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Active Rain Beats Them All

Here is why. 2008 has been my best year -I worked as hard, but earned more. The most important reason -blogging, aside from me being the best Princeton agent:) Having dedicated last year to blogging I found Active rain to be the most stable solution of them all. Here is a report on my findings.

Selecting Your Blog provider.

Selecting a company to develop/host and support your blog is critical, unless you are a pro and doing it all by yourself. Here I refer to blogs outside of Active Rain platform. This may seem self evident, but it's far from easy to accomplish. Here is a little glimpse into my travails:
1. Signed-up with reputable Company #1. Initially things were OK, but soon deteriorated. Personnel changes lead to difficulties.
2. Signed up with another provider. Read #1.
3. Signed with Company #3. Read #2. The site is still not working after several months.
4.Signed up with Company #4. Much work was lost in transition. I won't say much more for now. Check it out here - Princeton Real Estate Homes.
5. "Learned" Wordpress.org. Designed my own blog. Learned that Blog Designer is not what I want to be when I grow up. Checked it out here, leave a comment and please be kind:) It's work in progress - Princeton Real Estate Guide.
6. Active Rain in the meantime remained there all along with no problems. And at a cost of my time alone this is still the best deal in town.

Photo by Zeets Jones

Tips for those contemplating venturing outside Active Rain:

1. Start an outside blog, only if you have a strategy of how it will improve your overall Internet presence. Having another blog may not add much to you being found on the Internet.
2. Start another blog to protect your future Internet presence, if Active Rain changes in some dramatic way. You need to protect your content. Another blog may be your insurance policy and may mature in Google's eyes with time.
3. Links are proverbial make it or break it for blogs - the outstanding content is a given. Having multiple blogs could delute your individual blogs' link "strength", unless you have a strategy for increasing links for each blog.
4. Having a micro-niche blog may or may not benefit your overall presence - back to the links importance. Micro-niche could be achieved from your existing blog, by careful selection of key words that are less competitive, yet accomplish your business goal. This was my approach this year and it worked.

Please comment and share your experiences on providers, link building strategies, niche marketing or any other successful blogging strategy.

Posted by Faina Sechzer - Princeton, Montgomery, Hopewell, NJ Real Estate Expert on 01/06/2009 01:31 PM

Comments (50)

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50 Comments on Active Rain Beats Them All

JAN

This should be very encouraging to newer members who are not yet confident about the value of the time they spend on ActiveRain.

I agree on the strategy of having a separate blog too. I am a firm believer in the importance of Internet synergy.

Lenn, thanks for stopping by. IMHO, you of all people know about multiple blogs and their ROI. I periodically scare my husband by saying "I will have as many blogs as Lenn":) It took me a year to see first hand that the value of Active Rain is hard to beat.

Excellent post, Faina! That's why the old saying, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." is so true. If you can do your website and blog yourself that's the best bet. Active Rain is a good #2 choice though.

As Lenn stated, your post helps people like me to know, there is a reason to all of this. I don't yet understand how this "blog" or "post" helps your RE business. But I will continue to search for the answers.

Faina - Congrats on the feature and your well written blog. We have several outside blogs at this point and A/R is still the best. Good to see you in here again. Happy New Year! Bob and Lisa H

Faina-Thanks for a great post. I've now made the decision just to focus here for a year and see how it goes. Best to you in 2009!!!

Tomato Blog, real estate only, designed and host my blog--http://www.fuellingkaty.com. I adore it! You might want to check their website @ http://www.tomatoblogs.com/.

Faina,

I have thought about this too, "Start another blog to protect your future Internet presence, if Active Rain changes in some dramatic way. You need to protect your content. Another blog may be you insurance policy and may mature in Google eyes with time."

One of anything is dangerous.

Faina, I have had an outside blog for about 2 years. It was with RSSPieces. Not sure who its with now except that Mary McKnight handles it for me, as she always, has and I have only been down a total of maybe 1 day since I started. It's my flagship site and generates tons of business.

I agree that AR is the best. It just keeps on ticking like the little energiser bunny. I get more business from my blogging than I can handle. My strategy is to write(often) about what I do and where I do it. Good content is what makes a blog work.

Faina - I still trying to grasp this but have committed myself to learn. Still trying to figure out the links and back links. Do I need to have an outside blog before I get that?

Faina, Thanks for sharing your trial and error story. Sounds like you have it all under control now!

Faina,

I too am experimenting with multiple blog platforms having been on Activerain and Realtown for a year now. As an avid North Atlantic Scuba Diver, we are trained in the importance of "redundancy" when it comes to our "life supporting" equipment! Thank you for reminding me of my basic training.

Faina, Thanks for your blog. My daughter invited me to join AR about this time last year and I agreed but did nothing with it, aside from building my profile, until a friend who'd joined along with me mentioned that she'd just had her first AR closing. Got my attention! That was in August and I've been learning and relating and blogging away. I'm getting the hang of this (sort of) but I want to understand more before I branch out. I'm glad I started with Active Rain.

Hi Faina, what a way to come back to Active Rain with a Featured Post - you go girl! You know more than anyone the trials and tribulations of my blog over the last year. SIGH....

Learning how to create my own blog on Wordpress gave me back the power and confidence that no matter what happens to AR or any of the companies that currently host 2 of my blogs, I will be able to continue with the strategy myself. It's fun too! And, not as difficult as people make it out to be. :-)

Preaching to the choir my dear. I do not see the need for another platform as google loves my work on AR.

Scott, the idea of this post is not to improve my business, per cey, but rather help others improve theirs. Early on in my Active Rain life I was writing posts to help others learn from what I did -the good and the bad of blogging, so they could use the good and avoid the bad. For business I write completely consumer oriented posts. The agent oriented posts are my way of paying back for learning from others on this forum.

