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Outside Active Rain drops

At any given time, you can log on to Active Rain and find your favorite "rainers" - but if AR went "POOF" like our favorite Codgers' stories, would you know where to go? Would you be able to find your friends?

Here's what I found.... TLW and Broker Bryant do ramble and can even hear a "BAM" once in a while. Jeff Turner is usually at work with the latest gadgets here, but can also be found in deep thought; you can also find him scanning his wife Rocky's blog (although a mother he is not), or getting ideas for Rain for Change.

Kristal's educational posts continue in Denver. Mariana is busy with Derek with their scoop.(...no Mariana...that's not what I meant!). Ann Cummings is still sweet as can be in New Hampshire and Monika is not far behind her teaching away.

Colleen Kulikowski is the master planner and always celebrating. Do Rich Jacobson and Mark Flanders have anything in common with Sparky and Buckwheat? Do you think Dmitry hangs out with Maureen Francis in Michigan?

I can tell you Carole Cohen has been hiding, but I don't blame her because it is cold in Cleveland. I did not think Craig, "stager extraordinaire", could make things any prettier, but I was so WRONG! Now...Laurie Manny is always busy at work in Long Beach. Maureen McCabe keeps up the great photo reputation in Columbus. Ardell jumps from here to there while she's not partying in Vegas, or hanging out with a hunk from Miami.

And finally, I cannot leave my coach, Paul Chaney out of the loop. At work or at home, but most likely just everywhere in thought.

This is an example of a LINK-ONLY post, one of many exercises you will see for Project Blogger - Paul will explain the rest of the Blog Post Formats and I will try them all to see how they fit.

Here is Paul's post with the different FORMATS - Project Blogger: Seven Blog Copywriting Posting Formats

Posted by Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate on 04/12/2007 05:30 PM

Comments (75)

project blogger, paul chaney, active rain

Originally posted at: Miami Real Estate Blog: Outside Active Rain drops

75 Comments on Outside Active Rain drops

APR

2007

Key words yesterday. Link "thingies" today. What's next? I will stay tuned. Thanks for the link to brokerbryant.com

I love the graphic. Nice way of demonstrating what you have learned. Keep up the good work.

This is a great type od post. I need to try it. It was fun ... and it WAS what you meant! Ha!

Wow, that's a lot to keep up with. Great mention of Columbus, Ohio!!

Bryant - little "thingies"... you are too funny! since you ask - the next one is link-blurb, which also has links but with longer commentary.

Jay - what's funny is that we had already learned this when we did the reviews, but never put them to practice...so here I am now.

Mariana - Have a lisp lately?...please try it...it is fun and you are right...it is what I meant! ; )

Amy - I totally agree...there's a lot of rainers with outside blogs that we don't know about.

Ines, thanks for the homework! I liked this. You made it really interesting and fun to read. I'm going to try to follow along with you but I'm behind already because of the link "thingies" that came before. OK, I'll do this assignment and see if I can go back to the thingies before you post another. Boy am I in trouble!

It will be interesting to read Paul's take on a link post. I had to go spruce up that blog. I had not blogged on it for a few days and the last entry had no photo....so I did a blog with a link to Carole Cohen since I thought her blog entry that you linked to was interesting. Thanks for the mention.

Hi Ines, Great Post, very creative, thanks for the link.

I would like to take a moment here to shamelessly self promote. Now that you all have the links to our other blogs. Please stop by and leave a comment. We are all trying very hard to get these blogs going and love visitors.

Also, go ahead and join www.mybloglog.com where you can find many of the AR's other blogs and a whole great big other blogging world.

Ines ~ I don't know where you find the time to be so creative and actually very good at it! :)

At the word poof, there was a slight panic! I like learning about other parts of the country, and I have a few agents that I read their blogs but I do not have them all compiled in a single area. hmm. I will have to get them all lined up so I can bounce from one to another like your post.

Fun post, great graphic!! Thanks Ines!! How DID you do that graphic, though? Geeze I am impressed!!

Awesome way to get the links in...I'm still not there yet! Can I get a coach?????

Ines, excellent post, way to work in all the links.

Hey, thanks for the EXPOSING my baby blog.

