ActiveRain blogging updates

Even though I have missed out on the "Big Points" that the first subscribers received, I can certainly see why you are making these changes.  You have put a lot of time into your decisions.  They seem to be for the good of everyone.  By being able to sort through the BLOGS, we can quickly utilize our time to our best advantage.  Isn't that what we all want?

Bonnie Cox

Great changes.  The "Big Points" should be coming from getting the word out about ActiveRain and getting others to join.

Congrats on crossing the 1000 member mark!

Keep up the good work guys. Looking forward to the tag clouds!  :-) 

The biggest "secret point" score is located at ....  Getting others to join ActiveRain.  Click the Invite button and you will see 2 options to invite others.  You can send them an invitation via ActiveRain or email them the referral URL. 

My referral url is  http://activerain.com/action/referrals/sullinpa  Anytime I comment on ActiveRain in other forums I include my referral URL (why get them to join without the benefits of the points) 

If you look at my point summary or Jay & Francy's, you'll see that we have accumulated a bulk of points by getting members to join and becoming associates of theirs.  You get points when they join and 10% of any points they earn.  Start with your own company, why keep ActiveRain a secret!?  Promote ActiveRain via email, Blogging, forum comments and the best source is [DELETED DUE TO SENSITIVE NATURE OF THE SITE]

Looking forward to the day when we can redeem our points for valuable merchandise.

Paul and Matt are correct. EVERYONE has the opportunity to invite other agents.  The points you get by doing so can add up rapidly, and also include "residuals"...

For example, if I invite Joe Blow, and he has 10,000 points, I get 1,000 points (10% of Joe Blow). If Joe in turn invites Jane Doe and Jane gets 10,000 points, Joe will get his 10% of that (1,000 points) and *I* will get 100 points (because I get 10% of what Joe gets). And I don't even know Jane Doe.

Such is the nature of social networks. Yes there's an advantage to getting in early, but it's purely because early adopters have more time.

And it's still early....

So invite away, that is the "secret" to amassing points.

Jay - We only get points that our direct invitees earn.  If they invite someone and get 10%, we don't get 10% of that. I asked Matt about that a few weeks ago and his response was that they didn't want to create a pyramid scheme.

Just have to keep earning points the old fashioned way.  And yes, you are on for the Rain coat and Speedo Challenge at NAR.

Caleb and me are already brainstorming on something cool for the NAR conference.  Still a couple months off, let us know if you have any ideas?

Thanks Paul, I stand corrected about my "residuals" comment.

That would explain a few discrepancies I've noted inteh points tally.

I like Linda's suggestion about comment notices...

While we're making suggestions, I'd like a way to send invites to multiple people at once, rather than doing them one-by-one. A "follow up" system (maybe just a button on the "invites" page) would also be handy. I have several unanswered invites. I know I can send another or follow up outside the system, but if there was something we could click on that would re-send an invite, it'd be easier, and life's all about doing things the easy way...

Another suggestion.  Can the Blog Poster's location be included under their picture along side the post?  Currently you have to click on the Blog Link, then go to their profile to find out where they are from.

A lot of the posts start out "Things are great in the XYZ Valley area ..." and I don't have a clue as to where they are talking about.  Even if they include a City name, it can still be confusing.  (Unless I am the only geographically impaired ActiveRain member) 

I Blog about Wilmington, NC, but there are 9 other cities called Wilmington in the USofA!

Linda Slocum wrote "It would be great if you'd add a notification feature so we'd get an email whenever someone posts a comment on our blog."

You can check for comments on your entries in the Blog Admin, under "Manage"  I'd prefer a flag to indicate new comments, instead of an email every time someone makes a comment on one of my Blog entries.

Paul's comment about "redeeming" the points made me laugh. It is so amusing how excited we can get over "points"... of course, the real excitement comes from new business as a result of joining this great new network. 

And, Paul is dead on regarding inviting others to join.  I've never been big on "recruiting" others to anything (I'd make a lousy MLMer) but I truly believe ActiveRain is a positive thing.

And, hey, the BLOGS are definitely improving and adding value. If we could just convince some folks that outright advertisement of services is not BLOGing.  :-)

As a new member, I would like to see a help section that would be easy to find.  I'm having trouble understanding a couple of things, ex: when our blogs go public, exactly where public, how public? Maybe at least a scanning of the mouse explaining what each feature does.

Thanks

Tammy

Just add that I agree that the new max posts in a 24 hour period is a good idea.

As for those that are trying to catch up on points just refer a few people and your point will grow quickly. Also make sure to post to your blog on a regular basis with quality content. Let's not forget these posts could start ranking in the search engines and drive traffic to our main sites and isn't that the real goal of all of this.

I think the giving points to the recipient of the blog comments is a great idea as opposed to simply giving points to people for writting a post. 

As long as people are properly tagging their blog posts, you can sort them by clicking on tags.  After we get forum's out the door we're definetly going to spend a little time solving more issues with the blogs as far as how to make them more effectively targetted.

Cool upgrades!

I'd like to see buttons/links on our own pages for Active Rain blogs, best blogs in 24 hrs, etc.  You have on the Active Rain page but that means switching back and forth. Please put them on our own page, probably in the same section as My Blog and Associates' Blogs.

I really like having the location of the blogger. So I will just type my city in until it is done for us.

Baltimore,Md