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From One Active Rain Newbie To Another, What's The Deal With Points-This is NOT the Olympics!

After being on Active Rain for about 4 months, I am still a newbie.. I wrote my first blog post about Home Staging here on 5/20/08 . Learning about Active Rain can be a curvy road - it's NOT the Olympics. I have recently read other newbies asking about points and posting to groups, etc.. It took a while for me to understand points and why we should even strive for them. I am still learning how to manuever the curvy road, so thought I would post a few links about the "Points" Mystery below...

You will see a few bloggers here who say - no need to worry about points and I agree - somewhat.. The primary goal of blogging on Active Rain should not be about the points. It SHOULD be about educating our readers about our industry - whether that be Real Estate, Home Staging, Home Inspections, Mortgages, Insurance or anything related to Real Estate. We also, can ask and receive lots of help from other AR members!

Best of ALL, the GOOGLE Juice is phenomenal!! I create Google Alerts for my name, my business name and numerous key words and a huge number of my alerts come from Active Rain blog articles - that is AWESOME !!! A few days ago, a Google Alert for my name appeared because my Denver NC Realtor friend-Teresa Harris listed me as a fave blogger - too cool !!

Our Active Rain blogs should bring attention to our town, community or our profession and tell folks - WHY they might need our services or love our town and what it has to offer !! AR even allows us to have specific groups we can join to blog about personal things other than our profession. We can read about other AR member's Christian faith, their love of dogs, cars, trains, their vacation or personal struggles.. My favorite little Group is the one that my AR buddy Cheryl Willis-Mt Vernon,MO broker started for Cheryls and their friends - we have a blast there and we can post any of our blogs there. It's becoming a great cross section of AR members that otherwise may have never connected(we even have a couple Guy-Cheryls) so come and join us..

We are a living, breathing community on Active Rain - we become friends and business partners from afar.. Blogging in this way will bring us many wonderful rewards and in the process - you will earn some points.. NOW, the purpose of those points are many - just for starters check out these great links:

This is just a very small summary of blog posts about AR points, do a search if you want more info!! Now go WRITE some great content, make tons of comments on other blogs, invite some folks to AR and earn some points !! God bless,

Flickr Photo - Curvy road sign by Gaetan Lee (Creative Commons)

Flickr Photo -Pennsylvania Dutch Country by Nicholas_T (Creative Commons)

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Cheryl Gilliam - AARC Certified Redesigner & Home Stager

Just Heavenly Decor & Staging - From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Interior Redesign, Home Staging to Sell or Live in NC

http://www.JustHeavenlyDecor.com

Email - justheavenlydecor@charter.net

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Serving Hickory, Morganton, Lake James, Blowing Rock & The High Country of NC

Posted by Cheryl Gilliam Home Staging-Hickory NC on 08/15/2008 01:12 PM

Comments (25)

active rain family, active rain success, active rain points, cheryl willis, katerina gasset, jordan mackey, rod blake

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25 Comments on From One Active Rain Newbie To Another, What's The Deal With Points-This is NOT the Olympics!

AUG

2008

I Cheryl am blogging to show up in internet searches. The points improve your position on Google.

John - the points are a by product of blogging. You accumulate points as you go, but the structure, frequency and key word content, linking, etc.. it what improves your Google Ranking.

Cheryl,

And when a consumer finds you in the Internet and looks into Active Rain and sees that you are on the top of your market because of the points....well that can be good too, right?

Content should be there too....yet AR is also a means to express ourselves about our profession and our personal life.....everyone has the right not to read a post, thus cutting the points.

At any rate AR is a great site and lots of fun.....or are we not supposed to have that either?....just kidding....LOL

Have a great weekend.

Hey John, Yep - that's an excellent benefit of AR blogging - search engines can find ya..

Ryan, GREAT points - it is all about keywords and good content about your subject !

Dan, FUN ABSOLUTELY - Active Rain would be no fun without the great people here !! I love the personal posts as much as the informative ones. God bless,

I think the point system is an amazingly creative way to peak our competitive nature. After all, we are all in the sales industry in one way or another. And competition breeds motivation and more business for all! Keep blogging and reading and learning and the points will automatically accumulate with the knowledge.

Andrea, I LOVE your response- thanks.. You are so very right!! We all have a little competitive spirit.. God bless,

Points are good. ratings are better. Clients who want to buy a home from you because they found you here. PRICELESS!!

Robert - Well said !! Priceless !! God bless,

I'm just ADD/OCD/ABC... Once I get to having fun on a site, I just flit from one great blog to another and before you know it, POOF! Points! ;-)

Cheryl G- thanks for the great post, love how you take the time to explain. It doesn't take to long to forget that we were new once. You do a nice job looking out for and making welcome the newbies. be good cheryl w

Hey Cheryl W, Thanks, I hope that the posts are helpful, sometimes - uh, most of the time - I get ahead of myself... I invited Celete over the AR Cheryl Group- so happy she came.. God bless,

Hey Cheryl G. - Thank you for the Point - ers. (Groan. Sorry couldn't help myself.) Well, you started just a few weeks before me but write like an old hand at this. Ty for making me feel welcome.

Hi Cheryl,

The point system is motivational to get you blogging and commenting on other people's sites. Then along the way, you learn how to install widgets, upgrade your blog site, etc. I've learned plenty since I joined ~~ 4-5 months ago. Now, I wish the rest of the REALTORS in New Brunswick would start blogging more. Enjoy the ride of "THE BLOG WORLD"

;>)

Cheryl,

I personally didn't like the idea of points at first. However as I become more involved in Active rain it does help me a little bit to know who to listen to the best when it comes to certain issues. I also recently realized the business benefits to blogging as I received my first client who had found out about me through a google search! I was thrilled to see that my hard work is paying off! I wish you the same type of success with Active rain!

Points are only part of the whole thing.............. consistent posting of localism, some personal, and real estate related posts will give you a good broad brush from which to let consumers see who you are.....

AUG

2008

Hey June, I am with you on the ADD, OCD thing.. I am all over the place..********************************************************************* Hi Margaret, Gee Thanks - ************************************************************************ Ann-Marie - You are so right, I have learned many of the same things- it's been a blessing!!*************************************************************************** Krista, Keep up the blogging - Congrats on your client !! **************************************************************************** Alex, Very well said, I truly love seeing the personal side of folks here also.. God bless you all !!

Great post and lots of info - thanks! I think most of us do like the points and it motivates us to blog!

AUG

2008

Hi Norma, You are right, it does motivate us to blog- great incentive !! God bless,

I love the tip about the google alerts

Hi! I'm glad to know about the google alerts also.......I've seen them mentioned as I've been reading it's one of those things I wanted to find out about.

Thanks!

Ann Allen Birmingham Realtor

Hi Sharon, I love your tagline - Your Blue Jean Agent - I bet that puts folks at ease !!

Hi Ann, Thanks for stopping by, go set up your Google alerts now.. Sometimes you get a lot of junk but hit delete and someday you will get some pretty cool stuff.. God bless,

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