I noticed that the ActiveRain crew added a new feature this week that I really like. It's a small addition. In fact, it's almost not even noticeable, unless you spend a good deal of time on AR (who, me?).
I was looking for a previous post of mine yesterday and I noticed that my office address in the sidebar is now a link rather than just text! I clicked on it (of course), and it opened a Google map with a pushpin showing exactly where my office is.
Additionally, you can click again on the "street view" link to see an accurate picture of the front of our building. Talk about making it easy to find!
This is one strong reason to have your physical address listed, assuming you actually use an office outside of your home. I think I'll probably start referring people to my AR profile page if they are coming to my office.
Of course, if you are intensely private, or don't want anyone to find you, that's a different story, I suppose. Then again, this may not be the best career choice if that is the case.
I would love to see this added to the outside blog as well - perhaps that is in the works already, or it could be added easily enough?
Big thanks to the AR programmers for coming up with a new tool to help us all!
UPDATE from Jonathan Washburn's comment below:
Don't forget the primary reason we added it: Local SEO results!
Adding your address is the first step in a multi-step process we are doing to help to make sure our members rank high on local searches.
We've actually made a TON of changes this week on the SEO front, optimistically hoping it will have positive results.
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That's cool and a speedy way for people to find you. Yay, ActiveRain, you rock.
Jason,
That's a great feature to have. I also have a link to a Google Map for my office on my e-mail signature. It makes it easy for clients to find me and my office.
I didn't notice that this morning... Nice.
Jason: thanks for the heads up on this. I noticed it on another bloggers page, but thought is was something I had to fiure out and add. Great to know we ALL have it! I need to go check my address!
Crouch - I just noticed this as well. Very cool. Those programmers are on the ball... for the most part;)
Jason~
I took notice of that too! I thought it was there all along- I input my address on the profile page... I guess these guys at A/R are up all night figuring out ways to improve on perfection! I think the next step is to make it mandatory to post each state license number.
Mott Marvin Kornicki // Real Estate In Miami // Associate | Broker • 30 Years
Aventura // The Waterways // Bal Harbour // Sunny Isles Beach • Florida
Jason,
You're right! This is a great feature...HOWEVER...my map shows a wrong address and location...Map Quest, for one, we know is incorrect...we have made several laborious attempts to have it corrected...!!! Thanks, Fran
Jason, well this is a new bit of info for me! Thank you. I need to check to see what I'm currently doing! I spoke to Liz at length the other day. What a girl. Stay in touch friend...
Later in the rain~Deb
News to me - thanks for the info
Jason- Glad you noticed the change. I just added my address. Everytime we turn around, AR adds another neat addition.
Is that your white car in the parking lot? :P Its scary what we can see and know nowadays.
That is a cool option. I dont think I would have realized that if you hadn't pointed it out. Thanks!
That is a great feature. It should be very helpful to clients. Mine doesn't show a picture. I wonder if it is because it is my home and not a public building.
Jason, thanks for pointing that out! I hadn't noticed it.
Oh I hadn't noticed, this is fabulous. Thanks AR and Jason for pointing it out.
Ours says no street view...but it gives satellite :) Anyway, click on our address brings up many of the businesses in our location as it is in a shopping center.....and guess who is listed in that bunch of listigs?
I like this...and you're right...so many don't include their address..how does one contact them?
Jason,
Thanks for showing us, I did not notice it. Have a great weekend.
Very cool feature, hadn't noticed, thanks for pointing it out Jason! KM
Jason, great tip and ideas on how to use it with others. Make a great day.
Great new feature! I noticed the address there, but didn't click on it until you mentioned it! Thank you!
Jason...
I did not notice the change, thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Don't forget the primary reason we added it: Local SEO results!
Adding your address is the first step in a multi-step process we are doing to help to make sure our members rank high on local searches.
We've actually made a TON of changes this week on the SEO front, optimistically hoping it will have positive results.
Very helpful new feature! Liking it...:)
This is the fourth time in two days I have left a comment while logged in as someone else I was trying to help! Oops!
What I meant to say was, yeah, what Jon said!
Jason, I also noticed that they added a comma in our points... what used to read 10000 points, now more correctly reads 10,000 points. I wonder what other little fixes have been added? Hmmm?
Sharon - Actually, that just means that the haven't photographed your street yet. Our house shows up clear as day!
Thanks for da tip. How's your stats in the contest? Are you in the running?
