You won't catch a cold or get all wet by Playing in the Rain at RainCamp!

OMG. Where to start.

I was going to at least include the words RainCamp San Diego in the title of this post, but I think that would be doing a disservice to RainCamp as a whole. San Diego was just one station on the tracks of the unstoppable tRAIN called RainCamp.

When I signed up to attend RainCamp San Diego on August 5, I thought that I was going to get something of value. Otherwise I would not have spent the money and taken a day out of my schedule. My thought was based simply on reading lots of previous posts from RainCamp attendees from throughout the United States and Canada. Little did I know what I truly was in for.

RainCamps are based on Ben Kinney's eBook soci@l. If you haven't read it, well, you should. I actually read it twice before RainCamp, and I reviewed one chapter.

I knew that the learning environ-ment was going to be great because we were scheduled to be at the University of San Diego, a private Catholic university overlooking Mission Valley, Mission Bay, the Pacific Ocean, Old Town, and downtown San Diego. I figured that if I got bored — I am 55, after all, and haven't been to school or a brick-and-mortar seminar in years — I could take a break and not return, spending my day wandering around a beautiful campus and taking pictures of beautiful buildings.

Of course, secretly I was hoping that whomever was leading the seminar could keep my interest. I didn't know that it was going to be Ben Kinney himself. I'm here four days later as a living testament that Ben Kinney not only kept my interest, preferring that we interact with him during the seminar rather than him lecturing to us, but he convinced me to postpone my campus wanderings with my handy dandy Canon 550D until another time.

Although I have had what I consider great success from my ActiveRain blogging activities since I got involved on July 22, 2008, I was really relying on the age of my blogs, knowing as a professional Marketing & Business Consultant that it takes time for anything in life to work. While I had read about instant success with Google search returns, sometimes it takes another person to help us remove our rose-colored glasses to see that there are better ways to do something.

That's the beauty of ActiveRain. Folks here continue to lead by action rather than words, but they they'll share the results of those actions through their words, which quantifiably demonstrate how to use the same actions to get the same results. However, if your rose-colored glasses are causing you to lose sight of some words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and perhaps even whole posts, it might be time for you to step up and get yourself to a RainCamp.

Let me touch on just a few significant reasons for attending RainCamp:

1. You'll get to actually meet people. Real, live, breathing, thinking people. For example, I finally got to meet Stephanie Reynolds who lives and works in Santee, just miles from me; Tiffany Torgan from La Jolla, who also happens to be a graduate of my alma mater, Texas A&M University; and Deborah Garvin from Oceanside. I met Reneé Burrows from Las Vegas and Christine Donovan from Costa Mesa, California, and Kathy Schowe from La Quinta, California. Barb Fischer and Deborah Stone were there, two that I already knew and had done business with. Of course, I can't forget Kerrie Greenhalgh, our ActiveRain staff member from Seattle who was so instrumental in making sure that things went well. I already had a bond with these people before RainCamp, but I think that bond is much, much stronger now.
2. If you go Platinum, you'll get good great excellent food as part of your participation fee. I had so many lemon bars that I finally got around to walking off all those calories at the 30th U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition yesterday morning.
3. You'll learn things.
   
   For example, I've always known that age should be valued, and it's no different in the Internet world. An old web site will have better Google ranking than a brand new site. An old ActiveRain blog will have better Google ranking than a new one — prospective clients have already proven that to me.
   
   While I understood long-tail key words, what I didn't understand was how to determine what my long-tail key words should be. It's actually very simple, as Ben Kinney so eloquently explained to us: Make your long-tail key words the words or phrases that you would expect your prospective Clients to search for. Ben even challenged us to try it and see what the results were after seven days.
   
   Well, here are my results after just four days: For my first blog after RainCamp, I thought my prospective Clients would search for chimney height above the roof. I posted that the next morning at 9:36 a.m. As of right now (8/9 at 1:41 a.m.), a Google search on chimney height above the roof shows this:
   
   
   
   See me there? Out of "About 667,000 results," I'm #10, right there at the bottom of the first page. Could I have done better? Could I have been #1? I don't know, but right now I'm pretty stoked with being #10.
   
