By now, there is no doubt for most of us that ActiveRain is one of the best thing that happened to the real estate social media in recent years. Just like with other successful platforms, the combination of different benefits create an overwhelming overall value for its users.
ActiveRain is a blogging system in the sense that it enables you to write articles, it lists them in chronological order, syndicates it via RSS and feeds the search engine monster for maximum exposure and clearly identifies you as the author and authority.ActiveRain is a training ground: Many of us come to ActiveRain for advice, discussions and to learn from each other. Training each other on business, marketing etc. is what creates the loyalty and incremental benefit, and this sets ActiveRain apart from other services.
ActiveRain is an ecosystem and a team marketing platform: one participant's success depends on the success of the overall ecosystem and AR members directly and indirectly enhance each others marketing efforts. For example, there is such a deep interconnection between the 1 million+ AR pages Google knows about, that search engines pay extra attention to content published via ActiveRain and value the content as highly relevant.
ActiveRain is a unique social network: Valuable social networks are those, where the connections between the participants create a value-add, which would not exist without these connections. That is, there are 1) new and 2) valuable information born from these relationships. In other words, the relationships between ActiveRainers are as important as the content generated by individuals.
There are explicit and implicit relationships between ActiveRain users. Implicit connections are those which are created as a byproduct of user interactions: when you comment on a post, your content is interconnected. The action does not necessarily express alliance, but but it does create a connection between members nevertheless. Explicit connections on the other hand are those with which you express some sort of relationship, explicitly.
The ActiveRain Associates feature is one of the most important explicit connection building tool. You can mark any other AR users as an associate (the explicit connection) and also endorse them with your comments. As opposed to other networks like Facebook, where a connection has to be two-way, ActiveRain is more flexible, it enables you to create a one way connection in anticipation that the favor will be returned by the other party, later. The Associates feature serves 2 purposes: it enables you to recommend other users but it also establishes an alliance and relationship between you and your associates, therefore creating a more specific and more focused sub-network within ActiveRain.
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We - at RealBird- thought that creating an interactive widget - one which can be used to show this alliance between you and your AR associates, one which enables you to take your AR associate network to your other sites and blogs to market each other's listings and blog posts - would be a great benefit to all AR members.
The real estate network widget has the following features:
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- Add ActiveRain members as associates: people you know on ActiveRain, co-workers, ActiveRainers you admire etc. (Note: it may take a hour for new associates to show up on your widget)
- Login (register for free) on RealBird and on the Widgets page, enter your ActiveRain username (do NOT enter your password, it is not required)
- Grab the widget and add it to your blog, website, other networks and even on your ActiveRain sidebar, it as easy as copying the code provided
- Use RealBird to post your featured listings for free whenever you have a new one
- Continue using ActiveRain and RealBird as usual, the widget will auto-populate with new content
- Let your network know: Once you have your widget set up, make sure you let your Associates know so that they can get their own widget and return the favor by advertising you.
Disclaimer: Please note, this widget was created and made available for free by RealBird and is not endorsed by ActiveRain in any form. We do not have or claim any partnership or other business relationship with ActiveRain.
Enjoy !
-- Zoltan
RealBird.com
Pam - Glad you like it
-- Zoltan
Konnie - Great. I added you as an AR Associates. You will show up on our version soon. The more places we post our version to, the more exposure your AR blog posts, AR profile and RB listings get
-- Zoltan
RealBird.com
Teresa - Thanks. I saw it on your own blog deployed already. Nice !
-- Zoltan
Bill - Love the enthusiasm of the comments. More is coming for sure. Along the same line and others. Surprise is the name of the game.
-- Zoltan
Janie - You are welcome. Thank you for your continuous feedback, ideas and support. It helps a lot. I saw this widget on your AR blog as well. I list below the current sites I saw this widget popping up at.
-- Zoltan
J - I saw you did ! Looks great.
-- Z
I found the following associates widget placements so far.
http://activerain.com/blogs/soldsigns
http://activerain.com/blogs/janiec
http://realbird.typepad.com
http://activerain.com/blogs/tinamerritt
http://www.mysunflowerfarmfl.com
http://activerain.com/blogs/myrtlebeachblog
Post your own links to your widget placements as a comment below for rest of us to see. Thanks.
-- ZoltanRealBird.com
More placements:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/456911/Real-Bird-s-Active
http://activerain.com/blogsview/457407/Impressive-FREE-wings-for
http://activerain.com/blogsview/457392/Here-birdie-birdie
-- Zoltan
Here is the stats for the first 3 days. Total unique visitors for all deployments:
I'll post more details on distribution later.
-- Zoltan Szendro
RealBird.com
On Mike's sidebar: http://activerain.com/blogs/mikewochner
Scroll 1/3 down, below the RealBird Mini Single Property Website widgets
Sandy - You are welcome. Come check it out on RealBird
-- Zoltan
:-) We noticed ! Please keep "bugging" us. There are over 800 MLSes in the country I believe and we try to decide on-going, which one to add and in which order (it's more administrative work than technical unfortunately). Demand is good, busy is better, happy clients with demands keeping us busy are the best.
Thanks Christine !
I saw the AR Associates widget on your blog's sidebar at http://activerain.com/blogs/gainesvillehomes Make sure you let your AR associates know that you are promoting them so that they return the favor.
-- Zoltan
Over 300 uniques per day, cumulative on the associates widgets so far:
More finds:
Brenda Magnes Realty Group: http://www.mbyrealtygroup.com/
Juliet Johnson: http://activerain.com/blogs/britvoice
Nice !
