ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Too Much Of A Good Thing?
- 01/07/20 02:56 PM
"Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation."
Seneca
"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."
Oscar Wilde
The problem with quotes is you can find something to support almost any viewpoint!
Seneca indicates if you go too far, you risk crumbling.
Wilde says go all in if you want to succeed.
And depending on your outlook, they can both be right.
Who hasn't picked up a pint of icc cream and thought "just a few spoonfuls"...and then shortly after found themselves scraping the bottom of the container? I'll just have ONE creampuff, right??
Well blogging can be much the same way. Should you blog … (22 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Get Specific To Make Your Phone Ring in 2020
- 12/31/19 04:21 PM
Hear that sound as 2020 draws near?
It's the sound of the same drum you've heard beaten before, but are you ready to listen to it?
Early on in my blogging career Anita Clark provided me some blogging tips about how to make this blogging effort actually turn into BUSINESS rather than just upping my point total.
The advice was spot on, but it took me a while to let it sink in and take a drink from that pond.
Here's the gist of it: write specific local content related to homes for sale.
Even more so than when we started 10 years ago, the Internet … (11 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Not Feeling Social?
- 12/23/19 08:14 PM
"ActiveRain is the largest and most active professional social network in the real estate industry. We are a community of real estate agents, brokers, home stagers, inspectors, lenders, and other industry professionals who are committed to learning how do to our jobs better, building connections, and having some fun along the way!"
That's straight from the "About" section for ActiveRain.
SOCIAL NETWORK.
That is the site's primary purpose. At this point in the site's history, SEO is more a side perk and not a primary function. Sure, long tailed content written well can still rock and cause your phone to ring (it happened again … (16 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: What Happened To ActiveRain's Google Juice?
- 12/17/19 03:08 PM
There's a legend that once upon a time (with apologies to the Brothers Grimm) that you could write a post here in the Rain, it would index within moments and you'd be on Page 1 of Google with a snap of the fingers!
Now maybe those magic beans really existed, or maybe they didn't. I know I often hear comments in this community that the Google Juice just isn't what it used to be. And it probably isn't, but for a host of reasons some of which may be attributable to ActiveRain and some of which have nothing to do with … (43 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Do You Know What Your Customers Want?
- 12/10/19 05:53 PM
For the last few years I've been on a non-changing list of pharmaceuticals to keep my ticker behaving with a steady rhythm. Overall, not a big deal. A handful of pills in the morning and another in the evening. They do the job.
What doesn't always do the job? The coordination between my cardiologist's office and my pharmacy when a prescription renewed. What this customer wants is a seamless process. The pharmacy contacts the doctor's office, a new order is placed, and I pick up a new bottle of pills a day or two later.
Too often this process requires some intervention … (13 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: I Got Nothing!!!
- 12/03/19 03:58 PM
I've been contributing to the Ask An Ambassador series of posts for almost 7 years. Every Tuesday I look for something I can blog about that will hopefully educate, shorten a learning curve, prevent someone from making a mistake, or just explaining how certain things work.
Chances are I've hit some topics more than a few times, and some Tuesdays (like today), there's just a trickle coming out of the idea pipeline, and that's an idea in itself.
What can you do to refire the blogging engine when you flame out?
There is ALWAYS something out there to blog about, it's just a matter … (33 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Protecting The ActiveRain Culture
- 11/26/19 10:09 AM
ActiveRain has been a part of my daily life for almost a decade.
I come back for a host of reasons.
Blogging regularly with specific real estate related content that gets found by potential home buyers and sellers brings me business.
Blogging also increases my overall digital footprint, and that helps when agents are searching for "Mason Ohio real estate agents" or a consumer types in "real estate agents near me".
But the other part that keeps me coming back? The people and the culture. I've been part of other real estate groups outside the Rain, and they may start off with the best intentions, … (25 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Wallflower or Participant
- 11/18/19 08:31 PM
Welcome to ActiveRain!
Now what?
You have choices to make.
You can quietly lurk. Learn how things work, figure out who the go to people are, the techniques, etc. Find the tips about how to blog and be productive.
Or you can do a full gainer off the diving platform and go headfirst into participating and learn as you go.
For MOST Rainers, I suspect the wallflower approach is more common. And every now and then I see some new members who would have been better off taking the wallflower approach! In particular there seems to be a group of new members wanting to push the … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Ignoring The Bait
- 11/12/19 01:47 PM
Maybe it's an engineer thing, maybe it's a guy thing, maybe it's just a me thing, but I do a lot of selective ignoring.
I'm perpetually assessing what I need to do now, what I can do later, and what doesn't need done at all.
There are non-negotiables.
When you've got furry ones, sometimes they need to go outside NOW. Must do.
They need fed every night. Must do.
Write a blog post? That's a must do for me.
Return client calls. Must do, just a matter of what time depending on their needs.
But throughout any day there's a stream of "bait" going by, some … (28 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Engagement Isn't Always A Good Thing
- 11/05/19 12:20 PM
Listen to the gurus and they'll tell you engagement is your target for social media.
More likes, more comments, more shares, more, more, more...
Then there's the quote "There's no such thing as bad publicity".
Personally, I think that quote is total bull product.
Just because I KNOW someone doesn't mean I'd ever remotely consider giving them business.
I'm an engineer and can detach for the most part, but that doesn't mean I'm devoid of emotions. Some people rub me the wrong way. Some of them are even Rainers.