Oh... and guess what we had a lovely spring day here yesterday in the BEAUTIFUL north... it frigging snowed. EVER time I looked at the window I thought of you... NO LIE!

Wow Rick & Ines...I'm going to have to start referring to the both of you as the MASTERMINDS of Active Rain. There is no way I could have formulated my thoughts as well as you did! Great job and I hope all is well in the sunny city of Miami!

Fantastic, Ines. I feel like I have learned so much already and "we" are just getting started. You must be having a blast. Your enthusiasm is contagious.

Jeff

What no babies wrestling alligators!

Ines... great post and I love the picture. And yes, I am looking forward to Paul's explanation and learning more from the both of you. thanks.

jeff belonger

Nice job Ines (and Rick of course!)! I can't seem to find enough time to devote to reading all these - glad I was able to focus long enough to read yours. You must be having a blast! Liz

Teacher! Teacher! What is the point of this blog? That we need to include more links in our blogs? Who benefits when we do what you did above? What does it accomplish? Or we should be blogging out side of A.R?

You're doing a great job, both with the linking blog and the graphic - you're doing a great job of sharing as well. If only we could all keep up.

I love your link only post and thanks for the link :)

Ines: I'll add to the heap by complimenting you on the graphic. I'm not a fan of "Boring Posts" great example of a post that is not boring & fun. Thanks for the link.

Jay

Wow!! I was having problems with my DSL and come back to see all these comments, THANK YOU!

Maggie - what thingies are you talking about? This was the first real assignment - you'll understand it better when Paul talks about Formats tomorrow. - I'll even add a link here.

Maureen - you are so funny.....weren't expecting company were you?

Laurie - that's what it's all about, we get so spoiled here with comments and it's nice to get them outside as well.

Kristal - look who's talking! Your posts are always so awesome and very creative!

Debi - that's why that RSS feed is so helpful - you sign up at bloglines.com and then add all those feeds.

FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DON'T HAVE RSS FEEDS ON YOUR OUTSIDE BLOGS....ADD THEM!!

Mary - LOL! you give me way too much credit...I got it from 123RF.com, you can buy credits and purchase graphics for $1 - istockphoto.com has the same thing.

Chris - to get the links in you just highlight the word and then press the link icon on the gray bar and add the address - Is that what you were asking?

Gary - thanks for stopping by

ANYONE ELSE FEEL FREE TO ADD A LINK OF YOUR OUTSIDE BLOG HERE SO WE CAN GO VISIT!

Craig - That is so AWESOME!!! I'm glad you are thinking of me - I love it!

George - way too kind! the weather here is beautiful....although it did rain all morning.

I had to laugh with this one - do you guys realize that 3 Jeffs commented in a row here? Maybe I should do a JEFF post!

Jeff D. - I am so glad to hear that - I love to be contagious! and I loved the "WE"

Jeff L - that one went right over my head like an airplane - maybe it's late - care to enlighten me?

Jeff B.- It's no secret, it's chapter 3 or Realty Blogging - he'll go into detail about the different types of formats and I will be writing an example of each (hopefully I'll get it right) - to tell you the truth, at first I thought "LINK-ONLY" meant a list of links with no commentary, but the examples from the book were a lot more fun like this. Where's the teacher to critique?

Liz - I have to tell you that it does take a lot of reading....but fun reading at least!

Dena - crack me up won't you? you don't have to blog outside of AR and the point of this is 2-fold, one is to learn the different formats of blogging and the other one is called "link love" where you link other blogs to your post and the owners of those posts recognize and become your friends and may return the favor some day (that's what I understand by it). Paul will post a blog tomorrow on the different formats and it will all make more sense.

Sharon - you are the queen of keeping up....or shall we say.....of setting the pace!

Monika - I almost missed you...how bad is that! Does Jay have an outside blog - because I could not find it.

Jay - your "poof" posts were awesome, especially when you found yourselves in the Muggy Everglades - I like your "active fan" graphic.

jeff d jeff l jeff b Will the real Jeff please Stand up....

Jeff Dowler Jeff Link Jeff Belonger

jeff

Did you find all these blogs due to RSS feeds? Or did you just search around the Internet for people in the Rain?