That is so cool and hopefully they are already in process. Leave it to you Jason to be on top of things.
Hi Jason, this is pretty cool.. now I see your office is just down the street from my new office at Sky Realty. I like this feature alot.
Jon and Bob - Thanks so much for the extra info! That's great news!
Well, thanks, Jason, I missed that! Very cool!
Jason - Very, very cool. That's one of the things I love about activerain. They're never content with the status quo.
Wow - I like it - it even gives you the embed code to put in and use it!
Jason,
Active Rain is always up to something new. I can't keep up!
Yet another pretty cool little dodad. Thanks for pointing that out.
The street view is amazing! I went to the front of your building, since mine doesn't have a photo yet. You can look at, not just your building, but all around! What's next? :)
Wow, just have to say to the AR guys, thanks for the new tweaks and thanks Jason, for bringing it to our attention(s). Powerful stuff
Jason, you would notice!!! I would make a lousy detective, thanks for the post. AR stays busy with their one of a kind gem!
Good to know, if this is not on my homepage, I will have to update it, Thanks again
Jason,
Thanks so much for pointing that out. I will check my homepage!
Jason, that is a cool thing and thanks for the heads up.....I have added my address and it's working just like yours.
How cool is that? I hadn't noticed it before - after checking it out, found that the marker Google had was just a little bit off--so I changed it. Thanks Jason!
Jason,
Aren't you the one with the eagle eye.....I am off to see it on mine...THANKS!
You're the man Jason! Thanks for the hot tip. I'm horrified however to see how ugly that old Kayak store next door to us looked. I wonder how often Google redoes the pictures?
Rock and roll-very cool.
Jason, great to write a post on this as I saw it too. This address upgrade link I thought was very cool and thanks for talking about the mapping too.
Thank you Jason, very helpful information, I did not know about that but as small as that is, the fact that saves time by finding it right away is great. We appreciate the information.
Antonio
Jason - Thanks for the heads up ! I did not even notice that. We just added an address now thanks to your post. Appreciate it : )
Very niiiiiiiiice! very nice...
That is a really cool new feature. I clicked on your address link and was able to see a street view of your office! Now I have to go check mine! Thanks for pointing it out :)
I noticed it too Jason. I think it is awesome!
Thanks for the info.
Jason, you always seem to be one of the first in the know...thanks for pointing this out!
Jason, you always seem to be one of the first in the know...thanks for pointing this out!
Ronnie - Thanks for asking about the awards. I am definitely in the running at this point!
Thanks for pointing this out. I work out of my home office, so I don't have my address listed, but I just went and changed it so at least I would have city, state and zipcode come up.
Jason - That is a great feature, making it as easy for the consumer is our goal.
I did not notice. Thanks for the info.
Great new tools - thanks for highlighting the changes - I totally missed it.
interesting - better go check that out - thanks for the heads up!
Nice touch! I'm going to add the same link to my email signature block.
@Kent-
Mine is a little off, too. How do you change it?
Very cool. I didn't even realize my address was not on my profile but now it is there even if it doesn't do anything more than the use the cool google map feature...
Thanks for keeping us up to date. But am I missing something? Virginia said it gives you the embed code to put in and use. Where do I find that?
Jason - Okay. I'm oblivious. Now I'll have to go back and check mine out to see how it works. Thanks for giving me the heads up to pay more attention.
Jason,
Hmm, I didn't even notice, to bad google still hasn't changed my location.
Johnathan
Had not noticed this -- but it is a nice touch . Thanks for pointing it out.
Jason - I like the new address added to the sidebar. Active Rain is always looking to make things better.
Great found. I didnot notice it until I read this post. AR has been doing really good job.
Thanks, I'm going to have to see if I have that feature. What a great way to have clients locate your office.
Excellent! I hadn't even noticed it yet!
Since my office is 40 minutes from my house... it doesn't help me that much. But, it is still cool.
Jason -
Any little detail to help improve our visibility - that's a good thing!
For most, the address is a business office - not a home address - so Google Streetview won't pose any security issue. I guess if they really wanted to see what your office looks like - they can come by as well!
Thanks for the share!
DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
Jason -
Great information!
Hi Jason!
It IS very cool...but unfortunately, dated. Our office name is wrong and the comment is from August 2005!...but nontheless, I like it a lot!
very cool...I will add it to my to do list...
