blogging: Ask An Ambassador: Just Be You
- 08/21/18 05:51 PM
There are some things I particularly love about blogging.
Among the best of course is getting a call from a ready now buyer or seller. You have to love proof that the effort is paying off, literally. Today was another closing that started from a subdivision post about a local townhome community. Two years from post to closing table, so long tail and long term results.
But of course not every blogging contact is a "come help me now call". Some are just seeking information, in the WAY WAY early tire kicking mode.
If you've learned your blogging lessons and been diligent about understanding … (20 comments)
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blogging: Ask An Ambassador: The Ripple Effect
- 08/01/17 02:42 PM
Once I form a habit I can tend to be a bit obsessive about continuing. I blog daily. Period. I'm not one to take an excuse from myself for not blogging, and yes, that means sometimes I'm sitting at a keyboard late in the evening putting out one more blog post that I hope causes the phone to ring someday.
In the same vein, I've gotten it in my head that a flower picture a day posted on Facebook can make a difference. So for the last 44 days and counting, I've posted a flower picture on my personal Facebook page. … (14 comments)
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blogging: Why Blog Late On A Sunday Evening?
- 07/16/17 08:17 PM
Another busy weekend almost gone. I feel like I need a clone, one of us will go to work and the other one can go do something fun and relaxing!
But among the work things I want to do yet this evening is continue to blog. It's about sleep time for most of the Rain community unless they're too wound up from the return of Game of Thrones to call it a night, so who's going to read it?
Why bother writing? Obviously it would be far easier to NOT write a post this evening. Turn on the TV and zone out … (22 comments)
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blogging: Ask An Ambassador: Blogging DOES Pay (Secret Info Inside)
- 10/18/16 10:14 AM
Let's say you're a skeptic. You've heard about blogging as a means of building your business but it just doesn't make a lot of sense to you how posts about home buying and selling tips, local events and subdivisions and searches for houses with four car garages an in-ground pool and a barn can turn into paychecks at the closing table, but it can.
Now blogging isn't some silver bullet cure to doubling your business in 4 weeks or less. It's not like most of the "cures" you hear at some convention for $499 (but $399 if you act TODAY).
Here's the secret … (49 comments)
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blogging: ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Blogging Expectations, It's A Numbers Game
- 12/28/15 11:36 PM
ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Blogging Expectations, It's A Numbers Game
Blogging expectations.
If you set your expectations realistically from the start, your chances of blogging success climb.
Set unrealistic expectations and you may quickly declare "BLOGGING DOESN'T WORK" and promptly disappear from ActiveRain.
It's the one thing that isn't always apparent from the start, how long will it take for blogging to start to make a difference for you? And for that question there is no concrete answer, because once again, "it depends":
What's your market population? Are there millions of people or a small number to reach? Are you competing with a handful … (9 comments)
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blogging: 30/30 Bloggers, You Finished, Now What??
- 11/30/14 01:09 AM
30/30 Bloggers, You Finished, Now What??
Yeah!!! You just posted your 30th post in 30 days! Bring on the bonus points!!
But in my opinion, the real test of your learning isn't from the last 30 days, but what you choose to do tomorrow morning!
A 30/30 challenge is about many things, and none of them are truly about the bonus points or your Leaderboard position:
Proving to yourself that you can do it! You've removed the mental barrier that told you blogging daily was TOO hard. And you proved to yourself that quantity and quality don't have to be exclusive. … (25 comments)
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blogging: ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Blogging Is One Dilemma After Another
- 08/11/14 10:33 PM
ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Blogging Is One Dilemma After Another
Some questions have no clear answers. We live in an often ambiguous world. We make choices with the best available information, pray the choices were right, drive on and adjust as we need to.
Blogging is no different.
How much time is TOO much time in the Rain? That answer will vary whether it's the person in the Rain, or the person watching the person in the Rain!