OK, the teacher remark was rather smart a$$, sorry about that. But I am hanging out here to learn ya know! So the link love is mutual y beneficial, doesn't it help with SEO or anything?

Jeff B - you are so funny - you guys are NOTHING alike!

Karen - it was easier than that - I checked on each's blog page here on AR and some listed their outside blogs - some were listed in other's people's blog lists. Even Craig, who claims I "exposed" him has the link to his outside blog right under his picture.

Dena - no it wasn't, it was funny. Links do help with SEO, but mostly when others add you to their blogroll. The bigger the rank of the person that adds you, the better....it's like a little game. I wish a techie would jump in here!

I am sad that you would forget me so quickly. (sniff, sniff)

In other words, Jeff, you're one of those parents that would allow their child to do that. Is that what you're saying? (BTW - I have a big smile on my face, I'm not antagonizing you)

AAAAaaaaaa!!!! Thanks Jeff - that was KILLING ME!!! I could never forget YOU!

APR

2007

Ines, Mary McKnight says no blog rolls, search engines frown on them and rank down for them. Go to www.mybloglog.com, you will find everybodys other blogs there.

Ines -- thanks for the link, I have been busy showing property that I haven't been on-line. Great post!

Ines

Thanks for a great post. I have a girlfriend in the business who's just getting "acquainted" with AR and this certainly is a good one for her to read....good luck in the competition... do forget to do your homework!!!

Ah Ines - your posts are just awesome, and all the links in this one are terrific. Thank you much for including mine here - now I must go visit that one myself as I have totally neglected it for some time now. It's just too much fun here in the Rain! I am working on a new one that should be up and running in the next week or two, and that one I will definitely keep up on.

I love learning as you're going through the Project Blogger with Paul. Thanks for sharing your lessons!
Ann

Laurie - thanks for that, I had no idea (just to show you). but there has to be a purpose for that blog roll. I signed up to mybloglog a while back and couldn't figure out how it works - so my blog was never added. I think mybloglog works if you enroll and make it work - it's yet another place to visit for those of us that are too busy.

So to correct the SEO - It's when others give you LINK LOVE that it helps w/ search engine placement?

Colleen - that's what's so tough about this...we need to work also!

Desiree - bring your friend over....I'm sure she will have no problems getting acquainted.

Ann - I totally agree about it being fun her in the rain....and we get comments here too!

Laurie Manny wrote: Ines, Mary McKnight says no blog rolls, search engines frown on them and rank down for them.

I read Mary McKnight's entry about not doing a blogroll the day she published it and I have been watching the trends, what other blogging gurus are suggesting, what others are doing.

Isn't Dustin Luther's advice today (or maybe it was late yesterday) to his Project Blogger candidate (what do we call you guys Ines? Project Blogger bloggers? Apprentices? Candidates? ...

anyway my question is isn't Dustin's directive to his Project Blogger _______________ to set up a blogroll?

Ines what does Paul Chaney suggest re: a blogroll? Yes or NO?

Maureen - I see blogrolls with all the "big bloggers" and a long blog roll at that! That's why there has to be some benefit. I will e-mail a couple of coaches to see what their opinion is on this matter (and yes, Dustin did suggest a blog roll as a good start). BTW - I think they are calling us "apprentices".

Ines - You are such a great teacher as well as "apprentince". You have such a way with the way you talk and explain things that I am sure everyone will learn from you while you learn (personally, I thought you were great before too).

I can not wait to read your posts!

I'm about to answer the question that was raised about blogrolls. It's long, so take a deep breath before diving in.

BLOGROLL SEO VALUE ISSUE (and the Google Sandbox effect)

In answer to the question about blogrolls, what Mary states in her post is contrary to what is stated in a Google patent application for blog search. It says...

"The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more positive indicators include one or more of a popularity of the blog document, an existence of a link to the blog document in one or more blogrolls associated with other blog documents..."

It seems to indicate that the presence of a blog in other blogrolls is a good thing, especially if that blogroll belongs to a "high quality" blog.

