You’re probably thinking of the 1985 classic by Jefferson Starship aren’t you?  This post is about AR Cities!

As I was searching for the “missing Blog link” the other day, I discovered an exciting change that you may not have seen yet.  It’s the City pages on ActiveRain.  I was so excited, I actually forgot what I was originally looking for (the Web has that effect on me at times…LOL).  Click on States, Select your State or Province, Select Your County, and then Your City.  It’s that Easy!

The changes made to the City Pages on AR look very different now.  In the past, the only thing on these pages were Agent Profiles in that city, and they were all sorted based on members with the most points.

 

Now there’s an opportunity to “Build This City” and bring “More Value” to these pages:

Here’s a feature similar to what Twitter Members are using:

Just post what’s happening in your City, remember, it’s just like a Blog Post and will get SEO & Google juice.  According to a conversation I had with Jon and Bob this morning, we are already seeing an increase in hits to the ActiveRain City Pages.  I’m anxious to see how and when these will start showing up on Google.

  
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Now you’ve got to love this, I do.  I was the one that had to clean out the Q&A everyday that used to be up on the menu bar. This is a change I have been asking for since July. 

Now consumers can contact “Local” experts and get “Local” answers to their questions.  I hope members won’t use this area to ask silly questions like, “How Do I Make My Font Bold?”  (but I guess you could)

This could really change some things with our direct consumer contact provided we use this feature appropriately.  I suggest  taking 5 minutes a day to see if you can answer any local questions from visitors or readers who find this and use it. 

My thought is this; if SEO will come from your short 140 character updates and community announcements, then inevitably, this City Level Q&A will get more exposure and in time, become another value added tool. Come see my City, I left a message there for ALL of you.

BTW – Everyone was so busy looking for the missing Blog link, that no one mentioned the “Referrals Link” or the “Q&A” links that were gone also.  Well, just like the Blog link, they were never really missing, just moved.  The Referrals and Q&A links are now under the Channels Section in the “More Information” box located on the Main page of ActiveRain.com.  Hope you will enjoy and use these features. 🙂