We just sold our home in Atlanta from our Atlanta Real Estate Blog on Active Rain. An Atlanta home buyer found our listing on the Internet within 2 days of writing a Blog on our own home for sale in Alpharetta, and made an appointment to see the home.
I originally designed the Blog as a real estate flyer in www.Postlets.com and then published it on our Atlanta real estate Blog on Active Rain. Within 2 days we had an appointment from a buyer that made an appointment to see our home. They viewed our own home, and at the end of the 2 hour tour they said the home was just perfect for their needs, and wrote an offer. They then identified the Atlanta real estate blog as the source to where they found our home. We just closed on the sale last Friday. I thought this was a great opportunity to share this with the public and the Active Rain Community.
When I joined Active Rain earlier this year, I was looking for a new tool that could increase our Internet exposure and closed business. Active Rain fit the Bill. A sale should not be based on luck or just a fluke. it should be a repeatable event. If you can duplicate your success, you can grow your business. We recently closed a few sales, and several of our Atlanta sales were a direct result of my participation in Active Rain. The key to the sale is it great to socialize on Active Rain, but it is much better to use it as a tool. Localism is a great way to deliver listings, homes for sale, neighborhood news and events to the community in which you live and serve. For me, Active Rain is not about the points, but about the sales, and learning opportunities shared from other like minded real estate professionals.
A TIP FOR SUCCESS:
CHOOSE YOUR TITLE CAREFULLY, AS WELL AS THE WORDS IN YOUR FIRST FEW SENTENCES...ALSO CHOOSE YOUR TAGS CAREFULLY. WHEN YOU PUBLISH, HAVE YOUR BLOG FEEDS SUBMITTED TO RSS FEEDS
Thank you Active Rain! YOU MAKE ME SMILE!
RE/MAX Paramount Properties 678-595-5283 Direct
Or 888-940-0074 Toll Free Office
Atlanta Real Estate Agents, Alpharetta GA Homes for Sale, Dunwoody GA Homes for Sale, Atlanta Real Estate & Atlanta Homes for Sale 
Gwinnett Homes for Sale
Atlanta Real Estate Blog, Cumming GA Homes 
Mary thanks. It does seem like yesterday!
Ryan so right! AR is a fantastic tool!
Jim,
Congratulations on your sale and thank for letting us know about it along with a few tips about the tags and the title.
Great post.
Mario
--
Mario Levesque, CEO
Advantage Avenue Real Estate
http://www.AdvantageAvenue.com
http://www.AgentFreebies.com
Congratulations Jim. I have gotten busy with buyer leads recently and can tie several of them directly to the internet. Active Rain has been a great way to increase my internet exposure as well. AR has given me the confidence to start my own outside blog in addition to my website.
Thanks for the tips on titles and the first few sentences. RSS feeds are a great way to keep up with blogs you like to read as well as a great way to get your content out to others.
I have yet to see any business from active rain, but I expect it any day now. Anyway I enjoy doing this. And I love reading other peoples blogs, especially yours! But I dont know how you can come up with so many good quality blogs so quickly. You should start a blogging seminar, I would definitely sign up!
On another note, Congratualtions, you definitely earned it, and keep up the good blogging!
Carolyn
Linda Great question!I'm sure Active Rain submits, and is picked up, but there are also individual blogs,and hundred of Blog feeds. I submitted my RSS feeds to many of them. After all I need to be promoted for my own benefit.
Rita You are more than welcome! Thanks!
Carolyn Thanks! I am doing a seminar in South Dakota and Minneapolis on Blogging.
Rosemary Thank you and keep on Blogging!
Adam, there eis a blog written in Active Rain that explains it all! Just search in Active Rain RSS Feeds.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/62712/Get-Max-Exposure-by
Jim - thank you for sharing that especially the tip on RSS.
Congrats!
Jim,
Congratulations that is great news!
I just recieved my first lead from active rain. I am very happy to have joined this community. I am learning a lot and networking with people in areas I wouldn't have been able to network before!
Well, you are preaching to the choir. You know me. All Internet all the way.
Active Rain is spectatular for Google juice.
Jim,
Congratulations! I love hearing these stories as they are very motivational. Thank you for sharing your success story.
Jim: Hope you don't mind a little help here... I know you are the Web Guru and all, but....
Your link, home in atlanta, as in first sentence: "We just sold our home in Atlanta"
has a comma where it needs a period... for this reason the link is broken and won't help you with GOOGLE SERP.
