The Rain Blog

How To Import ActiveRain to WordPress

Posted on May 13, 2011 by bradandersohn Posted in Active Rain, The Rain Blog Leave a comment

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This page and site was designed to demonstrate and provide instructions on how you can export your ActiveRain Blog and content over to a WordPress Blog.

5 very important items you need to know before doing this.

1. Your “Members Only” posts will export and show up publicly on WordPress
2. Your comments will NOT be exported over from ActiveRain to WordPress
3. Your images, photos, and graphics will still be hosted on the ActiveRain Server
4. Any future posts written on AR after this process will NOT be posted on WordPress
5. Exporting your ActiveRain Blog and Importing it to WordPress is done at your own risk

Let’s Begin:

1. The first step is to export the XML file from your ActiveRain blog. Login to ActiveRain, click on the “My Home” link, then scroll down to the link that says “Export Blog Entries” located on the left hand side toward the bottom of the page.

2. Next, save the XML file to your desktop or into a folder somewhere on your computer.

3. The file will be saved as a compressed or “zipped” file so you’ll need to extract the original XML file. You can usually accomplish this by simply double-clicking on the file to open it up and access your XML file. The XML file is what contains ALL your ActiveRain Blog content. This is the file you’ll be importing into WordPress in just a moment.

4. Now you’re ready to import your ActiveRain blog content into a WordPress Blog. It’s recommended that you already have a self hosted Blog setup on WordPress with no pre-existing content. You can add your content to an existing blog but depending on your content and targeted audience or niche, it’s best to add keep the data separate until you’re certain you want them combined.

5. Before you can import the ActiveRain Blog to WordPress, you’ll want to download and install the ActiveRain-Wordpress Importer Plugin to your self hosted blog.

Here’s a link to download the ActiveRain plugin.

This video created by Jeff Turner and hosted on Youtube will walk you through the next steps of exporting your blog from ActiveRain, adding the ActiveRain Importer WordPress Plugin, and then importing your ActiveRain XML backup file into a self-hosted WordPress Blog.

Again, this process and procedure will ONLY work on self-hosted WordPress Blogs.

Important Note:
Be sure you’re running PHP5 on your WordPress Hosting site, PHP4 will not work and will return an error message. Contact your site’s host if you’re note sure what version of PHP you are currently running.

This entire site and blog was exported from ActiveRain and Imported here to “The Rain Blog” on May 9th, 2011 and took about 30 minutes total. The Rain Blog consists of more than 585 Blog posts that were originally created and written over on the ActiveRain Real Estate network over the past four years. ActiveBrad’s Blog on ActiveRain.

When It Rains, It Pours

Posted on May 11, 2011 by bradandersohn Posted in Active Rain, The Rain Blog 2 Comments

Today I read a post on ActiveRain published by their previous programmer who is no longer with the company or community. It was titled: A $60.000 Eulogy for ActiveRain – In fear that management would remove his post, he also placed it on an outside site HERE. Regardless of what the article says, and whether or not one or both articles will remain online for public viewing, the fact of the matter is that there are no guarantees in life and especially with online platforms, community’s, websites etc.

Nothing Lasts Forever!!

Just 3 days ago, I was able to export my ActiveRain blog content and move it here to this WordPress Blog. Was it for Safe Keeping? Am I concerned about the future of ActiveRain? Was it because I fear the site going down again and again? Or was it due to the fact that my phone and email were “FLOODED” because of the sites technical problems over the past week and hundreds of members wanting to know how to do this?

Maybe it was all the above, but now I know it can be done, and The Rain Blog is the example.

I’ve posted the instructions here along with a video from Jeff Turner to show you how it can be done. This site is being used to help others, to educate them about ActiveRain XML exporting, and importing content into WordPress. If you’re needing help with this or if you have any questions at all, feel free to let me know.

I’ve also repeated these steps and process on two separate sites and platforms to confirm that the export and import work! You can view the other site here at BradsDomain.com. Both are complete backups of my ActiveRain Blog content.

Video Marketing Reaching Buyers and Sellers

Posted on May 7, 2011 by bradandersohn Posted in Active Rain, Marketing Tips 2 Comments

I just got off the phone with Gary Gold who shared a portion of his video marketing strategy with me. I think Gary is onto something here but I don’t want to steal his thunder. Gary is a broker in the Southern California region who closes millions of dollars in transactions each year.

He’s using social media sites like Facebook, and now video to reach an even wider audience. My request was to have Gary come be a guest and share with you more of his marketing strategies, tips, and secrets. Gary agreed so I hope you’ll take a few moments and come hear what he has to say and share.

This is one of Gary’s videos addressing why “Now Is The Time” for both buyers and sellers.

Gary has worked with numerous celebrity’s and stars in the past, most recently… Ashton Kutcher whose home is still available if you’re interested. He works with many celebrities and has been hosted on numerous local and national television stations sharing his expertise with audiences all over the country. Here’s Gary in a Beverly Hill Mansions video interview that’s had over 350,000 views, then on CBS evening news, and here he is again on Access Hollywood. To have him as my captivated VIP guest is not only an honor, it’s an opportunity for me to pick his brain with YOUR questions and get answers that will be useful to you in your business.

Click Ad Above – See how Gary uses his Showcase Ads

You’ve asked me to find Top Producing agents to come share their tips, tricks, and secrets, so don’t let me down by leaving any empty seats at this event next week. You’ll be happy to note that the parking will be FREE, and it will be less than 500 miles from your front door. We’ve arranged it so there will be no traffic at the time of the event and the weather promises to be exactly how you want and like it. Gas will be free, bridge tolls covered, and you won’t need to pay a penny for Hotel or Motel accommodations.

The event will be held in YOUR office, at YOUR home, or anywhere YOU can open YOUR laptop w/Internet!
There’s nothing to sell, nothing to buy, it’s completely free, and there’s no catch!

SIGN ME UP – THIS IS TOO GOOD TO MISS!

You owe it to yourself to come join my friend and guest especially since he’s willing to unveil and share his “TOP SECRETS” and tips with you. You’ll Learn how Gary’s marketing techniques and real estate skills have helped him assist hundreds of customers in his area close millions of dollars of Real Estate.

Gary Gold began his career in real estate over 20 years ago and has been a top producer and the Executive Vice President with Hilton & Hyland since its inception. Hilton & Hyland is Beverly Hills’ preeminent luxury real estate firm, with over $1 billion in annual sales.

We’re expecting over 500 people, and we look forward to having YOU be one of them.

The Rain Blog Just Moved In… We’ve Relocated

Posted on May 5, 2011 by bradandersohn Posted in Active Rain, The Rain Blog 4 Comments

The Rain Blog has relocated to this new Theme.
We are currently undergoing major remodeling and upgrades.

Please check back often, we should have all our content migrated over from our previous site. We’ll also be providing a step by step tutorial on how we did this so you can do it too.

If you are looking for and needing some of the articles and blog posts from the Rain Blog, feel free to visit BradsDomain.com or ActiveRain where you’ll find most of the content that was syndicated to this site.