ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Your Permanent Record
- 06/21/22 07:15 AM
This morning I was working on an Ask An Ambassador post. I was 400 words in but it just didn't feel right.
Factually accurate, yes.
Valid opinions.
But it just seemed a bit off. Something about tone wasn't quite what I wanted to I clicked Save to draft and closed the post. Maybe I'll come back to it and try to get it right, or maybe it never sees the light of day.
In my earlier days I might have pushed through my concern and published the post. But over the years the realization that ever post, every comment and every question posted and answered … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: What Do You Do Best?
- 06/14/22 02:19 PM
Blogging offers many different options to achieve success. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa since we all bring different skill sets to the table.
I'm analytical by nature (what else would you expect for an engineer/real estate agent?). I'm also an introvert. Give me any personality test and they'll almost always place me square in the corner that leaves no doubt that being social is something I can do for the short term, it's not something I can sustain without my mental batteries draining to zero.
So you might guess that methodical blogging might be what works … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Does In Person Match Online?
- 06/07/22 04:00 PM
I've been "cyberstalking" our future home area for some time, learning a bit about how things work on the mountain and local information (where to get farm-grown meat, best places for pizza, and that it might be worthwhile to keep a chainsaw in your trunk for downed trees on the only road that leads in and out of the mountain community!).
Since our in-person visits have been limited, we're obviously relying on online information and a network of contacts we've made since purchasing our 10 acres. One restaurant in particular caught my attention. The Facebook posts of their food looked good, and … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Putting What You Learn To Work
- 05/31/22 07:57 AM
Our flower gardens have needed some attention for a long time.
I knew what to do, but getting to the implementation phase was the challenge. A long weekend was the answer to finding the time to get a lot of the work done (or at least started!).
One of the great things about the ActiveRain community?
There are plenty of members with expertise who regularly share what they know.
Digital marketing.
Lead generation.
SEO.
Negotiating skills.
Niches.
Chances are if there's something you want to know, at least one member has posted about it. The knowledge is available, and free.
Reading can provide you a great list of ideas, but can … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: How Do You Know???
- 05/23/22 08:49 PM
When you blog, how do you know it's working?
Are comments an indication?
Yes and no.
If you're writing to entertain or inform the ActiveRain community, then you MAY gain some comments and you'll know you're reaching your audience. Earlier in your blogging career while still building up your audience, comments might be few, but they're there and build up over time as you earn an audience.
But if you're writing to attract business from area consumers, comments might be the absolute worst way to gauge the success of your blog. While it's possible that a home buyer or seller MIGHT leave a comment on … (16 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Not All Comments Are Created Equal
- 05/03/22 08:40 AM
Define "Comment" as it pertains to ActiveRain:
Is it a minimum of 50 characters that provide 25 points?
Or is it an opportunity to engage, build relationships and plant seeds for future referrals?
How you approach comments goes a long ways towards how much (or little) you can gain from ActiveRain participation.
Comments are an easy way of becoming visible to other members of the community, but comments are potentially double edged.
Experienced members can readily determine the purpose behind a comment. Was it for points, or engagement?
To be blunt, if I see that someone's approach is to leave 25 generic comments in 5 minutes, I … (23 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Positive or Negative?
- 04/26/22 06:44 AM
With a blog, we're working with a flat medium.
In person I speak fluent sarcasm (seems to be a common trait with most engineers I know), but without a "sarcasm font" I could type what was meant as a joke and next thing you know someone has their undergarments in a bunch.
It's another reason I tend to be very selective in my blog topic choice. I've kicked many a blog post to the virtual trash can because I couldn't achieve the tone I sought.
Trying to turn something that felt negative into a positive can be a challenge, and our business is full … (25 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Commodity or Premium?
- 04/18/22 09:25 PM
You might think salt is salt and pepper is pepper. Just a commodity to grab off of your local grocer's shelf, and what you pick up might suit your palate.
But what if you could do better?
What if you discovered the advantages of NOT using a commodity offering?
There's a lot of variety out there even with the so-called basics.
Rock salt, table salt, kosher salt, sea salt of many varieties and colors, Fleur de Sel, Himalayan, and the list could go on.
Start checking into black pepper and you'll find differences between Lampong, Tellicherry and Malabar.
A little extra oomph to your meal that goes … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Does Blogging Work?
- 04/11/22 07:56 PM
Tap tap..... hello....is there anyone out there??
You grab your keyboard and twist the blog a little harder.
C'mon, let's pop the lid and get my business booming!!
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You've heard the legend. Back in the early days of blogging ActiveRain was just packed with the mythical Google Juice and if you followed the lessons taught by the leaders, you were going to get found. Easy, peasy.
Flash forward a decade or so and perhaps it's not so easy.
There's a LOT more competition out there.
You've got the mega-real estate companies and portals with millions in their budget and you've got moths flying out of an empty … (26 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Reach Out And Slap Someone!!
- 04/04/22 07:38 PM
KERSMAAAACKKK!!!!
As we've all seen recently, slapping someone in a public forum can get all kinds of attention!
And while we're not advocating laying a palm upside someone's noggin, when you're blogging, step 1 is a title that catches attention.
Fact is, you can have the greatest content in the world but to paraphrase Duke Ellington, it don't mean a thing, if you ain't got that click!
Take a cruise through the ActiveRain blog roll any given day and there's a trifecta that can catch your attention:
1. The Title
2. The Featured Picture (if there is one)
3. The author
The perfect title grabs your attention.
The picture helps … (29 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Mind Your Own Beeswax!!
