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ActiveRain Update - 6.17.14

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with ActiveRain Corp.

Lots to go over today Rainers so buckle up!  We've had another release to improve AR, our SEO and hopefully your experience as well.

We were able to get some of our Ambassadors in on some of these changes to get a consensus of what would work best for the masses.  In addition to the usual behind-the-scenes SEO updates and bug fixes, we do have some other updates to make you aware of.

 

Top Contributor Badge

We're excited to unveil the top bloggers on ActiveRain!  To earn a spot on this page, a member has written at least 52 blogs between June '13 and May '14.  You'll start to see this badge pop up around the web so be sure to congratulate our top bloggers.  We applaud your contributions to AR and hope you revel in the success of all your blogging efforts.

 

Ambassador Page  

It's here, it's here!  A page of all the ActiveRain Ambassadors for easy viewing. We all know these Rainers possess something special and are here for the community.  They are constantly going above and beyond and let's face it, the 'Rain wouldn't be as successful, helpful and encouraging without them. If you are ever in need of some help, reach out to an Ambassador, you'll find this link under Important Links on the right side of the homepage on AR.

 

User Type Updates

As we try to better serve up relevant content your way, while keeping user type in mind, we've updated our user type choices. Our goal is to make sure vendors are not lumped in with agents who may have been limited in choice before.  You won't see every user type on this list, it's not possible, but we feel the list is extensive enough to fit all real estate professionals in.

 

Mega Menu/My Home Menu

One of the first SEO changes we made was to get rid of our mega menu.  We believe this menu choice may have been hurting our SEO as it made it difficult for Google to crawl through AR and discover your content.  As part of this, we are also updating the top gray navigation bar and My Home navigation.

The gray bar will now incorporate: Write a Blog, Recent Posts, Leaderboard, Stats, & Points.  You'll see we replaced Following & Groups.  You can still find those choices. Groups will be accessible via Resources in the top blue nav bar as well as the new My Home section titled 'Find Blogs to Read'.  Following is accessible via the main AR blog roll right rail as well as the new My Home section titled 'Find Blogs to Read'.

My Home now has 4 sections on your left bottom rail:  My Blog, Meet Great People, Find Blogs to Read & More to Explore.  Please check out these new sections for all your AR links.

My Account Top Nav (your little picture on the top left if logged in) has added Billing Information and Contact Support to the list for more convenience.

 

We hope you find these changes beneficial and pretty soon the navigation will become second nature.  Have a wonderful day everyone!

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Comments (52)

Joan Whitebook
BHG The Masiello Group - Nashua, NH
Consumer Focused Real Estate Services

It looks like Active Rain is always looking for ways to make the experience better.  I think some interesting points have been raised.. and maybe the # of posts is one category and overall participation may be a separate category.

Jun 18, 2014 11:09 AM
Susan Haughton
Long and Foster REALTORS (703) 470-4545 - Alexandria, VA
Susan & Mindy Team...Honesty. Integrity. Results.

Looking forward to a new and improved AR!  ;-)

Jun 18, 2014 11:54 AM
Tammie White, Broker
Franklin Homes Realty LLC - Franklin, TN
Franklin TN Homes for Sale

Kerrie, whenever people are rewarded for quantity vs. quality, there is going to be some backlash. However, I do think that if you are going for the quantity of posts that only the bloggers original posts should be considered. It doesn't seem like they should received credit for the posts they have re-blogged. It somehow feels like they are receiving credit for other people's content. I think if that change was made you'd see a different list of top contributors.

Jun 18, 2014 12:53 PM
Jimmy Chickey
Keller Williams Realty Southwest - Las Vegas, NV
Realtor, Nationally Recognized Author, Teacher

I am fairly new, but the changes all seems cool to me.  I have always found that quality trumps quantity. :)

Jun 18, 2014 02:10 PM
Kathy Clulow
Uxbridge, ON
Trusted For Experience - Respected For Results

Consistency Matters

I for one like the top contributer way of recognition ..... it certainly gives an up and commer an opportunity to outshine someone who has been around a long time and has a gazillion points or followers but has stopped posting as often.

Content is King

 

 

Jun 18, 2014 02:22 PM
Laura Cerrano
Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY
Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

Let's give this a week before we judge it too harshly. Could work general :

Jun 18, 2014 03:58 PM
Amanda Christiansen
Christiansen Group Realty (260)704-0843 - Fort Wayne, IN
Christiansen Group Realty

I love how you guys are always working on things to make the site better.  Change is inevitable and necessary, even though some might not like it.  

