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ActiveRain Launches Outside Blogs - How Do You Get Yours?

Google offers Blogs, Yahoo offers Blogs, and now ActiveRain offers RE Blogs!! I am so excited that I get to announce this! ActiveRain is pulling all the stops and releasing the "BIG" storm today. It's been a long time coming, and now it's finally here! STOP HERE!

UPDATE 4/10/2009 - Please see this new post for details regarding the NEW OUTSIDE Blogs offerred on ActiveRain. How to Create and Maximize your AR Outside Blogs and 5 Tips For Your Outside Blogs.

ActiveRain "Outside Blogs" are launched today. You're going to love the ability to create one post, and then with the check of a box, send it to your Outside Blog. That's right, one post, syndicated in three locations. You can choose to have your post on ActiveRain, Localism, and now your own personal "Outside Blog" too.

Here's just a few highlights of the "" Outside Blogs:

* Host your Blog on your own domain name. (You must own name) ie: BestHomes.com
* Customize the look and feel of your Outside Blog.
* Set up in 10-15 minutes max.
* Build your posts in ActiveRain, no need to learn a new Blogging platform.
* Publish your posts to AR, Localism, Outside Blog, or all three, it's your choice.
* Benefit from the SEO power of ActiveRain.
* Brand your own Blog and yet stay connected with the AR community.
* Comments are syndicated between your ActiveRain Blog and your Outside Blog.

This is only the beginning, as the community jumps on these, each individual's exposure doubles. 2X the POWER! That's Exciting!! Imagine the possiblities with these Blogs...

Here's how to setup YOUR Outside Blog. The sample below is a screen shot of my Outside Blog. I'll demonstrate how I used ActiveRain to create it.

SETTING UP YOUR CUSTOM OUTSIDE BLOG:

1. To Start, click on the link "Outside Blogs" from "My Home" page.

2. On the next screen, give your Blog a "Title". It will already have the same name as your current ActiveRain Blog. You can change it.

3. Meta Keywords are the next option, don't panic What's a Meta Tag?

4. Next, you can customize or modify your Blog description. This text will appear underneath your Blog Banner.

5. Now give your Blog an ActiveRain Subdomain:
ie: ActiveBrad.ActiveRain.com

6. You can also use custom domain names. (advanced users only)
You must already own your own domain name. If not, you can see if the domain you like is available, click here.

Here's a screen shot of the options that are mentioned above:

7. Next, keep your current photo or add a new photo to your Blog. Your Outside Blog photo will NOT replace your existing AR photo. Here's your chance to update that picture from 7 years ago. lol~

8. Select one of the Templates or Themes from the ActiveRain Library: These can be customized. More templates will be available in the future. This is just the launch period, expect enhancements for sure.

9. Setup the colors for your fonts and for different areas of your Blog page. Here's a color chart.

10. Now, add custom created headers and images to your Blog. There are multiple posts on how to create and edit images, you'll find them in the Help/FAQ group. We have some very artistic and talented members who share valuable tools and resources there.

11. Under the Advanced options, you can display multiple Blog posts, up to 100 if you like.
(I suggest 20 posts max, or the page may load slowly, especially if you have video and large graphics)

Use the Syndication options to select which posts to pull, or add ALL from your primary ActiveRain Blog. Members Only posts will not appear on your Outside Blog. If you have concerns about Duplicate Content on your Blogs, read this post called "Duplicate Content and Outside Blogs."

12. The FINAL STEP, Click on Save Changes

YOU'RE DONE!
Go to the ActiveRain Subdomain URL you created
and there's your new outside Blog!

Here's A Sample Of Mine

*Note: When creating posts on ActiveRain, just check this box
to place them on your outside Blog.

If you do choose to use your own existing Domain name, please read the advanced information and instructions below. You'll need to know the following: You can also find this information located HERE.

Here are the STEP-BY-STEP instructions for setting up an Outside Blog using your own domain name.
Also be sure to check out some of the other members outside domains as ActiveRain Blogs Evolve.

That's It! We are finally launched!!. WOOHOO!! You will no longer have to search for a place to have an outside Blog. You won't have to start from scratch to create your own, or cut and paste, or duplicate efforts, or try and manage your time running two or more Blogs.

