Thanks Brad. Your simply awesome.

Brad,

not bad :) not bad , keep the good work

Brad, you are so nice to the newbies.  oooops.  You don't like that word.  Sorry.  Anyway, this is a great post to help out the newcomers.  And you are not a newbie anymore!  I agree with Michelle.  You are awesome.  Great tips.

I recently had someone accept an invitation. I explained all of the benefits of AR, and ways to use 'localism'. Most of it is simply using one's imagination, and learning through discovery. There is so much that this site has to offer. Thanks for posting this.

Cool Brad!  I will point this out to the people I invite!

Brad,

This sure would have sped up my learning curve when I joined AR.  Thanks for taking the time to assist the newcomers.

Fran

Michelle - Thank you, that was very sweet  :-)

Ray - not bad means you approve :-) Thanks!!  This will save my clients from a lot of setup time. (I hope)

Maggie - Thanks!  It's been great networking with you.  You always know how to reach me. Thanks  :-)

Leon - great comment and sooo true. I think understanding the power of this is important. Thanks!!

Renee - as always, thank you.  I hope it helps them.

Fran - I know what you mean, I needed this for me 6 weeks ago.  (smile)

Brad this will be a great resource for newbies, your explanation of what should be done first is easily understood.

Thanks Jennifer, I always wonder if these instructional posts help other new members or not.  I know there are hundreds of people joining daily,  I hope this will help them out getting started.   :-)  I still have about 30 or so that still need to setup their profiles....

Brad,

MAN!...you got me dizzy trying to find the end of this post!

I was just asked to post something like this and i am glad you did...I'm out of breath...I requested that they look at yours...great post but I almost got confused and started to push the imaginary buttons!

that's a 5er!

Thanks for the tips Brad. I will use this when I invite new members.

Brad -- I don't know how I missed this one!   Great job!  I know I have been busy.... 

Neal (Huge Smile) I did the same thing reviewing my own post! Click Click, Dang!! That's really funny, I am actually really laughing out loud right now.  Thanks for the good laugh Neal, I hope we can tip a toast to each other someday....(is that butt kissing?) I THINK NOT! well.... maybe just a little.  It is a long post but has come in handy for some of my invitees. While it helps them, it saves me time.

Oh Crap, guess what?  I signed up my 100th member today....gotta go...good for another post and 200 points...(ha ha) just kidding...actually....hmmmm....maybe I will. 

Thanks Neal, I say God Bless America, now go sell it!  :-)

Colleen, I know you've been busy, no more Sunday calls, no more comments, almost 26,000 members, I don't know how you do it!  Thanks for taking a second to pop in and say hi!  Hope all is well with you!  :-)

Brad,

Thanks...I'm still mesmerized..Colleen has asked me to write one on this but I told her you did already ..I see she commented..I told her you did some job on it and I could not do better than that.

hey I just posted one that I started a new group about the reviews..i am sure you'll be up for it eventually!

This is so comprehensive! Thanks for taking the time to do this. There is quite a bit to figure out here and it's nice to have a little guide!

Neal - I'll check out and join your group.  Thanks for the kudos and for referring my post to Colleen.  It has helped me save time and helped my invitees to get setup more quickly and efficiently.  Thanks my friend! :-)

Thanks Yvonne for your comment. I hope this will help you and maybe anyone you might invite to A/R. :-)

Great post...lots of great information for newbies :)

I was wondering if anyone knows how to edit your "profession" on ActiveRain. I have recently moved from sales to property management and would like to update my profile as such, but cannot figure out how to do it! Any suggestions? I've already emailed support, but the community is usually a little quicker with answers :)

Hi Megan, I think the support team has to change that for you, not 100% sure, just a hunch! Thanks for poppin by and commenting while here.   :-)

Thanks for the great post.  I've been trying to invite people to AR recently as I feel that it is a great way to get out of our "comfort zone" and do something about our own business.  AR is such a good resource if you use it.  Your post is going to make it easy to get people going when they are "fresh" to AR. 

Thanks again!

Brad,

Thanks for all your work doing this. We actually did have a few posts of this nature but they end up getting lost in the crowd after awhile. We will keep this featured in the NEWBIE group for as long as we can. BTW, Newbie is considered and Internet word and is not a  "bad thing".  If you read the side bar of this group, the definition appears there:)

Brad, you sure put a lot of work into this!  Have you contacted AR directly with these suggestions?  My only suggestion would be to shorten the presentation - by the time most folks learn the basics, they have figured out how to get to the next levels on their own -

Bruce - You are welcome, I hope the folks you invite will get up and running quicker by using this post. It sure has helped some of my clients and friends on AR.

