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Active Rain Year in Review by Ines Hegedus-Garcia

By
Real Estate Agent with Majestic Properties 3061802

I was asked to do a 2007 Year in Review for Active Rain and my mind started racing into which direction I could take this to. The whole concept of the project is to see our own particular take on how Active Rain has impacted the Real Estate Industry this year and what I would consider to be the top 12 posts of the year.

Let me begin by saying that each person’s journey, role, focus or whatever you may want to call it, is very different. We all have strategies and methods to our madness and I think you will agree that we have also made unbelievable friendships that will carry on beyond anyone’s expectations.

I am very grateful to Active Rain mostly for the relationships, but also for giving me the gift of blogging which lead to the creation of my baby, Miamism.com. The countless hours I’ve spent in this platform have changed my real estate world a great deal and I can honestly say I am a better Realtor because of blogging.

Billie Rocks!Now to the subject at hand. The year began with The Lovely Wife, aka “TLW” asking a group of ladies (Mariana Wagner, Carole Cohen, Monika McGuillicuddy and Ann Cummings) to do blogging book reviews in order to help new bloggers as well as ourselves. The first review was Paul Chaney’s Realty Blogging (which lead to something unbelievable, but I’ll get to that later) and then we went on to review Rebecca Blood’s The WEBlog Handbook. After we reviewed each chapter, TLW was able to do an open Forum type post with none other than the author, Rebecca Blood. Yes TLW has had hundreds of great posts that lifted the spirits of Active Rain. But to think that we were able to communicate directly with a pro that has been blogging for years was pretty amazing.

Welcome To Our Open Forum With Rebecca Blood...ROAR!


soooo good looking!

I couldn’t go on to talk about another blogger without mentioning Bryant Tutas, (TLW’s very good looking husband). With Bryant I learned how to respond to people on my posts, how to deal with aggression (take a look a Candybags if you haven’t from 2006), but most of all, how to add a little humor to our very serious and sometimes frustrating jobs.

Broker Bryant counteroffers...just for you CaliGal!


WASSSSAAAAAP!Next, I’d like to highlight one of my favorite people and fellow Agent Genius Blogger who is so selfless about her blogging and is constantly helping others, in addition to letting her sense of humor shine through. I need to mention her series on Understanding the Realtor Code of Ethics. Talk about telling it like it is. Here’s Mariana Wagner’s last post on the subject and it will guide you to the proceeding articles as well.

Understanding the Realtor® Code of Ethics: Article 17 - Arbitration and Litigation


Portsmouth Queen

You all have seen different people celebrating break-through’s around Active Rain with posts like “I have 20,000 points” or “how I made it to 100,000”. The most original and creative post to highlight their 100th post was from Ann Cummings. She was able to involve a lot of people and was able to capture us with none other than a Jeopardy Game. (I did not hurt that I ended up wining…..hm, hm).

JEOPARDY, Active Rain Style - MY 100th Post!!




Super NH Trainer

Next, I thought of a particular post that showed so much emotion that it even got support from the local media and tons of people came to comment. To think that this particular blogger was concerned about her “blogging voice” (sorry CARNAC, you’ll have to deduct points for that), at one point is beyond me. Here’s Monica McGuilliCuddy’s:

HATE


Long Beach Expert

Most of us started blogging for business not just because we enjoy the interaction and the fun we have, but ultimately because blogs help SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which means real estate customers will be able to find you. Here’s a post that changed the way we look at SEO from one very successful blogger that I absolutely love. Laurie Manny:

Do You SEO?




Chicago Ruler

I could not write a year in review without mentioning Stager Extraordinaire Craig Schiller. His passion for staging and for improving his industry and getting the word out are obvious. Here’s one of my favorite posts that teaches the Real Estate Industry a little about Staging.

REALTORS... Selling a home is as easy as riding a Tricycle


heart of goldAt the beginning of the year, I learned that by targeting a specific group of real estate customers, you could achieve a lot more. Rich Jacobson came up with a group for “first time home buyers” and some of us did articles focused on their needs. We would hear success stories from people about getting business from Active Rain, but I was ecstatic to hear that blogging really did work. Take a look at this blogging success story from George Souto (who happens to have a great singing voice, ask him if you don’t believe me).

My First Loan From ActiveRain!!!


