Comments on: ActiveRain, the Caligula of Real Estate or Real Estate Rain, You Choose http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/ News, insights, tools, and inspiration for business owners and professionals Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:13:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Broker Bryant http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43794 Broker Bryant Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:51:48 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43794 Benn, OK one more thing. One of the beauties of AR is that it acts as a syndication platform. My main AR blog is activerain.com/blogs/tutas. ALL of my AR content starts there. But then I send it to my other 3 blogs based on the specific audience I am writing for. If it's content mainly for real estate professionals then it goes to brokerbryant.com For potential short sale sellers CentralFloridaShortSales.com Specific to my market area SellingPoincianaProperties.com All 4 blogs have a different feel to them and are designed to attract different readers. Although some of the articles overlap. I also, have my "group" blog at ShortSaleSuperStars.com which is where I sell product in addition to helping others in their business. This one is on a Ning network. I have 4 other Ning networks and 2 static websites for different areas of my business. So there you go. I was able to spam you 5 times in one comment :) There is a reason for my madness. Benn, OK one more thing. One of the beauties of AR is that it acts as a syndication platform. My main AR blog is activerain.com/blogs/tutas. ALL of my AR content starts there. But then I send it to my other 3 blogs based on the specific audience I am writing for.

If it’s content mainly for real estate professionals then it goes to brokerbryant.com

For potential short sale sellers CentralFloridaShortSales.com

Specific to my market area SellingPoincianaProperties.com

All 4 blogs have a different feel to them and are designed to attract different readers. Although some of the articles overlap.

I also, have my “group” blog at ShortSaleSuperStars.com which is where I sell product in addition to helping others in their business. This one is on a Ning network. I have 4 other Ning networks and 2 static websites for different areas of my business.

So there you go. I was able to spam you 5 times in one comment :) There is a reason for my madness.

]]> By: Daniel Bates http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43793 Daniel Bates Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:12:28 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43793 I will bow to your AR expertise Broker Bryant...Fantastic Comment String I will bow to your AR expertise Broker Bryant…Fantastic Comment String

]]> By: Broker Bryant http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43792 Broker Bryant Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:01:54 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43792 Thanks Benn. I knew we agreed in here somewhere. Thanks Benn. I knew we agreed in here somewhere.

]]> By: Broker Bryant http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43791 Broker Bryant Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:00:46 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43791 Daniel, I used your blog as an example because you wrote this: "I was one of the top agents in Charleston County, SC for the longest time and never saw a single lead from it, the points aren’t worth anything if 99% of the traffic is other agents". When I clicked over to see why you never received any leads it just struck that there was nothing there that would entice a buyer or seller to contact you. That's all. I agree completely that there is no wrong or right way to blog. Every market is different. We have to know who our audience is and then structure our content accordingly. My AR blog has always been written to agents and consumers alike. I write about what I do and where I do it and because of that I get tons of business from it. All of us are on the Internet to attract eyeballs. That's what Internet marketing is all about. Traffic. Comments on AR can be a good indicator of traffic. It may only be agents but who cares? Agents send me referrals, give me back links and help me build my online presence. I can write an article and have 1,000+ people read it in one day. That's powerful no matter who the readers are. Very few real estate bloggers, including myself, take full advantage of the power of blogging. Mostly because people are only interested in real estate when it becomes time to buy or sell. We have a limited audience. We blog in a box. The whole point of my comments on this post is to point out that must folks just don't get it. It has nothing to do with AR. AR is an awesome platform for bloggers. If people don't want to blog on AR then don't. But don't say it doesn't work. It's YOU (naysayers) that don't know how to work it. You may very well teach blogging but this article is about AR. I am an expert when it comes to blogging on AR. I know that because of the results I get. I am not an expert in other areas of the blogosphere. By the way this is a discussion not a fight. Daniel, I used your blog as an example because you wrote this:

“I was one of the top agents in Charleston County, SC for the longest time and never saw a single lead from it, the points aren’t worth anything if 99% of the traffic is other agents”.

When I clicked over to see why you never received any leads it just struck that there was nothing there that would entice a buyer or seller to contact you. That’s all.

I agree completely that there is no wrong or right way to blog. Every market is different. We have to know who our audience is and then structure our content accordingly. My AR blog has always been written to agents and consumers alike. I write about what I do and where I do it and because of that I get tons of business from it.

All of us are on the Internet to attract eyeballs. That’s what Internet marketing is all about. Traffic. Comments on AR can be a good indicator of traffic. It may only be agents but who cares? Agents send me referrals, give me back links and help me build my online presence. I can write an article and have 1,000+ people read it in one day. That’s powerful no matter who the readers are.

Very few real estate bloggers, including myself, take full advantage of the power of blogging. Mostly because people are only interested in real estate when it becomes time to buy or sell. We have a limited audience. We blog in a box.

The whole point of my comments on this post is to point out that must folks just don’t get it. It has nothing to do with AR. AR is an awesome platform for bloggers. If people don’t want to blog on AR then don’t. But don’t say it doesn’t work. It’s YOU (naysayers) that don’t know how to work it.

You may very well teach blogging but this article is about AR. I am an expert when it comes to blogging on AR. I know that because of the results I get. I am not an expert in other areas of the blogosphere.

By the way this is a discussion not a fight.