I really am excited about this. It's like watching the birth of a baby being born, and I feel somehow emotionally and personally attached to it. ActiveRain is moving onward and upward, and everyday, becoming more of a powerful source in this great industry. I'm honored to be the carrier pigeon of this exciting and community changing news. As always, if you get stuck, don't get MAD, call Brad.

For Outside Blog status updates and known issues being addressed: CLICK HERE!

"RainMaker" Special - Signup Here and Get New Member Discount

Posted by Brad Andersohn ~ Community Manager on 06/26/2008 11:31 PM

Comments (859)

ActiveBlogs in the ActiveRain Channel

activerain blogs, helpfaq, blogging

Originally posted at: Real Estate 2.0 Technology : ActiveRain Launches Outside Blogs - How Do You Get Yours?

Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
Post is included in group: Outside Blogs
Post is included in group: HELP/FAQ (Read 'Purpose Statement' Carefully!)
Post is included in group: Blogging & SEO
Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies

859 Comments on ActiveRain Launches Outside Blogs - How Do You Get Yours?

JUN

2008

BTW -

Feel free to use this post to share your ideas and questions. I know myself and other AR staff will frequent the comments here, and we are anxious to hear your responses. I always value and appreciate the voice of the community both in and out of the rain.

Brad - Yeah! That's all I really wanted to say! (http://mikemueller.activerain.com/)

I am so excited! Can I host it on my own website?

I was going to ask my husband to the movies tonite - he is now off the hook!

Mike - short and sweet! Love it! Can't wait to see what you do with your new diggs, I mean Blog!! :-)

Virginia - yes you can. You can use your existing domain name and url if you like. Let me know if you need help with that. There are some instructions in this post, but you know I'm here if you need. Like many others here, I have been waiting for this day for a long time. This is very exciting!!

PS. Take in the movie w/hubby, this will be here when you get back, I promise!!

Brad, You know I love it and appreciate being one of the few that was allowed to beta test it. I really like to look of it very much and can't wait to see what the SEO shows.

Brad,

This is wonderful, but can I print out these instructions...As you know...I'm not very computer savy...and what will take a knowledgeable person will take me atleast an hour...

Let me know...thank's...

very very cool, thank you Brad

Brad - Im gonna jump and in and take this puppy for a spin.....

Congratuation for the release ! Checking it out right now.

-- Zoltan

Wow! And I just Discovered ActiveRain, and now MORE! Does it get any better?

A new toy - great! Will go check it out over the holiday weekend, when I will have some time to concentrate. Thanks.

Brad... you guys are the BEST! Another great tool from an outstanding team. Thanks!

who let the blogs out?

Brad!!! This is great! It sounds very easy and do-able. Do you have to have your domain name hosted somewhere or is it hosted here? (do I know what I'm asking -- maybe not!)

Can you change themes midstream?

I'll have so many questions when I go through, but this looks good! Thanks!

Saaaaaaaaaaaa....

Weet :)

The dots are for Jesse :)

TLW...ROAR!

Whoop Whoop!! Well totally cool - since Top Chef is over I have nothing on the schedule this pm - woo hoo going to buy another domain and off I go!!! I have been really waiting for this! Looks way cool!!!

I think this is great. I am really excited about being able to use our own domain. I just need to understand how this works. Is this a seperate blog that is just linked to our AR blog? Is this duplicate content on all 3 blogs? I want to know more.....

Brad - Thank you this I have to get my webguy/hubby to check out. This looks real cool will it pick up all are old posts or just new ones?

OMG I am so excited I think I am going to FAINT!

That's great news. Congratulations AR. I have no doubt that these outside blogs will be a huge success (like everything else you guys do).

I'm off to check them out.

Thanks Brad for the thorough set-up steps. Your "how to's" are invaluable.

Ciao!

Hi Brad...ActiveRain continues to make us all so happy! You folks are wonderful!

This has solved my problem. I was beginning to feel torn in so many different directions trying to write in too many places. My favorite spot is right here!

Thank you all.

Kathleen

Wow, Brad! Active Rain just keeps getting better and better.

Here are a few questions: When people search and find something you've written, will both blogs come up in Google?

Is there any reason you can think to make one different from the other?

What if I already have an outside blog set up, can I point the AR outside blog thing to it? Like blogger? Is it better to have an AR outside one?

Thanks!

Brad -- Can you have multiple pages with different headings for other info?

Brad,

Every post I read of yours is so full of information, where do you find the time to make all these blogs?

