ActiveRain Tutorials: Brad Andersohn (Zillow - Outreach Manager)

Top FREE Online Technology Tools and Services for Your Business - 2009

Last year around this time, I created a Blog post with links to the "Top 200+ FREE Sites and Tools" for your Business.  Hard to believe that was a year ago.  This year is focused on some sites and tools I actually use more frequently, and think you might too.  There are so many great sites that offer some fantastic services, it's a challenge to keep up with all of them, and try to tell you which ones are the best. You could spend more time learning and playing on the computer than actually getting your work done. (so be careful if you check out my top 200 from last year..)

With that in mind, I tried to focus these "Top Sites" on things you can actually use and apply to your business.  For every site and service I mention here, there are probably 4 or 5 others that offer the same type of tools or service, and that's not to say they aren't fantastic, these are just my selected choices to share.  The slide-show below (using slideshare.net) has the name of the site, a quick overview of each one, then a link to their site using their logo. Some of these you will have heard of, and might even be using already.

You can download a copy of this from Box.net, a great site to store and share files with others.  If you've come across some great sites, on-line tools, or FREE services yourself this year, and you'd like to share them here, feel free to do so.  On many occasions, I have found some of the best stuff by just reading Blog comments on others posts.

In these tighter economic times, I hope some of these sites and tools will help save you some money, time, and contribute to improving your Blogs, Websites, and Service to your clients. Enjoy! :-)

Syndicate Your ActiveRain Blogs with RSS

What is syndication and why should you "Syndicate Your ActiveRain Blogs?"  Driving traffic and exposure to your Blog is the primary reason.  RSS - Really Simple Syndication is a great way to connect your ActiveRain Blog to other Blogs and websites.  Members on ActiveRain have an RSS feed button located on the sidebar of their Blog.  Click on it to see your options and how it can be used to expand your reach to a larger audience via other sites and locations on the web.

Adding an RSS feed to your ActiveRain Blog on your ActiveRain Blog is nice, but no where near the value and benefit of having an RSS feed in other locations. Do you have a website?  Do you use an email signature?  Are you utilizing online marketing?  Take advantage of this tiny little tool so you can get BIG results.  That's why it's here.  If you're not familiar with RSS Feeds, Readers, and tools etc., here's a really good post that will give you more details and an explanation.

RSS is a great way to syndicate your Blog posts and get them out there and in front of a larger potential audience. Using RSS feeds is also a great way to have information and great content delivered back to you without having to go out and look for it. This will save you valuable time browsing the web for content and information that you might be interested in. 

Personally, I use Google Reader for all my RSS feeds to the sites I like to get updates and new information from.  This allows me the ability to scroll through hundreds of articles from various sites and blogs easily and conveniently without having to go to each site and see what's newly published. You can also share certain posts and articles with others that you follow, and they can share with you. 

If you're looking for some ways to get back-links and Web Traffic, I just watched THIS VIDEO that explains how to do this using FeedAgg.com. You can see how many other RE professionals have done this already by Clicking Here. You can search their site for various Real Estate type RSS feeds that have already been added to the site. Why not add yours while you're there.  It's just one more way to syndicate your ActiveRain Blog.

Teaching your clients how to subscribe to your Blog via RSS is a valuable tool, both for them, and for you.

DON'T FORGET TO DO THIS WITH THE RSS FROM YOUR ACTIVERAIN OUTSIDE BLOGS TOO.

ActiveRain Success Stories - What Your Blog CAN Do For You

Today I was talking on the phone with a New ActiveRain member ready to become a RainMaker, but wanted to know some of the successes and benefits that other members here had experienced from being here.  I shared the "Success Stories" link located on the AR Homepage.  Then, as I started looking for some Blog posts to share with her, I discovered that there are literally hundreds, even thousands of these success stories scattered all through-out the community. 

After spending a couple hours scouring the network, I was able to come up with some really good examples of how other members are using AR to promote their business, connect with others, generate referrals, capitalize on our SEO, get picked up by the news media, grow their business, and in many cases, make hundreds of thousands of dollars just from their ActiveRain Blogs. 

I joined ActiveRain, and here's what happened...

