Free RainMaker account with 500,000 points
Look, I literally just started using this platform last night. I wrote my first blog post late last evening and poured a bunch of time into it and made it look all pretty (check it out here if you haven't read it yet). It's an informative post, and honestly I plugged my services in it. A little self promotion is never a bad thing, right? But in my searches I was informed of a way to get a RainMaker active rain account for free, and I'll get into that in just a second.
We all have goals when we jump into platforms like this. Some of us truly want to connect with other agents and brokers in the world. Many want to promote their pages and services to the consumers beyond the confines of the Active Rain community by utilizing the great SEO benefits and outreach that this platform provides. Others just simply want to be heard, while benefiting from great exposure out in this community and the world at large. Whatever the motivation that brought us here, it really doesn't matter. We're all here, we're all part of a great community, and we all want to benefit while also providing benefit. A true give and take, Quid Pro Quo at its finest.
A Discovery to help All Our Finances
In my blog post last night, Tony and Suzanne Marriott were nice enough to comment on the post and provide some insight into a part of the community I had no idea about. See, when I upgraded my account to become a true "Rainmaker," I signed up for $39/month in order to unlock the true benefits of the program. I looked at it like a simple business expense where I can network with the real estate community and increase my exposure where it will eventually produce a nice ROI (return on investment) from the expenditure. $39 x 12 = $468 a year. Now there was a $199 for the year option, but I am one of those subconscious masochists when it comes to money (not like 50 shades of gray, keep it PG there people). What I mean is for some reason, I will pay more money over time with monthly payments rather than drop it all up front and save. I do this constantly and I don't know why. I am a numbers guy so I do the math, I see the clear financial benefit of the yearly price, and yet I always opt for the monthly, slow, attrition based, blood letting option. Ughhhhh!
I digress ... back to Tony and Suzanne. They were so nice as to point out a feature of Active Rain I never knew of. Apparently, when you reach the 500,000 point milestone you actually get to stop paying for your rainmaker account. That's right... Once you reach 500,000 points you are entitled to a FREE Rainmaker account.
Time it takes to get to 500,000 points and a free account
My first impression was jubilation. I was like "Yes, I was brilliant by not paying the yearly because I can just blog and rack points up all day long and get to 500,000". Yes, this is true you can rack up points quickly, but how do we get to 500,000 points and how quickly can one really get there?
First, let's talk about how you earn points in the first place. The Active Rain powers that be have done a full breakdown already and you can find that right here with the Active Rain Points Breakdown Page.
I could sit here and type out and regurgitate everything, but who has time for that when it has already been done.
Open up that page and follow along. I'll break down how quickly you can realistically get from zero to 500,000 points.
Blogging:
We all know that blogging will get us there, but what can we really do in a week? A month? The table next to me shows the point structure on how we earn points by blogging. There are limitations on a daily basis in order to promote a non-spammy atmosphere, while also supporting the community financially. Clearly, Active Rain wants quality content being published and not garbage.
Let's say you're motivated and publish the max blogs per week. You'll get some comments on them as the community rewards people for commenting. You'll also get some likes and maybe even a reblog. So realistically, let's say you do all 10 blog posts per week, reblog another post every day, you get bookmarked, liked and comments (not maxed out, but you get them). Here is what you can realistically expect to receive from blogging in a week.
10 Blogs a week: 10 x 225 = 2,225 points a week
1 bookmark per blog: 10 x 25 = 250 points a week
8 comments average per blog: 8 x 10 x 6 = 480 points a week
10 likes per blog average: 10 x 10 x 5 = 500 points a week
1 reblog per blog: 1 x 10 x 25 = 175 points a week (limited to 1 per day)
So realistically, you can expect to receive about 3,630 points a week from blogging if you are a very active blogger on Active Rain. I think the main thing to do is put out quality content that people actually care about and want to read. Yes, self promotion is fine, but if you're gonna do it ya gotta offer the reader something. Stuffing your post with a ton of key words and SEO links to your products and services is not something that is going to get an overwhelming response from the community at large. So, offer something and they'll reward you for it. Quid Pro Quo!
Commenting & Reviewing:
Ok... so blogging is the primary way to rack points up, but there are other ways as well, such as commenting and reviewing. Reviewing is not a major player in my opinion, but it will add up to the grand total if you embrace it.
Commenting is almost more important than blogging in a lot of ways. Just look at how many points you can amass by simply writing comments to people on their blog posts.
25 comments on posts: 25 x 20 x 7 = 3,500 points a week
1 product review a week: 1 x 50 = 50 points a week
Maybe you'll review a product everyday, I guess you could, but for 50 points it seems like a waste of time. I mean do it when you have something viable, but eking out that extra 350 points per week seems like a stretch. It seems like one of those things you do for a week or two and then never do it again. So, in my humble opinion, I think it is realistic to get 3,550 points per week if you're motivated and commenting a lot out there.
