"Singing in the Rain!"

I'll keep this one short and to the point (okay, so maybe I'll just try hard)

"Is Your Blog Lop-Sided?" By that, I mean, "What are you writing about? Who are you writing to? Who is your target audience?"

I suppose a more foundational question would be, "Why are You here on ActiveRain?"

Please, don't take me wrong. I am not being critical of anyone in particular here. I just think it's a good thing to constantly evaluate what we do and why. Especially as it relates to our business and our yearly marketing plan. You do have a yearly marketing plan, right? Or do you just shoot from the hip?

I wrote a recent post reminding us all of the ActiveRain Weltanschauung. It's the mantra, guiding principles, and philosophy of our community. It serves to renew our energies/focus on the core purpose of our Network - real estate. In a nutshell, this platform exists to build a community that encourages and educates one another, and at the same time, provides a clearinghouse of highly valuable content for consumers.

With that in mind, let me ask again, "What are you writing about?" 

As a Community Builder for ActiveRain, I get quite a few emails from among our members asking if particular subject matter/topics are permissible or appropriate for our community. Sometimes it's recipes, other times it's jokes. Political and religious articles take a lot of hits as well.

It has been debated since the very beginning as to whether or not to allow post content that isn't real estate related. The founders of our network provided the following posting categories for us:

ActiveRain Community                                   

Obviously, the 'Off topic, humor, etc' category allows for posting content that isn't necessarily real estate related. Personally, I prefer a variety of topics/subjects on ActiveRain. I enjoy reading the human interest stories. Some of my most favorites articles have had little or nothing to do with real estate. For the most part, the content posted here will bear a direct reflection on the majority of our membership. As the Weltanschauung states, "the true value of the ActiveRain community rests entirely with its members."

It is not our plan to censor or prohibit our members for posting certain subject matter. As long as the community guidelines are followed, we will continue to embrace/promote the freedom of speech.

However, let me encourage you to consider balancing your blog. Go back through your archives and evaluate what you've been posting. Do your articles sound like a broken record? Are you constantly writing about the same topics or categories? Perhaps it might be beneficial to your readers and to your business, to write a greater variety/balance of articles? You might even want to develop a regular weekly strategy of blogging.

Let me make the following suggestions:

Create some good, quality 'Consumer-Oriented' articles that you can categorize and post to Localism.

Share some golden nuggets of sage, professional advice or experience with your Fellow Rainers.

Generate eye-catching and informative monthly market reports for your region.

Reveal something of your unique personality, and passions/interests outside of real estate.

And then, every once in a while, toss in a listing or two.

 

By 'Striking a Balance' in your writing, you'll generate a larger readership, and attract more consumer traffic to your blog!

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Allow me to clarify my primary point in this post: it starts with my lead-in question,

"Is Your Blog Lop-Sided?" By that, I mean, "What are you writing about? Who are you writing to? Who is your target audience?"

What I've observed lately within our community are members who publish very little, if any, real estate-oriented content to their blogs. Since this a network for Real Estate Professionals, our primary focus should be generating good, quality, relevant content that is related to real estate. This benefits everyone. It offers the exchange of helpful/practical expert advice among fellow professionals; it serves to educate consumer readers; and it keeps the Google spiders fat and happy! Of the five categories I mentioned, four of them are specific to real estate.  If you're only posting 'off-topic' material most of the time, then perhaps you should consider finding a social network that focuses on that particular topic? I apologize if my point wasn't clear enough.

Okay, so one of the questions I'm constantly asked is, "Which Social Networks are the best? Which ones are really worth my time investment, and will benefit my business?"

Well, in my humble opinion, it just depends. Yeah, I know. Sounds like a cop-out, right? But it's true. Just as no two people are alike, no two social networks offer quite the same features/benefits. Each one typically has a primary core focus or strength. Each one seems to specialize in reaching and catering to a particular genre/group.

LinkedIn is one of the more professionally astute network offerings (Think virtual Rolodex). If you're looking for a hot date, this ISN'T the place to go! And don't expect all the fancy gizmo's, widgets, and colorful custom backgrounds. This is your grandparent's MySpace.

HISTORY

Founded in 2002, LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. As of this past December, its site traffic was 3.2 million visitors per month, growing at an annual growth rate of about 485%. Just this March, it had more than 20 million registered users, spanning 150 different industries.

LinkedIn's current CEO is Dan Nye. The original Founder and former CEO, Reid Hoffman, previously the exec VP of PayPal, remains President of Product and Chairman of the Board. Corporate Headquarters are located in Mountain View, California. LinkedIn reached profitability in March of 2006.

CORE PURPOSE

The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know, respect, and trust in the business world. The people in the list are called Connections. Members can invite anyone (whether a current member or not) to become a connection.

