A few emails triggered this post, one of the questions I received is because someone doesn't use activerain anymore, should they delete their content. I also saw a similar conversation taking place on facebook, I don't quite get it at all?
You probably have a love/hate relationship with Active rain. In my case...I do.
I have recently changed cities due to the office being located in Ormond Beach, while I am no longer a REALTOR,
I am a real estate agent who chose a different path. To refer business and keep my license active and follow my dreams. At this point I am at a crossroads with Activerain. Where do I fit in?
I did not know Jon, Caleb or Matt when I first joined Activerain, I didn't join Activerain because of them. I joined Activerain because it promised me another avenue to connect with peers throughout the country that were willing to share information, their best trade secrets and build bonds. I can't complain..I have had a great run with Activerain and will continue to do so.
Generating Leads - Still Building Relationships - I Still Love This Place - Its The Community Members That Matter And Not Who Owns The Site
Since 2006 there have been many changes and I imagine there will be more. For me a perfect example is when Caleb left Active-rain he was replaced with Bob Stewart, it was difficult to give Bob a chance. Not because he was bad, evil or not likeable. Bottom line he wasn't Caleb. At that point I considered leaving and deleting all of my content. I got upset when Caleb left...but we all continued on.
While I love and admire Caleb forever, I got the opportunity to meet Bob too, Bob Stewart earned my respect and friendship due to his own merits. He has become a great friend and an awesome source of information.
My respect and admiration for Bob Stewart does not affect the way I feel about Caleb. They are two different people and I admit I love them both.
Cutting Activerain Loose - Is It A Business Decision or Emotional Decision?
This year we all got a jolt when many who are near and dear to our hearts changed career paths, moved on and continue to trail blaze through social media. I'll always remember them, truly respect them and will find a way to connect with them whether they are here or there but still I ask myself where do I fit in? It has nothing to do with Active rain changes
but my own personal changes. It sometimes feels strange to be here and have questioned often should I just delete my content from Activerain?
I Can't - I Won't - You Shouldn't - To Each His Own
NO WAY..since links are cached on the web and what would happen if someone saw a link of interest and instead of your posts they received a 404 error where they click and there is nothing there.
There are many readers of ActiveRain that are consumers who have been following your blog for a very long time. I've been here since the early days and receive emails and contacts to this day with the emails starting out, where have you been? Is everything ok? I have a buyer for you! I need a REALTOR. I loved your post. Please write something..
My Personal Opinion and Reasons Why I Probably Won't Use My Content Elsewhere
The concept of importing your content makes perfect sense but why would you delete your content from ActiveRain? Although I have grabbed my content, it sits in a zip file. I posted a few on my site but I quickly realized these posts were written for the community, my subscribers and consumers who visit activerain.
Do you think by removing your content it will benefit you? I will not remove my content unless the terms of service became unacceptable or content is a negative for me with google but I wouldn't throw my eggs in one basket either. I did that for a very long time and now I stand wondering where do I fit in.
Activerain Gives Me Lots of Traffic To My Own Personal Site
I don't think many realize the power of Activerain where the home page is a page rank of 5. If you check the variety of rankings for this site, it is better than most of the top dawg real estate sites and many real estate agents sites out there.
Check your own site..my site is a page rank 3, last year my site was a page rank 5 but this year I can probably count the number of posts written on both of my hands. Its sad but true and it applies here too in 2011 I wrote a total of 5 posts here. darn it including this one. WOW what a bum I have been! Damn if that did not get me motivated!
Activerain Platform + Community + Your Site = Your Own Social Network
Even though you may not post as often as others do, the posts that sit here may give you additional business or make the difference of you or someone else in your local market being at the top of the search engines or #1 for your local market. Why would you want to remove it?
People Still Read Old Content If It Is Relevant and Interesting!
I have been here since June 2006. Today I received two contacts from ActiveRain from posts dating back to 2008, a new comment was posted yesterday by a consumer on a post I wrote in 2008.
I ask myself, where do I fit in?
I still generate business, I still have many of the friends that I had before on the network and its shocking to me that I even considered removing all my content.
My Personal Opinion
Do yourself a favor and think twice before taking every piece of advice out there on the web.
When you focus on SEO too much you lose a huge portion of the human side of yourself, your audience will notice the mechanical writing that goes with it!
Its just like repeating the title of a blog post in the first sentence of your post, I get it but sometimes it sounds ridiculous and other times condesceding.
For me, its not just about SEO, you can still write SEO friendly content and sound like a human being!
Some statistics for Activerain.com
I have to face the fact, I am one who doesn't post often but the past will continue to haunt me on the search engines and my own sites! Its a tough problem to have...NOT!
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