Great stuff, I really enjoy reading when you post. But sometimes I find myself getting a little jealous.

Robert Swetz

Looks cool..can't wait to try it.

Do the Outside Blogs support trackbacks and pingbacks?

Outstanding news!

Very interesting.

You're the best!!

That was quick and easy:

http://internetmarketing.activerain.com/

A few quick observations.

1. Looks like some funky things happened to the css. hyperlinks are wierd: underlined on mouseover (reversed)....

2. Images are compressed....

I am going to play some more.... :D

Brad, this is pretty awesome! I will now have something to keep me busy for the next few days of my vacation!

Well done, Brad! Yours is certainly prettier than mine! *mumble mumble*

Awsome! 'Can't wait to have some "down" time to read this and try it!

Brad, this is great. I saw that it was coming, and now it's here.

yaayy!! I can't wait till I get back from my date to set mine up :)

parked.. waiting to see how they look, act and feel. :-)

Brad dude, thank you for the great news. My question is about the possibility of shooting myself in the Internet foot with my blogs. I have a blog on blogger (Sequim & Port Angeles Blogspot), but that has serious SEO issues with blog title vs. the post title, which blogger has not been able to solve and which the many snipets of html hacker's code out there in various versions has not adequately solved for the beta version of blogger. So I had to migrate to my own domain version of WordPress (Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate Blog), which I can optimize in a number of ways. I have a blog on ActiveRain, too, and many posts on Localism. All good. And I have a couple of great websites (Exhibit A and Exhibit B), and an older website on real estate law (Exhibit C). I also have many articles syndicated online which have been published on the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Nielson, and I have articles in eZineArticles.com as well as the Seattle PI RE Blog, and many other places. The question I have is about the unsubstantiated rumors that search engines don't like duplication. I duplicate some, but would I hurt myself by creating an outside ActiveRain blog now on another one of my domain names? I'm a huge content provider, love to write, so writing fresh articles is not a problem, but if I can simply duplicate articles without killing myself in the search engine rankings, I will do it. Should I create my AR outside blog? Or would that be over doing it? I know this might be a debatable issue among experts around the SEO world, since Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft keep their algorithms locked inside giant safes deep within the earth, but I am confident my good friend, Brad, knows the precise answer to my humble question.

Brad, Do you have ESP or what? I was just asking my husband at dinner where I should set up an outside blog! After reading the comments, will it hurt me to have a duplicate of what I already do on Active Rain? I'm fairly new to blogging and I am VERY technically challenged (well, getting better, thanks to Makeover2takeover). Any reason to not have a duplicate? Thanks in advance! I'm SO excited!

Oh boy, Oh boy.... I've been waiting for this!! And I have so much extra time on my hands with the contest and stuff....it'll be great building another outside blog :) Ok, so the extra time wasn't true... but 15 mins eh..... I'll be losing sleep tonight thinking of a name/title :)

Congratulations, it sounds like it will really enhance the current Active Rain

ActiveRain keeps getting better and better.

Thanks.

How do I register my website domain url with AR - or is that a new domain name - I don't get it!

Looks great! I'll check it out.

Brad - My webguy/hubby asks why the blog width is less than the active rain blog he formats my listing stuff for me and says it does not fit the currebt format which is different than AR blogs

So all the comments IN Active Rain on the post will automatically appear on "the Outside Blog"? Do I have that right? Can you turn that feature off so your AR blog has AR comments and your Outside Blog has it's own comments, hopefully from consumers moreso than AR does now?

Hello Brad and thank you! I knew lots of good stuff would happen when you boarded the Rain Train. I am off to set up.

Just pulled this off my Twitter feed. Great job by Active Rain! Also, great tutorial Brad to make this easy to follow. Definitely bookmarkable...is that a word? :)

Brad, thank you. that's great news. I'm fairly new @ AR and even 'newer' at blogging, and my website hasn't had any action, because it's all a bit overwhelming doing so much in so many different places. This will definitely make it easier. My blog on my website might finally see some action. :) Thank you again (I haven't a clue what to do next, so I may have to ask for your help - but I will try first).

FYI: I got my first AR lead (almost a signed client) TODAY!! :) Thank you, AR!!

This is great stuff! Looks cool. Can't wait to try it.

