2 years in the Rain...750,000 points and I'm DRENCHED

Yes, it's my 2 year anniversary here on Active Rain.  I started July 4th weekend (July 3rd to be exact)...a time when things slowed down and I finally had some time to check what Active Rain was all about.  (It had been on my "to do" list for 5 months).  Thank goodness I checked this place out because it has propelled my business to new heights and connected me with so many wonderfully talented people.

BAR - BEFORE ACTIVE RAIN:

• I didn't even know what SEO meant, let alone how to do it
• My website was getting less than 200 hits per month (and prob. half of those were me)
• I had never written a blog post about my business.
• My nickname of The Flooring Girl didn't exist

Some highlights:

The post with the most hits and most reblogs:  What types of hardwood are best for pets? It was reblogged 39 times and has over 7,000 clicks.  (this doesn't include hits from reblogs nor a 2nd version I created on my own website).  By the way, on my wordpress site, my #1 post is Red Oak vs. White Oak What's the difference?  already has over 4,000 hits in 6 months and each month, it keeps growing.

My post with the most comments: Getting more backlinks...easily...by commenting on blogs  A bit controversial, so be sure to read the comments.

Now, it's interesting looking back at my 1 year anniversary post.  At that point in time, I was honored and thrilled that I had 24 featured posts...and yes, I remember it seemed like forever before I got my first featured post.  Well now, 1 year later, I now have 81 featured posts...which means I got more than twice as many featured posts in year 2 so yes, things get a bit easier over time.

At the end of Year 1, I had 261 Called Shots...and now I have slightly over 600, so yes, you can have an influence here.

I don't know how many subscribers I had, but the # was probably low as I was too embarrassed to publish it.  Now, I have 301 subscribers.  Not bad, but yes, there is lots of room for improvement.

AAR - AFTER ACTIVE RAIN

• I have a new positioning - The Flooring Girl (and a logo...and a lot more to come)...and, it's WORKING - online and offline!
• My new wordpress site TheFlooringGirl.com is getting over 5,500 unique hits every month.  (My original site is getting over 1,800/month, my AR site is getting at least 5,000 hits and now I just launched 2 new key word rich sites.
• The combo of my blogs/website leads is now #2 business source generating 3-4 appointments each week. (Actually it's tied...top 3 are Internet, Angieslist.com and repeat customers).
• I have made so many great friends here...locally and not so local.  Some of the local ones have also directly given me business and/or introduced me to other agents who in turn have given my business....and all have been so much nice and so much fun and have so much to share.  I'm not going to mention names because I know I will miss some people.
• Oh, and I've blogged so much here, that now my membership is free...and yes, I did this the old fashioned way...I've earned it (Imagine John Houseman in the background)

So for those of you who are just joining and wondering whether this works, the answer is YES...and it doesn't matter if you are a real estate agent or not.  It works either way.  Thank you Active Rain for making this possible and thank you Active Rain community for all your support and friendship.