This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

• Your contact network is built up consisting of your first-tier direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second degree connections) and also the connections of second degree connections (termed third degree connections). These can be used to gain an introduction to someone you wish to know through a mutual, trusted contact.
• Your connections can be used to find jobs, people, and business opportunities recommended by someone in their contact network.
• Employers can list jobs on the network, and search for potential candidates.
• Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can possibly introduce them.

The feature LinkedIn Answers, similar to Google Answers or Yahoo! Answers, allows members to ask questions for the community to answer. This feature is free and the main differences from the two previously mentioned services are that questions are potentially more business-oriented, and the identity of the people asking and answering questions is known.

The LinkedIn Groups, feature allows members to establish new business relationships by joining alumni, industry, or professional and other relevant groups . This is another free feature of LinkedIn. Although the groups directory is not searchable from LinkedIn’s site, there is a working LinkedIn Groups Search available.

A mobile version of the site was launched in February 2008 which gives access to a reduced feature set over a mobile phone.

One of the features I have appreciated is the Profile Completeness Meter. From the moment you join, there is a meter that gauges your progress, and tells you what additional steps you need to fulfill before your Profile is complete. Another thing is that it obviously enables you to cross-over and network through multiple vocation/career/industries.

They also have a corporate LinkedIn Blog and a LinkedIn Store. 

LinkedIn is like most social networks. You get out of it what you put into it. But in my humble opinion, for business, it's one of the more serious, practical, and beneficial ones out there!

For your Further Reading Consideration:   Top 100 Tools on LinkedIn   CrunchBase Review   10 Ways to Use LinkedIn 

Well, it's time once again for this weeks edition of "ActiveRain Community Guidelines Re-Visited" where we're going through each of the guidelines, one by one, and expanding on their meaning.

This weeks guideline is perhaps one of the most important, and often, the one most violated:

• Respect copyrights. Only upload content/images that you have the right to use (what you have paid for or own), and whose copyright rules allow for commercial use.
  

And another one that is similar:

• Do not plagiarize (copy and paste) content from another source, and publish it as your own. You must obtain expressed permission from the original source to republish, and give reference to such within the body of your post. Permission to re-print is NOT the same as permission to re-publish.

Let me start off by confessing that I was guilty of violating this guideline very early on in my initial few weeks on ActiveRain. I was a newb. The only blogging I had done was on MySpace, and I don't think that really qualifies. I was totally ignorant about the whole 'copyright' 'plagiarism' thing.

Well, ignorance is bliss, but it doesn't keep you out of jail, or court, for that matter.

Let's start off first by defining what exactly constitutes copyright infringement:

"The original author of a particular article or blog post is the only person who has the right to derive any benefits from the publication and subsequent distribution of that article/post. You must purchase/pay for the right to publish or distribute someone else's intellectual property, otherwise you do not have permission to publish that material as content on your own blog."

I think a lot of well-intentioned, and seemingly innocent people are guilty, at one point or another, or copyright infringement or plagiarism. Many of us enter the ActiveRain blogging fray with little or no prior experience. We simply lurk and learn. We watch other members, and mimic what they appear to be doing. We assume that certain practices are accepted. But many times, they aren't.

It's usually not until someone makes a comment in your post, or sends you an e-mail, that you realize you've messed up. Or worse, one of the AR gods robs a few of your points, and you cry 'Foul!' Fortunately for me, I had some very kind mentors who helped point out the errors of my ways.

Just so we're all on the same page here, points are awarded for your own original content. Points are not bestowed when you simply reprint other people's intellectual property, whether you have permission to republish their content or not. But we'll deal with that issue at another time.

Perhaps one of the resident authorities on this subject is our own, Lenn Harley. If you peruse her blog archives, you'll find a wealth of very helpful and practical advice as it relates to copyright infringement. Lenn herself has pocketed a nice chunk of change from those who were foolish enough to mess with her content/images.

In one of her articles, "You cannot 're-print' on ActiveRain," Lenn states: 

"IF YOU DIDN'T WRITE THE ARTICLE, you do not own the content and cannot publish it - EVEN WITH ATTRIBUTION."

Hold the Bus, Gus! You mean, even if we give credit to the original author within the body of our article, we can't publish it?

Lenn goes on to say: 

"If you ask an author for permission to "REPRINT" and receive that permission, you may PRINT the article and distribute, perhaps in mailings or hand-outs in a relocation package.  The author's name will be on the article.  You are merely distributing the article and will benefit only by the limited number of copies distributed. The author still benefits by having their writing distributed."

So what you're saying is that obtaining the original writer's permission to re-print doesn't mean you have the right to re-publish their content to your own blog?

As Lenn affirms: 

"PERMISSION TO REPRINT IS NOT PERMISSION TO PUBLISH"

(Now might be a good time to go back through your archive of past blog posts, and delete/amend any suspect content, whether text or images)

So what if you only want to use a small portion of someone's content, perhaps a sentence or two, as quotes within your blog post?

