I became number one in my city the day I joined.  I think not many agents in my area are "blog-savvy"

Kari...one of the benefits is more visibility on search engines like Google. Learn how to use meta tag keywords on your blogs. This will give you more visibility on the search engines.

Just that it gets you seen first - I won't ever be number one, but I am okay with that.  I get a lot of contact anyway based on my content.  Congrats on being number 1!

The benefit comes from all the exposure of the blogs that earn you enough points to be number one. And... as a non-number one, I can tell you I've received more inquiries as I've climbed higher in the ranks.

I don't see any real value, either, even though I climbed up there.  A guy from another city and I just trade places.  I tell him he should hurry up and slow down so I can pass him and stay passed.

Kari...

The real reason is that doing the things you need to do to be number will benefit you and your business. You'll learn a lot and make new friends too!

If your name doesn't show up on Google's first page when someone Google's your name, then you need to try and be number one in your area or at least blog on ActiveRain alot to stay on the first page. It's important, I think, in real estate to be visible on the internet as much as possible. It's important to have a profile on Zillow, Trulia, Postlets, and whatever else you can find!

Haven't been there yet, keep striving to be there i am sure it is better than number 2

I think the biggest benefit is the exposure - I think that is good enough to want to be on the top.

Kari.... took me some time once I became active in the rain to reach #1 and then I traded places back and forth a few times. A local lender and I are working hard to stay on the top row.

I have been able to get to the front page of google with my active rain status. This may not sound like much but I am going against "Mark Hawley", famous studio recorder and husband of Tori Amos...

I am number one in my city and I get exactly zero but I like to blog here.  Someday I will get a call I hope.

I am attemtpting to get there!  I fairly new so the climb will be a challenge.  But I hope to someday get there.  I believe the benefit is visibility to the online world.

I have gone from last to 12 in a pool of 114 in 30 days.  When I play around with Google and different searches I find myself on the first page.  In the long run I know this has to help my business.  The trick now that I am moving up is to fine tune my SEO.