I invite new agents to experience Content Marketing at it's finest at AR . I have 480,000 invite points !

Daily:  Log In = 100 points

Daily comments 20 = 500 points

Daily answer 20 questions = 300 points

Weekly 10 blog posts = 2500 points (with respect, please post quality blog, not 50 word minimum "fluff" just to get the points).

Plus reblogs, contests, and more.

You can easily produce 30,000 to 40,000 points per month, which would take you to 500k points in just over one year.

Focus on writing posts of interest to AR members and the general public who may be interested in your services. Participate regularly by commenting on others posts and respond to comments left on your posts. Contests can help add points. Readers and the puiblc are most interested in what you have to say than your points.

The best & fastest way to get there is to blog & comment.  The blogging will get you the business along w/ the points.  The commenting will help you network to get more biz and more blogging and marketing ideas.

You can get there w/ patience and hard work.  I got there in 1.5 yrs and it's way easier to get points now.

BTW, I do have over 200,000 in invite points, but it's challenging to get others to accept, blog and stay.  The few that did really saw the value that blogging could bring to their business and I showed them around because they were friends/biz colleagues.  and, when their biz grows, mine does a bit too via referrals.

Steve why be so focused on points?  I suggest being more focused on quality content and getting google juice as well as building referral partners in the rain. That by far will cover the monthly fee until you get to 500K. What matters is building business not points.  That's my two cents worth!

I liked earning my first 500K simply by writing blog posts and commenting on others. 

It's not meant to be easy, I think points is just a way to reward members for being consistent and visiting AR on a regular basis. Most blogging platforms don't award points, but blogging brings other rewards on those platforms.

Its not hard either. May I point out it is the journey and not the destination which will come when you journey anyway. Meanwhile, practice & hone those blogging skills & make a few friends while making a difference

Steve, I'm on the fast track to the 500k mark myself.  It's not as daunting as it seems at first.  I've gotten over 300k since November and I average between 40k & 43k each month.  Takes a little time, but it's easy.

Recruitment is NOT the easiest way to speed things up.  You only get 10% of their points.  So if you recruited me with my 43k points last month, you'd get a whopping 4300 points.  You can earn that in a week yourself.  Most people won't be going gangbusters on here and will probably only get between 5k and 10k per month.  That's 500-1000 points for you.  Do a contest or two and you'll surpass that easily!

If your participation is focused on points ... or merely reaching 500,000 points to get a free account, then you will have missed the main reason to be here ... and that is to build your business, make connections with others, find great referral agents, receive referrals from other agents, and overall just engage in and with the community.  

If you keep writing good, original and engaging content and not think about the points, you will reach 500,000 points before you know it.

My two cents. 

Steve.... the most important task is the blog post.... get the Google Juice....that's the purpose of this site....points are an incentive to post....and your main task here is to do that.... others will comment as you comment on theirs.... and the points add up quickly..... it's a exercise in networking and that's a great skill to improve upon.... the better you network, the more points you'll accumulate ....inviting new members will be to your advantage ONLY if they participate and write posts....otherwise, you'll earn a few points but nothing spectacular..... 

very few of my points are from recruiting.  While I invited a good amount of people, none of them stuck.

I have never had any luck with inviting people. I suggest writing a combination of market reports and something entertaining to hold the peoples interest.

Even more important is you must write about 25 comments a day and if someone comments on your post give them a comment. This place is full of loyal people who will comment on any of your blogs if you do it for them too.

I have been able to get several to sign up but they don't ever really get the hang of it. I just suggest daily blogging and commenting and you will reach that 500,000 mark quicker than you think.

I have a few invited and like most, my invitees do very little for my score.

Consistency does everything for my score, consistent blogging, consistent commenting and interacting, consistent answering of questions, and never taking a day off.

Do this and you will be there in a year, or maybe even 10 months.

I think getting content out there on a regular basis is a great way to watch your points add up.  If you go to Resources - Contest - you will see challenges in AR that reward you nicely for participating.  Also, following people and commenting on their blogs will help you add up points and become part of the network.  

There are also quite a few things you can do in your profile that will award you points if you haven't already done that.  

One post, one comment, etc. at a time.  Enter contests which often give extra points just for entering.  

Concentrate on what you write for public rather than points.   Points are nice here in the Rain but the public puts $$ in your pocket.

Recruitment would be the fastest way to reach 500k but it's certainly not the easiest. We have invited a few dozen people to the Rain. Maybe 10 have accepted and only one has gone beyond a first blog post. 

To reach 500k the fastest, blog and  comment on blogs. But I would like to respectfully suggest that you focus on the content rather than the points - a free account is sweet, but the relationships are sweeter and the business referrals are the sweetest of all.

It took almost a year to get the first 50,000 points.  Now you can do that in little over a month...Don't miss the boat on what this site and blogging is all about...MARKETING.  Good to have invites, but my invites did not bring in customers like my blogs did.