Here is how one SEO expert analyzed the positives factors:

The next step is to identify positive indicators of quality:

popularity of the blog,
Implied popularity of the blog,
Inclusion of the blog in blogrolls,
Existence of the blog in high quality blogrolls,
tagging of the blog,
References to the blog by other sources,
A pagerank of the blog, and;
Other indicators could also be used.

He amplified on the bullet points above by pulling excerpts from the patent document itself:

Inclusion of the blog in blogrolls

Blogrolls are a dense collection of links to external sites (usually other blogs) in which the author/blogger is interested. A blogroll link to a blog document is an indication of popularity of that blog document, so aggregated blogroll links to a blog document can be counted and used to infer magnitude of popularity for the blog document.

Existence of the blog in high quality blogrolls

A high quality blogroll is a blogroll that links to well-known or trusted bloggers. Therefore, a high quality blogroll that also links to the blog document is a positive indicator of the quality of the blog document.

I realize this is in reference to Google's blog search, not the main site, but I can't see where Google would reward a site for having a blog roll on the one hand, and penalize it on the other.

Further, my good friend and SEO expert, Wayne Hurlbert, said this about how Google responds to blogs based on an earlier patent application...

"Bloggers are less affected [by the Google Sandbox effect] because the links are from similar theme relevant blogs. Because the topics discussed are similar, the inbound links are given more weight faster by Google. The fact that links are often from within posts themselves help, as do permanent links from blogrolls.

"Google is also rewarding sites that link out to other sites. Talk about another win for bloggers!

"Bloggers freely link to other blogs and traditional websites. This generous linking policy, shared by most bloggers, is rewarded by Google. Higher search rankings for the helpful blogger are the benefit. The reason for this benefit, resulting from linking out, is to encourage links to other people who provide useful and interesting content."

ANOTHER REASON TO USE BLOGROLLS

Having said all that, there is another very good reason for including a blogroll on your blog that really has nothing to do with its SEO value. Blogs tend to be very niche-targeted in terms of their theme. For example, many of you maintain a blog focused on your local real estate market. Or, perhaps you have a blog targeted to the local neighborhood you serve. Your blog can become an portal or "directory" for information related to that topic. One component of that is a blogroll. Your blog serves as the gateway to other blogs who talk about the same topics. Make sense?

Mary indicates that blogrolls are a waste of time for that reason as well. I beg to differ. More than once, a blogroll has opened the door for me to other blogs I may not have known about otherwise. Are they the 2nd Coming in that respect? No, but they're useful.

I do agree with one point Mary makes and that's it might be a good idea to create a separate page for your blogroll rather than include it in the sidebar. I also agree that Google will not rank a blogroll link as highly as it will a link inside a topically-relevant blog post. That's the golden egg and you should give thanks each time someone does reference your site or a post you've written in their own.

Mary's opinion is well-stated and strongly held. However, considering what I read on the Google patent document and what I've heard from others like my friend Wayne, plus my own reasons for using blogrolls, I'll have to stand pat on keeping them.

Now that's what I call a comment!

I love looking at who is on a blogroll of a blog I enjoy reading, it's like a list of what they're reading.

Todd Carpenter did a great job compiling REMBEX; the real estate and mortgage bloggers exchange

Paul... that was a post, not a comment. :) A good one though.

Thanks so much Paul - talk about a post within a comment - I appreciate you coming here and explaining this to us - I do see how this topic could be left to interpretation, but according to what you just stated, It seems to me that blog rolls would be more beneficial than not.

Christine - thanks so much for the compliment, I do try. What I've learned so far is that a lot of us may have been blogging but don't really know the logistics behind the writing. I can speak for myself when I say I've read a lot and done a lot of research, have utilized a lot of the little techniques, but there's a lot more we don't know and there's people who spend 24-7 doing this. We need to sell real estate and cannot be infront of a computer screen all day, that's why Project Blogger will be instrumental in providing key information.

Maureen - I do the same thing, now that's I've been outside of AR (not much, but starting to get my feet wet) - I love to see blog rolls and to find other bloggers I would not find otherwise.

Brian - that's an interesting list - I will have to go see it in detail.

Jeff - my sentiments exactly - I don't think there will be anymore questions after that. I see you were up at 6:30 AM - do you ever sleep?

