BiggerPockets Founder's Blog

We're going to try and put together a series of screencasts to help demonstrate how to use the various site features of BiggerPockets. Here's the first of many to come:

How to Use the BiggerPockets Help / Knowledgebase / FAQ

Instead of fumbling around the site, trying to figure something out, why not use the built in help feature?

Help Us By Writing a Testimonial for BiggerPockets!

To share a testimonial, simply go to the dashboard and click on the Write a Testimonial link on the left of the page. You'll see a box drop down where you can write about the site. You will be restricted to 180 characters, so please be concise.

Just let others know what you think about BP, how it has helped you or your business, or anything else you have to say that will let others know about your great experiences on the site. We'll then get notified of the message and can then approve it for inclusion. Once included, the testimonial will be added to the site with a link back to your profile, so people can see that there was an actual user behind the message.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you all think, and sharing it with the world.

If you haven't had the chance to check out the blog, it is regularly mentioned as one of the tops in real estate.  In addition, our articles are syndicated by such sources as Reuters, Google News, the Palm Beach Post, and many others.

Looking to Grow Even More!

There are a few things we're looking for to help get our blog to where we need to be, and we're asking all of our members for your help!

1 - When you read an article that you like, dislike, agree with, have questions about, etc. please leave your feedback in the comments.  Our contributors thrive on the feedback of their peers, and by engaging with them, you help them better understand their audience.

2 - When you read an article that you like/love, help us promote it by sharing it with your friends and others online.  There are a few great ways to do that.  Using Email, posting to social networks like Twitter, Facebook, etc, or sharing through social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Tipd, etc.  All of our posts have a SHARE THIS link at the bottom, which will allow you to easily post to any of these services.

3 - New contributors.  Read below for more . . .

We're in need of contributors in the following areas:

1 - Lending and Mortgages – are you a traditional, commercial, or hard money lender? We're looking for folks in the lending business who can write about lending, rates, loans, etc.

2 - Real Estate News – we are looking for people who are enthusiastic about news involving real estate, housing, the economy, etc. If you love the news and want to write about what is happening, let us know.

3 - Real Estate Technology – we're looking for contributors who love real estate and technology.  If you're able to talk intelligably about tech tools, websites, etc., we want to talk to you.

 This is a great opportunity to get yourself seen by a vast audience, and to be part of something incredible - it is also a great way to build up your reputation.  If you want to join the team, contact us here.

We've made a minor improvement to the forums that we wanted to share with you:

See Who Voted on a Forum Post - Members can now see who voted on any given post by hovering their mouse over the vote button at the top right of any individual post.  A list of members will show up detailing those people who have voted. 

We're planning on making it easy to track the votes of any given member and should have that deployed in the next few days.

One of the places that our members like to spend their time is on our Off-Topic and Political Talk forums.  That said, these forums can often-times be a distraction and a time-killer. 

Recently, one of our members suggested that we remove these forums from the forum feed found in your dashboard.  We agreed that it would be a good idea to give our members the option to ignore these distractive, and sometimes controversial subject areas while navigating their dashboard.

Members Can Now Ignore Several Forum Areas from their Dashboard

We've made some changes in our dashboard which will allow members, by default, to ignore the Off-Topic, Political Talk, and all Marketplace forum topics.  You don't have to do ANYTHING if you want to continue to ignore these areas while looking at your dashboard forum feed.

If you want to see these areas once again, just go to your DASHBOARD and click on the Settings and Password link. Then, just click on the Dashboard tab (see above image) and you'll be able to choose which of these areas you once again want to see in your dashboard forum feed.

We appreciate all member suggestions for improving the site, and do everything in our power to make BiggerPockets a place where our members come first.

Thanks again, and don't forget to invite your friends, colleagues, and associates to join you here on BP!

You can't go very far without hearing about Twitter.  Most people I know are now on Facebook, and I quickly see those in my circle of influence moving to Twitter as well.  With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you how you can use both Twitter and Facebook to grow your network right here on BiggerPockets.

Of course, by building your own personal network here on BP, you're also bringing new people on to the site who can both help others, and benefit themselves from the knowledge, networking opportunities, marketing opportunities and deal making opportunities that BiggerPockets provides.

1 - Find Your Unique BiggerPockets Referral Link

• Start on BiggerPockets by visiting the Invite link found above the search bar on all pages on our social network.
• You'll be taken to the Send an Invite page, where you can directly email an invite to any friends or colleagues, OR if you scroll down the page, you'll see the following: Alternatively, just give out the following link to your friends for them to sign up!

Which is followed by a link on the following line that looks like this:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/signup/via_account?ref=9 

• The link on YOUR invite page will be identical to the one above, except the number at the end of the link will point to your unique member number.  
• USE YOUR LINK, NOT THE LINK ABOVE.  The link above will not give you credit for those people you invite, but will give credit to me instead.

2 - Share Your BiggerPockets Referral Link on Twitter and Facebook

• Now that you've got your referral link, copy that link and open either Twitter or Facebook in a new Tab or Window of your browser.
• Some people find it easier to share links by shortening them.  I recommend using http://bit.ly/ as it will allow you to see how many people have clicked on the link.  This could come in useful, in tracking which message you use works best for you (see below).  Whether you decide to shorten the link or not, you'll then want to craft an enticing message to get your friends and colleagues interested.
• On Facebook, you'll now want to place your message and the link in the What's on Your Mind box.  On Twitter, you'll place it in the What are you doing? box.
• Here are some examples of messages you can use (of course, replace YOURLINKHERE with your referral link or the shortened URL):

Join me at BiggerPockets.com, the best real estate social network! YOURLINKHERE

 

Network with me on BiggerPockets.com and help grow your real estate business.  YOURKLINKHERE

 

Want to build your real estate contacts?  Join BiggerPockets.com today! YOURLINKHERE

 

35,000+ people are networking with me on BiggerPockets.com. Join us! YOURLINKHERE

 

Learn how to make money in real estate for free on BiggerPockets.com.  YOURLINKHERE

 

Promote your properties and real estate deals on BiggerPockets.com. YOURLINKHERE

• All that's left is to submit your update on Twitter or Facebook, and watch to see what happens.  If you find that your message isn't working, mix it up and try something different.  Of course, you don't want to annoy your friends or followers, so be careful in your approach.

3 - Watch as Your Friends and Colleagues Join You on BiggerPockets!

Once people follow your advice and join you on BiggerPockets, you'll see that the number of colleagues you have begins to grow. 

 With a larger network comes the opportunity to grow your business, and the vast amount of shared knowledge on the site will also grow in kind. Be sure to get out and engage your colleagues -- keep up with their business, and make yourself helpful to them.  You'll soon find that this approach of engagement along with participation on BiggerPockets will help you and your real estate business to thrive!

 4 - Win Awards and Influence for helping us grow BiggerPockets!

• By referring 10 new members to the site, you can win the RECRUITER award badge.
• By referring 25 new members to the site, you can win the elusive HEADHUNTER award badge.
• For each new member that you invite to the site, you'll gain 30 Influence points.

Note: Be sure to follow @BiggerPockets on Twitter to keep up with site news, announcements, and other interesting real estate information.