Thank goodness you are here to keep people like me on our toes. I have to get over to my profile and set it up. Thanks!!
yeah... I totally didn't see that while I was looking for an address so I could send a little note of thanks for a referral. Today. Too funny lol I think we should all expect some lovely handwritten notes very soon!
Thanks for the heads up Jason. I had noticed the address on Brad's blog but not on my own! That is until you pointed it out. Too bad the street view doesn't work for are area - too cool!
Coooooool stuff. I've been out of pocket for a bit. Great to come back to some new great stuff. The cool stuff keeps coming doesn't it?
Sounds like another great tool to help ranking.
Thanks for pointing this out, we'll have to add our address.
Jason: This is really cool. they Active Rain Guru's are really doing a GREAT JOB !
@ Lora - click on the link that says your address, then upper right corner has link, click on that - it gives you link or embed code. It also has 'customize and preview' - if you go there, you can pick a size.
I clicked on the picture on the upper right in the map and put the photo view on a blog - same steps - looks kinda cool.
I never knew how to use Google maps on my blog - thanks, Jason!
I hadn't realized this. I am off to go check out my profile and see how my office shows.
Hi Jason! I had not noticed the addition of the address and link until I read your post. Thanks for sharing! Active Rain~THANK YOU
^Ditto?
But yeah the Google map? if thats what it is should help. Its nice to be on there for sure.
Oh great. They add this feature just as I managed to escape mostly to my home office. Still- awesome, though.
Jason - Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I didn't notice.
Jason,
Do you have a life besides AR? You are awesome. How did you ever get so many points? Tell me, do you get featured because of your content in your blog or your time on AR or what? Just dying to know. Keep up the great work!
And I thought I had simply overlooked the address! I jumped ship tonight and joined a new office. While updating my blog settings I saw there was a [blank] address. Thanks for updating us and helping us understand the significance.
Hi Jason - that is so cool! Google doesn't have my office in the right place, but it sure was fun "driving" down the Red Feather Lakes Rd. Amazing!! I had no clue that was a link- so thanks for the info!
Jason, I am fairly new to Active Rain, so I am getting used to the site , so I appreciate you pointing out this new feature. I did check mine out and it is working I like the aerial view and the icon for the bus stops.
http://maps.google.com/maps?geocode=&q=1614+Lonsdale+Avenue,+Lincoln,+RI,+02865&ie=UTF8&ll=41.908026,-71.401477&spn=0.003625,0.008926&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr
Jason, great eye for detail as I completely missed this one! I am glad that you pointed this out and will check mine out to make sure it is pointing to the right area on the Google map. Take care and happy blogging!
Jason, How cool is that? I did not even know. Thanks...
Your building consultant in the Nashville, TN area ~ Michael
Neat! I would probably not have noticed. Thanks!
Jason,
Hey thanks for the tip...I did not know that ...thanks as always for your valuable contributions to educating us!!
That is a cool change, I saw it a few days ago and was wondering about it. I'm glad we have AR on our side when it comes to the SEO game.
I notice every little change and I think its awesome! I also saw on the outside blog....catagories...and am loving it!
Thanks for the tip Jason. I didn't even notice the change.
More cool stuff from AR staff! Thanks for the update Jason.
Jason - thanks for pointing this out. It will get someone close, but, if they look where the map indicates they won't find us, also, doesn't have the street view option. But, it is cool.......
You have to love the minds behind Active Rain... Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I can't believe it's free... Shhhhh I don't want to give them any ideas though,
Thank you for the information. I'll check it out!
Portsmouth NH Real Estate
Jason: The AR crew has done it again. You guys/gals are the best - It would take a lifetime to put together all the bells and whistles associated with AR and all who contribute. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes...
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
Were our addresses always there? Just not a link? Or is the address on the side bar a new addition?
I am doing a test today with a new AR signature (the link to my profile page) and it messes up my side bar...goony text there now. Temporarily. The test is dollar signs and calls to action...i in the signature rather than simply name, geographic location, company name.... it is a test.
I had not noticed the new link. It makes a lot of sense from an SEO standpoint.
Thanks for pointing this out, Jason! And thanks for implementing this feature, AR!
Jason,
You see... this is why we have YOU to point these things out for us! Thanks!
