Edit: 4/10/08 (83,000 members)
We're closing on 60,000 members in Active Rain. Yesterday saw 44 Newbies join our ranks, from places as far from my Tucson home as Vancouver, British Columbia and Ponce Inlet, Florida. With so many new members, and so much content to wade through, it's hard to know what to do first as a Newbie. 1st: Read and re-read the ActiveRain Community Guidelines ! You'll come up the curve quickly, and you'll save yourself a lot of grief.
2nd and Always: Write a post for your blog. Google will never find you if you don't post to your blog! If you're from a non-blogging background, writing that first post can be intimidating. It doesn't have to be, as you'll see shortly.
Blogging is no different than teaching your child to tie his or her shoes. First, Mikey, we make a loop like this... The difference getting started on your blog is that, for the moment, you're in the position of the child. That's uncomfortable for any adult.
You expect your first effort to approach perfection. You agonize over the title. What to say? What to say? In your heart of hearts, that nagging voice telling you that no one will want to read your post anyway.
You couldn't be more wrong. We're waiting to meet you--to get to know you and the business you're nurturing out there in your corner of the world. Interaction between members is the genius of Active Rain. It's why Google gravitates to this website when potential customers search for answers to their real estate related questions.
That interaction won't happen unless your words connect in a way which makes me (not everyone--just me) want to comment on your blog post.
What works? Blogs that "work" are personal. I know from checking Statistics on my home page (bottom left) that dozens of people will read this post, but I'm not talking to a crowd. I'm just talking to you. Your first blog will attract attention and garner comments if it's
- simple,
- open and
- free from pontification.
One Newbie posted this for her first effort:
Hi everybody! I just joined today and would love to know what are some of the first things you did to get involved and get results from this community.
Thanks for your help!
She got 44 comments in 24 hours! That's how it works. So have at it! Enjoy yourself and have fun!
It's one of the 10 commandments of Active Rain!
I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.
Think of me as your AR Mentor.
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Nice post Mike...I remember joining a little over a year ago and we had close to 9,000 members at that time. Times have sure changed.