BiggerPockets Founder's Blog

Amongst other reasons, we created our BiggerPockets PRO accounts to give members the ability to inprove their marketing on the site.  I wanted to write a brief post letting our current and future PRO members know how to best utilize some of the great features that come with being a BiggerPockets PRO. 

An Enhanced forum Signature, Including Your Company's Logo

I believe that one of the most powerful benefits of becoming a PRO member is having an advanced forum signature.  While regular members have the ability toinclude a line of information in their signature, which can include contact information and a website link, this is standard with a PRO signature. 

PRO members, get an additional line where they can add any additional information (email, phone and website link are standard), AND best of all, they get their company's logo posted at the bottom of all forum posts, linking back to their company's profile.

This exposure is INVALUABLE for anyone with their own company, or for anyone who is looking to help spread the word about the company they work for.  By simply participating on the forums, you get your brand in front of the eyes of our thousands of daily forum visitors.  

Easily Find New Leads Using Your BiggerPockets Stats

In the Dashboard of our PRO members is a section devoted to Stats, where our PROs can see that latest visitors to their profile, blog, and each property listing on BiggerPockets!  This information provides our members with a powerful tool for scouting new leads.

Properties:

By seeing the latest people who visited your property listings, you can then contact these people by PM to find out about their interest.  Perhaps they were just curious onlookers, but perhaps the property is just what they are looking for.  Either way, you can establish a relationship with someone who, by looking at your property listing, has shown that they have some kind of interest in the properties that you've got available.

Profile & Blog:

Similar to above, there is usually some reason that someone visits your profile or blog.  Odds are that you've written something, or you have something in your profile that is of interest to them.  By knowing who these people are, you can then get in touch to figure that out.  

Contact Made Easier as a PRO

While regular members are restricted to send a PM to those people that they are colleagues with, our PRO members do not have those limitations.  A PRO member can send a PM to any other BiggerPockets member (provided they are not blocked by that member), and by using the data I mentioned above, you can really start to work those leads and easily get in touch with people.

That said, we will not put up with anyone using the PM system to SPAM other members.  We will not hesitate to remove the PM privileges of any member, basic or PRO, if we determine that you are using the PM system to send unsolicited offers, ads, deals, etc.

Your Profile Highlighted on the Networking Page

Our PRO members get their profiles highlighted at the top of the Networking page.  Not only will people get to see your name and location, but also your occupation, a link to your company's profile (if you've created a company profile) , and a link to your website.

More to Come . . .

There are many other features that come with being a BiggerPockets PRO member, that can help with your marketing and lead mining.  We'll come back to you and delve into some of those in the near future.

Not A PRO Yet? Upgrade to BiggerPockets PRO Today!

Improve Your Real Estate Marketing by Blogging on BiggerPockets

Many months ago, we launched our BiggerPockets.com blogging system as a way for real estate investors, professionals, and others in the business to share their thoughts, opinions, and knowledge. Of course, as a result of that participation, the goal was to help these bloggers get noticed.

BiggerPockets Blogs are fast and easy to set up, and now bring a new perk:

Top Bloggers and Blog Commenters are Highlighted to the Community

We felt that it was important to let everyone in the community know who those people were that contributed the most to the BiggerPockets blogging community, and have thus added the Top Participants this Month feature.

On the right side of the main blogs page, you'll see a box with the Top Participants this Month, which shows the five (5) most active bloggers and the five (5) most prolific commenters.

So What are the Perks for Being on the List?

If you're on the list (which looks back at the last 30 days, not the previous month), you'll get your name and personal avatar posted, which link back to your profile AND a link to your website will also appear in the list!

You can see that participation equals FREE PR for your profile and website link!

Are There Other Reasons to Blog on BiggerPockets?

1. BiggerPockets has a vast and captive audience.
2. SEO link back potential to help your offsite web properties.
3. Networking with others — Social Network isn't the future, it's here to stay. You have to be part of the conversation or you don't exist.
4. By providing helpful and meaningful content, members who blog actively on BiggerPockets will gain benefits including broad exposure for you and your business.
5. Do-follow links to your favorite websites
6. Make money! Our bloggers can make money by showing ads on their blog.

What Are You Waiting For? Jump on the BiggerPockets Blogs community and start posting your own blogs and engaging in conversation with others by commenting! You'll see the benefits yourself!

NOTE: If we feel that you are "gaming" the system by posting "junk" comments or blog posts to inflate your count, we will either remove your ability to participate, or we may remove you from the site completely.

One of the most important ways for real estate investors and professionals to expand their businesses is by networking.  While networking online is great, there is nothing like meeting people in person.

There are many opportunities  to do this, namely, by attending local real estate clubs.  That said, there aren't always clubs in your area, and many of these clubs aren't more than sell-fests.  We at BiggerPockets.com feel that these groups do a disservice to their members, who pay for the privilege to get sold someone's overpriced course or other materials.

Use BiggerPockets Events to Plan your Own Real Estate Networking Event

 Instead of suffering through one of these awful meetings, why not create your own?  With over 30,000 members and around 150,000 unique monthly visitors, BiggerPockets has a vast audience of real estate fanatics who would be great to meet in person!

Just figure out a time and place, and add your event to BiggerPockets Events.

Once you add the listing, which shouldn't take more than a few minutes, depending on how much information you'd like to share, it will be available for all of our members and visitors alike to see.  

How to Get People Excited to Join Your Event

On your event's page, you'll be able to invite your colleagues from BiggerPockets to join you, and you will also be able to invite others by email.  If you don't know many people yet, you can also promote the event in the local real estate networking forum, where others on the site can also learn about it.

Other promotional techniques include sharing the link to your event on places like Craigslist, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Start Small and Spread the Word

Don't be discouraged if only a few people show up to your event.  These things grow little by little.  You just have to get it started and then begin hosting these regularly - people will let others know and you'll start to grow.

You don't need an agenda or plan to have an event!

 We put on events here in Denver once every month or two, and host it in a local pub with a great patio. These events provide a great opportunity for locals to link up, learn, and network over some food and drinks in a casual setting.  There is no pressure, no selling, no nonsense.

What are you waiting for?  Start planning your Local Real Estate Get Together with BiggerPockets Events Today!

Always looking to improve the user experience on BiggerPockets, we just launched a knowledgebase application to help answer your questions about using the site.

BiggerPockets Help consists of categories, questions, answers, and a search function to help you with any of your general questions about using the site.

How to Get to the Help Page:
There is a help link found above the search box towards the top right of most pages and another link can be found in the footer of all pages on the site.

You can also search the help database by looking at the dropdown next to the search bar at the top of the site's pages and navigating to help. Then, just enter a few keywords that you'd like to find out about and you should find your answers.

What if my Question isn't Answered Yet?
On the right side of the knowledgebase there is a section labeled Can't Find the Answer? Simply post your question in the box below and we'll get to it right away and respond either privately, or if the question is deemed helpful to others, we'll add it to the knowledgebase.

NOTE: The directory isn't completely filled in yet, but we're diligently working to make it as complete as possible as we speak.