Jun 18, 2014 10:07 PM
Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

If a top blogger is one that puts out the most posts - I do not want to be part of that list.    Just because you put out 10 posts of junk does not in my mind state you are a top blogger.     I thought we are encouraged to put out posts for content, and some are jokes, recipes, animal post and feel those do not count.

Jun 18, 2014 10:27 PM
Graziella Bruner
NCS Premier Real Estate - Detroit, MI
Associate Broker - Serving Wayne & Oakland County

I like the new changes - easy to navigate and see better!  Thanks for always trying to find ways to improve and make it more easier!  Keep up the great work that you do! 

Jun 18, 2014 11:41 PM
Doug Rogers
RE/MAX Coastal Properties - Destin, FL
Your Real Estate Resource!

Do the math. The number one "blogger" produced 4,279 posts over 365 days. That's almost 12 posts a day EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. Either the posts are junk, or someone needs to kick a cocaine habit...

Jun 18, 2014 11:45 PM
John Wiley
Fort Myers, FL
Lee County, FL, ECO Broker, GRI, SRES,GREEN,PSA

I have found some great people on AR. They are great because they share words that add value. The new recognition puts a competitive spirit to work that waters down the value. There are too many posters, especially those just given special status, who post nothing of value, yet they get special recognition. This is not what I want to spend my time sorting through. I am very disappointed in the direction that AR is headed.

Jun 18, 2014 11:53 PM
Robert Hammerstein -
Christie's International Real Estate - Hillsdale, NJ
Bergen County NJ Real Estate

Very interesting post here. Though we have not been on AR as much as we would like in the past year, I still rely on AR for the upmost top of the line blog posts in our industry.... Congrats AR and keep on Raining..

Jun 19, 2014 12:09 AM
Karen Baker
Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty - Sunset Beach, NC
Professional Help with Rapid Responses...

Agree with comment #37 from Tammie White.  Reblogs should not be included!!

The North Carolina list would be different for sure!

Jun 19, 2014 02:57 AM
Kerrie La Guardia
ActiveRain, Community Manager - Kirkland, WA
Let it Rain!

Thank you all for your feedback, please check out this post for more.

Jun 19, 2014 02:59 AM
Bill Roberts
Brooks and Dunphy Real Estate - Oceanside, CA
"Baby Boomer" Retirement Planner

Kerrie, I am VERY UNHAPPY about the changes, specifically the light blue menu bar at the top of the page.. The "Following" tab displayed all the blog posts for those members I am following. Now, if I go to the following link on my left-hand side menu under "find blog posts," it only gives me another menu bar on the right=hand side of those that I am following, not their current posts. It is very time consuming and difficult to find each of their latest posts.

Bill Roberts

Jun 20, 2014 12:34 AM
Kerrie La Guardia
ActiveRain, Community Manager - Kirkland, WA
Let it Rain!

Bill - I am sorry you don't like the changes.  We have talked about the possibility of making the gray nav bar customizable to you.  I do hope this is in our future realm.  

To get to my Following list, I click Blogs, Explore More and then change the Type to "Followed Only".  It's 3 clicks from the main page and an alternative to the way you're getting there.  

Jun 20, 2014 01:54 AM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Kerrie, Liz and Bill Spear hooked me up with this...sorry I missed it earlier, but thank you for the clarification and the improvements you all are always trying to do for the betterment of our community!

Jun 20, 2014 02:25 AM
Anna Hatridge
R Gilliam Real Estate LLC - Farmington, MO
Missouri Realtor with R Gilliam Real Estate LLC

I appreciate all the effort that went into the updates. The site seems to be working smoothly now and hopefully will just continue to get better.

 

Jun 20, 2014 01:52 PM
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Andover, MA
Andover, MA: Andover Luxury Homes For Sale

All welcome changes - including a page for Ambassadors. (I clicked on FOLLOW - and plan to really follow each of the ambassador.

Jun 20, 2014 02:14 PM
Bill Roberts
Brooks and Dunphy Real Estate - Oceanside, CA
"Baby Boomer" Retirement Planner

Kerrie, Thanks for the tip. It isn't as easy as it used to be, but it works.

Bill Roberts

Jun 21, 2014 01:13 AM