What makes Active Rain so powerful in search? The community! AR is a powerful platform, but there's still one problem. To dominate online in our marketplace, we need maximum exposure from everything we do online. In this post we will look at how we can work together to accomplish this, but first we need to understand what we are up against.
Algorithms. That's what the geeks at Google and Facebook (among others) came up with to determine what they show people and what never sees the light of day. I have to admit they have a tough job.
If they show people a bunch of garbage, everyone will dump them and their platform will be worthless. There is no way they could sort through it all by hand so they create a computer program to sort through it all.
On the other side we have a bunch of other geeks who try to figure out their algorithms and "crack the code." The payoff would be huge, but it is a risky game and it is unnecessary. Here's why...
It's easier to get the exposure (especially in local markets) by giving Google and Facebook what they want. Let me give you a quick explanation without going into all the techie stuff.
Basically they are looking at what people do to determine the value of the content. Audience engagement has become a huge factor for both Facebook and Google. If your audience is not engaging with your content, then viral and search exposure is minimal. Some say creating better content will solve this. Well, that's partly true but there's still a problem.
You can have the best content ever, but without enough engagement it will sit in a black-hole where no one will see it. If no one sees it, how can they engage with it? It's a catch 22.
That's where the power of our community comes in.
By supporting each other, commenting on posts (here, in Facebook, in Google circles, on websites etc.) hitting the like button, the plus 1 button sending out tweets we boost each other up.
You can get hundreds of friends here, but the number of friends is not what's important. It's the quality of our friends that's important.
If we work together to promote each other, we can supercharge our online presence, and as a group, we can be a dominate force.
Here are some of my thoughts on what we can do to help each other out and get the most from our community.
Contribute
Look for ways to build and empower each other. The more you contribute and support others the more others will support you.
No Shenanigans
Support and lift each other up. Never exploit the efforts of others. Anyone who spams, disrespects the community or engages in any form of unethical trickery will get a well earned bad reputation. In the long run it's liking slitting your own throat.
Be a straight up guy or gal
When some likes, plus ones, tweets or links to your content, they are endorsing you to some degree. To make the community comfortable with that you need to tell it like it is, be honest, ethical and deliver value to your readers.
Engage in random acts of kindness
If you can help someone out, do it. You don’t always need to expect something in return. Giving brings greater happiness.
Just be cool!
Make friends and give back.
Those are some of my thoughts feel free to share yours below, and if you want to work together to empower each other be sure to connect with me on Facebook.
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