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There has been some controversy about the latest contest in which anyone writing 3 market reports will get 3000 points per month. Lloyd Binen 
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159 Comments on Point bribery and market reports...are non-real estate articles hurting Activerain?
Loreena, How do you post on Zillow? I didn't think they had a blog site. I know you can ask questions or make comments but wasn't aware that you could post a blog.
I don't say this about your posts very often Bryan, but I completely disagree. Blogging and AR is so much bigger than the points or the features. People want to get to know who you are before they are willing to bring you their business or refer a friend or family member. What better way to do that then blog about what matters most to you?
Blogging is a social platform and should be treated like one. That means interaction and engagement are the keys to our success. Giving people a glimpse into our "hyper-local" daily lives is what allows people to connect with us on a very real level. Not only that, but blogging about stats and guidelines all day is not only boring to write, but equally boring to read.
The beauty in this community is exactly that. It's a community. That means the communication is a two way street and not one dimensional as so many pointed out above.
The bottom line for me is this. Get involved, write about what you are passionate about, build friendships and watch your business grow. It doesn't get any better than that IMHO.
If it doesn't fit the hyper local profile, it belongs on some other site.
I have pretty much :-X during this comment stream.
I think everyone has their own styles & agendas - so it will be difficult to monitor something like this.
One problem I could see is keyword dilution if too many write about NON real estate related activities. That doesn't mean you can't write about personal or non-real estate activities - it just means a majority of our content should be real estate related if we want to have domain authority over a topic.
Go to alexa.com and compare AR with Trulia/Zillow/Realtor.com and see who is getting the traffic - and who didn't have the "spring spike". I think PANDA has hurt AR's authority rank in the search engines. It isn't just the keyword dilution either, I believe it is our bounce rate that could be hurting. Lots of people grab attention through longtail searches and when there isn't related material perhaps the visitor says "manana" and leaves.
I have suspected this in my dirty & clean searches plus my inbound referrals to my website - I researched this several weeks ago and it seems true.
Bryan, I am closing a transaction on 9/9/2011 that was the direct result of a Friday Funny I posted. I started posting Friday Funnies several months ago. The funnies show my personality. I have closed 3 other transactions this year that were the direct result of non-related real estate. Of course the reader clicked through, read my profile, experience and qualifications. They called me because they liked the personality they gleaned from my posts. Should I not get points for these posts? Not giving points does not solve the real concern which appears to be dilution of Google Juice based upon diluted non-real estate content. This has certainly triggered much discussion and opinion none of which should be taken personally. I will continue doing what I am doing in the Rain with our without points.
By not offering points for "other" blogs says that AR finds no value in them. Blogging is a way of showcasing our multi-dimensional personalities and knowledge and caring about the communites we work in. Interestingly enough, my blogs on the lighter side have a lot more reads than strictly real estate related blogs - and isn't that point - having people read our blogs and learn about us?
Maybe some people go too far with "fluff" blogs - but there are buyers that are drawn in by fluff. Real estate marketing is about trying a little bit of everything to appeal to a broad buyer base.
Bryan,
Sorry buddy; I disagree remember real estate and referrals are relationships, relationships. How do you get to know someone without personal posts. I want to know the person I am referring doing business with and learning from.
Bryan, I think that we should be able to blog about whatever we want to. Bunnies, the football game, whatever. The thing I have a problem with, in your blog, is that you say "no points for anything NOT real estate related."Well...
AR gives points so we blog more. We get business by blogging, whether it something personal or funny that gets comments or real estate related like listings, market reports or other real estate related content. If we ONLY write re content, the AR community becomes impersonal. If we include personal blogs, other AR peeps and potential clients see what we're all about. Referrals happen that way. New business and new friends happen this way.
I say Let's keep things just the way they are. Cool?
#62: While you may not have had results from your market reports, others, including myself have gotten significant business from them--millions in closed sales from them, as a matter of fact. Just because you disagree, doesn't mean that this debatable post shouldn't have been featured. The forum is a great one to convince others of your opinion but, no one will convince anyone when we throw emotion into the mix.