Jason - Very cool! Those guys and girls are really tweaking the Search Engines aren't they? Just another reason that this community is the place to be with all the wonderfull additions that have been coming out recently. Thanks for pointing this out. I just noticed it also. Bob H
Hey, Jason. Just one more reason why I love ActiveRain. Have a great weekend, Jim
Thanks for pointing this out...I am going to click on mine right now!
Thanks for the information...that is a really neat add on for blogs.
Thanks..... OH CRAP, I will need to replace our company sign that got knocked down by my neighbor's moving truck (they are a real estate company and would not fix it...but we still like them for some reason).
Thanks for pointing that out!
I tried it on my blog and yes it does take you to a map locating the office I work at, There is one problem that I saw on mine. When you get to the map it says in the left margin at "At This Address" it gives the name of another agent who works at this company other than me. I realise this information is coming from Google maps, not sure I like that. Has any one else checked to see what it says on theirs?
O.K. After this quick reponse, I'm checking this out! Thanks for the heads-up.
I love that ActiveRain is always updating and making it easier for people to find me.
Google good; ActiveRain better.
Michael
Jason thanks for bringing this to our attention. I'm sooo excited by the new changes!
Wow, I hadn't noticed that! My guess is that it will help us when people are Googling, say, Home Stagers in zip code 94920. Woo-hoo! Thanks Active Rain!
Hi Jason, I just checked it out and you are right it shows you right where my office is. Thanks for pointing it out and Thanks Active Rain!
Jason - awesome, awesome, wicked cool. I noticed mine yesterday and had to re-think "Was it always like this?".
Jason, Learn something new every day! I had no idea that was there..guess I'd better add my office address now! Thanks for the heads up!
Have a great weekend Jason!
Thanks for sharing Jason. Does AR have somewhere where they chronologically post updates to their platform and what each upgrade contains?
Now I can punch your address into my GPS and land at your door. Beware Jason, you never know who may show up!
Don't forget the primary reason we added it: Local SEO results!
Hi Jason,
Thanks for pointing out the new feature! Very interesting progress on the SEO front.
Jason - I'm not too observant. I didn't notice it. I have to go back and check. Thanks. Great feature although I live only 2 miles away.
Jason,
Thank you for pointing this out. This is another great feature by the Active Rain crew. I agree that this would be a great feature for the outside blog. Don't you think the outside blog also needs an RSS subscribe button and an email subscribe button? I expect that they will get there on this.
Jason, great feature! THANKS for pointing this out. This is great.
Jason, the address feature is missing from my blog..what do I do to get this corrected?
Eric - I think you just have to go to your profile settings and add it there.
Hi Jason, I love Active Rain, because it just keeps on getting better all the time! What will they think of next?
Makes me think I need to change my address from my home to the office.
Jason
As usual you are a Worldbook of knowledge on AR. This is terrific info for all of us.
Jason - I didn't know about this. That is pretty cool... Thanks for pointing it out! :)
it's the attention to detail, I like Jason! Thanks
Cool hint! Thanks, Jason
Jason,
Thanks for bringing that to my attention and thanks to Jonathan and the crew for watching out for us (SEO).
Great feature I agree. It is easier especially for out of towner to figure out where we are located. Active Rain rocks!
Thanks for the 'heads up."
Thanks Jason, I didn't know this. I need to pay better attention.
That is way too cool! Thanks for pointing it out Jason, I probably never would have noticed.
Well thanks for pointing this out, as I had no idea - I need to spend a little more time here I guess.
Jason,
That's a great new feature. Thanks for pointing it out. I didn't even notice until you told us.
Jason, So much happens around us that we would never know about... unless, one among us stumbles upon it and shares. Thanks man!
Thanks Jason...we need you eyes and ears to keep us on the ball! I'm going to check it out right now!
Jason- Thank you for mentioning that I didn't even notice the change. I love that you put Jonathan Washburn's comments explaining why the change was done and the benefits of adding this feature.
Jason,
Good to know. However, we work out of our home offices and alas, that feature is not a good idea for us. I stumbled upon your post looking for other "help" information such as "how do I put an AR link on my outside blog such as Facebook" and I get drawn into AR more than I wanted. My time flies by when I dare to open the AR network and yes, I am trying to fight the addiction too.
Thanks for the great information. I will need it some day.
Very cool, I just added my office in google maps and have mapping area neighborhoods on my "to-do" list. I have not noticed this change.
Thanks for the tip....I will try to do this tomorrow. Just catching up with some of the tips and tools out there that my fellow agents write about.