This must be hot off the press Brad. The interfaces that Activerain has created makes it easy for novices to get going and blogging. I find that many agents in my office are intimidated and don't know where to begin. This is an easy way to make since of blogging in general.

Looks interesting. Are there any new features in the outside blogs that aren't present in AR and Localism?

Awesome news! I have to come back and read it again and ask questions later. Thanks AR

we are just in the final decisions on starting our outside blog what great timing

Wonderful!

The more blogs and exposure that each member has, the better. All of the blogs and comments work together for good PR and SEO.

Thanks Active Rain!!

Sally

RE Coach, Social Networking Coach, Social Media Coach

www.drsallywitt.com

Love it! I am having a problem uploading my header though - getting a page error. Any thoughts?

Hi Brad,

Thank you for sending the email notifying me of your new blogs for AR users. I have a couple of questions that I am hoping you could answer:

Are the blogs we can create SEO optimized? If so, can you tell me how?
Where are the blog posts first posted? (ex. Active Rain & then our personal blog?) The reason I ask is because I would like to know which website is getting "credit" with the search engines since I am assuming duplicate content will be an issue for the other sites the posts are syndicated too. I'm guessing that the blog will be hosted on your end, so this would mean that AR would get the credit for the posts....is this correct?
If I create a new blog & use my existing domain name does it automatically overwite my existing blog I already have on our website? I would want to test this blog first to see if I like it better than the one I currently have, but I don't want to lose what I've already done if I don't like this one as much. I am new to this blogging stuff & someone else set-up the blog on our website for us, so I'm not sure how that all works but just know I don't want to take the chance of losing it.
Is there any possiblilty that I would lose my existing page rank on our current blog by replacing it with yours?
Can we still add any plug-ins that we want on your blog?
Are we able to view stats with your blog?

Sorry for all the questions, but your blog looks interesting and I wouldn't mine trying it. I just don't want to "shoot myself in the foot" by switching. Sorry in advance if these questions seem stupid...I'm still learning about blogging. :)

God Bless You! I love it! I've been waiting for this, and yes even suggested the private lable! I will start mentioning this in my seminars!

Brad,

It's telling me the "header info" is not available...I'm doing the "head shot" not the long one...forget what it's called...the rest is wonderful!

It does cut off my link's on the right side of the page though.

Also, I wasn't able to email you either???

Brad.. I'm not a IT person, and anything like this just blows my mind. I will try this, but don't be surprised if I need assistance. Can't wait to try it though.. which is half the battle of this "old school" person.

Hi Brad,
I'll be back when I have more time to work on this. EXCITING!

Wow, thanks, mucho gracious, it doesn't cost anything?

Why not?

How you guys feeding your families?

Brad, great news, great announcement. When I have some time, I'll get started on this new adventure.

Wow another great feature to get noticed. Now how does that work for google juice. The same article going to three different sources. Won't that weaken the "juice"?

Brad, What an exciting day! I know the release of this product has been a long time coming, but I believe that we took some extra time and made it right.

I also wanted to let everyone know that the entire ActiveRain team is fervently watching the comments on this post and we will be doing our best to keep up with any questions or any errors that are reported.

The enthusiasm I am seeing in the comments on this post is incredibly inspirational for everyone on our team; thank you all so much for your support!

Ok - just got back from the email console, only to see that some Funny AR employee went and featured this! lol!

So as the launch rolls out, please take a deep breath, we will work through any issues or challenges, and I will be responding to any and ALL questions here. We will also have others from our team adding posts and comments.

I'm sure there are other members creating posts right now on how to do many of these things some of you are asking here. I will also be busy creating tutorials and followup posts and videos for you as well. Thanks for your enthusiam and excitement, your patience and support is what will make these the premier Outside Blogs to be a part of.

Hi everyone,

Even I can do it!!! It took me a little longer and I did have one issue...but it's not that hard...that is...if you click on the link's to upload...and the allow you to...

Other than that...it look's absolutely fantastic...K

Wow, what a great option for people! Can't wait to set up my own outside blog! I absolutely love the fact that I can post it on here and get it to the outside blog! You guys rock!

Brad: I wondered what that little block was for... of course, I went right ahead and checked it without knowing. Duh! I'll have to set one up. Thanks for the information.

Brad, your site ROCKS! I have much to learn. Thanks for posting this.

Today June 25th, 2008 is a day that will go down in History.