]]> By: Benn Rosales http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43787 Benn Rosales Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:37:49 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43787 I'm glad to see your followup, I feel as though in my article I exactly described your brokerbryant blog. It's focused, targeted, well written and timely, listings aren't there, but that's not really the point- my point specifically is to be in business or save your complaints that your blogging efforts don't work. More importantly, that the idea or notion that you should not promote either yourself or your product is absurd, the rule of asking the consumer for their business applies, but again, it's really all about how you do it, right? That isn't to say the occasional post to illuminate the industry for consumers is a bad thing, because it's not, and is necessary. Fabulous comment! I’m glad to see your followup, I feel as though in my article I exactly described your brokerbryant blog. It’s focused, targeted, well written and timely, listings aren’t there, but that’s not really the point- my point specifically is to be in business or save your complaints that your blogging efforts don’t work. More importantly, that the idea or notion that you should not promote either yourself or your product is absurd, the rule of asking the consumer for their business applies, but again, it’s really all about how you do it, right?

That isn’t to say the occasional post to illuminate the industry for consumers is a bad thing, because it’s not, and is necessary.

Fabulous comment!

]]> By: Daniel Bates http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43785 Daniel Bates Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:47:36 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43785 Not to pick a public fight, especially toward someone on AR that I actually respect for doing a good job like Broker Bryant, but I teach blogging as a full time job, so I think I know a thing or two about it. My blog is kind of like the carpenter's house, overlooked because of all the other great projects that he's working on for other people. I don't spend any time on AR except to read the occasional post and to create an incoming link to articles that I want to do well. I don't care and have never cared what a single other agent on AR thinks of my content, but oddly as a part-time venture I show up #1/2 for not just "McClellanville Real Estate" and "McClellanville SC Real Estate" but for "McClellanville" and "McClellanville SC". It's not just good SEO though, but more than 1/6th of the population of my town subscribes to my content, so I've got a pretty good capture on the market. I've stepped back from real estate to focus on rental management and blog coaching, but enjoy blogging so much that I still write content on my blog for the locals. There are a million ways to blog and several ways to even do it correctly, my advice to real estate bloggers is that if your content doesn't get a lot of comments on AR that you can still be doing everything right. Not to pick a public fight, especially toward someone on AR that I actually respect for doing a good job like Broker Bryant, but I teach blogging as a full time job, so I think I know a thing or two about it. My blog is kind of like the carpenter’s house, overlooked because of all the other great projects that he’s working on for other people. I don’t spend any time on AR except to read the occasional post and to create an incoming link to articles that I want to do well. I don’t care and have never cared what a single other agent on AR thinks of my content, but oddly as a part-time venture I show up #1/2 for not just “McClellanville Real Estate” and “McClellanville SC Real Estate” but for “McClellanville” and “McClellanville SC”. It’s not just good SEO though, but more than 1/6th of the population of my town subscribes to my content, so I’ve got a pretty good capture on the market. I’ve stepped back from real estate to focus on rental management and blog coaching, but enjoy blogging so much that I still write content on my blog for the locals. There are a million ways to blog and several ways to even do it correctly, my advice to real estate bloggers is that if your content doesn’t get a lot of comments on AR that you can still be doing everything right.

]]> By: Broker Bryant http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43780 Broker Bryant Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:58:58 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43780 Benn, My comment was mostly a response to some of the commenters on this post. Clearly they are clueless. But that's expected. About 80% of the people on any platform fail. Usually from either lack of understanding or lack of effort. When that happens it's easier to blame the platform than it is to look at yourself and try to figure out what you are doing wrong and why it's not working. Daniel Bate's AR blog is a perfect example of a blog that won't work to attract business. His content is why it didn't work NOT AR. It's really no different than running a crappy mailing campaign for 3 months and when it doesn't work say "doing mailers is a waste of time" when the truth is the mailer sucked and you didn't give it enough time. ANY system we use to make money requires a commitment of time and a commitment to learn the system we are using. A blog has to be educational AND entertaining in order to gain and keep readership. If all that's being pushed at people are listings and market data most readers will get bored and leave. Having said all that, AR is certainly not for every body. More members will fail than succeed. Just like Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress etc....But make no mistake about it, it's almost ALWAYS the person that's the reason for the failure. I'm sure this will be another "Lovely comment". Benn, My comment was mostly a response to some of the commenters on this post. Clearly they are clueless. But that’s expected. About 80% of the people on any platform fail. Usually from either lack of understanding or lack of effort. When that happens it’s easier to blame the platform than it is to look at yourself and try to figure out what you are doing wrong and why it’s not working.

Daniel Bate’s AR blog is a perfect example of a blog that won’t work to attract business. His content is why it didn’t work NOT AR. It’s really no different than running a crappy mailing campaign for 3 months and when it doesn’t work say “doing mailers is a waste of time” when the truth is the mailer sucked and you didn’t give it enough time.

ANY system we use to make money requires a commitment of time and a commitment to learn the system we are using.

A blog has to be educational AND entertaining in order to gain and keep readership. If all that’s being pushed at people are listings and market data most readers will get bored and leave.

Having said all that, AR is certainly not for every body. More members will fail than succeed. Just like Twitter, Facebook, WordPress etc….But make no mistake about it, it’s almost ALWAYS the person that’s the reason for the failure.

I’m sure this will be another “Lovely comment”.

]]> By: Benn Rosales http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43762 Benn Rosales Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:25:18 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43762 Word, great comment idea! Word, great comment idea!

]]> By: Benn Rosales http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43761 Benn Rosales Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:24:07 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43761 Not everyone can read, it's okay. Not everyone can read, it’s okay.

]]> By: Benn Rosales http://agbeat.com/editorials/real-estate/activerain-the-caligula-of-real-estate-or-real-estate-rain-you-choose/#comment-43760 Benn Rosales Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:22:11 +0000 http://agentgenius.com/?p=21445#comment-43760 Lovely comment. Lovely comment.

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