Paul ChaneyThe 2007 AR year in review cannot continue without a mention of Project Blogger. This past summer, I was lucky to be invited to be an apprentice by non-other than Paul Chaney, the author of Realty Blogging (one of the books I reviewed with TLW and the ladies of the rain). It was a real honor not only to learn from Paul but to become his friend. The competition was long, was frustrating, was intense…but the experience I got from it is priceless. For that I thank AR from the bottom of my heart. Paul and I made it a point to share our progress and learned things like RSS feeds, posting formats, keyword importance, HTML, and most importantly, showing my personality in my writing. Here’s one of the posts from Paul Chaney during Project Blogger:

Project Blogger: Seven Blog Copywriting Posting Formats Project Blogger

During the Project Blogger competition, I also learned from 2 other coaches that taught me (and keep teaching me very valuable lessons).

stop staring at me!Jeff Turner is all about engaging your audience and creating relationships and not making it obvious that you are selling a product or service. In addition to sharing all kinds of great tools and gadgets (that’s why some of us call him “tool boy”), you will learn something from every single post of his. Here’s one of my favorites:

Google Is A Woman


controversy at its bestAnother great blogger and Project Blogger Coach that taught me the single most important lesson in blogging is ARDELL DellaLoggia. Ardell would go out of her way to make comments on my posts and to instigate conversation. One day she said, Ines, it’s amazing that you are an architect. You need to show your readers what added value you bring to the table, you should highlight your architectural expertise (I’m paraphrasing here but you get the point). Then one day she jumped down my throat with a very controversial topic (next time e-mail me ok Ardell? – although I know it wouldn’t have been half as fun).

What Does "Bait and Switch" Blogging Say About You?


RealtygerLastly I have to mention someone that I hold in high regards. This person grabbed my outside blog when it was in need and turned it around in a weekend. I’m not trying to sell her services here, but when it comes to Mary McKnight, you can only expect a class act. Read any of her posts and you will be overwhelmed with information. Sometimes I can’t wait for her to post her next article because I know I’ll be able to tweak and make a correction to something on my site or on my own blogging.

Sure Fire Formula for a Successful Blog Post

So how has Active Rain impacted the real estate industry in 2007?

  • It has brought people together, people from all places that we can create business relationships with.
  • It has made us better Realtors by reading and writing.
  • It was brought our business to the next level and placed us, blogging real estate professionals, at the forefront of our industry.
  • It has taught us how to achieve our goals and how to establish dialoge with our own customers before they even meet us.

There are other people that in my opinion have influenced the real estate industry other than these 12, but unfortunately, I had to narrow it down to 12 posts, you know who you are and I appreciate everything you do.

To think of all the outside blogs that have been born here in Active Rain is unbelievable! I speak for myself when I say that I have not been spending much time in the rain lately because of my own outside blog and because of my thriving business. All that started with Active Rain. If you ever get a chance to get to an AR get together, don't miss it, it's an experience you'll never forget. Best wishes to everyone for the New Year, may it bring everything you are hoping for and more….and don’t forget…..BLOG ON!

Comments (122)

Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL
Hi Aziz - so well that I'm up at almost 2:00 AM working!  : )  Thank you and as I said before, best to you in 2008!
Jan 02, 2008 04:43 PM
Maggie Dokic /Indialantic | 321-252-8696
Magdalena Dokic - Indialantic, FL
Selling the beach in Florida's space coast

Ines, in a word: EXCELLENT.  I know that word gets used when things are truly not of the excellent caliber, but this post deserves it!  All of your picks are bloggers I look up to.  Their contribution to Active Rain has been monumental, as has yours. 

Thank you for your friendship and may 2008 prove to be an even better year.  That's hard to imagine when 2007 has so many wonderful beginnings.

KUDOS! 

Jan 02, 2008 07:16 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hey Jay - I had a feeling, when I first read your comment, that you thought that was Ines.  And then I kept thinking, no he can't really be thinking that, but then I could tell you were.  That is really funny!!!

Ardell, er I mean Sophia, I like that pic on RCG - looks cool! 

Ines and Kevin - hope you both made it to bed at some point, separately of course....    LOL!