Fundamentals are you know, fun - and - mental ; )
WE now return you to your regularly scheduled back slapping festival : )
Jim,
Congrats! That postlets tool incorporating the flyer into Active Rain (and you can even easily add it to Craig's list) is pretty powerful stuff... and most importantly, it looks good.
Congratulations on the sale, thanks for the tips. I have never tried Postlets but I just signed up.
I had heard that ActiveRain did not have juice in Atlanta, that REW sites had all the juice.
Thanks for the secrets. I'll bookmark this and use it as a checklist when I post.
Hi Jim - CONGRATULATIONS!!! I just started putting some of my listings on here, and would love to have some of that same success that you had. Nicely done!
Ann
Did the buyers contact you directly off the blog? Was that a dual agency scenario? Just curious.
Congrats!
Claudia, you are going to love www.ActiveRain.com
Steve Thanks! I corrected the link!
Lenn I view you as my DC counterpart. You accomplish in the DC area what I do in the Atlanta area. I am always looking to improve my return. It seems that Active Rain fits the bill! I always appreciate the comments from someone as successful as yourself on the Internet! You are an inspiration!
Christi thanks!
Mssy Thanks!
John that it correct! I spent a lot of time choosing titles, tags and first few sentances.
Dianne thanks a bunch! I love www.ActiveRain.com
Lonn Thanks for the heads up! I corrected already and thanks a bunch! I always enjoy your postings, you are right on the money!
Paul & Michelle Postlets really does have a neat professional look!
Maureen thanks! I think it was the right combo that made it work!
Rolando Thanks it works!
Mitchell go for it! Try it with www.Postlets.com
Ann thanks! It only takes one lead to make a deal work!
Susan it works!
Marchel thanks!
Jeff, No not Dual agency.In Georgia that would occur only if the buyers were already under a signed buyer agency with us also. They were not. They were an unrepresented buyer.
Sharon Have to pull out all the big tools in this market, Now I know I have one more to rely on!
Great story.... Congratulations.
You have to be careful what you say here...... because it is certainly going to be highly ranked in Google.
Patricia thanks! Yes Localism is a major key!
Art thanks! But in the meantime we have to use every tool at our fingertips! AR ranks #1!!!!
Joe thanks!
Steve, not only does it work, you'll make money from it! LOL!
Mellissa thanks so much!
Tom It ranks in less than 24 hours!
Bob & Carolin thanks so much!
Another "Attaboy" for Jim and Ellen Crawford down in Hotlanta.
Way to go.
Congratulations, Jim.
I'm still trying to figure out if this will work for my business. I'm not a realtor -- I sell closing gifts.
I have seen improvements in my Search Engine position. This has to be related to the short time I 've been on ActiveRain. So, now let's see some business from this.
By the way, I don't know what an RSS feed is. Is this applicable to businesses other than real estate?
Wishing you continued success.
Congratulations Jim! That is so great how fast it happened from your efforts here on the rain! I think I need to look into that RSS feed thing... I've never used it before...wondering where it goes when you use it. LOL...
Sharon
Love it1 What's not to smile about! Congratulations, Jim!
JIm,
I love reading your posts and ran into this one. Appreciate the helpful tip!
How do you have your blog feeds submitted to RSS feeds? I'm a newbie and that is Greek to me!
Thanks for your help!
Shannon Stites Well here is the best resource I've come across: Get Max Exposure by Syndicating Your RSS Feeds- ALL U NEED 2 KNOW!!
Here is where I start...go to the bottom of your blog and click the top RSS botton:
Then go to the url that it will lead you to and copy the RSS feed for your Blog:
Then go to this page and add your RSS feed to as many of the links listed as possible. That is it!
Get Max Exposure by Syndicating Your RSS Feeds- ALL U NEED 2 KNOW!!
Congrats! When I listed my personal home this Spring, I also posted to AR, Localism and Postlets and received more than 30 calls / showings in the first eight days and had two offers. Long story short, I definitely attribute much of the activity to AR and Localism.
** I've never set up the RSS feed, so I guess another one I need to figure out --Thanks again for the tip!
Kerry Lucasse (Keller Williams Peachtree Rd It is great sales juice! It does work!
Hi Jim,
I am glad to hear about your success. I have just recently joined and have been reading about peoples experiences with this website. I am a mortgage lender here in GA and anything I can do to help with you clients financing needs, I would be glad to help. Please contact me anytime.
Wendy Nolan with Faith Funding Group.
Faith Funding Group Thank you Wendy, will do! Welcome to Activerain!