For those of you who are skeptical of ActiveRain's Sheer power, I would like to present you with:
Exhibit A.
Champagne, a real estate agent in Manhattan Beach, CA upgraded her account to post her blogs publically this morning.
I trained her this morning, and we posted her first blog.
Posted Today, 7/24/2009 at 2:15pm CST
I came back from lunch, not 3 hours later, and her Manhattan Beach events and activities blog is #1 on the First page of Google!
This is what we want all our members to do! This is why you should blog on ActiveRain. And if you aren't a Rainmaker, this is why you should be!
Call me @ 425-636-3315 or email me joel@activerain.com here at ActiveRain to setup your account for Public Viewing, and to get some one-on-one Training!
That's great! Congratulations to Champagne!
The Power of almighty AR...
Thanks for helping Rodney with my question just a bit ago. Appreciate you guys!
Joel...
AR's juice works like nothing else I know about. I've watched several of the Member's go right to first position in the matter of hours :)
TLW...ROAR!
Goodness! That's awesome! Question: might that have anything to do with the linked header under the blog title?
William - It does help with relevance in Google! Repeating your title that is geographically specific, reinforces your keywords, and provides one-way links to your website, which will nautrally raise it's Ranking. Good question! :)
That's great as long as everyone in google types in "Events and Activities in Manhattan Beach, CA"
Not to be a curmudgeon, but if I write a particular phrase in a blog and match it in a search engine verbatim, more than likely it will have a top ranking. That's not "google juice".
Not to be negative, but I think that most members of this community know enough about SEO, page ranks, et al to realize that while this is an exciting development, it's not actually solid evidence.
Not to be a party pooper, but most people searching for events aren't searching for "events and activities". I search for events quite a bit and have never searched for an "activity". A more likely search would be: "manhattan beach events". No Page 1 ranking now...
Keep it real.
WOW!!!
Another full glass of Google juice.
great to see...
Welcome aboard mate! Good for you. Congratz.
Hmm. What about Daren Krause's perspective? I probably wouldn't search for "activities" either.
Oh man this rocks. I'm so loving it the last few days - ok - since I began!
but Daren the curmudgeon Champagne is on page two just for the more generic search manhattan beach CA events.
Page 2 is not great but a few more posts.
Or don't real people use state in a search?
Every party needs a pooper that's we invited you fer....
; - )
Champagne welcome to ActvieRain!!!
Let's all toast to Champagne's Google juice. It will only get better.
Daren - If you type in any of the following her blog will show on the first page:
Events and Activities in Manhattan Beach, CA
Activities in Manhattan Beach, CA
Activities in Manhattan Beach
Events in Manhattan Beach, CA
Manhattan Beach, CA Activities
Events in Manhattan Beach California
The purpose is to show that whatever phrase you target through activerain as a blog platform will pull up at the top of google. Try some of these to see other examples:
Home Staging in Santa Monica
Neighborhoods in Kirkland, WA (I wrote this one)
Sammamish Waterfront Homes
Nightlife in Naples, CA
That is the power of ActiveRain!
Awesome! Great long tail search results. I'd be interested to see your response to Daren.
page 3 just for manhattan beach events... but she is going up against Yahoo events, eventbright....
Guess I was a bit slow on the submit button. Good response.
Daren is exactly right. what good does a top 3 (or top 1) ranking matter if your clients who are willing to make a real estate conversion are not looking for you under the entertainment section.
C'mon folks- let's keep it real. Type in your name, city, and real estate and see if your name pops up
This is a GREAT example of the power of the rain. Google Juice at it's best.
Paul - Thanks for your great input! I agree that the keywords you target are very important.
The purpose of this blog is to show you that whatever you write about, can have a top google placement. People looking to move to a area, will usually do research on an area. One of the things people like to know are what types of events or activities go on in the potential area they might move to. Lets say you have a family, you want to know what summer events or fun things happen in that area throughout the year.
This is her FIRST blog written on ActiveRain. The content isn't as important as the fact that in one day, and one blog, she is on the first page for the keywords she focused on. Quality is the key.
Very cool! Congrats to her and many more to come.
Congratulations on your 1st blog.
If I were looking to buy a home in the Manhatten, Hermosa Beach area I would go to google andtype "real estate in manhatten beach ca or california." Sorry but I would not find you.
Okay, I guess I'm running out of excuses not to become a rainmaker now, aren't I? I kind of agree with Daren that I don't see this as absolute proof yet, so I'm not totally sold...But I have to admit another post or two like this and I think you'll have me!
Joel - I'm ready to sign up when ever you have time to help. Thanks
Daren,
Read this link: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
You don't need "everyone in Google" to type in your search term to reach outstanding success. In fact .0001% of searches in Google would probably make you an overnight millionaire.
My last one went to number one in 15 minutes. Very cool!
Hi Joel.
Will the placing stay there? In my experience a few of my test posts showed up on page #1 then fell to page #2.
I wonder how long her placing on page #1 will last because for a few of my test posts... they slipped within a week. I am curious if her posts stay there.
(P.S. I lived in Kirkland for nearly 10 years and own some property in Kirkland on Juanita Drive. Kirkland is an awesome place.)
Congratulations on being on the first page of google and becoming a rain maker
I think the point is that active rain is able to make it on the first page. Open a blog with oh let's say blogspot, use tags and keywordsand i doubt anything will pull up. AR rocks and she is building google juice with a company that has immense google juice itself. it's not so much the message but rather the delivery system Way to go Champagne!