Two years ago this month, AR was launched. Look where we have come in just 2 short years. At 4:08pm today, I was given the green light by Jonathan to launch the word that Outside Blogs are now available.

Man that was exciting!!

ActiveRain is the first and only Blogging Network that I am aware of, that offers TRIPLE exposure from a single Blogging platform. It's a day that will most certainly be remebered as another bold step forward for the better of our community!! :-)

How awesome is that. Thank you Brad, thank you A/R. I had just been exploring outside platforms yesterday and had made the decision to add another blog to my repertoire. You are making it easy for me to do that.

Has it been two years already? I remember when there we NO blogs. None, zip, nada. All you did basically was invite people.

Brad, I put a post up on GeekEstateBlog. When you get a chance, it be great to get some comment. (I suspect you are maybe just a tad busy?)

@Brad, Jon, Rich, etc... one word... Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!

Very cool. Thanks Brad. I will set it up later in the week.

All the best!

Brad - Won't the search engines penalize me for duplicate content? Otherwise it sounds way cool and very easy.

Brad- Thank you, I am going to try to set it up right now- you are the best!

I'm speechless. All I can say is yeeeeehaaaaa!

Wow! Too Cool!! Great "how to" post .... I'll let you know tomorrow if I can figure it out! LOL!! Seriously, you've done a fantastic job with this project (and I'm sure many more new things coming) since you joined the AR team! Not only can you make this stuff work, but you can explain it so that the rest of us can get it, too!!!

Brad - Kathy asked me to play with this a little so I have both on her profile and on my own. Since this is the beta version I assume (and we all know what that does but here goes anyhow) that you are open to suggestions.

1/ I use html code to format Kathy's listing presentations on AR and the outside blog format does not show the whole thing I wondered if the post width could be the same as on AR or is it another issue

2/ I noticed that the pictures on Kathy's blog are resized in the outside blog is this on purpose or will they eventually be the same as in her blog

3/ If I chose to include my title information in my picture can the space for the title be removed

Sorry for the links but I figured this post will be full of questions suggestions and congratulations and the links would make it easier for you to see what I was refering to.

How great! This is forcing me to jump head first into blogging...I tell all my businesses to do it..looks like I have to walk the walk to the next level!

Wonderful news! Mine is up!

What a great opportunity! I had a feed to my website of my active rain blog but this will be so much better!

I can't delete the header graphic, to put another one in? Help!!

Congrats Active Rain for a job well done!

Brad, you are AWESOME! Thanks for all you do with AR!

Brad I think this is great!

Great day for you guys. Congrats... should have held off one more day... for my birthday. Of course, a year ago would have been good... before I sunk a year into my WP blog. But I am happy with that...

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!! I'm having trouble with getting the picture on the "attach Rabbit" to upload the small picture. I keep getting an error on the page, BUT I'LL KEEP WORKING ON IT....This is great.

Quick update if you want to setup your own domain or use an existing URL that you currently own:

For people to get the most value out of their Outside Blogs they should consider setting them up on a separate domain.

Basic Instructions:

Outside Blogs allow you to host a blog with a pre-existing custom domain name like "www.example.com". This can be tricky to set up, and is only recommended for advanced users. We will do our best to support members, but our staff isn't able to support many of the issues that may crop up when setting up a domain name. So please consult someone who sets up websites for help if you've never done this before.

First, you'll need to buy a domain from a registrar like GoDaddy, pairNIC, or Register. This usually costs between $8-$40/year. Then you'll need to follow the registrars instructions to point your nameservers at ns1.agentspaces.com and ns2.agentspaces.com. ActiveRain Name Servers: Once you've done this, you may need to wait up to 72 hours (although frequently less) for the change to take effect. If the domain is set up properly, you should see the Outside Blog home page when you visit your domain. Almost done!

Now log in to ActiveRain.com, and (from My Home) go to Outside Blogs and enter your domain name in "Use an existing domain name". Save your settings and hopefully that should do it.

@Lane - Happy Birthday! (and don't ever regret starting that WP blog...)

