come!, reflects my experience in the last 5 months.

I'm headed to San Diego in November for the National Association of Realtors and Women's Council of Realtors Convention. I look forward to networking, learning, finding new products and technology, being inspired by the speakers and hopefully meeting a few fellow ActiveRain members face to face. If you are going I hope to meet you. If there is an ActiveRain meet up at the convention I'd love to know about it.

Copyright © 2009 by Kathryn Gorham, All Rights Reserved.*If you build it blog it they will come - Before ActiveRain and Now*