Q & A points:
The next major way to pile on the points on your way to 500,000 is by asking questions and providing answers in the Q & A section on Active Rain. It's a great place for people to stay active and gain other's opinions and perspectives about a number of topics. You might know your local market, but trends and styles and thoughts of your peers can be very beneficial. So ask away and answer away for your own benefit and watch your point total grow at the same time.
1 questions per day: 1 x 10 x 7 = 70 points a week
1 bookmark every 3 questions: 25 x 2 = ~50 points a week
15 answers per day: 15 x 20 x 7 = 2,100 points a week
1 like per answer average: 10 x 140 = 1,400 points a week
You see how fast questions and answers can accumulate points for you? Writing good questions and answers can get you bookmarks and likes where writing reviews of products can't. Q & A takes a lot less time than a product review and you get so much more exposure for it plus extra points. Work smarter not harder. The smart way is to answer and keep answering questions. On average, if you are very active in this section, you can look to bank about 3,600 points in a week.
Other Points:
There are some other way to stack points up in addition to the main ways outlined above. Some of these you have control of, others you do not have control over. Still, there are some additional ways to increase your overall point total.
1 login per day: 1 x 100 x 7 = 700 points a week
5 times you follow another member: 5x 10 x 7 = 350 points a week
5 time you are followed: 5 x 50 x 7 = 1750 points a week
If you're active everyday, you'll get 700 points a week, so that should be an automatic for you. Following other members is easy if you're doing everything else in regards to commenting and answering questions. Being followed is a gray area I just don't know about. I imagine if you are blogging everyday, posting questions and answers everyday, following others everyday etc... That you will also get reciprocating follows. I just can't imagine why that wouldn't happen. So again, if you are active and making it rain, it looks like you can add another 2800 points a week doing this.
Recruiting:
Here is where it all starts to really add up. We are all in the real estate field if we are here at Active Rain. If you're anything like me, then you know a bunch of people in the field that could benefit from a service like this. Whether they jump in with both feet and gun for 500,000 to get a free rainmaker account is completely hit or miss. If they do, they you get a bonus of 10% of their points that they provide. So if they hit 10,000 points in a week that means you get an extra 1,000 points that week. Kinda nice, right? It can really add up. Plus, for every person that just accepts your invitation and signs up for a free account or whatever you get 250 points.
Recruiting could work out for you or not. Again, this is one of those areas which is really out of your control. You should do what you feel comfortable with. If it works for you then great, but I am not going to include that in this analysis as it seems more like bonus to me.
Give us ... us ... FREE!
I'm a movie buff so that was a little quote from Amistad if you don't know. In summation, let's look over what you can expect to get in a week if you are very active and doing everything you can to reach the Free Rain Maker account with Active Rain!
Blogging: 3,630 points in a week
Commenting: 3,550 points in a week
Q & A: 3,600 points in a week
Other: 2,800 points in a week
TOTAL 13,580 points
Ok ... so ... by these calculations you're looking at topping out at about 13,580 points a week if you are doing everything you can to rack up as many points as possible and really interact with the community by providing relevant content with strong comments, questions, and answers. If the goal is 500,000 points, then all we have to do is a little bit of math.
500,000 / 13,580 = 36.8 weeks
So, it will take you about 36.8 weeks or roughly 9 to 9.5 months in order to turn your paying Rain Maker account into a free Rain Maker account if you are super active on the site. As I mentioned before, I am paying $39/month so I will pay roughly 10 months of that or $390. I definitely should have paid for the year, but I just didn't do it. Now, the only way I can see curving that time in my favor is by recruiting a lot more. If I wanted to really shave some time off that 10 month clock, then I would have to recruit people and get them fired up to be overly active like I am right now. I am not so sure that is a realistic goal for me or not, but it could make sense.
Conclusion:
I am still pretty happy about the fact that this option even exists at all. There is a end in site. The most important thing for me is the platform itself. I want to reach out and promote my services because many people need them. There are a lot of investors and agents on here that can use my help. Vice Versa, I will be able to connect with agents and investors on here that can help me and expand my knowledge about the entire real estate industry. This is an exchange interface and the people that created this platform created a great community. They figured out a way to organically promote people to interact and share and work together in a great environment with the incentive of allowing one's upgraded account to become a free rain maker account with active rain once they have proven themselves. It's a win-win scenario and I am happy to be a part of it.
I hope that helps you a little bit in understanding what it's gonna take to hit that 500,000 point milestone and get your free account with Active Rain. Best of luck out there.
Steve Snyder, the writer of this piece, is a hard money master who's been loaning since The year 2004. He is currently writing for a number of online blogs regarding customized fiscal management, real estate and obtaining credit.
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