It really isn't that difficult, I average about 43,000 points per month, blogging, commenting, answering questions, participating in contests and getting likes and comments from other members on a regular basis.

In less than a year, you're over the hump!

Steve Snyder, At the beginning it looks hard but blog 10 a week and  do Q & A daily.  you will get there.  Do not forget contests.

Fred Griffin provided the formula I was going to suggest.   Rinse.  Repeat.   

I've invited people but they've never become regular bloggers and I think that's because it's not really easy. It takes time and thought and patience to earn a free account and most people don't want to do it.

Recruiting is a challenge because many do not relate at all to blogging. ActiveRain is a good seminar topic for you to present in real estate offices as you sign up all of the agents as new members.

Great question - and Michael J. Perry is obviously the king of the invite!

Steve,

You have so many great answers, don't worry about the points, keep writing and commenting.  A

I think everyone gave you great advice. A

It does take a while to get to the 500,000 point mark. It takes hard work and dedication. You can do it, though. It's great if you can recruit, though, and that will help you get there faster. 

There are multiple things you can do to increase the speed.

I recruit my new agents. Obviously, And other agents that I close listings with /or they have the listing to my buyers property.

Also, my colleagues on LinkedIn I have invited when I was sending out my business plan. I invited them as well. Only a handful joined out of 1,700+.

Good Luck~

It is a great blog

I'm like Susan Emo and I'm still doing the same.

I've had a few people sign up through my link but most of them didn't stay around so for point accumulation purposes it didn't work for me. 

I have not done it . It is difficult. I have emailed many agents but no one responded.

Steve Snyder Recruitment isn't as easy as it sounds. I've probably invited over 100 agents, lenders, etc. to join ActiveRain. Maybe 3 or 4 joined and they aren't doing anything. A lot of people in our industry don't believe in blogging. Most think it is a waste of time.

Well I've been here since 2006 & I've yet to recruit anyone. Most people are afraid to blog, most people will be afraid of you because you blog. Everyone will look at you with scrunched eyebrows when you say the word 'blog'.

i believe the recruiting is a tool for the AR owners. NOT for the user. In fact i think that rule or method of getting points. SHOULD GO THE FLOCK AWAY. Strong letter to follow. :) I think the best way to get points is to earn them by contributing. Some get points and never really work at it. I dont see that as adding. sorry i dont. Curious mister money guy.. do you have construction loan spec products?

Bribery works!  

I am careful who I invite. Used to send out a lot of invitations with little response. Blog and answer questions and you will be there in no time!

Contests are good ways to earn points. 

I like the points also, but mostly I engage others here on AR. The more I engage, the more points I make.

More important though, the more I engage, the more I learn, I gain more connections and friends and I become part of a wonderful community.

Steve, you have a ton of good answers here. In my opinion, the best way is to blog and comment daily.

It is true, the more members you bring on board the more points you get. Also, you get well if they blog and participate ( comments, answers, etc.). Good luck:) 

Steve Snyder - excellent post - and I need to read it in details.

Recruiting a person is to show them the benefits of ActiveRain.

Just be consistent.  And you don't have to write really, really long posts.  

I don't recruit.

Mike Rock has a great point about points for recruiting.  While it is very useful to have regular people like us swelling the AR ranks from recruiting, I think the points should be limited to 2000 or 5000 per recruit.  This still leaves an incentive, but keeps points focused on those who contribute.  There are a lot of people who have joined and don't contribute...tons !  If the idea is that we recruit them and then encourage them to participate, that might only happen if I live in their house, and then only maybe.  Recruiting points should be flat rate.

I never see the person who recruited me blogging on AR.  As far as I can tell, her last blog was 4/4/2014.  I don't like that she passively gets points because of my contributions.  Just saying......

As for how?  The easiest way is to have a lot of traffic to your personal site and to send out invitations to that traffic.  Not many have that traffic.

Steve - I have not found it easy to recruit, and don't even try anymore. The best way to reach 500,000 points is to be active every day. You could easily get 30,000-40,000 points a month. You should be able to get close to 500,000 points in a year.

Plus, the more posts you publish, the more business you should receive.

You should be able to earn 30,000 points a month. There are no short cuts, start blogging, start commenting, enter contests and head over to the q and a page. 

My personal goal is to hit 2 million points.

I do not recruit--not for Active Rain, not for my brokerage. I sell real estate. I don't have time to worry about recruitment. And I earned my 500,000 points fair and square by posting, commenting, doing product reviews, answering questions, entering challenges and contests, etc.

parked and reading...

If you already have appreciable points AR will give you a discount. A 1/3 page ad in local paper is $800 for the weekend. I bet no one even looks at it.

Like anything else they can raise the bar to 1M points on short notice. Due deligience in blogging consistently applies on AR also,