- 03/28/22 10:00 AM
I don't think there are any consumers searching for:
Cincinnati real estate agents who are beekeepers
or
Cincinnati real estate agents who have Chihuahuas and cats.
I KNOW there are people searching for Cincinnati patio homes for sale, Cincinnati new construction homes, Cincinnati condos for sale and a host of other variations on the theme including RE/MAX agent specific searches, school districts, budget ranges, etc.
That type of information is what initially gets us found, but it may not by itself be enough to have a home buyer or seller reach out for us. That's where the human element comes in.
I don't think the average consumer … (25 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Understanding the Lingo Of The Rain
- 03/07/22 08:28 PM
If you're new to ActiveRain you might be a little puzzled by some of the terms used here, so here's a quick primer of terms you might see (in no particular order):
Rainer: a member with a free account whose posts are NOT published to the world but only to other members of ActiveRain
Rainmaker: a member who is either a paying member OR has reached the 500,000 point level and gained a free account
Ambassador: members with the orange badge, volunteers tasked with helping others, saying hello to new members, etc. You'll find that on the whole both non-Ambassadors and Ambassadors alike will … (29 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Efficient AND Productive Blogging
- 03/02/22 07:36 AM
Time is precious. Once gone, there's no getting it back, unless you're H.G. Wells it moves in one direction only.
We have to find a way to balance our personal and business lives in a manner that makes sense and doesn't red line our blood pressure at the same time.
So that brings me to blogging.
Realistically each post we write has a primary purpose:
1. To attract business
and/or
2. To entertain
For either type of post, I can be efficient, but not necessarily productive.
I can write most posts quickly. Source and add the eye candy. Start to finish 20 minutes or less unless I am trying … (13 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Tips To Avoid Blogging Burnout
- 02/21/22 11:18 AM
If content is king and queen and the whole court including the jester, what do you do to make sure you can keep creating content?
For some people, once you find your blogging voice it's relatively easy to keep going.
For other people the dreaded blogger's block may be a very real thing. So how to you avoid getting burned out on blogging?
I used to blog daily, years on end and there are a few things that I found made it easier to keep going.
1. Blogging regularly makes it easier to blog often. I know that's a bit of a circular argument, but … (28 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: If They Find You, What's Next?
- 02/08/22 09:39 AM
I think it's safe to say that most people blog because they want to be found.
Now whether the target audience is other Rainers or the consumer should heavily influence your topic selection, how you write, what information you provide and what you may or may not be willing to put down in type to go on your permanent record.
The key IMO is producing UNIQUE and RELEVANT content.
The less unique, the more likely you're going to be buried by the bots on page 168 of the search results.
But it does no good to produce unique content if it's not also relevant.
E.g our … (13 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Intent Vs. Application
- 02/01/22 03:02 PM
The folks that founded ActiveRain a few moons ago understood what made real estate agents tick.
On the whole, they knew the audience is competitive and establishing a points based system for engagement should get just that: engagement.
But as with any system, sometimes there are loopholes.
The intent of the founders was for people to EARN their points (if you're of a certain age, a certain Smith Barney commercial starring John Houseman may come to mind).
The intent was members would fill their blogs with content that would attract business & generate comments from other members.
The intent was members would leave comments that open … (21 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Should You Give A Bleep About Points?
- 01/24/22 08:40 PM
Some day I'll reach 3,000,000 points on ActiveRain.
Or maybe I won't.
Maybe I'll retire from real estate, stop blogging and quietly exit stage left or right before I gain the last 30,000 points needed.
Considering some people here in the Rain will go to just about any length to add to their point total, how can I be so apathetic about points?
Sure, once upon a time I did care about points.
Driving to get that 500,000 points and the free account that comes with it motivated me.
Gaining points and moving up the leaderboard motivated me.
I'd max out weekly posts, daily comments and enter just … (21 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: How Much Blogging Is Too Much?
- 01/18/22 10:07 AM
How much blogging is too much blogging?
There's a lot of "it depends" involved in answering that question.
Yesterday ActiveRain rolled out a new limit of no more than 20 blog posts per 24 hours and 100 posts per week. Try for more and the software will refuse to allow you to post.
The general consensus seems to be that 20 posts a day, or even a week, is probably at least double what most would consider reasonable, and again, I'll say the answer is "it depends".
If someone is pumping out 20, 30, 40, or 100s of posts a day, there are some assumptions … (14 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Are You Ready For A Brokerage Change?
- 01/07/22 07:49 AM
You can love your brokerage. You might think it's the best brand ever and your broker is the greatest person on earth. You're fully bought in and have no plans to EVER change.
And just like that, things can change.
Maybe you're working for an indie brokerage and Big Box brokerage makes an offer that can't be refused.
Maybe you're part of a one broker operation and not to be morbid, but you're one heartbeat away from suddenly not having a broker.
We've personally been with the RE/MAX brand for our entire careers (as of 1/11/2022, always subject to change!). But even within that brand, … (25 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Should You DIY?
- 01/03/22 10:38 AM
I'm routinely faced with a decision: Do It Yourself (DIY) or hire out?
Replace a broken oven door gasket? I can do that.
Replace a refrigerator cooling fan blade? I can do that too.
Replace the dishwasher motor/circ pump? I COULD have done that, but the work would be done much more quickly by a pro, so I hired out.
Real estate is much the same.
Each activity offers you the choice of doing it yourself or outsourcing.
Should I do my own blogging? (more on that later)
Should I overhaul my own website? (I hired out)
Should I do my own social media campaigns? (I've tried both, but … (12 comments)
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