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The awesome marketing power of Active Rain

By
Real Estate Appraiser with Appraiser, Ken Rossman Cert General RZ3504

I have experienced a sharp increase over the last six months in bankruptcy appraisals, probably due to general market weakness and an increase in foreclosures as well as a tightening up by trustees in proof required, etc.

FWIW, I had nothing on my websites or PPC Directoy listings, etc. seeking bankruptcy appraisal assignments.

Anyway I figured it might be a good time to target [for soliciting appraisal work] those planning to file for [or already in the process of filing for] bankruptcy. I made some modifications to my websites [will likely take weeks or months to be indexed again by the major search engines] and played with some of my PPC directory listings which will be active in a few days.

The most amazing and immediate result was my Active Rain Blog.

I wrote a blog post early this AM "Bankruptcy Appraisal - Why it's crucial to choose a seasoned professional".

Within 45 minutes it was indexed by Google with top ranking for a host of related searches [based upon the keyword tags submitted with the blog, etc].

Within 1 1/2 hours I got an order for an appraisal scheduled for Tuesday.

I am truly impressed!!!

Comments (9)

Aida Pinto
Independent Real Estate Broker - Los Angeles, CA
Real Estate Broker (562) 884-6196

Good for you Kenneth....I am new to this and am also trying to figure out how to increase my busines.

I know that Tags are very important!  How do you put your tags on your post so that they defult to ths same ones, or do I have to type them in every time I write a post?

May 25, 2008 03:08 AM
Tim Haight
Pinal Realty & Property Management LLC - Arizona City, AZ
Broker/Owner

We are in the business to make a living. It is nice to hear about positive things happening. Congrats

May 25, 2008 03:09 AM
Kenneth M Rossman
Appraiser, Ken Rossman - Boynton Beach, FL
FL Certified General Real Estate Appraiser #RZ3504

I always put specific tags [keywords] in each post that I consider to be relevant to that post

May 25, 2008 03:13 AM
Lynn911.com ~ Dallas Real Estate Agent Top Team
Dallas Houses for Rent Dallas Apartment Rentals Lynn911.com - Dallas, TX

Yes I agree to know how to effectively use the web AR I was indexed several times in less than 11 minutes !... BRAVO for you.... I have 1000's of hours vested, spend approx. 2 to 4 hours "off times working on the web"... it is something you got to do everyday!

Lynn 911 Dallas Top Real Estate Team

Visit our website:  Dallas homes for sale, Over 4,000 Dallas home foreclosures, Dallas homes for rent,

Website:  http://www.lynn911.com

Email:  911@lynn911.com

May 25, 2008 03:29 AM
C Tann-Starr
Tann Starr & Associates, Inc. - Palm Bay, FL

Kudos and congrats Kenneth! It's a lovely thing indeed. Regards, C.

May 26, 2008 12:47 AM
Rita Bradley
Laguna Hills, CA
Valuation Consultant in Orange County California 949-916-3263

Gosh that's amazing Ken.  Good for you!

Jun 03, 2008 02:40 PM
James Graner
Residential Services: http://appraisalmo.com - Saint Charles, MO

Great article,

Thank you for the advice.

 

Jun 07, 2008 07:08 AM
Tom Horn
Thomas Horn, Real Estate Appraiser - Alabaster, AL
Appraising The American Dream

Kenneth,

Maybe you can do a "primer" on how we can do this also.

Jun 17, 2008 03:13 PM
Kenneth M Rossman
Appraiser, Ken Rossman - Boynton Beach, FL
FL Certified General Real Estate Appraiser #RZ3504

Tom,

Getting business from Active Rain is a lot of work, but, IMNSHO, well worth the effort.

For me, it has been one of the most worthwhile projects moving me away from mortgage origination lender work, which for the foreseeable future is becoming more and more low fee, supply/demand, AMC dominated, commodity driven.

You need to put up a complete profile. More than anything else, to be successful on Active Rain you need to put up lots of informative blog posts, geared to educate your intended audience/potential client pool.

While Active Rain is geared to real estate related professionals, Informational consumer etc. oriented blogs on Active Rain and other social networking venues are being rapidly indexed by Google and other major search engines. The higher the perceived value of the content, the higher the placement in search engine returns. You can't buy that type of SEO at any price.

Help your potential clients understand the appraisal process, give them information that helps them solve their appraisal related problems and make better informed decisions. Show them why (in an ethical manner) it is in their best interest to choose you when they need the services of an appraiser.

Most people who fail to generate business on active rain do so because they put little or no effort into it.

I am averaging an assignment or two a week on active rain - check out my profile & blogs here to see why:

http://activerain.com/kenrossman

Jun 17, 2008 11:29 PM