Wow... when it rains here, it pours. Thank you to all of you who commented on my initial blog post. I have never joined a community with as many active, friendly, courteous, and professional members. Thank you for making me feel so welcome.
I am fairly new to blogging, so my posts will be very simple and straight forward. In a sense I write more of a journal than what would be considered a traditional blog. So if I break any blogging rules or guidelines, feel free to point it out to me. I appreciate the education.
I mentioned in my first post that I had created a web application for new home builders. That is somewhat of an exaggeration. The real brains behind the idea is my business partner Jayson Manship. Jayson just joined our community as well. Visit him on the link I just learned how to create. (Very Cool!!!) Jayson is the architect and backbone of our web application. Early on he designed the outline of the system for our programmers. After they created the core, Jayson took over and with our in house programming team has finished the application. We call it URBaCS.
Our goal was to create a simple, efficient, and low cost tool for builders to help them increase their marketing efforts and sales through a more effective system of word of mouth advertising. "Man. that last sentance makes me tired just writing it." The simple version is, it spreads the word about the builder further, works good and is cheap! We choose photo sharing as the primary tool because of the recent explosion in the technology. It seems that everyone in the country has a phone that takes pictures. Most news story's on AOL are picture slide shows with text. According to com.score, Myspace uploads over 8,000,000 pictures a day. Facebook, YouTube, and communities like ActiveRain all have become very mainstream. Over 44% of American Internet users now post on blogs, discussion boards or participate in other social media outlets. We felt that if we could give the builders customer an easy outlet for their natural enthusiasm about their new home they would use it. We were right!
Well my finger is getting tired now, so I am going to quit typing soon. In the last two years of getting this venture started, both Jayson and I have learned quite a bit about social bookmarking and marketing. I'll pass along some of what we have learned. You may find it useful for your business.
Stop back soon, and I will tell you some more about URBaCS. If you are interested, you can also learn more at the URBaCS Blog.
Thanks again for the warm reception.
Rob, Very interesting and I will definitely check out URBaCS Blog. I like the idea of promoting builders.
Congrats on joining AR! We were shocked too, when we joined! Everyone was so friendly and helpful and involved!
Best of luck! Let us know if you have any questions! We can try to help!
Have a successful week!
Hello, welcome to Active Rain! This seems like a wonderful environment to network as well as learn from others. I hope you enjoy yourself and participate often in the Active Rain environment!