Bryan: While I agree with you about market reports--and we will eventually get Greg to see the light--I do disagree that writing about things 'other than real estate' is what makes this community so unique.
I've become great friends with agents, lenders, inspectors and stagers here because of the 'personal' approach that we've embraced in the Rain. Not only is this great for you to know to whom to send referrals in a particular area, the consumer who reads us and finds that we are huge basketball fans, foodies, ex-medical professionals or have 10 children, just as they do, tends to be an attraction that works nearly 100% of the time! When they learn something aside from real estate about us, and they know that we share that common bond, they tend to be the best clients we could imagine!
So, I believe that it's good to be transparent and on occasion, share your personal side here in the Rain. Added to your area expertise, it's a winning combination! IMHO
Debe, People just don't get it... I've made hundreds of thousands of dollars and have closed illions in volume prodution because of a good combination of personal and business. People want to focus on one or the other, and they don't get that it can be both.
Very good discussion going on here. As for trying to micromanage the scoring system based on content... are you sure you don't work for the government? (just kidding)
Have a great Sunday, or what's left of it.
No! Not the blog police! Active Rain has an HOA? I will be soooo out of here.
WOW! Bryan. I came over to read this featured post after reading Karen Fiddler's featured post that spoke out against you wanting to disrupt the point system in Active Rain. These were two of the most debated posts I have seen since I have been in Active Rain. I have read some of those personal posts that you felt should not have been awarded any points, and I understood Donna Harris's point about the Pay it Forward posts. In fact, Donna's contest was going to be more interesting since wanted more than just all those boring graphs.
It really not always about the points, but how we are connecting with our fellow Rainmakers and the general public. Like it has been stated above by so many. If it's not broken, don't fix it. I was just planning to start a new group that wasn't even real estate related, since I wanted to add more personal blogs.
Renee wrote
"Go to alexa.com and compare AR with Trulia/Zillow/Realtor.com and see who is getting the traffic - and who didn't have the "spring spike". I think PANDA has hurt AR's authority rank in the search engines. "
Really? I thought Alexa sucked? I see no "spring spike" for ActiveRain on Compete.com (which measures traffic but does not suck) but I never thought it had to do with PANDA.
Bryan,
I did not comment on this when you first posted it.. If you'll recall, I sent you a FB message asking you if you really felt this way or if you were writing to promote discussion of the issue BECAUSE that is the way I took your post and you answered that you had written from the other side of the issue to promote discussion of it.
I had to come back today to read to see how the comment thread had gone.
This is an intriguing style of writing.
Well, I'm pretty sure I have nothing else to add to this comment section. The points are a huge motivator for me, silly as they may be I think it's pretty genius. But I don't think AR is cluttered with unneccessary blogs, I know this has already been said, but it's a fun place to be the way it is - Kasey
Wow...lots of comments. I completely disagree with not allowing points for Non-RE related articles, (which is what your post is about). I know that you said we should still write them, just not get points for them.
Yeck...That would be no fun at all.
This is an active community that rewards for writing content and the neat thing is that we get better as we continue writing....because we have an incentive to keep writing...and heck...lots of folks actually get business from it...
The majority of Active members here in the Rain write a combination of RE related articles and personal ones. Each of these lets us get to know one another and, again, the points are a great incentive. No points, less participation and less interaction and folks will leave.
Basically, thanks for your opinion...but movin on :). Still like your other blogs though :).
Bryan I rarely disagree with you but I've got to on this one. I think people are always saying it's not about the points but those who hold that position usually have something to say about the awarding of points. I say let people blog about what they want to blog about, let AR award them points as they have been doing and don't read those post that don't interest us. To each his own Bryan. Wow this is strange. We are usually on one accord.
Hi John,
I actually had a client, while in my car from another state, ask me how my Grand daughter's recital went! I write a lot about RE but she had been following my posts to the point that she had become interested in my family and personal life...and I sold her a house.
Doesn't that explain it all?
I understand stirring the pot...I do it far too often.
;-)
We luv ya,
Deb
Thanks Deb! :)
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