Hi Brad! I'm so excited to get started! I decided to just go with the activerain domain. I had considered using my lizette.com that I currently use for my art. It sounded like a lot of hassle that I didn't have the time to look into for now. We can change later? Also I couldn't get the header I created to upload. An error was shown. Is that a bug in the page? So I left that part out. OK...now I'm tired...Zzzzzzz

Brad and AR --- Congrats! Outside Blogs are nifty!
Enthusiastically awaiting more themes, and perhaps some options for fonts, styles and sizes. Loading photos and getting text to display nicely are still in progress. We'll be plugging' away to capitalize on this new feature. THANKS.

I have my domain name registered with GoDaddy; but have my web hosting done by another provider and therefore have my nameserver records set to point to my web hoster. Does that mean that I can not make my AR outside blog become a true part of my domain?

Off the hook!

Naturally right after I launched another one ... alas, I am stoked nonetheless. Thanks to everyone who has been working on this for the past several months.

sweet ... (the dots are for TLW?)

Question: How come all my vflyers/Postlets/RES flyers are cut off?

Well I'm looking forward to it....think it could be a very good thing

Brad, superb. I can only image the google juice we'll generate this way!! thank you much!!

I too am having trouble uploading my header. Can you post something on it? Thanks

Juliet ( I twittered you on this, too!)

I am just drooling! I had just posted wondering whether I needed to get an outside blog and how hard it would be to update both and this solves it all! As always, ya'll rock!

Brad,

Great news.

Can't wait to check it out and get it set up.

Thanks for the instructions.

See ya later.

I am also concerned about the duplicate content issue and the fact that AR is going to be seen by Google as the original source and will most likely not cache the outside blog posts if they originate from AR. So I'm not sure I see the value of even taking the time to create the outside blog unless we're allowed to post unique content directly to the outside blog without having to post first to AR.

Ditto - Very exciting stuff! Thank you for working so hard for all of us!!! Greatly apprecaited.

Great Feature and good work by the development staff!

Add me to the list that would like to hear about the duplicate content issue mentioned above.

The width of the articles are not the same as main AR blog... is that by design?

Pictures are being resized, is that just because of smaller width or by design?

Thank you for your all your efforts in providing this feature.

Couple of additional questions about Tags:

The "tag archives" show ALL tags, including those that only have one occurence, can that be changed to coincide with the regular blog?

Is there any option planned to have choice to turn off "tag archives" and just show "Blog archives"?

Thanks again.

This is amazing! It was definitely worth the wait!!!

BTW, image borders are showing purple box if containing link... any way to turn that off?

FINALLY!!!!!.....

We are so THRILLED to be rolling these new features out for our members. We're sorry that it's taken so long, but I know you all will feel it was worth the wait, especially when you see the new Localism. It's HECKA-Sweet!!!

Congrats to all the creative minds and hard work behind the scenes at making the Outside Blogs a reality. These are exciting times for our Community. Hold onto your hats, the best is yet to come!!!

Brad, kudos to The Team, sounds like a great feature.

Love how you explain the process in depth, I haven't figured out how to do the displays as you have with the text over and the arrows, looks so clean and crisp.

This is where it would have been nice to team up with Godaddy when the members have to acquire the domain name, doesn't sound like any contact was ever made.

Now this is a great idea !!!!

that is great I can't wait to get mine setup. I am going to be working on it this week

OMG! This is great news! Going to check it out now.

Great news -- thanks for sharing!

Thanks Brad..I did it,called my Blog victoria real estate blog

I cannot figure our how to load a banner heading, need a short training video here maybe? Seems to generate an error message and nothing happens?

I also notice large text in a post text gets squashed.

Sounds like a great idea and I hope it is easy too! That is key for me.

This is great. I already have an outside blog started and I think three is a bit much, but its something to keep in mind.

I no longer have any excuse to wait to get started so off I go. Thanks Brad

Let's get it on... I'm looking forward to trying it out and seeing how it works compared to other blogging platforms that I use...

Check out my Real Estate SEO blog... Now to try the ActiveRain outside blogging platform :D

I look forward to taking advantage of this very soon. Thank you, I am sure this has been in the making a long time.

WOW Thank you so much for this excellent easy to follow post! Off to try it,... I am Stoked!

Katrina Madewell, in Tampa, FL

Brad,
Nice feature, it is always great that AR is doing an effort to get more happy rainers :P btw, very well explanation, good job
Ray Saenz

Thanks for the info! Can't wait to set mine up!

Melissa Centeno, Porter Ranch, CA

Keller Williams

Very nice clean layout! Very simple instructions. The only problem I am having is loading the graphic banner. I have tried it in EI and Firefox. I am sure the system is just over loaded and will try later.