   Let's look at my second after-RainCamp post. I thought prospective Clients would search for Bougainvillea hybrid cultivar "sunset" so that's the key phrase that I used. I posted that August 6 at 8:51 p.m. As of right now (8/9 at 2:12 a.m.), here is what a Google search returns:
   
   
   
   See me there? Top of the page! #1 out of about 830 results.
   
   The bougainvillea search is a great example of being specific, just like real estate agents should be. As we have heard over and over again, your hot prospect will be searching for more specific terms. For example, a cold prospect will be searching for San Diego home inspections. I can't compete there because the big boys, including some real estate brokers, have bought up all the space on Google page 1 for that term. However, when a prospective Client goes to a home, falls in love with the bougainvillea out front, and is told by the seller that it's a bougainvillea hybrid cultivar "sunset," and then does a Google search to find more information about the bougainvillea hybrid cultivar "sunset," guess who shows up? Me! Guess who will probably be called to do a home inspection? I'd bet it's going to me since I already know something about the property and I've never even been there.
   
   Now my goal is to inundate the Internet with post after post after post of specific topics relating to real estate: home inspections, plumbing, electricity, heating and cooling, landscaping, trees, flowers, etc. This is gonna be fun!

RainCamp proved itself to me because Ben Kinney asked me to prove it to myself, and I did. Thank you, Ben, for the challenge.

If you think the cost is too high, you're thinking short-term instead of long-term. If you can't afford RainCamp, contact someone like Bob Stewart. I bet something can be worked out for you — indentured servitude, first-born child, etc. In fact, I'll even go two better. I will buy one Gold seat ($99 value) for one person at RainCamp Orlando on August 24, and one Gold seat for one person at RainCamp Prescott Arizona on August 26. If you are interested, leave a comment. If there is more than one request for each location, I'll have an impartial drawing with Zoey the Cool Cat doing the honors.

Why would I do that? Because I believe in myself, I believe in you, I believe in ActiveRain, I believe in the power of RainCamp, and I believe in Playing in the Rain!

Remember what my wise old grandmother said, "You won't catch a cold or get all wet by Playing in the Rain."

Try RusselRayPhotos.com for inexpensive, royalty-free photos.

Twenty recent posts

1. Fun with Russel Ray — Bah humbug! Milestones, schmilestones.
2. San Diego home inspections with Russel Ray — Construction, phase, and draw inspections
3. Flower Fiesta — #12: Bougainvillea Hybrid Cultivar 'Sunset'
4. San Diego home inspections with Russel Ray — Chimney height above the roof
5. Fun with Russel Ray — This blog has been shut down by ActiveRain
6. Flower Fiesta — #11 (variety)
7. Flower Fiesta — #10 (flowers and bees)
8. Real Estate Solutions — Real estate lawsuits, Part 2: How can real estate agents sell something they know nothing about? - Presented by San Diego home inspector Russel Ray
9. Fun with Russel Ray — Please help our ActiveRain newbies feel welcome
10. Real Estate Solutions — Real estate lawsuits, Part 1: Getting people on YOUR side - Presented by San Diego home inspector Russel Ray
11. Fun with Russel Ray — Meet some ActiveRain newbies from July 2010
12. Fun with Russel Ray — I was so far out in the boondocks, I thought I was in Africa!
13. Fun with Russel Ray — These seem to be misplaced
14. Would you reblog someone whom you don't particularly like?
15. Flower Fiesta — #9 (roses)
16. San Diego home inspections with Russel Ray — Your home inspection report is more than "just" a home inspection report
17. Flower Fiesta — #8 (orchids)
18. Fun with Russel Ray — Fish stories: I'm good for something!
19. San Diego home inspections with Russel Ray — Read about your prospective property BEFORE it becomes your property!
20. Flower Fiesta — #7 (flower beds)

My Favorite ActiveRain Groups

ActiveRan Travel Station
ActiveRain Convention Station
ActiveRain Guerrilla Marketing Station
ActiveRain Library Station
ActiveRain History Station
ActiveRain Nature Station
ActiveRain Symphony Station