I'm addicted to statistics in the pursuit of "What Works?"
For Active Rainers, "what works" is visibility to Google. It's what makes the phone ring. The top three Rainers in Tucson, AZ have achieved this visibility on Active Rain in very different ways.
Tens of thousands in the Active Rain ranks never get a call. They're the ones who joined, created a profile, uploaded a photo (maybe) and never posted a single sentence to their blog.
I say "they" because few of them can be addressed in the first person. They came, they joined, and they faded away. You--not they--are here reading my blog.
You persevered. You're present. You're still...
- reading, commenting and blogging.
- accumulating Active Rain points each time you "touch" another Rainer.
- moving higher in your local rankings on AR.
- becoming more "visible" to Google and the web.
It's not so likely, though, that you've delved into the wealth of statistical information provided by the Active Rain business model to see whats working for others.
When you do, you'll discover a wonderful thing. Active Rain works (brings Google to your door) regardless of your ability to write or your desire to blog. Let me show you how that is, by comparing the top three (currently) Active Rainers in Tucson, Arizona. What you'll see has application for every Active Rain member in every city and hamlet in North America.
Has anyone successfully invited more people to join Active Rain than Jeff Wilhems? If so, set me straight. I can't find a more successful recruiter.
Since joining AR in April of 2007, Jeff has brought in 510 new members! Those successful recruitments have given Jeff 114,618 points to date, and he's still adding new members.
Jeff doesn't post very often, and you'll rarely see him comment on your post. It doesn't matter. His Active Rain strategy has made him #1 in Tucson and Pima county! Google finds him because of Active Rain and Jeff's successful strategy.
I joined Active Rain in July of 2007. I posted a blog the first day. Success as a loan originator depends in large part on communicating with the key people in a transaction--the client, the listing agent and his/her team, the selling agent and his/her team, the title officer and (so very important) the title officer's admin.
My strategy for Active Rain success is networking. I blog on AR or Localism.com ten times a week so as to attract readers. I make it a point to interact with you when you stop by to comment. Reciprocation--doing for others what they've done for you--is the key to AR networking. Since July, AR members have commented on my posts 2,650 times, giving me 21,100 blog comment points.
Marsee Wilhems is one of Tucson's most successful REALTORS. She pursues listings, and as of this moment, Marsee has 79 active listings ranging in price from $115,000 to $900,000.
Marsee is in the top one percent of Tucson agents with REMAX, and in the top 4% nationwide.
Her Active Rain strategy is to post selected listings on her blog. Since April, she's done that 300 times. Her listing posts have an address in the title, a description and photo in the body of the post, and the closing line: "for more details and CURRENT pricing, call (520) 885-9000."
So there you have three different strategies to move to the top of The Active Rain Real Estate Network in your town. The thing each strategy has in common is continuity. Jeff, Marsee and I keep on keeping on. We don't let up. I commented this week on someone's blog where the subject was A to Z in real estate marketing. For 2008, Active Rain was the "A." Eh?
This is such a useful community for getting and referring business!
And that's the real estate opinion of this Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender,Mike in Tucson,
Mike in Tucson
REALTOR®/Mortgage Lender
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