One question is the "About Jo" page - how can this be updated? I have photos that are way too large on my profile page where this info is gleaned from so I went and resized them but it doesn't "refresh" on the Outside Blog. The large photos just blend behind text in FF but they cause a huge problem in EI and we know that there are still tons of readers that use EI. So I thought resizing them would fix the problem but the two pages aren't talking to each other.

Just wanted to post this info

there IS a GOD! i have been wrecking my brain with the thought, location, and design of an outside blog for the past week and now i have one...active rain has done it again.

Ok, I can see I am going to have my work cut out for me here. :-)) I have been reading through and gathering your comments and information and will be responding in the morning. I need to get some sleep right now...it's been quite an exciting day for us.

I am very excited to get such a great response, we are thrilled to have launched this today, and appreciate all your enthusiasm and support! Good night... :-)

I'll be right back!!!! Gotta comment on a few and will follow your instructions...been waiting for this!

Brad this network is amazing and now even more better!! Keep it rocking!!!! WOW!

Thanks,

Tom Davis

World Class Delaware Realtor

Thanks Brad, this is great. Scott is the teckie one in our family and he is checking it out right now on his computer. Thanks!

I had to bookmark this. I need to come back to this. This is a great idea though. I love the idea of being able to post to all 3.

JUN

2008

Thanks Brad and AR Team,

I like this alot, pretty cool.

Although I am being techno-dumb or an iDot (modern idiot) and can not get the header graphic to load or the title and graphic spacing to be right.

If you get a chance visit http://alanlangstone.activerain.com and tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Brad

I don't know if someone already mentioned this but the vflyer I posted on one my listings is cut off, there is no scrollbar on the bottom to see all of it. The listings I posted without the vflyer are fine. Overall though it is awesome. I'm waiting for my domain to clear so I can point it there.

WOW -- this is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttttttt. Kind of makes my brain hurt =-- still trying to figure out the meta tag, header stuff..... oh my -- but I can't wait -- now to decide which domain name to use for this blog -- I only have about 60!

I am so glad I found active rain months ago ---- determined to be #1 in my community for online go to person and place.

One note on uploading custom header I am getting an error ... When I click to upload header image at:

Recommended header image size is 760 x 105 ( upload )

The word is AWESOME! I love it!

Brad, this is exciting....love new stuff. Will definitely bookmark this post AND check it out!! Thanks...

Jon, Matt, Brad, Bob, Nicole~ Way to go....I know we have been waiting for this....now when are you going to answer all these questions ...? I am going to wait till I see the answers, and you fix the few bugs....saves me some frustration LOL :):)

My Question: Does it have a working spellcheck :)

Very cool, Brad. Such exciting news. Lots of questions, though, so hope these will get answered. My biggest concern right now is the duplicate content. Many thankis to all who got us to this point.!

Jeff

Hi again, Brad - I was so excited, went to GD and bought 5 new domains (on sale-couldn't resist) cause I don't know how to add it to my website. My webmaster (daughter) is moving and her computer is packed.

But now I don't know what to do with it/them. I am going to wait for the how to for the technically-impaired.

Really looking forward to it!

Brad, I am excited about this and also waiting for answers to some questions already posted, particularly duplicate posting issues which people seem to disagree on.

Gotta bookmark this and come back over when have time to read thoroughly and digest and figure out how to make it work. Thanks for sharing.

UPLOADING A CUSTOM HEADER:

I see this is one of the most common questions and wanted to get this answered before I head off to sleep.

When uploading your headers or customized banners and images, the size should be 742W x 105H. If your file is any other size, it will not line up like you want. The space for the banner is 742 x 105. (The current says 760 x 105, it's wrong and is being corrected)

For those of you who don't have photo editing software on your computer, not to worry, you can upload any image (make sure it's yours) to picnik.com. There you can crop, add text, resize (by pixels) and save to your desktop as a .jpg file. These will upload nicely to your Blogs. They have some other pretty cool tools you can use for FREE as well.

I know there are other programs and ways to resize photos and images, this will work well until you find the tools and programs that work best for you.

I just tried uploading banners on two members blogs, and they worked great in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. I'll be Back in the morning...

goodnight! :-)

Great news from you and great (numerous) responses. I am looking forward to the duplicate content discussions.