Karen - You are too kind. I sure appreciate your support in the group. Newbie is not such a bad word, I guess being one for so long started to get to me a little...(LOL) Technology is such a fast paced and difficult thing to get our arms around, I think I'll always be a newbie when it comes to all that the tech world has to offer our industry. Thanks again!  :-)

Brian - I agree, it is a bit long, but so was the time I was spending helping my invited guests to get setup. This is a just a way for them to get up and running and hopefully take new members to the next level quicker, easier, and with more knowledge of what the network is all about and how much it has to offer. I should have broken it down into phases or modules...live and learn as they say. Thanks for your comment, and advice. I love to hear "REAL" feedback such as yours. Great comment and advice! Thanks.  :-)

Ok, so I feel silly, however, everytime I try to post my pictures, they are too large.  Should I just steal my own pictures back from the mls since they may be the correct size to post listings?

Also, how do we get articles and information into the localism site?  Is that all posted blogs from here?  I am certain that it is answered somewhere else...please point me in the right direction.  I get side tracked reading everyones blogs, you could spend days without ever logging off! 

Cynthia - you can resize the photos in your post.  Just click on the photo 1 time, then use the mouse on one of the corners to resize, or you can use the appearance tab when uploading your photo's, and just change the number from 800 x 786  to whatever size you like.  Call me if you still need help, can walk you through it over phone in 60 seconds.

Yes, posts from Active Rain only go to Localism if you select "Public" and check to make sure you are clicking on the box for localism.com when submitting your post.  You also have to select the State, County, and then City. You can even take it all the way down to a neighborhood.  Let me know if you need help with either of these.  Once you get it, it's a piece of cake!

You are one of the best for helpful tips on how to use AR and get it going.  I appreciate all the posts that I have read from you, all useful.  This one is a keeper (bookmarked).  I am fairly new and I just keep learning new stuff every single day that I visit AR.  And I try to tap in daily.

Thanks Rosemary, It is very rewarding to me when I get comments such as yours.  That is why I do what I do.  For some crazy reason, I just love to help people!  Not for my benefit, but for theirs.  My life is blessed and I am surrounded by people who do the same for me, I guess that's why I feel it's important to "pay it forward" to others.

Let me know if you ever need help with anything, it truly is what I enjoy doing. What goes around, really does come around!  :-)

Brad:

Thanks for your help.  Will try to get the posts up and running, if I have questions, I will call you.  You are awesome! 

Brad you are welcome but its the honest truth.  And here you are on vacation but still finding time for AR.  Have you caught any fish yet?  I love catfish most, but will eat them all!  Fishing is relaxing too! Maybe that's how you are coming up with all these great posts????

Brad, great post -- including in my welcome comments to New members to Active Rain. 

Brad,

Thanks so much for this.  I am not a creative writer and not sure of the blogging community itself. This really helps and I have bookmarked this post. I am so lost in this world and this is greatly appreciated.

Anna 

:)

Hi, Brad!  Great tutorial for newbies.  We appreciate it. 

Hi, Brad! Good content, definitely helpful to newbies...

Hi Brad, I wish there were a manual.  I could sure make use of it.  Just made my first post this week  and working on several more.  Where do I go to learn to wrap text around pictures and also post sections of a page as you have here.  My pictures take up all the room and wont allow text along side.  I have a million questions and AR people have been so wonderful to help.  Thank you for sharing and a big thanks to that lady in Florida who has been such a great help too;Cyndee!!  All who share here are making this community even better.  Thanks

Brad, you have served your community beautifully with this post!  Great job!  One thing I didn't see is how I might file or organize favorite posts like this one.  Let me know if I missed it or who I drop a line to with suggestions if it doesn't exist.

Tracy all I know is bookmark.  I'd be interested to know if there is another way to keep them by subject or something like that.

Cynthia - my line and door are always oen to you.  Just call or email if I can assist you in any way.  :-)

Rosemary - just got back today!  Yes, we caught 12 rainbow trout up at pinecrest lake.  It was very relaxing and so much fun.  The best part is watching my kids catch fish. They get so excited and love it so much!
It's great to be back.... thanks!!

Judi - thanks for including my post in your welcome to new members, I am truly flattered and honored that you would do that.  Probably the best compliment that can be paid is by adding someones post as a link in yours.  I appreciate that very much!!   :-)

Anna - you're not lost here on AR.  There are so many great people who can and will assist you. Having said that, I am always available to try and help out other members.  They have helped me in so many ways, this is how we "pay it forward" to others.  Thanks for your comment, very much appreciated!!

