I have run a series of 1000 point challenges for our members over the past few weeks. The first one was designed to get everyone writing about 'Hyper Local Neighborhoods and communities' in their market. The current one, set to end Wednesday August 12th is designed to get our members out meeting local business owners and giving them some internet exposure.
Really, anyone could participate in these challenges, and we have many non real estate agents who have jumped on board and written about neighborhoods or local businesses in their market. I can certainly see, however, that these challenges are more specific to our real estate agent members.
So this time we are going to let our non real estate agent members get involved.
We have quite a variety of profile types on ActiveRain: Loan Officers, Home Stagers, Inspectors, Appraisers and many others. So after putting my head together with Steve and Janet and quite a few other people who have expressed an interest in participating in these challenges, I think we have come up with something so everyone else can get in on the points smogasbord.
The Challenge:
Over the next 14 days, I will be giving 1000 points per post for posts in a series designed to educate your local consumers about some component of your business.
SAY WHAT!?!?? That seems a little ambigious doesn't it? Yes, yes it does!
The problem is obvious......what theme or topic could I come up with that covers such a wide variety of businesses? So my theme is to write a series that highlights SOMETHING, ANYTHING. I don't care what you write about, but the series must have a theme and you must stay consistent with that theme.
Here are a few examples:
Home Stagers: If I was a home stager, one of the components I would want present in my blog would be a series dedicated to 'before and after' staging jobs of specific rooms. My seven part series (or if I only had time for five, my five part series) would consist of
- Before and After Staging of a Kitchen
- Before and After Staging of a Master Bedroom
- Before and After Staging of a Children's bedroom
- Before and After Staging of a Guest Bathroom
- Before and After Staging of a Living Room
- Before and After Staging of a Garage
- Before and After Staging of a Den
I wouldn't just throw up some before and after pictures either. I would do a great job of explaining why the before pictures were an undesirable presentation of a particular room. Then in the after photos I would explain what we did to make the room a presentable room. I would create a series of blog posts that I would be PROUD to send to a potential client or referral partner showcasing my staging abilities.
Inspectors: If I was a Home Inspector, I would do a series of common issues that I come across when doing inspections in my market. The posts would have pictures of what to look for or what I see. There are a few inspectors that do this on a regular basis and their posts are outstanding information dedicated to their particular markets.
Loan Officers: If I was a loan officer I would do a series about the available loan products that I offer. I would even ask permission of some of my former clients who have used these products to allow me to use them (or their scenario) in the post in order to exemplify how this product was a good fit for their family. My seven part (or four parts if you don't have the time to do all seven) series might look something like this....
- FHA Mortgages | Buying a home in Bellingham with a small downpayment and a short credit history
- Reverse Mortgages | Using the equity in your Bellingham home to pay your mortgage
- 30 Year Fixed Mortgage | A traditional mortgage for your Belligham home purchase
- USDA Home Loans | Does your Bellingham Home meet the requirements for a USDA Loan
(ok, ok.....three years ago I could have rattled off a ton more options and I know they are out there today......if you're a loan officer you know what they are)
Maybe I don't want to write about products because they change like the wind.......fine, write about Getting approved for a home loan. That would be a great series. Take each step and break it down so that a consumer can really get the details. Add in pitfalls that often trip an application at that point in the process. Include personal experiences of how not preparing to have your rental history verified led to a delay in funding. I don't care what you write about....you are much more qualified than I to understand what your consumers are in search of and what kinds of information they are most lacking.
What if I'm a real estate agent and I want to do a series? Go for it! Maybe you want to do a series on 'Getting Your Home Ready to Sell'. Or maybe you want to do one on 'The process of buying a home'. You could even use real life scenarios from a current client you are working with (with their permission of course).
What if I want to do a series helping real estate professionals understand email marketing? GREAT!! If your business is helping real estate agents, by all means, write a series of posts that caters to your strengths and your audience.
What if I want to do a series about nothing real estate related? I don't care.....but, I wouldn't advise it. The point is to get you conditioned to write blog posts that help your business. If you want to write a series about 'how to potty train your child', that's fine (and I will read every word as Kelan is currently leaning how to use the big boy potty.....but he's actually got the hang of it so I'll just be looking for tips on getting him to stop faking at bed time) but it's not really the point.
Here are the rules:
- You can do one post every two days for 1000 points. The challenge will start on Thursday 13th at 12:00am Central Time (Central Time is what the AR clock runs on for stamping posts and comments) and the challenge will end on Wednesday August 26th at 11:59pm Central Time.
- You must do at least 3 posts in order to qualify for the 1000 points for each post. Two posts isn't really a series. I thought about making it four, but I guess 3 is a series.
- You must leave a link to each post in the comment section of this post (or the subsequent post I'm sure I will have to start once this post gets too slow).
- In the comment section, when you leave your link, you need to leave the name of the series and a link to your post, for EVERY link you leave. PLEASE INCLUDE THE NAME TO YOUR SERIES. There will be some of you that have great ideas and I would like others to be able to use those ideas for their own series. If you don't want to share your idea for your series, you don't get to play!! Sharing is a cornerstone of ActiveRain.
- Please keep track of which post in the series you are leaving a link for and leave the number in the comments. For example your comment might look like this: "Having the Perfect Tailgate Party for Your Seattle Seahawks Tailgate (I don't need to read this series, my people KNOW how to get DOWN!) http://activerain.com/........... (that's the links), post #4"
If you are not sure if your series will qualify, you didn't read the post close enough. I don't really care what you write about. I just want it to be a series. Write about something you are passionate about. Write about something that is going to help your clients. Write about something that is going to help your peers. Write about anything......as long as the posts have the same theme, and the name of your series imparts that theme, you should be fine. Feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly if you are unsure about anything I have written here. I only bite when asked 'where are my points' (and only if it's the 20th time I have heard the question for that particular day) and I promise to help you if you ask for the help.
(IMPORTANT: If you have not read Brad's post about writing to attract consumers and search engines, READ IT NOW!!! If you are not using the tips that Brad gives in this post you are only hurting yourself. I don't mean use them when you feel like it, or use them every now and then......USE THEM EVERY POST ALL THE TIME!!! They are that important. You should work this stuff into your series. Make sure to use geographic terms in your titles specific to your market! Do IT!! Don't ask questions!! Just do it!!! Don't be surprised, if I see you not using his advice, when I send you a message taking away points and reminding you. The loss of points pales in comparison to the loss of traffic and consumers if you aren't doing what Brad suggests in that post.)
The ActiveRain Nature & Marketing contest wound up with 226 entries, and since you, our ActiveRain Members, get to vote on the winning entries, it's been a little interesting -- to say the least -- trying to come up with a system that would be fair yet not tedious or cumbersome.
I'm pleased to announce some preliminary and unofficial statistics about the recently ended ActiveRain Nature & Marketing contest.
First, there were 223 entries from 83 people, which I believe is an ActiveRain record for most entries and participation by the most people. I left an acknowledgement comment on all 223 entries. If you have an entry that made it before the deadline of midnight Central Time on Sunday, August 16, but you have no acknowledgement comment for it, please let me know post-haste.
Update on the ActiveRain "Nature & Marketing contest."