We're in a social community and I've been here a LONG time. People come and go, some make … (24 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Catch & Release
- 10/29/19 01:04 PM
When I was young my brother and I used to go fishing with cane poles and bobbers at Toledo Bend. It was mostly little crappie, bluegill, sunfish and the like. They were fun and had a lot of fight, but not too many of them were big enough to keep and eat. We'd catch some, unhook 'em and then toss 'em back in the lake.
Flash forward a bunch of decades and I don't fish for fish any longer, but I still fish, and I still practice catch and release on a regular basis. The difference now is what I fish for … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Reading The Room
- 10/22/19 05:11 PM
I'll confess, as an engineer I'm not the most adept at picking up on subtle social signals...and sometimes even blatant social signals :)
It's part of the challenge for me when walking in to do a listing presentation or meeting with a buyer. I'm an introvert (and then some), so I'm looking for the commonalities between me and the potential client.
Have we lived in the same area? Maybe we've both served in the military? They have dogs? Cats? Travel? Somewhere there's SOMETHING we can use to establish common ground.
When I'm in a crowd of strangers, I make a few assumptions.
Some of them … (24 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: 7 Blogging Productivity Tips
- 10/15/19 03:41 PM
Do you have a lot of spare time?
No?
Then it's really important to make the most of the time we have available isn't it?
We know blogging CAN be a very cost effective way of growing our web presence, attracting potential clients and increasing our network with other agents.
So how do we turn CAN into DOES? Being productive with our blogging efforts is key, so here are 7 tips to help boost your odds of your posts paying off:
1. Have photos ready to go. Yes, your post NEEDS eye candy. Take them when you're out and about, use a royalty-free commercial use allowed site … (51 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Geographical Reminders
- 10/08/19 01:45 PM
If you're blogging for business, you've got two primary audiences:
1. Home buyers and sellers
2. Professionals that can send you referrals
Now if you're blogging market reports, listings, subdivisions, niche housing, local events and such, home buyers and sellers will ideally find you at the end of a Google search. They know where you work (approximately), so you're good to go.
Now that category 2 can be a bit trickier, and there are things you can do as a blogger to reinforce where you work and hopefully get your name associated with your service area.
If you ask me for an agent in San Antonio, … (11 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Ring The Bell With Long Tail Searches
- 10/01/19 01:14 PM
I'm going to preface this with "I'm no guru", especially when it comes to the intricacies of SEO and "manipulating the Google"! But I have learned a few things about what works and what doesn't work for me and getting my phone to ring. Blogging steadily for years can give you that.
There are two terms that matter if you're trying to rank:
Short tail. Basically short tail is the BIG HITTER search terms. e.g. Cincinnati Ohio Homes for Sale.
Look at the bell curve picture and that's the middle of the curve. The most frequently searched terms are going to be right … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: The Power Of Evergreen Posts
- 09/24/19 01:56 PM
Last Friday a potential patio home buyer reached out to me.
She was interested in a specific patio home community.
She's already driven through, had a friend the moved to the neighborhood, knew she liked the area.
And why was she calling me instead of one of the other 6400 agents in our market?
A post written just shy of 8 years ago about that specific community.
Nothing particularly bright and shiny about that post, it's just another mundane subdivision post written with all the key facts about the community: location, home styles, sizes, quantity, age, community amenities, etc. Nothing different than most subdivision summary … (30 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: What's Your Priority?
- 09/17/19 04:24 PM
Priorities can change. That's Life.
What's important today may be meaningless tomorrow, and thus it goes.
When we first joined ActiveRain many moons ago, this was a far different community (don't worry, I'm not about to go old guy get offa my lawn!!! here...although AARP keeps mailing me reminders that I'm eligible).
When we first joined I didn't really know how to blog for business, so most of my activity here was in the "social" category. Blog posts that didn't have a prayer of getting a customer call, lots of reading and lots of comments left. I'd max out my points on a … (16 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Where Does Your Business Come From?
- 09/11/19 07:48 PM
Just consider this a bonus Ask An Ambassador post for the week!
I believe a key to success in real estate is understanding the source of your clients.
There is absolutely NO shortage of things we can work on each day, so it's important to choose the things that are productive.
And what's productive? That's may very well vary tremendously from agent to agent.
I'm an introvert. For me, going to a party and schmoozing the crowd and letting drop that I'm an agent is just not for me. Extended time with strangers wears me down, so you can bet door knocking is also low … (12 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Recession Proofing Your Business
- 09/10/19 04:40 PM
If you listen to the pundits, supposedly our economy is heading for a fall. Whether that's just wishful thinking driven by political agendas, or a realistic evaluation of the economic tea leaves, I don't really know nor particularly care. It's beyond my control. Economies go up and down, that's just the nature of things and an agent that is prepared for the ups and downs is one that has the best chance of survival.
And you know what makes you recession proof? The same things that help you succeed when times aren't lean.
Do you have a thorough understanding of your market?
Do you … (20 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Blogging For Business
- 09/03/19 01:37 PM
When you blog, you have choices.
Business or entertainment?
Am I blogging for myself or others?
For me personally, I'm not much for writing "drama" posts here or elsewhere (what else should you expect from an engineer?).
You'd be hardpressed to find anything in my posts about my political preferences.
My Facebook page isn't filled with the outrage du jour.
It doesn't mean I'm not aware of the issues, that I don't have concerns, or even that I might not be taking action in some way, but it's not going to be public information.
So my public facing work has two primary purposes:
1. For my peers … (11 comments)
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