Yolanda and Emilie - thanks, glad you find this post useful.  It has helped many that I have invited and I hope it helps many others too!  :-)

Darrel - there are a few tricks you need to know when posting and using graphics.

You can screen capture any image, save as a graphic, then upload to your post.  When you upload any image, there will be a tab that says "Appearance".  Click that tab and it will allow you to justify your image right, left, center etc.  Then your text will fall into place accordingly.  You can also adjust the size of your image there.  You can also just click on the image in your post, use the corners and sides to adjust using your mouse.  I know you have a million questions, but now you should only have 999,999!!  :-) 

Feel free to contact me for any others I may be able to help you with.

PS. Cyndee is wonderful, add her as an associate, and let her know how much she's appreciated by us both!! Send her your referrals when you can, I know she'll appreciate it as we all do! Thanks!!

Tracy - sorry for the late response, been on vacation.  Rosemary is right, you can bookmark any post and add to your favs. The other option is to cut and paste into word doc and keep in a folder elsewhere on your desktop.  If I find any other ways, I'll be sure and let yo know.

Hi, Brad!

Do I need a special program to screen capture?  How do I do it?  I see on your tutorial that shows the screen with arrows and text and I don't know how that's done.  Can you point me in the right direction?  Thank you so much!

Yolanda - You DO NOT need any special program to do a screen capture.  When you are on the screen you want to capture, just press the "Print Scr" button on your keyboard.  That will put the image into your clipboard.  Then just press the "CTRL" + the letter "V" which will paste it into any program that lets you create .gif or .jpg files. I personally use a program called "Paint Shop Pro" but I did purchase it online.  I know there are shareware programs out there that will do the same thing.  I'll demonstrate by doing this below....

Let me know if you need any additional help in doing this, I'd be happy to assist you any way I can!

Hey, Brad!

Thank you!  I can do that.  How did you add comments and arrows and such to it?  (Another question LOL)

I've been toying with the idea of buying Paint Shop but I'm just too lazy to do something about it.  I've seen many bloggers use it, so I'm going to have to order it now.  LOL  Thank you so much!

Yolanda,

I did all of it in PSP.  I suppose you can try Paint too.  I just used the text tool over the top of the graphic.  You can even overlay graphics and images over other graphics and images.  There are alot of other cool things you can do too, I am still discovering all the great stuff PSP can do with images, clip-art, graphics, photos etc.  Let me know how you like it, or if you find something else out there you like better.  I know many use Adobe Photo-shop, but I just don't have the time or money to invest in that right now.  Just got back from vacation and spent the kids inheritance!!  LOL   :-)  not too funny to them...  (Big Smile)!!

'Wish I'd had something like this when I first started! It was all "trial by error" for me! I'll definately bookmark this to share with anyone I invite to ActiveRain. Thanks!

Margaret, I wished this was around when I started too... that's why I created it.  Also, to help those I had invited to Active Rain.  I hope you will be able to share this with others and save them some of the time that you and I had to learn by..."trial and error".  Thanks!!  :-)

Brad!

Thank you for the additional instructions.  It turns out I have basic Paint hidden in my 'puter accessories!  LOL Isn't that retarded?  I tried the screen capture and it worked--now I have to play around with the program to see if I can make some decent graphics.  I'll probably end up getting Adobe PhotoShop when I get comfortable with what I have.  I'll let you know how it goes, and thank you so much again.  I have Paint!  L O L

P. S. Great vacation pictures and great looking family.  Now you can't retire since you spent it all!

Yolanda - ;-) Thanks!!  My Blog and Line are always open to you!!   :-)))

Brad I like the idea of cut and paste and organizing it on my laptop. Thanks!

very good post.  I will have to recomend it to some of the new people

Hi Rosemary - glad you found this one useful, always my pleasure, I enjoy blogging this kind of support!!

Thanks James, I have been welcoming new members with a link to this one as well.  The response has been good.  Thanks for sharing!   :-)

Brad, I tried your photo advice yesterday (you said above you can use any graphic for a post).  Is that true for comments, too?  I wanted to comment on the Father's Day post with a photo, but I only saw a URL link (no option to browse for a photo on my desktop).  Did I miss something?

Hi Tracy - you can import photos into a comment section by using the toolbar below:

Just click on the icon that looks like  then upload your photo using the screen below:

Click on the little icon that looks like this    to upload your photos and url links.

