When Jerry Newman announced the Introducing and Recognizing Newbies in ActiveRain contest, I thought this would be easy. It isn’t! Following Jerry’s link to new ActiveRain members showed what seems to be thousands of Newbies.
Many Newbies really threw themselves into the ActiveRain spirit. Lots of Newbies posted compelling profiles and personal photos, as well as great articles on a regular basis. Then there were Newbies who posted in fits and starts. When I started perusing their posts I saw that often they received no comments so I’m sure they felt frustrated not receiving any validation for their time invested in the process. Jerry is to be commended for spearheading this effort to coax Newbies into the open and encourage them to start sharing their experiences and telling us and the world about their areas.
Jerry asked that we give some Newbie advice by sharing one single very important tip that we learned here in ActiveRain. It’s hard to limit it to one single tip! So, here’s one tip for those who’ve made the decision to be Rainmakers and one tip for people who are members.
- For Rainmakers, I cannot stress how important it is to take advantage of ActiveRain University courses. It’s hard to find make time to devote an uninterrupted hour to listen to these valuable webinars. I’ve taken some courses 2 and 3 times, always gleaning several nuggets that improve my performance. For example, the Links Webinar was imperative to make the posts relative and easy for google to find. When I learned how to not just link to a site, but to link to the relevant place within the site it was like having a 2000 watt bulb shine over my head!
- For non-Rainmaker members, whenever you read a post that touches you in any way, take a moment and do two things…subscribe to the writer and click the “EMAIL ME” button to send a personal note. It’s a very simple tip. We all love personal notes.
The three ActiveRain Newbies I’ve chosen are Cynthia Williams from Boston, MA, Doug Ruppel from my old stomping grounds - St Pete, FL and my buddy in Franklin, NC - Luke Bateman. I really wanted to also introduce Leslie Rojohn from MoonDancer Realty but she threatened me convinced me to utilize my efforts elsewhere.
Cynthia Willams is a Newbie I don’t know yet but hope to get to know as she expands into more and more posting. She’s already off to a great start. She joined during the latter half of 2011 and made a Rainmaker commitment. She waited a little while before starting to post but once she did she was very consistent. Her posts are attractive with bits of art dropped in to keep the readers’ eyes engaged. The other thing she creates are catchy titles. For me, if the title doesn’t grab me I often keep scrolling until I find one that does. Go check out her post about those extra socks we all need when showing property in the winter and then congratulate her for a good start. Please tell her Mona sent you ;-D
Doug Ruppel and I have known each other for …uhm…okay…since the late 70s. We worked together in Pinellas Park at his family’s business, Modern Tool and Die. Doug was so cool, even though HIS family were the owners, he never ever acted like it. I liked Doug right from the start, he was non-judgmental and most importantly to me at that time in my life (and now) probably one of the most non-sexist men I’d ever met. He was (and is) a good looking guy and very smart, able to talk to anyone about anything. MTD was directly linked to the auto industry and when that industry started to falter, Doug looked to another profession - the highly lucrative Florida real estate market! Only a boldly confident individual would have entered into real estate during the last 3 years. He's already doing well, I think he’s chosen his new career wisely. I invited Doug to join ActiveRain a few months ago. He uploaded a very nice Florida looking photo and entered his profile info but…hey Doug! Where’s the beef? Did I mention he’s not perfect? Maybe the teensiest bit of procrastinating about minor things? After all, he did take 2 months to accept my invitation, lol. He’ll be great at blogging once he starts, so please visit his profile and click on the “EMAIL ME” icon. He’s a St Pete native, gently nudge him to start sharing his St Pete experiences with us so he can juice up his google presence online.
Luke Bateman lives in Franklin, NC and is the editor of our local Real Estate Buyer’s Guide. I’ve known him since sometime around 2004. He’s already been the subject of an earlier blog talking about the relevance of print advertising in real estate. I invited Luke to join ActiveRain earlier this year and he accepted pretty quickly. His photo is uploaded and his profile has been entered. Luke was invited because his involvement in real estate brings a unique perspective to ActiveRain. His efforts to keep the Real Estate Buyer’s Guide relevant and fresh makes him a natural to participate in blogging. He has longstanding good relationships with hundreds of local real estate agents. That’s a better record than most agents. Luke’s a good writer and since he’s a Macon County native, a font of local information. Like my friend Doug, Luke also hasn’t begun to post to his blog yet. Please visit his profile and click on the “EMAIL ME” icon and suggest there is no time like today to start his blog. After all, he’ll be far more of a natural than most of us could ever dream of being!
Thanks for welcoming and encouraging these three ActiveRain Newbies. They’ll all be receiving a link to Jerry’s contest rules and will find out they've got a great chance to earn some good points…just by posting 10 times before the end of the month. However, what I really want these three people to do is to enjoy the camaraderie that has been my pleasure since joining ActiveRain in February this year.