Jim Crawford - I get the same error in IE but not in firefox

One note on uploading custom header I am getting an error ... When I click to upload header image at:

Recommended header image size is 760 x 105 ( upload )

This will really simplify my life. I'm just curious as most others are as well, about the SEO. This is going to be great, I'm looking forward to getting started..

Well, now - this just MAKES my morning! This is fantastic news and I can't wait to get started! Thanks so much for the great instruction, too (as always!)!

That is great news. I am looking forward to getting up and running.

Woooo flippin hoooooo! I'd be stupid to not get one. Momma didn't raise no fool. =)

I'm there. Thanks for the great news Brad.

WoW! Just in time for me, just trying to set up a blog on my site. Hopefully, this will do it.

Thanks,

Jerry Calvin

Brad,

Wonderful news...as always, AR's timing is perfect......I am going to go "do the dance" - something you do not want to see but should hear about.......

Thank you for the information. I will bookmark this and try it later. I wish I could print it but if I try to print I will get many pages of comments along with it.

You made it look easy...now. the REAL test....if I can do it, anyone can ! Toooo many times even on AR, people assume you know to do this, press that, oh not....we are not all techni geniuses !

Great deal here. Now just to figure out how to get it on my web site will be the trick for me. Can I also send it to my wordpress?

I like mine, I wasn't able to get the upload button to work for the header last night - just got an error message. http://capecoral.activerain.com/ Also still waiting on my domain to show up. This is cool!

Brad: You guys have DONE IT AGAIN! I knew there was something big brewing due to all the chatter about a new, improved AR, but I never expected this! Such a great idea. I will get started on this project in the next few days! Thanks again for all you do! Steve

Brad - This looks great. I'm adding to my to-do list - that and getting a domain name. Looks easy to follow....

Love it! Love it! Love it! I have to say that ActiveRain is the best resource for agents to have in education, networking and taking business to the next level! Congrats on this release! I can't wait to get this set up on my own domain today!

Great job guys!!!! I know you have worked very hard on puuting these outside blogs together. I'm sure this is an excitring day for you. I guess I have something else to play with this weekend. Very cool!!!

If I wanted to import content from another blog, is there a way to do that?

BRAD - This is an unexpected surprise. Thank you for bringing us all the good news. I have a couple of questions, but I'll call you about them. Talk to you soon.

Gita, highlight the parts you want to print ONLY.

Go to file> print? print selection.

Then only what you want will print.

Brad, thought I'd help you deal with one less question.

Brad,this is great and I can't wait to work on it. Reading everyone's comments and questions reminded me of how much I still have to learn. I know you'll have your hands full explaining everything today - when you wake up! Hopefullly your answers to their questions will keep me from asking things. Thank you as always!

I am so glad that this is the first post I saw this morning as I was enjoying my steaming cup of hot coffee (with cream of course) at 5:30 AM Texas time. Got right to work on it. Still need to update pictures and work on the URL thing but I am on board! Thanks Brad!

Brad - LOVE IT!!! I just set mine up. The about me page on most of the ones I checked out is pretty messed up though. The links and photos are all on top of one another. I'm sure it will get worked out.

Thanks so much.

Hi Brad

Sounds exciting - the outside blog

But I have read and heard so much about NOT posting the same post on different blogs, and that search engines do not like it etc. . .

Do you have any thought son that?

Anne Hensel

Brad. The header graphic editor isn't working. It doesn't appear to be active. It says "Upload" but then there is a notice "error on page".

Great news, Brad. Thanks for the heads up and the step by step!

Brad; excellent work. A great opportunity for all us "challenged" techies.

Quick Note: having the same issue as Lenn regarding the Upload, getting error on page.

Quick Question: will comments made on your "outside" blog appear within the ActiveRain community?

I see some subdomain sites going....

anyone got an example of a custom domain working?

Brad, Thanks for the announcement. Another great feature and just one more reason to drop the umbrella and step into the rain.

Brad, You are the BEST at writing instructions. This looks great!

Brad, you guys rock! Not only do you continue to help grow our business, you give us the tools and walk us through the process. I can't thank you enough.

I don't have time to read the entire post, but this line made me LOL: "Here's your chance to update that picture from 7 years ago. lol~" In my defense, my picture is only 5 years old:-) This is great news.