Monthly Archives: June 2011

When it Comes to Blogging, JUST DO IT!

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It might sound like a Nike commercial but she’s right and she has the perspective. This is a reblog that I’m posting because I think it’s worthy of your attention. Please click through to leave comments on Victoria’s blog.

I have read a few posts on AR lately about getting in there and just doing it whether you are an expert blogger or not and one rather snobbish post that begged you not to just do it. Well, here is MY spin on the subject.

No other person can get your message across better than you can.  However, the way you present your message and the way you optimize it for the search engines may need some improvement which you can get with just a few SEO blog coaching sessions. It really doesn’t take much.

I admit that I have been a professional blogger for quite some time. But I will also be the first to admit that I was not very good at it when I first started out. As a matter of fact, I stunk to the high heavens even though I have a journalism background and kept personal diaries since the age of 10.

My first professional blogging gig was with New Homes Realty where I actually got paid for blogging. Of course, I had been writing page content for my own business ventures for some time. We dabbled in a wide variety of industries so I was not new to Internet writing and business promotion by a long shot.

But, when I first starting for New homes, an actual “paid gig,” it was different. First of all, I worked among seasoned staff writers with extensive professional journalism backgrounds. One had been with the St Pete Times for years and the other was a well established independent writer in her own right. Believe me, scrutinizing eyes were upon me.

My first posts reeked of my amature status as I had not truly found my voice. But as I got my chops down and found my groove, I was in there with the best of them. And believe me, this did not happen over night. You have to just write, because your creative voice morphs out of your own writing.  Start wherever you are at and that place is in the here and now!

There is no other way around it. For someone to say, don’t blog because you are not good enough is ridiculous and very bad advice.  You get where you need to be in the process of writing a lot – blog after blog after blog after blog.

And guess what, the Internet happenes to VERY forgiving because you can go back and update previously written posts that may not represent your best work and shoot them back out again. Don’t ever feel threatened by others saying you shouldn’t blog if you don’t blog like a pro. Put your best foot out there. Be yourself and let your personality shine through. You will only get better and that can only happen with nonstop continuous blogging!

Rock on bloggers, rock on!

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Original blog post on ActiveRain: Link to Blog Post

It Was Awful, Disgusting, I hate It….and it happened here on AR !

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It Was Awful, Disgusting, I hate It….and it happened here on AR !

I’d read his blog, actually a re-blog with a locally slanted intro. And it was good, but it was really late. I was beat. So I didn’t leave a comment.

That was last night. This morning I went back to it and started to read it again. And it happened. I was shocked!

I heard it and what I heard horrified me.

It was a commercial. An audio commercial. Ten to fifteen seconds long, for a common household product.

I was surprised. And I was shocked! Where had that come from? I did not roll over some link, even an invisible one. My hand was not even on the mouse.

I closed the blog and went back to the blog page (this was in AR.)

I opened the same blog and yup, it happened again, only this time is was a car commercial.

I tried someone else’s blog, nope, nothing. Went back to John’s and heard the commercial again. I did this test many times, many different ways. The same thing, an audio commercial, like a radio commercial, but very short and it did not repeat.

I was disgusted. I hate commercials on TV or the radio. I did not solicit them and don’t want them. It’s time wasted in my life.

Is this the future.? Am I going to be plagued by commercials every time I go on line? What a revolting idea.

 

I emailed John directly to let him know what was going on. I heard back from him fairly quickly. He didn’t know about it and want’s to get to the bottom of it.

If you are curious here’s the link to his blog:  http://activerain.com/blogsview/2356260/looking-for-value-in-montreal-residential-homes

If you go to it and don’t hear anything please let me know. I’ve been away all day and just checked now and it’s still ‘jingling’ away.

 

 

Update; (morning of the second day) 

Some of you have tried it and not experienced it. That may be due to the link that I posted but it is on John B. Joseph’s blog page; Montreal Rea Estate Listings.

They usually start 4 to 8 seconds after the page opens. (I guess that has to do with your browser and download speeds, etc.). They run once for about 10 or 12 seconds.

If you refresh the page or click on the blog link it will happen again. Sometimes the same commercial, sometimes a new one.

How would you feel about your potential clients being subjected to this?

What would be your impression of a site that foisted this upon you?

 

Original blog post on ActiveRain: Link to Blog Post

A Milestone and a New Benchmark For Me…………..Thanks To Active Rain.

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A Milestone and a New Benchmark For Me…………..Thanks To Active Rain.

milestoneToday I reached a new milestone in my Active Rain participation.

I’ve crossed the 75,000 points mark !

That’s a big deal for me. Even though I’d been a member since 2008, I had not been active until this past 6 months.

I had 3 blogs prior to this past December. Now I have over 100 that I’ve written myself. (Others are AR re-blogs).

I’ve learned to blog with the help of many friends and great examples here on AR. Thank you Active Rain.

When I started I could not conceive of the seemingly astronomical point levels some members have earned. But my web presence needed a boost.

I’d been on line for years but never got any direct business from it. Now it’s happening and when I want callers to see how knowledgeable and passionate I am about the subject I refer them to my Active Rain blog:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Butler Home Inspection Blog

I’m number 1 on the leader board (i.e.featured) in my city, Pointe-Claire, number 5 in the Montreal area and province of Quebec.   I’ve had a few featured posts.

But I have more to do. I have to really up my invitation rate. Active Rain is still an undiscovered country here in Quebec. This is in large part due to the fact that the majority work in the French language.

The other part is the perception that AR is not local ( and real estate is nothing if not local) and the bloging would not be about the local market. But of course we know that’s the wrong way to think.

That’s the genius of the AR environment because locals looking for listings and services in their area will find you. Your fresh content will make you visible to the search engines.

So even though you become part of a growing community of professionals that is over 200,000 you have a very local presence and visibility to your client pool.

So I will be emphasizing and educating local agents and other potential Ar members, of the benefits that they can have access too.

So thank you AR. A milestone passed and a new benchmark for my AR experience.

 

 

Original blog post on ActiveRain: Link to Blog Post