Seattle RainCamp & ActiveRain's 5th Anniversary Party - What a TRIP!
Who would have traveled across the country to be a part of ActiveRain's 2nd Seattle RainCamp and participate in ActiveRain's 5th Anniversary celebration? Well, ME! Hundreds of others also participated in RainCamp Seattle and what a great time we had! Besides learning new tricks of the trade, meeting many of the West Coast ActiveRain members and celebrating with the AR staff was simply an incredible experience!
Travel took me through Detroit to arrive in Seattle on Sunday just in time to meet up with my dear friends, Steve Shatsky of Dallas and Renee Burrows of Las Vegas before heading to bed at the fabulous Edgewater Hotel, situated on the coast of Seattle. Now, that was a treat and I'm so sad that I didn't have time to shoot a few photos of this historic hotel located right on the water where even the Beattles have slumbered there in the past--a really cool hotel!
Monday, Day 1 of ActiveRain Camp Seattle was filled with great information from Bob Stewart, Brad Andersohn, Todd Clark, Ben Kinney and Bacon Salt founder and Chief Baconpreneur, Dave Lefkow discussed the do's and don't's of marketing! A wealth of information was shared on Day 1 including some great tips:
- Advertise/identify new potential clients - What works for you and what doesn't?
- How to easily capture and convert leads - Via your website, Facebook and Twitter
- Show the love to your existing customers - you've already proven yourself to them; why not stay in touch?
- Give customers reasons to spread the love - give the type of service that you expect.
- Provide a stream of valuable, targeted info - keep your potential clients informed and equiped with the information that they need on a regular basis
- RETAGGR.com - manage all of your profiles
- Pipl.com - free websearch
- About.Me
- SocialBios.com
- OpenoOffice.org
- PrimopPDF.com - converts anything on your computer to a pdf file
- Engagement + community - specific to demographics, life changes, neighborhoods, communities
- Share events using Facebook and online media to drive attendance to your sites
Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg but, if one of these tips helped any of us to procure only one client, our trip was paid for! The evening brought even more networking with others attending the event and it was such a pleasure to meet so many AR members! How fortunate that we also enjoyed dinner with Jon Washburn at one of his favorite sushi restaurants--and we surely did see why he loves the place! I always love going out to dinner with Jon--we're both foodies, our food preferences are similar and he always has the best places in store!
Meeting the likes of Lori Cofer (I love this girl!), Charles Buell and René Fabre, to name just a couple, really did just make my trip! We shared lots of laughter and it truly felt as though we had known each other for years and years.
Tuesday brought more information from Bob Stewart, Rich Jacobson, Steve Shatsky and I chimed in with a few tips also! Information shared included:
- Neighborhood specific posts
- Market Reports
- New Listings
- Business Reports
- Restaurant Reviews
- Schools/PTA information
- Photo Blogging
- Video Blogging
- Updating your ActiveRain profile
- Community Page sponsorships--a great way to capture the consumer's attention
- Writing your blog--make it interesting
- Add keywords after researching them--should be 2-4% of the post
- Don't keyword stuff
- Don't over-tag
- Set up your Hit Router
- Writer's block ideas
The evening was also just as exciting, with a wonderful dinner at one of Seattle's finest seafood restaurants and a personal guided tour of Pike's Place Market hosted by none other than Brad Andersohn! I could definitely live in Seattle--the seafood and fresh fruits and vegetables are to-die-for! Niki shared one of his favorite places, Starbuck's very first store; of course, we just HAD to try a mocha coconut frappachino--even after all we ate for dinner--and, yes, we snapped lots of photos of this historic Starbucks.
We then had an evening celebration at the Hard Rock Café in honor of ActiveRain's 5th anniversary. Lots of nostalgia as we were honored with the presence of Jon Washburn and some of the 'original' AR staff. Kerrie Greenhalgh, Kelly Clifford, Niki Parekh and Kelly Pflugrath and all of the ActiveRain staff did a fabulous job of putting on a great event and making everyone feel so welcome in Seattle. We couldn't have asked for more hospitality!
The following day, ActiveRain hosted a wonderful BBQ at the AR offices. What a treat to see where everyone works and the incredibly cool office from which they steer this unbelievable community. Thank you ActiveRain for your wonderful hospitality, all of the delicious food and especially for the camaraderie. We love you guys and girls!
I felt the need to attend RainCamp Seattle and the 5th anniversary event because ActiveRain has meant so much to me. My business has flourished since joining in 2007. I have not only learned how to blog but, have learned so much about everything concerning real estate and technology and met the most wonderful friends here in the Rain. My business has grown by leaps and bounds since joining and I feel that I owe 90% of it to the staff and members here.
I have traveled to Seattle, Dallas and Orlando (as well as here in Charlotte) to meet as many ActiveRain members as I can! And, what a treat it has been for me! I've never been disappointed and have, each time, walked away with something that has helped me grow my business. The $1,000 cost for the trip to Seattle will definitely result in buisness that will cover that cost at least ten-fold--it always does!
If you wish you would have attended, it's not too late to sign up for the next RainCamp in Los Angeles! ENJOY!
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