Whether you are new on ActiveRain or know somebody just starting out here, perhaps you might want to share these thoughts about how to start to set up their profile information. For this blog post let's look at the basic mechanics of how to do that. Then we will look at various examples of what various ones have done. Finally, we can look at a little strategy in case you've been here for a while but need a little polishing up of your own settings!
How To Set Up Your Profile Basic Text
First of all, how do you get to your own profile page? At the top left of the ActiveRain pages is a little square photo of you. You can click that photo at any time to jump to view your profile page. Next to that photo is your name and drop down arrow that if you click you get choices. One choice, "Edit Profile" will take you directly into profile editing mode.
If you are just viewing your profile page, notice the "Edit Profile" button in the name banner. That also will let you get into editing mode.
Now that we are ready for you to edit - starting with the real basics - first of all, WHO are you? We need your first name and your last name.
Also, notice that there is a box to put in a tagline with a 50 Characters maximum. This little blurb will help us know what you do. More on this later. For now, just note where this tagline can be typed in.
After you save the items above, notice next down on the profile page is another + button. Here you can set your Profession Type (e.g. Real Estate Agent, Home Stager, etc.). You also indicate your State, County, City primary market location. Also, you can type in your Company Name (and Corporate Affiliation if applicable).
Let's See How This Information Gets Used - Examples
The obvious way that this information gets shown is on your profile page which is a landing page for someone to learn more about you. This basic information also gets shown everytime that you make a comment on a blog post. This is very helpful for the blog author and other persons viewing your comment to learn the basics about you. When somebody is new on ActiveRain and they comment we want to get to know more about them. Who are they? Where are they? What aspect of Real Estate are they in? Notice how the AR system shows this to us.
The heading on a Dick Greenberg comment lets us learn a little about him:
Do you start to see how the information fields that we talked about above will get used?
Now we not only know his name but what company he is at and the area that he serves. Do you have a buyer moving into his area? Now that you know where his area IS, you can see how that networking tidbit could prove extremely useful!
Let's look at a second example, Debbie Reynolds :
The tagline can only be 50 characters long. However the company name field can be up to 128 characters. Some have leveraged this if they want to include additional blurbs which may include a tel number, area served reference, or perhaps a website URL.
Craig's Recommendations and Strategies
As you can see above, between the tagline and the company name fields, you should have more than enough characters to add a few key tidbits about yourself. If people want to learn more about you they can go to your PROFILE PAGE. There you have a WHOLE PAGE to give more info!
Comments really are for networking within our community to our peers. As the community gets to know us better, where we are and what we do, they will more easily think of us if a business opportunity or referral presents itself. A few simple blurbs in the header of our comment can be informative. However, don't stuff your fields like you are on an SEO life or death mission. It won't help you. In fact, it could just make it more annoying for us to read all that.
Speaking of stuffing - You may have realized you can stuff more words into your first name and last name fields. Don't do it. That may have been an ok strategy at one time in AR history. However, now that we have the ability to tag each other in our comments it becomes very awkard when you tag someone and instead of simply seeing their name in your comment you get two lines of additional blurbs about them!
Recent Posts In Case You Missed Any...
Here is a list of other recent ActiveRain Training posts that you may have missed:
ActiveRain Grab Bag - 10 Tips For You
What Are Your Most Popular Posts?
Which ActiveRain Yearbook Page Are You On? 2014 Edition
How to Find a Specific Blog Post Written a While Ago
ActiveRain Profile Page Cover Photos - Inspiration Board
Blogging Basics - Inserting Images Into Your ActiveRain Blog Post
Embedding a Video In Your ActiveRain Post
Blogging Basics – Resize a Photo
Don’t Make These 3 Hyperlinking Mistakes
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