Well, according to Lenn: 

"USE SNIPPETS AND LINK - THAT'S "FAIR USE"

"The proper or legal way to get the information to the reader would be to publish an "introduction" or "snippet" (three or four lines of the original material) and then LINK to the article on the author's web site. The "Fair Use" exclusion under copyright law was intended for reviewers of original material, critics of books, movies, etc. to use "SNIPPETS"or short excerpts of original material and then publish the review of the original, not the original.  When one publishes an entire article, they have violated the copyright of the author, even if you give attribution and include the author's name in the article."

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So there ya go! A crash course on copyright infringement and plagiarism. I don't think we've quite covered all there is to say on this topic, so next week, I want to discuss further the issue of copyright infringement as it relates to the copying of images/pictures.

Until then, have a fun (and legal) rest of the week in the Rain! 

(Note:  All quoted source material is the intellectual property of Lenn Harley of Homefinders.com, and is used by both expressed permission and 'Fair Use' exclusion)

For further reading enjoyment:  How to Kreate Kwality Kontent   Is There Really Copyright Confusion? 

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UPDATE:  A suggestion was made to make this post available to our members when they encounter a blog post on our Network that clearly constitutes 'plariarized' (copied & pasted) content from another source, and to simply insert a link to this article into the comments section of that post. Others may feel more comfortable sending an e-mail to the fellow member, with the link embedded there. Either way, please feel free to use this post in whatever ways are most appropriate in assisting other members to better understand the importance of this issue. And always remember to demonstrate grace to those who are in error. Thanks!

Jeannette Neerpat used Twitter to cry out for some help last night.

She was having trouble editing the graphics she wanted to use in Brad Carroll's ActiveRain Custom Blog Builder. So I asked her to send me the graphics she was trying to use. As I guessed, they were not in the correct proportions and needed some work.

Well, since I don't make a living customizing blog graphics, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

I decided to edit Jeannette's graphics for her using online tools anyone could access and record my actions so that others could do it themselves. Since Jeanette was not the first person to ask for my help, making this video is a way of saving me from having to say, "I'd really love to help, but..." :)

If you're reading this on the post date, then you'll see the final result right here as the skin for this blog.

Jeannette's images were much smaller than they needed to be. This is why there are some of the quality issues in both the background graphic and the header image, but they created an acceptable customization in my opinion. For thoe of you coming around later, you may be able to see these exact results on Jeannette's blog, but my guess is that she'll probably want to play with this a bit and make it even better than it is now. So, the graphic above is an illustration of the what the final product looked like.

If you want to learn how to customize graphics yourself, here's the video.

EDIT: The specs for headers have changed since the recording of this today. Instead of 125 pixels high, the header must now be only 115 pixels high. Also, the entire portion of the video about using Flickr is now unecessary, since Brad has made it possible to upload the graphics instead of requiring that you provide a link. The photo editing tips in the video are still valid, as long as you use the new height for the header graphic.

"I guess we have an open house this weekend? Just because we are out of state doesn't mean our Realtor should not update us."

We have more communication options at our fingertips than at any other time in history. Communication technology is so pervasive, we are left without excuses for sharing any piece of important information in a timely manner.

The consumer quote shown above was a "tweet" from ymiris on Twitter.  I don't have a clue what the back story is to this social message. It doesn't matter. In communication, perception is reality.

He's right even if he's wrong. He's right even if the Realtor® "tried" to update them. Why? Good communicators make it their responsibility to ensure that their messages are understood. They leave the listener with no doubts.

In my own personal experience, the part of the home selling process that should be the simplest - communicating about what's happening in the process - is the one that has been most disappointing to me. But it is not surprising to me. 

Effective communication has nothing to do with technology.

Effective communication is possible without being a part of the technorati. You don't need any of the latest, greatest internet communication tools that are available today. You don't need an iPhone. You don't need Twitter or a Facebook account. You don't need a MySpace page, Jott or Utterz.

You just need a desire to communicate. And maybe a working telephone.

A Couple Quick Tips:

Mixpo editing software is the only one I have ever seen that allows you to embed links within your video. You can Create custom links to any Website, Blog, Email or Page on the Internet. Now this is truly cutting edge technology that "ANYONE" can understand and use.

You can click on the little green HD (High Def) on the lower right corner of the video for Higher resolution.

Once the video starts, you can click on the green buttons at the top to:

1. **INQUIRE: Send Email to the Video Creator
2. **MORE INFO: To see Video Full Screen, get links, read description, and more...
3. **SHARE: Send email to others, get embed code for video, or get the link URL.

In the upper right hand corner of the video is an icon which when clicked, makes video full screen, and in the lower right hand corner under the "HD" option, is an independent volume control. Watch for more information and instructional posts coming soon...

Another puddle of "Rain Drops" is formed at your doorstep! :-))