Week In Review - Top 10 ActiveRain FAQ's

These are the top most Frequently Asked Questions I received and tried to answer this week.  I thought it might be a good idea to put these out there in hopes that this will help others who might have the same issues, or questions.  Sometimes just helping one person creates an opportunity to help many.

  I'm just getting started on ActiveRain. I attended a class a few weeks ago. I finally got up the courage to write my first blog, it's not great, but you have to start somewhere. I know my confidence will grow with practice and my blogs will improve.  Here's my question, when entering the blog, I only have 3 options for visibility- members only, draft, associates only. How do I make it available to the public?

  Congrats on your first post, I remember getting up the courage to write my first post.  The free basic membership on AR allows you to post in draft, associates, and members only modes.  The "RainMaker" accounts on ActiveRain allow you to post publically.

  Is there a cost involved with the Rainmaker accounts and what are some of the other benefits? 

  Yes, there is a cost.  If you are a new member on AR after 2/16/2009, RainMaker membership is 29.00 per month but it also includes your outside ActiveBlog, your domain name, registration, Localism posting, SEO, technical support, webinar training (coming shortly) and more.  Current founding members pay 19.00 for their outside ActiveBlogs.

  I need to change my email address on my account to and I can't find the area where I can do this.  On my profile, that part of the page is grayed out.  Can you help me with this?

  This is a feature that needs to be changed by our admin or staff, feel free to email any of the community builders or technical support at support@activerain.com and we will take care of it for you.  Be sure to send a link to your profile and what you'd like the new email address to be.

  Can I add google analytics to my AR or outside blog?

  Not currently, we are working on adding a tool that will allow you to add this shortly.  There are a few other widgets you can add to get stats from your AR internal blog, the outside blogs are still in development.

  I have a curious question.  Why are we not able to mark for comments to be sent to us on those post we respond to?  My in box seems awful lonely.

  The "Notify Me Of Comments" has been moved from the comments section of posts.  It is now located at the base of each post.  You no longer need to leave a comment to follow a thread or be notified by email.

  How do I get my picture to show up when I leave a comment on another members post?  I see photos on some of the comments, but not on others?  Can you explain?

  Member photos appear next to their comments when 1. They use one of the paid services like Listing Router, Sponsor a Community in Localism, or have an outside ActiveBlog or  2. When a member obtains 10,000 AR points.

  How do I get one of those cool badges other members have under their photos?

  There are two types of badges.  The first are the earned badges.  These are awarded based on points, (100k, 200k, 300k, etc) feature posts, and the new Ambassador Badge which we'll announce this next week.  The second types of badges represent the services used like Listing Router, Localism sponsorship, and Outside ActiveBlogs.  We will also be adding an opt-in / opt-out feature for members.

  Just one question about my outside blog. I have my OB up and running, but I only want to add specific content to it, and ALL my AR posts from the last year are on it. The reason is: My OB is going to be about Neighborhoods and cheap eats and great places to buy food and things to do and photos of locals etc. How do I control what goes on it?

  By default, all your posts (excluding members only) are automatically added when you create your outside blog. This is by design.  All posts for Outside ActiveBlogs are created on your ActiveRain Blog.  Before submitting your post to the public, put a check in the box that says "Individual Blog" and if you don't want the post to show up on your outside Blog, just uncheck the box. 

  How come other outside Blogs have Categories listed on the sidebar and mine are all blank?

  This is a great question. Many members are creating posts on AR and not using the "Topic & Channels" located in the edit mode of any Blog post.  ActiveBlogs use these topics to sort out the categories you see appearing on the outside Blogs sidebar.  Be sure you are adding a topic to ALL your AR posts, whether you have an outside blog or not.

  I want to start my outside Blog but I don't have a domain name yet.  Do I have to go to GoDaddy and buy my domain name first or should I start my outside Blog first?

  ActiveRain provides you with a domain name when you setup your Outside ActiveBlogs.  It's included in the price of the upgrade.  You create the outside Blog first on AR (or upgrade) then when the internal domain is setup, you can go into the toolbar and search for and claim available domain names.  It only takes about 2 minutes, and you don't have to direct any DNS nameservers.  Your new domain will come up instantly. Here's 5 tips to remember.

I'd like to keep a series of these FAQ's going for our members if there is enough interest.  Most of you probably know these things already so if you do, please pay it forward and help out another member.  These FAQ's will be located in the HELP/FAQ link at the bottom of every AR page. 

Have a great week, thanks for taking the time to review these.  ActiveRainGuide.com / ActiveRainTeam.com

Week In Review - Top 10 ActiveRain FAQ's - Volume I
Week In Review - Top 10 ActiveRain FAQ's - Volume II
Week In Review - Top 10 ActiveRain FAQ's - Volume III    
Week In Review - Top 10 ActiveRain FAQ's - Volume IV