I hope this helps, let me know if you need further assistance!!  :-)

Very nice! I was just saying the other day how I wish there was something like this......well...here it is.

Pamela - glad you found this...probably my longest post in blogging history, but it has helped many new members and that's all that counts!!  Thanks for finding me and commenting!!

this was helpful as was the other link I received that had another blog from you.  SInce there really isn't a help manual, you have broken this down nicely. THANKS.

Melina - there are many helpful posts here on Active Rain that will help you with navigating around comfortably, but more than that are the awesome writers and blogs you will see.  Sit back, fasten your seatbelt, and just start reading, writing and commenting. You're gonna love it here.

Very Helpful. Thanks Brad. ;)

Malika - here's another one you may want to add to your bookmarks!   

Blogging 101 Resources

Hi Brad !

Do you know how we go about removing ourselves from someone's association list. I've tried blocking and that didn't do the trick. Also, what if you are on their list since you added them as an associate one time, however now you want to remove yourself from their list?

thanks

Jo 

Jo-Anne - If someone adds you as an associate, I don't think you can remove yourself from their list, but if you add them, you can remove them by clicking on the "Add Associate" link above their photo, then unchecking the box that says "associates".  I don't think there is any way to remove yourself from someone that has added you though!  I hope this helps, let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you out!  :-) 

Thanks Brad,  I'm still not clear on this. I clicked 'add as associate' on someone's profile. Then I'm on their associations list.  Now I want to remove myself from their associations list....that is what I am having a hard time doing.  I can't find anything about this anywhere on AR.....also, when you block someone, it stops them from being visible on your associations list, however you are still visible on their associations list.... this is all so confusing to me.  I just want to get off two people's associations lists and don't have a clue how to do it...

Jo 

Jo-Anne - did you try the instructions I left in my previous comment? This will remove them from your list. Try it, then let me know if that works. If not, call me on the phone, and I'll walk you through it ok? Thanks! B-)

Hi Brad,   thank you very much for the instructions.  I had already removed them from my list ....that isn't the problem.  AR seems to have no way of removing yourself from someone else's association list , once you are on it. So, for instance, we add someone as an associate, then we find out down the road the person is not such a nice person to be associated with and we want to taken off of their associations list....we can't do it. Unless we ask them to block us...and how weird would that be?

thanks so much for your help...I think I may have to email Caleb about this..

Jo 

Jo-Anne, that's the only way to get off their list, they have tpo remove you since they added you, I don't think that should be a problem. Let me know if Caleb can help you, if not, let me know, I have a couple ideas for you.

hi Brad, no they didn't add me, I added myself by making them an associate.  As soon as you add someone as an associate, you appear on their associations list. You would think that because I added myself, that when I remover them from my 'associates' list, it would automatically remove me from their 'associations' list, but it doesn't.  thanks again.

 Jo

Jo-Anne - I'd contact the support folks at AR and get that corrected. Let me know if I can help in any way!

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the helpful blog.  You seem to know your way around AR so I thought I could ask a couple questions and have you clarify for me.  I am newer to AR.  I set my profile up a while ago and now am starting to get more involved with AR.  First, I responded to a couple of blogs and asked to be notified when there were more responses.  The next day my email was flooded with responses.  I then responded to another blog and have not received anything in my email.  Then, I wrote my first blog, posted it under 'members only'  and no one has responded.  Am I doing something wrong?  Second, someone has added me as an associate.  I thought they had to ask my permission.  How was he able to arbitrarily add me as an associate?  I do wish there was a manual so I wouldn't have to pester you.  If you can give any help I would appreciate it. 

Thanks for all the information.  It will really help me out!

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the helpful blog.  You seem to know your way around AR so I thought I could ask a couple questions and have you clarify for me.  I am newer to AR.  I set my profile up a while ago and now am starting to get more involved with AR.

First, I responded to a couple of blogs and asked to be notified when there were more responses.  The next day my email was flooded with responses.  I then responded to another blog and have not received anything in my email.  Then, I wrote my first blog, posted it under 'members only'  and no one has responded.  Am I doing something wrong? 

Linda - First, if you put a check in the box of another members post to be "notified of comments"  you will be emailed everytime ANYONE comments on that post, not just the creator!  If you don't check the box, but you want to see if they respond, you'll have to go back and check the post at a later time to see.  There is a history of every comment you make and receive. Just click on "MY HOME" for ALL comments!  You can delete them as you respond of feel it necessary.

If you responded to another Blog and have not received any email, either you didn't check the box, or nobody