You won with comment 13. Until then, I wasn't impressed... you were searching the title. But on that comment you showed that it worked for related terms. That is a BIG win.
Awesome, will you train me. Tee hee.
I want to be an overnight millionaire.
Seriously anyone here as long as I have been, knows it works.
Awesome! I am finding my blogs on page one of google since going rainmaker a couple of months ago. I love getting google alerts and finding they are about my blog!!! I used to live in Hermosa Beach...good times!!!
As someone new to AR, I am still trying to get my blog up and running. Thanks for the inspiration and motivation to get it going. I just might have to call upon you for some help!
I had no idea how to do that when I started, so that is exceptional. I wonder if there is a way to see how many people click on that link?
Active Rain has great Google Juice, and even more importantly, it has great people willing to share their knowledge.
Joel - another great testimonial. It really does work, in case folks don;t believe it. I had a post the other day that actually showed up in the #1 position in 15 minutes. You have a great career ahead of yourself training folks on this stuff, in addition to what you already do. In cases anyone doubts the Rainmaker accounts, you nailed it!
Jeff
There are so many examples impressive results from AR posts, so we know that works. What Rainers could really benefit from is tips. tools and strategies for selecting keywords and how to read your site's analytics to identify prime topics.
I wrote a post on a Festival in a local city, and to this moment it has been read 2.778 times. I think, that post has translated in to people reading my other posts. ( Note to self. Write so more about events)
I see the results in the Rain as well! I love the results I get from blogging. I currently have 7 open escrows, all resulting from blogging.
I just checked in on my recent blog post, and it's working so far: I'm # 3 on the first page, after the local school info. Sweet!
That's awesome. Okay. I'm really feeling that tug to upgrade my account and get writing! Thanks!
I was thinking about this post last night at dinner. I blogged on another real estate blogging platform for the longest time before they got their " _ _ _ _ together" and harnessed Google juice..... they got it right after a couple of years but I wrote great posts from August 2005 to September 2007 that just languished. My abandoned blog there get's lot of Google juice now.
I sometimes look at the stats on that blog and wonder why I finally threw in the towel and why I don't blog on both.
My first blog was on RealTown blogs... it is a more difficult editor to use.... there is not the support there you find on ActiveRain from the community or staff. ActiveRain had better Google juice from the beginning and it has only got better.
Joel,
As a newbie for whom you did this in early April, I knew you were the bomb! Now Champagne knows and Michelle (#23) will shortly.
Bob Stewart's Hyper-Local Content worth 1000 Points For Everyone That Can......... got me going and my Outside Blog surfaced in Google (3.5 months)! I personally now own many pages but like where my OB outranks my AR:
Joel,
Good job, Ambassador!! This is great business-building stuff.
Mike in Tucson
Thanks for the post, and yes i love to blog and check results. For some reason there are some pictures at the top of the page that are open. I will try another computer to see if it is me.
Joel,
Look at you! Keep up the good work. I am glad you have inspired me to become an active rain maker.
Your a great coach.
Shawna
Pretty amazing indeed!
Daren is exactly right. what good does a top 3 (or top 1) ranking matter if your clients who are willing to make a real estate conversion are not looking for you under the entertainment section.
C'mon folks- let's keep it real. Type in your name, city, and real estate and see if your name pops up
Paul, Does this keep it real enough for you?
What I find really funny is that Champagne's personal website that she has had longer than her AR blog comes up #5 in the search. If you notice, #1-4 is her stuff here on AR & Localism.
Writing about the local events & activities as well as restaurants, charities, & whatever other local content brings you google juice. It also establishes you as the local expert in your area. Yes, that person searching for the date that Hootie & the Blowfish is coming to your town may no be looking for buying a home today, but who says that they won't bookmark your site as reference for all things local? Given enough time, they will either contact you directly, or refer your site to someone who is looking to buy.
When you say top page or #1 it just means the article doesn't it. Because when I key in Manhatten Real Estate or Manhatten Home which is what I would do if I was looking for homes in Manhatten then she doesn't show up.
I don't get this? Why is that? I want to show up when folks key in searches for homes in my area.
It does feel great when my posts place on page one. Great rewards for hard work.
WTG ! I hope to do my first soon ! My long term business has really started to grab most of my time !
Congratulations to both you and Champagne!! I love AR for the members as well as for the business it brings!
Terrific testimonial -- Active Rain is a great resource. Takes effort but there are rewards.
That's excellent, congrats! I look forward to heating up the Google Juice for page 1 rankings.
"The purpose is to show that whatever phrase you target through activerain as a blog platform will pull up at the top of google."
That is an absurd statement. Those serps are as non competitive as you can get.
Dera Joel,
I hate to ask but what was it that sent her flying from obscurity to number one overnight. I have been there two years and I am only number 4. I blog consistantly and comment often. What else should I be doing?!? Thanks!
Betina
AKA Austin_Realtor in AR
She ranked by default for a non competitive term. Put that query in quotes and google will give you a grand total of 6 results, all from active rain.
Joel, it is either disengenuous for you to use this to justify a sales pitch, or lack of knowledge.
Nice work Joel. <chugs a big glass of google juice and starts work on a blog>
Great info, thanks to you and Active Rain for all the great help getting started!
Well I didn't tie this record ,but I did get on in my first week(1/6/10) ! And I am grateful for the featured post !