Really cute and well thought out! I like the graphics.

This was very instructive for everyone. Keep us posted as you go thru your blogging "course". It is a good use of graphics, text and links -- and it is interesting. I am still learning!

Wow, Paul! I think that's the record for the longest comment on AR! YIKES!

Ines - Buckwheat and Sparky thank you profusely for the nod. Bloggie the Frog says "Thanks!" too!

Danny - it was a fun exercise!

Joan - We are still learning...believe me!

Rich - LOL! I didn't know the frog's name with Bloggie...very cute! (whose idea was that?)

FOR EVERYONE WONDERING ABOUT BLOG FORMATS - Read Paul's Latest post with great explanations and examples:

Project Blogger: Seven Blog Copywriting Posting Formats

I am enjoying watching everyone do this project blogger! It looks fun!

Wow, that was an aweful lot of links and a great post. How is project blogger going?

Renee - I'm enjoying watching everyone as well - you can join in the fun any time!

Christy - This is the first official week of Project Blogger and I have learned so much already - we're sharing away, so feel free to take a look.

APR

2007

Ines, this was such a great post - pardon the naive question but is the blogroll Paul referenced the links people have to the right of the articles? Still learning - I appreciate your insights. Keepup the great work - I'm loving your journey.

APR

2007

Cyndee- that's exaclty what the blogroll is - sometimes it's on the right and sometimes on the left (most of the time they are categorized as "blog roll" but not always). To give you an example, if you click on Paul's "home" blog (his personal blog) in the list above - he has a list called "blog buddies" on the right - that's his blog roll. Thanks for getting involved, it makes the journey so much easier.

Ines...

Man. I don't want to comment on this. YET. I still have to finish reading all these comments. In the meantime I want to post your missing Jeff aka Hubba aka Tool Boy :)

Please be sure to respond so this post goes into my email. That will help me to get back to reading all this when I have more time :)

TLW...ROAR!

TLW - I can see you feel much better....come back whenever you want....this post ended up being a lot of fun....btw "TOOL BOY" is so perfect for Jeff.

MAY

2007

Hiya Ines, and it was 92 degrees today so I am out of hiding and happy as a clam. This was a cute post and I am glad to see it, albeit a month or so late! I hope you and your family are planning some fun over the weekend.

Ines, you always find (or create!) the best graphics. And you are a sweetheart as well. I can now bookmark this and find some outside blogs more easily....after all of your hard work. Thanks gf!

Is that Carole not logged in? It sure sounds like her :)

So who else is romping around the rain not logged in? :)

I bet if I keep hijacking the comment section of this post you'll know who exactly who's messin' with you (insert evil grin)

Oh. Man. You can't fix typos when you're not logged in :)

TLW - please log in.....and let everyone see you!

MAY

2007

LOL. I hope you enjoyed all of that. I sure did. ROAR :)

OCT

2007

wonderful post with lots of useful information! love those little emotion guys!!!

Of your "Six Pack," this is my favorite!

Mike in Tucson

B&B - there are tons of outside blogs that are so worth the read!

thanks Mike....it's good to get out of the rain once in a while : )

Sweet! These are some great links. I'm even subscribed to most of these bloggers, yet I missed half of these posts. I'm gonna have to get caught up.

OCT

2007

Ha! I read the majority in your post...this was really a great piece of work and much link loving going on....you are one to always think of the next person. These going back in time are fun.

Sally - going back in time was so great......things have definitely changed, but IT'S ALL GOOD!

OCT

2007

Thank you for writing this. Now I have links to many of my favorite people on AR. I especially appreciate the link to Jeff's wife's blog about Africa. I will spend some quiet time reading about her entire journey as it deserves no less.

Diane - there are such great blogs out there that I don't even know about. I love it when people share their favorites.

OCT

2007

That's my goal...to make my outside blog work...I'm doing some lead in's to try to draw some traffic there. I see readers but not a lot of comments...but it is s tart:)

hey Neal - include the link here.....that's what this post was for. I realized a little into the game that Active Rain is great and I love the comments here, but the audience for your blog is totally different.

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