David - I wasn't so much preaching, as sharing. I am thrilled with your AR success.

Irena - you of all people know what's it been like in the last year. Without you, my dear, I could have abandoned the whole blogging thing:) You helped me more than you know to stay focused. I am forever grateful.

Marian - it takes time to understand the best way to use your blogging hours. If your goal is business -it's easy to judge success.

Faina-Congrats on the feature, and a very well written post.

Thanks for the tips. I also believe one should do outside blogs and tie everything together.

You raised a great point Faina -- what WOULD happen if AR were to be shut down? What would happen to everyone's blogs? Anyone know?

Well, glad you are here again. I love AR and post to it most. I also love my Dakno blog, Ann Arbor Real Estate Talk and that is more for consumers. Sorry about your trials and errors. My friends are all here, what more can I say?

Hi Fiana;

Great post and super tips, I do appreciate . Happy New Year!

Anthony

Hi Fiana;

WOW! Great post and tips, I do appreciate your efforts. Happy New Year!

Active Rain Beats Them All

Hi Faina,

Thanks for your positive report! I'm very happy to hear that you had a strong 2008. I agree with your headline, but from a slightly different perspective. When I look at Google juice for blogs, ActiveRain generally dominates.

I can definitely relate to your frustration with outside blogs. I've been trying to help guide a friend through the process of starting a blog for themself. I don't consider myself super-experienced at blogs, but I guess I might know a little something. Talking to her has been like speaking a foreign language because she's not as up to speed as she needs to be, and she knows it.

ActiveRain has been a God-send for me!

Over a year ago, some AR'ers warned us to have our own blog in case AR sold or died. So I set up my own WP.com blog and it does far better at getting business - actual stuff that goes in the bank. Like you, while I have higher sales volume in past years, my net income was the best. Blogging is cheap and gives a great ROI. AR is for fun and learning.

Elaine - would love to chat with you about your success. I set up another blog for the same reason, but it has been not a stable ride. Many blogging providers are just not equipped yet to handle big influx of new accounts.

Amber -what other platforms have you tried for your friend, just wondering?

Bruce - I agree with you. My AR blog got PR3 very quickly, not so with the other ones.

Anthony -thanks and Happy New Year to you too.

Missy - you said, it my friend. If it wasn't for my friend I met here it would have been a much tougher ride. And certainly not as much fun.

Chris -this question is what got me to set up other blogs. There was a time when AR was considering selling and it made me think.

Craig -we think alike.

Briant - you have figured it all out long time ago, I am sure:) Your blog rocks.

Mark - I agree.

Mary -sounds like a plan to me.

Blogging is the solution. I hope to get more info out there this year

Faina, Excellent points and starting another outside blog is on my list for early this year. And going back to my articles which came up very high on the article sites I was on.

Hi Faina,
I'm sold! Blogging is time consuming and a lot of work but it pays big dividends.

So far I've stayed within the confines of Active Rain but am wondering if I should venture where you have gone. Thanks for the suggestions.

If one were to duplicate a blog post on another blogging website -- as a precaution in case AR pulls the plug in the future and all of our work goes away, I wonder if the search engines will penalize us for having duplicate content on multiple sites?

Wow, that is fantastic I was waiting for someone or anyone to say 08 was their best year. You're the first congratulations. Maybe there is hope after all.

Hi Faina - what a ride, huh? Not one I would have chosen, but we're making it through it, and we will have learned so much more than we thought possible.

AR does have the google juice for sure! And congrats on your featured post!

Ann

Faina - Congratulations on feature and on your best year! That's thrilling! I'm a great believer in AR as Google loves it so much. You are right about the outside blog though - safety never hurts. Your points about planning the linking strategy is worth a separate big discussion.

I'm not happy about the Outside Blog feature of AR at the moment. So, it is my goal to set up my wordpress blog this coming week. Like you, AR is also my most reliable source for income in 2008 and 2009 should be the same too.

As someone looking to put together a blogging strategy I see the need for the two blogs.

Faina,

It's always good to cover your exposure on multiple levels in case one of them sinks. Minimum two websites for blogs, maybe three.

I completely agree...AR outranks my TypePad blog for results hands down!

Faina: Thanks for sharing.. I will take a look at this.

Faina,

Great post! I recently joined AR and have been enjoying the whole blog experience. Thank you for sharing your experience with selecting a blog provider. Congratulations on being featured!

Hi Faina...wanted to stop by and say hi! Good to see you. ;-) I'll think on this one and let you know if I come up with something profound. AR is my fav....;-)

JAN

Hi Faina - I just launched a Tomato blog. It's not set up quite yet, but you can check it out at http://thewestchesterview.com.

They are right with you and set it up with many extras such as training.

Faina, Do I need to say I know only too well what you have been going through? We learned a lot and I think we have all positioned ourselves to be independent and in control of our own blogs. It is great to have AR as well and for all the friends we made here who helped us get through this together. Welcome back!

Hi Faina, I'm glad your blogs are doing so well for you - even if setting up has been a trial. I also have a blog through WP not connected to AR for the reasons mentioned by other readers and did away with my AR Outside blog because too much redundancy is bad.

Now I see that AR is offering Individual Blogs for $19.95/month and am wondering what all this is about - another choice, I guess.

Best of luck with '09.

Dear Faina,

Congrats on your featured posts and thanks for the tips.

I have just begun blogging on AR. I am using this as a test before I go public on a real estate blog specific to my area. AR is such a wonderful way to communicate and learn from other professionals.

I checked out your new blog. I like it and also share your philosophy of how to deal with buyers and sellers.

Thanks for sharing!

JAN

Faina, good post. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

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