What do we post about today? Something evergreen that will keep bringing us business for years? Something more temporary? Once that local event … (52 comments)
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blogging: More Than Home Buyers & Sellers Find You When You Blog
- 07/24/14 10:26 PM
More Than Home Buyers & Sellers Find You When You Blog Obviously our primary target audience when we post about local communities and events is home owners and home buyers. But we've found that those posts get us found by more than just area home buyers and sellers, but others that indirectly may prove to be beneficial to our business.
This month it's happened twice:
First a reporter contacted us about a ranch condo new construction development in Mason. Source? A blog post about that community. End result was a couple of quotes in the local weekly Cincinnati business newspaper. Unexpected … (58 comments)
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blogging: Blogging Is Getting In The Way Of Blogging!
- 07/18/14 08:09 AM
Blogging Is Getting In The Way Of Blogging!
It's one of those days.
Fixed a WP site glitch with tech support from our host. Did you know that a WP menu jams up by default at about 90 items? So drop downs from drop downs can be problem until you find out what software value needs adjusted!
6 p.m. and no blog post written for the day. I tried earlier today and the AR gremlins ate it (yeah, I know, compose ELSEWHERE, publish here!)
15 minutes until leaving to list a house.
Just back from showing a home and … (26 comments)
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blogging: ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Beware Of Sacrificing Quality For Points
- 06/23/14 10:59 PM
ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Beware Of Sacrificing Quality For Points
Kerrie threw down the gauntlet yesterday, upping the max number of posts for points in a week from 10 to 20. Blog posts are the lifeblood of this community, so the desire to have more posts is easily understood.
That extra 10 posts a week translates to 117,000 more potential points a year, and that's without even counting the extra points you get for comments associated with your posts.
This change is potentially fantastic news, especially for the paying members of Active Rain. If you haven't passed 500,000 points and earned … (113 comments)
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blogging: ASK AN AMBASSADOR: 8 Blogging Tips To Make Your Phone Ring
- 06/03/14 12:03 AM
ASK AN AMBASSADOR: 8 Blogging Tips To Make Your Phone Ring
You've decided to start blogging. You want more business. You want referrals. You want listings. You want buyers. You want the whole enchilada, right? You want a good return on investment, both in money and time.
Now first things first, blogging isn't some miracle cure, post today, get a phone call today. Think of it more like farming. You plant seeds, you tend the crops, eventually you harvest. That's blogging. Write posts. Write more posts. And write some more, although make sure you're not writing the equivalent of brussel sprouts!
… (79 comments)
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blogging: I Was An Aquarock, But I Swam Anyway!
- 05/26/14 02:37 AM
I Was An Aquarock, But I Swam Anyway!
You might think that the U.S. Naval Academy might have some kind test to make sure you can swim before you get there, but they don't! People like me that weren't the most adept swimmers were termed "aquarocks"! I had to run in place to tread water or I'd sink. I never became a great swimmer, but adequate enough to pass, although I'll never forget the lifesaving coach expressly telling me to NEVER go in after anyone!
Well years later a similar path occurs. Liz starts her career in real estate and for … (46 comments)
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blogging: ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Keep Your Blogging Focus
- 04/28/14 10:48 PM
ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Keep Your Blogging Focus
Bloggers come and go. It's a fact. Our blog roll is populated with names that haven't posted in weeks, months or even years. Some quit blogging entirely, some quit the business entirely, others have moved on to posting exclusively on their Wordpress sites.
My opinion is that a key contributor to many of those disappearances is a failure to maintain blogging focus. To keep the discipline required to blog regularly (note I DID NOT SAY you have to blog every day). To keep writing topics that actually have a high chance of gaining business and … (58 comments)
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blogging: Three B's: Birds, Blogging & Buyers
- 02/16/14 05:39 AM
Three B's: Birds, Blogging & Buyers
If you read our post yesterday, you know that our websites are front and center in our mind right now. For the last couple of days the laptop is set up on the dining room table and just outside the windows are our bird feeders.