-- Zoltan
Really nice placement by Arina:
http://lasvegas-buyandsell-realestate.com/
See the right side bar.
-- Zoltan
Bo - Glad to hear that you already see results. Please post your placement Url of the ActiveRain Associates widget for us to see.
-- Zoltan
Barbara - Glad to hear that you like it. I saw that you installed it at http://activerain.com/blogs/bcart1222
Here is the current reach in terms of unique visitors across all placements:
Very cool bird!
Nyles - Glad you like it !
-- Zoltan
Very cool...I just registered and will add it to my blog tonight. I need more associates...off to shop!
Lesley - I saw you added the widget at http://activerain.com/blogs/lesleyjl
Looks great.
-- Zoltan
This is very cool - thanks for the info. I didn't know about realbird.
I checked it out but have to say completely turned off by the advertisement from Freedom ( Banner across the top) who is apparently operating in my local MLS. I didn't get any further with my profile.
Shannon,
Sorry to hear that. Let me clarify: No ads are shown on any of your own RealBird profile pages, listing websites or widgets to consumers and leads. Ads are only show to you, RealBird members (agents and brokers) in the member area. No conflicting ads are promoted to your own visitors to your RealBird services. It's just like AR's ad system, i.e., if somebody arives to common pages, such as the homepage or search page, ads are shown, but your own AR pages (blog, profile) are ad-free. We do the same, ads are shown only on common pages visited by agents and brokers, but all your private labeled services are ad-free. I hope I could clarify. Please go ahead and test the service and you'll see that there is no ads on your own pages.
Thanks
-- Zoltan
Thanks Zoltan - I will give it a shot and I appreciate the explanation...
I have bookmarked this and will try it later. Sounds great.
Gita, Please do. Grab your ActiveRain widget at RealBird. More widgets are coming along the same line.
-- Zoltan
Shannon - You are welcome
-- Zoltan
Hi, Zoltan:
I thought I'd left a message yesterday, but now I have an update! I signed up with Real Bird and got the widget after adding all the nice people who were/are Associated with my ActiveRain blog. What a great, fun tool! Thank you so much!
Best regards,
Robin
Glad to hear about this. I am hearing about real bird but wasn't sure what it was all about.I am completly absorbed by all the support and information on Active Rain Thanks. I am going to give this a try
Thanks Zoltan! Great info!
Christina Asad Edwards, REALTOR
2006 & 2007 Sales Masters Top Agent
Christina.AsadEdwards@RealLiving.com
www.teamedwards.info
mobile or text 937-205-4741 office 937-573-0082
Real Living Realty - #1 in OHIO!
Realty, Mortgage, Title, Relocation
I hope you are still following this post, I was not able to see how to register. I did not see the Widgets Page referred to in the blog post.
If possible, please give slow people like more detailed instructions. I would love to have this on my site, I think.
Richard
Christina - Thanks for your comment Give it a try. See intstruction below.
Richard - Thanks for stopping by. To get you own ActiveRain Associates network widget, just do the following:
In order to maximize the benefit of team marketing, invite your AR associates to get their own RealBird service for free. That way, they going to cross-promote you just like you promote them.
Should you have more question you can call us toll-free at (866) 551-2934
-- Zoltan
Thanks for the post. This widget looks like a good tool!
Best regards,
Jay
Jay - You are welcome. Give it a try and let me know how you like it.
-- Zoltan
Zoltan,
It worked. Thanks.
It is another good reason to add associates. Is the widget updated as associates are added.
And how does it look for those with hundreds of associates?
I think it may get more referrals that the regular AR link.
Richard
Richard,
Glad to hear that it worked! I saw you logged into RealBird recently. To answer your questions:
We have some new products coming along this line (team marketing) which will be even cooler :)
Thanks for checking it out.
-- Zoltan
RealBird.com
Hi Zoltan – as I always say it seems I’m the last to hear about things in the rain… I’m always a few months behind everyone else. BUT – thought I’d see if I could add that cute widget and presto – I did! Thanks and BTW I did share it with the community too
Raleigh Realtor – Pamela St. Peter
Great write-up and tutorial Pamela !
The unique views across all the ActiveRain widget deployments are climbing nicely:
Pretty smart thinking. Nice way to get links
Bob - glad you like it.
Just bookmarked it. I am noew to AR and have lots to learn. I am enjoying so much that it is part of my day now. Having that first cup of coffee and checking the new posts. Will probably be looking into this one of these days.
Sounds great. Good luck with ActiveRain. You surely will find a lot of help among the AR members. It's an amazing community.
-- Zoltan
Oh, so that's what this is. It has taken me this long to find this post, but now that I found it I can't wait to add this widget to show my associations.
Troy - Glad you found it :) Let us know how when you installed it.
-- Zoltan
RealBird.com
You did such a great job wow.
You did such a great job wow.
Thanks Jenette.
Thanks so much...I learn something new everyday! Very Helpful!
Wendy
www.prurealty.com/svoboda
www.twitter.com/homeisnevada
wow, great blog and widget. I am going to try and get me one now. thanks for the great info!
I bookmarked you for a future attempt. Thanks!
thanks for sharing the widget. I'm looking for some cool ones.
didn't find this post til now and actually found out about RealBird on my own and grabbed it. I have all my listings on it and their system does a lot of my work for me. I am very excited about this tool and am glad I decided to give it a try. My visit numbers for every one of my listings has gone up and I am very pleased, so far, will all the effort I made to get it up and running as quickly as I could, for the sake of my clients. :)