Laurie - I had a funny feeling you were filing those nails of yours, just somehow knew it!  And I suspected that phone was working overtime, too.    ;-)

 

 

Jan 02, 2008 10:34 PM
Monika McGillicuddy
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Verani Realty - Hampstead, NH
Southern NH & the Seacoast Area
LOL Ann...Jay is still walking on Air from his awesome week...But he did think it was Ines at first and when he came to bed he started telling me how much Ardell looks like Shopia Loren. I'm like thinking "what is going on" but I was too tired to get up and look. I figured that for some reason he was dreaming of Ardell and Shopia Loren! Kinda funky, I thought but I just turned over and went back to sleep.
Jan 02, 2008 11:22 PM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL

Maggie - 2008 will ROCK!!  no doubt about it - with all those great beginnings from 2007, it can only be better.  Thanks for always encouraging me! Feliz Año!

Ann - I thought the comment was strange too - I'm glad he confessed and made us all laugh - at least he has a good reason for being a little, hm, what should I call it? "air-headed?"

Monika - LOL!!  you just turned around and figured, I will find out tomorrow.

Jan 03, 2008 12:33 AM
Monika McGillicuddy
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Verani Realty - Hampstead, NH
Southern NH & the Seacoast Area
Yeah, it would have been different if he had told me that his new found birth sister Anita was really living in America, looked like Sophia Lorena and was really Ardell.
Jan 03, 2008 03:22 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL
Moni - LOL!  That would have been a sure way to make you jump out of bed!
Jan 03, 2008 03:33 AM
Randy L. Prothero
eXp Realty - Hollister, MO
Missouri REALTOR, (808) 384-5645

I agree with all of your selections.  I learned so much from them and feel being here on Active Rain has made me a better real estate agent also. 

Have a wonderful 2008!

Jan 03, 2008 04:28 AM
"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

And...

Just how wonderful is it to find out it was indeed technical problems :)

Now in moving on...I owe you the same image I shared on Rich's post...This is also a "Classic" AR Hijack.

Nice work people :)

Property of TLW. It was designed and given to me a gift by Jeff Turner. You'd have to be nuts to swipe TLW's images anyway :)

 

 

Image...Sole Property of TLW. Please do not steal it. It was created and given to me as a gift by Jeff Turner (aka Hubba and Tool Boy)

TLW...ROAR! (All original...All the time:)

Jan 03, 2008 04:44 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL
LOL @ TLW - I've always wanted one of those "rain-jacked" graphics on my posts!!  To think that 2 of these year end posts followed a completely different route is pretty funny.
Jan 03, 2008 05:49 AM
Monika McGillicuddy
Prudential Verani Realty - Atkinson, NH
NH Real Estate Broker
LOL Ines...I would have jumped out of bed. That picture you did for Ardell is awesome!!! Like your rain-jacked graphic that TLW let you borrow.
Jan 03, 2008 07:37 AM
Collette Lee
Tower Realty - Riverside, CA

Great summary of the year.  Since I just joined a few months ago it was great to see what I missed.

Jan 03, 2008 09:54 AM
Robert Hammerstein -
Christie's International Real Estate - Hillsdale, NJ
Bergen County NJ Real Estate

Hi Rick & Ines,

Great collection of posts here!  Thanks for putting these together.  Some we've read and some are definitely worth reading again and again!

Jan 03, 2008 11:59 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL

Moni - I had been dying for Ardell to change her photo and I was glad she took the bait and let me help.  Now we need Ann to jump in.

Collettee - Welcome to the rain - these are some "old timers" it won't hurt to take a look at their stuff and their progress in the last year, it's pretty amazing.

Lisa and Robert - I have read all of these a few times myself!  Happy New Year!

Jan 03, 2008 12:57 PM
Bob & Carolin Benjamin
Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ
East Phoenix Arizona Homes
Thanks for the post. Reading the comments was half the fun though.
Jan 03, 2008 02:36 PM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL
Bob and Carolin - sometimes these posts take a life of their own........that's how I like them!  Happy new Year!
Jan 03, 2008 02:46 PM
Chuck Willman
Chuck Willman - Alpine, UT
NewHouseUtah.com
I've had so much fun reading these year reviews... it appears I would have missed a few gems, thanks so much.
Jan 04, 2008 07:27 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL
Hey Chuck - I had missed your comment - none of these are to be missed, I'm glad you read them.
Jan 05, 2008 11:11 AM
Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate
Majestic Properties - Miami Beach, FL
That's hilarious Billi Bob - I'll have to check out your blog.
Jan 09, 2008 12:23 AM
Jeff Turner
RealSatisfied - Santa Clarita, CA
Ines... it was SO great to be able to video chat with you this evening. Twitter just went down, or I'd be saying this over there. Tell Rick it was alright talking to him as well. :) 
Apr 05, 2008 05:18 PM