Needless to say, with all the snow cover we've had lately there just isn't a lot of food for our local birds, so our feeders are VERY popular! The buffet line is open and cardinals, nuthatches, titmouses, and chickadees are back and forth to the feeder as quick as they … (52 comments)
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blogging: The Work Will NEVER Be Done!
- 02/14/14 08:59 PM
The Work Will NEVER Be Done!
Falling into the category of First World problems, the realization that no matter how much time is invested in our websites, the work will NEVER be done!
There will always be adjustments to be made, new material to produce. New construction in what used to be cornfields. Local events and small businesses that could a helping hand with promotion.
Not that we were EVER close to having our Wordpress site finished, but an upgrade in IDX provider a couple of weeks ago has made it more readily apparent just how much work needed done! … (49 comments)
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blogging: 2013 Theme: We've Only Just Begun
- 12/19/13 03:06 AM
2013 Theme: We've Only Just Begun
Okay Kathleen, you asked for it, and here's the result of stewing over what song best fit! Perhaps some headbanging with AC/DC's Thunderstruck? Maybe U2's A Beautiful Day? And then it came to me, The Carpenters "We've Only Just Begun". After all, the lyrics almost seem like they were written for a married couple in real estate:
"Before the rising sun we fly,
So many roads to choose
We start out walking and learn to run.
And yes, we've just begun.
Sharing horizons that are new to us,
Watching the signs along the way,
Talking … (66 comments)
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blogging: It's 6 P.M., Does It Matter What Time You Post?
- 12/13/13 07:19 AM
It's 6 P.M., Does It Matter What Time You Post?
Tick tock. Tick tock. The work day winds to a close and we're just writing a post today. But fortunately blogging isn't like other forms of social media where passed time is missed time. Don't get that Facebook update or Tweet out at the right time and it's opportunity missed. Poof, quickly so far down the news feed you don't exist.
Blogging? An entirely different social media beast, an 800 pound gorilla that makes its own rules of relevance and timing.
The search engines crawl and the consumer searches on … (30 comments)
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blogging: ASK AN AMBASSADOR: How Can I Get A Free ActiveRain Account?
- 12/02/13 10:42 PM
ASK AN AMBASSADOR: How Can I Get A Free ActiveRain Account?
Of course you can have a FREE ActiveRain account. Anyone can, just sign up and you're in. However, just having a FREE ActiveRain account doesn't accomplish much unless your only purpose is agent to agent. If you're trying to reach the consumer, the FREE account is like being a radio DJ with the transmitter turned off. You can yammer all you want, but no outside of the room is going to hear you.
What you need is a RAINMAKER account. And RAINMAKER status is the key to releasing your posts … (93 comments)
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blogging: You Finished the 30/30 Challenge! What's Next?
- 11/30/13 10:49 PM
You Finished the 30/30 Challenge! What's Next?
We see it after every 30/30 challenge. "WOW, that was exhausting! I'm going to take a break from blogging!" And we're not trying to scold (although it may come off that way), but that break might be the WORST possible thing you can do after a 30/30 challenge.
Studies say (and I'm NOT going to try to find them) that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. So a 30/30 challenge gives you an extra 9 days for that daily blogging habit to set in, right? Now we're NOT saying you can … (87 comments)
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blogging: Ask An Ambassador: Does Quantity Exclude Quality?
- 11/18/13 10:14 PM
Ask An Ambassador: Does Quantity Exclude Quality?
We see it in the Rain every time there's a 30/30 type challenge. We KNOW it's tough if you're not in the habit of blogging daily. Finding the topics, the inspiration, the motivation to place fingers to keyboard at least once a day can discourage you.
And sooner or later during the challenge we'll see the comment: "I don't participate in these challenges because I want QUALITY over QUANTITY". And my challenge is "Show me where in the Blogging Bible that the two are exclusive of each other??".
My personal opinion is that … (69 comments)
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