"I have roughly $2 million in contracts and potential business at the moment which is exclusively from people who found my AR posts" - Jason Crouch

"I just received my 43 referral from the rain" - Larry Bettag

"ActiveRain has put over $122,000 into my pocket, spread over 17 different buyers and sellers" - Donna Harris

"ActiveRain Does Not Rain! It Pours! $1,300,000 Closing Because of the Power of Active Rain!" - Katerina Gasset

"Just in the last 2 months, I have closed on 6 transactions just from blogging" - Jeff Belonger

"I have already placed three homes on the market, in the last 30 days, that were direct results of ActiveRain..." - Bryant Tutas

"At this point I am reaping the rewards of ActiveRain. Thank you Active Rain, it does work!" - Tinker Hulse

"What's Better than a Referral Form from ActiveRain?" - Kathleen "Kate" Elim

"Active Rain has put me on the map. I receive at least THREE calls each week.."." - Donald Bradbury

"This is a testimony to how ActiveRain has impacted our Business" - Mariana Wagner

"NBC picked up my blog... How do I EVEN BEGIN to thank ActiveRain" - Craig Schiller

"How Blogging Put Me On the Evening News" - Janet Guilbault

"I have been contemplating my "Rainmaker" status for a month or two" - Will Goodson

"So does blogging on Activerain bring business?" YES, YES, YES!" - Missy Caulk

"Brad Andersohn and Bob Stewart may actually know what they're talking about" - Suesan Jenifer Therriault

There are so many great stories and testimonials from our members.  It seems as though a new success story or "Victory" post goes up nearly everyday.  These stories and testimonials should be persuasive enough to get you following successful members, subscribing to their Blogs, witnessing their successes, and following in their footsteps as rainmakers to create and build your own success stories here.

If you have a success story you've written about, we'd love for you to share it.  Just leave me a link to your post.  Hearing what other members have done here is great, but experiencing these successes for yourself is the REAL convincing factor, and WILL BE your motivation to Blog.  YOUR unique stories will be YOUR greatest reward.  Reading these, and seeing how and what these members did will hopefully help confirm your decision to be here as a successful RainMaker in YOUR area and community. 

Here's to your success and the rewards you obtain from your efforts here in the "rain!"  :-)

ActiveRain Updates a few new features

There were a few changes and updates made to the network yesterday both internally and for members.  Just wanted to make sure you knew about them in case you hadn't noticed already.

• The first of which is pretty obvious are the New Badges.  They have been moved from covering the upper corner of your photo and placed below the photos now.  This should help those members whose photos were being interfered with by the old badges.

• We've added the RSS feed now for the "featured posts" that appear on the homepage. Non logged-in users can only subscribe to a feed of "public" featured posts. Logged-in users can subscribe to an additional "public + members only" feed of featured posts.
  
  To add the RSS feed to your reader or to get the proper link to do so, just click on the RSS Icon    located in the address bar of your browser.  I use Google reader for all my RSS feeds, but you can use any RSS reader or feed device. 
  

Here is the RSS link if you need it for the "Public Posts" - http://activerain.com/index.rss

• There's now a New way to earn points: every day, a member can earn 100 points for "logging in" to ActiveRain. These points will be awarded even if a member has opted to remain logged in.  This applies to every member.  You can now be rewarded points just for showing up to the community, but we hope you'll continue to engage with others through Blogging and commenting.

As many of you know who have been here a while, we are continuously trying to improve and better the network and community for our members and visitors on a daily basis. Some of these features and updates may seem trivial, but combined, they do add value to the site overall. Enjoy!

When I returned home from Inman's Real Estate Connect in San Francisco last week, I searched through my notes, videos, photos and handouts looking for something to post about that might be unique. There were so many things that I learned this year, some really great topics and technologies, wonderful panels with experienced speakers, it was fantastic. I was a bit challenged on what to post and share today.

Looking back, the one thing I came away with more than anything else this year, was the impact of the people and all the friendships I have made. Socializing, Networking and Connecting with People.

There are so many reasons why people in the Real Estate Industry join and stay on ActiveRain. You'll find many here that have written about their personal rewards, benefits, and successes on their Blogs. There is a common thread and purpose behind each and every reason people love ActiveRain. As I walked the halls and meeting rooms in San Francisco, I had one question for other ActiveRain members...

To see the full length 5 min video on youtube, CLICK HERE.

"What is the Biggest Benefit or Value you get out of the ActiveRain Community?" I was very fortunate to catch these members friends comments on video. They shared their voices, and their experiences publically and I am so grateful to be able to share that. It's an honor and privilege to be a part of this video, the three day event, and most of all, a part of their lives.

Thank you to: Rich, Desiree, Cindy, Kristal, Richard, Jeff, Missy, Gena, Kim, Tracy, Ginger, AJ, Brian, Jeff, Mara, Tom, Nick, Tisza, Mary, Teresa and Mike, each one of you for sharing your thoughts and for helping make this idea and video possible. Your voices will be heard and I hope viewers will come away with a greater understanding and idea of what Social Networking and ActiveRain is really all about.