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In the works - Customizing Your ActiveRain Blog

By
Real Estate Technology with ActiveRain

One of the most commonly mentioned shortcomings of blogging on ActiveRain has been the lack of customizability of the platform of members blogs.  We work to create a very easy to use platform for the real estate industry and never intend or do intend to compete with the feature sets of other blogging platforms such as Wordpress or Moveable Type.  But based on feedback we feel it's important to give members more branding optons to create a sense of ownership over their blogs without affecting the community.

Currently under development is a more customizable blogging platform for ActiveRain members to get both the benefits of being part of a community such as ActiveRain and have their content appear on their "own" blog.

This new platform will:

  • Allow members to host their blogs on their own domain name or as a sub-domain of one of our sites.
  • Allow members to customize the look of their blogs including using different templates, changing logos and color schemes.
  • Members will be able to manage multiple blogs through the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, choosing which posts are published to which blog.  In a similar way as selecting how to publish posts to groups or Localism.com
  • Comments can be shared between blogs so you only have to manage them from one place.
  • Allow members to maintain all of the current benefits they get from posting to ActiveRain such as SEO, and maximum exposure for their content.
  • Make it easier to post multi-media content such as videos and pod casts.
  • Provide a cost effective hosted blogging solution that requires almost no time to setup.

We are still in development with this solution so any feedback/feature requests are greatly appreciated, and we'll try to incorporate it into the final solution. 

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Aziz Abdur-Raoof
RE/MAX Rewards - Columbia, MD
Howard Co. Real Estate Scoop
I look forward to the new format b/c I want to post more to localism and I am not up to speed on it yet --and ease is the key.
Thank you for your hard work.


Feb 18, 2007 01:48 PM
Jason Price
Mortgage Financial Group, Inc (NMLS 219650) - Tavares, FL
The Mortgage Rider
Change is good.  I can't wait to see how these new tools will work and how I can adapt them to my personal website.  Thanks for keeping us informed.
Feb 18, 2007 02:20 PM
Marchel Peterson
Results Realty - Spring, TX
Spring TX Real Estate E-Pro

It sounds good! 

When I first joined Active Rain I spent the longest time trying to get color in to my post and finally decided as they say in Italy "Is not possible" so I am very glad to hear that.  I am especially interested in hosting my blog under my own domain name.

Feb 18, 2007 02:30 PM
Jose Luis Ramirez
5 Star Mortgage, Llc - Colorado Springs, CO
What great ideas. I'd be all about being able to host my blog an my site and also on ActiveRain, but only having to post once, kinda like Blogger, but better. 
Feb 18, 2007 02:58 PM
Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers
Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ
Coldwell Banker Realty
Looking forward to the rollout of the new enhancements - wish I was more of a blog tech and could give you specific suggestions.  I'm sure you've done benchmarking against alternative platforms and looked for "best of breed" features to incorporate.
Feb 18, 2007 03:02 PM
Steve Crossland
Crossland Real Estate - Austin, TX
Austin TX Real Estate

A good example of a simple cross-posting setup is one I use at AustinBloggers.org.

Users log in, click "post an entry", then can either start typing or click "fetch recent postings from your blog". When you click fetch, you see a list of your recent blog articles and simply click one, which instantly auto-fills the Title, url of the original post, and the content. You can then change the title or edit the content of needed, then click post and it's done.

Steve

Feb 18, 2007 03:56 PM
Brett Mumaw
RE/MAX First - New Albany, IN
Your Indiana Move
Thanks Matt for always looking for ways to improve the system.  I know it's said a lot, but I really appreciate the community that you all provide for us.
Feb 18, 2007 03:59 PM
Fran Gatti
RE/MAX Integrity - Medford, OR
Managing Principal Broker - RE/MAX Integrity

Matt,

Thanks for all you do.  It's taken me about a month of working at it everyday for several hours to learn how to post to my blog, put items on localism, add neighborhoods, etc.  When you implement anything new, can you make sure there are instructions so folks like me can start using the cool new toys without the huge and long learning curve?  Thanks so much.

Fran

Feb 18, 2007 04:30 PM
Deborah Burns ~ Seattle Real Estate Agent
Realty Executives -BRIO - Seattle, WA

Matt, I feel so lucky to have found out about Active Rain (thanks Ardell and RCG!) and on to actually be a part of such an exciting endeavor...even more so with Localism.  As I commented my first week:  Blogging makes the world my neighbor, and Localism takes my neighborhood to the world!

Here's hoping I made the guinea pig/focus group cut, I was #15!

Thanks for all that you, Jonathan, Caleb et al do!

Feb 18, 2007 05:26 PM
Sharon Simms
Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS
WOW!
Feb 18, 2007 10:30 PM
Jeff Belonger
Social Media - Infinity Home Mortgage Company, Inc - Cherry Hill, NJ
The FHA Expert - FHA Loans - FHA mortgages - USDA loans - VA Loans
This does seem very interesting and I am also looking forward to this. Like so many, thanks for the hard work.
Feb 19, 2007 01:00 AM
Patricia Aulson
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES Verani Realty NH Real Estate - Exeter, NH
Realtor - Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes

 

Sounds good.

Patricia Aulson/SEACOAST REALTOR/NH & ME

 

Feb 19, 2007 02:21 AM
Glenda Crowell
John L. Scott, Bend - Bend, OR

WOW! Learning that AR is but a baby is a shocker ~ I look forward new releases adn hope to have a handle on this soon...

G.

Feb 19, 2007 03:07 AM
Luke Constantino
Brooklyn/Manhattan Real Estate - Brooklyn, NY
Residential/Commercial Real Estate Brooklyn NY

Need someone to teast stuff?

If you can make in like Xanga.com it would be awesome!!!

Feb 19, 2007 05:08 AM
Scott Gormley
Oak Valley Mortgage-California Home Loans and Refinancing - Chico, CA

Thanks for the update Matt :)

Scott

Feb 28, 2007 11:40 AM
Anonymous
Megan
Dose Activerain support javascript or iframes? 
Mar 24, 2007 06:03 AM
#43
Skye Hawk
At Your Service! Virtual Assistant Specialists - Fountain Hills, AZ
NAR Cert. REPA "Rockstar REVA"
Is there any more information on this? When do you anticipate this to be implimented?
Aug 09, 2007 11:38 AM
Charlotte Home Loans Your Charlotte Mortgage Lender
Charlotte, NC
Any word on the status of this?
Dec 02, 2007 01:38 PM
Joseph Ray Diosana
Keller Williams Realty [Harris County] - Houston, TX
Diosana ~ Houston Area ~ 713-965-4338

How do you setup ActiveRain to publish my blog post to my wordpress blog so I don't have to do double work?

May 28, 2010 02:40 AM
Anonymous
Dave Price - Pitman, N.J.
Remembering good times at the Hustle Inn with me girlfriend, now my wife of 53 years
Apr 21, 2014 03:03 AM
#47