Home : Blogs : Janet Guilbault California Mortgage Banker/Broker : California Mortgage Advisor

How To Supercharge the ActiveRain Dashboard with Undiscovered Writers and GREAT FEATURES

After reading Lenn's featured post offering ideas on HOW TO GET A FEATURED POST....I would like to turn things upside down:

Ask not what the members can do to appeal to THOSE THAT SELECT FEATURES.

Ask those that select the features what they can do to PROMOTE more features among the members.

I am suggesting that we add 5 features to the dashboard for which the moderators select the topic... kind of like playing poker when the dealer names the game before the cards are dealt.

BEST 5 ARE FEATURED DAILY.

Example: What if you had to write a real estate related post but the headline had to be the title of a song?

What if you invited members to submit the best COMMENT they ever wrote on ActiveRain as a post?

What if the moderators said they wanted to feature interviews with CEO's of the top real estate companies regarding how they saw the rest of 2009 panning out?

What if they invited everyone who has been a member for 6 months or less to write about how ActiveRain has changed their marketing?

What if a headline were already written and members had to write the post? Example: "The single marketing idea that made my business explode." or "the WORST house that I ever listed" or "The day I almost quit the real estate business"

Our members could SUGGEST topics and headlines of interest.

These would not be contests, even though most of us FEEL like we have won the lotto when we are featured. LOL

I think all of us would agree that great CONTENT trumps just about everything else. And that writer's block keeps many newer members from posting.

I would also hope that those featured would be read by all those wanna-be feature writers (so they could know learn how to write a feature worthy post).

What say ye, RainGods and members?

Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Banker/Broker Based Out of the San Francisco Bay Area

Posted by Janet Guilbault California Mortgage Banker/Broker on 07/12/2009 03:12 PM

Comments (10)

Featured Posts in the ActiveRain Channel

featured at activerain, writing skills, newbies, rainernation, activerain

Post is included in group: The Ninety-ninth Percentile
Post is included in group: Realtors®
Post is included in group: Active Rain Newbies

10 Comments on How To Supercharge the ActiveRain Dashboard with Undiscovered Writers and GREAT FEATURES

JUL

Janet,

Curious to see what response you get....sounds like fun!

Fabulous idea Janet! I'm in. It would be great to comment on any of the topics you have addressed... Especially with that competitive edge thrown in for fun!

Janet I had suggested they do an "unfeatured" Friday once a month and feature ONLY bloggers that had never been featured.

You'll make the dash again, I am sure with this because it is worth talking about, but I am really tired of reading the same folks. Looking for some new bloggers. What are those 200 new signups a day doing?

As a new AR member I totally agree with your post. I really enjoy it and have learned everything I know about blogging from AR. But the idea of having newer members become better known is very important. Otherwise many folks may start to think that it's a clickish clan which would eventually come back and bite em in the shiney hiney.

This idea sounds BUENO! Themes and new writers! I do not disagree with what they put up there but it does recently seem like themes so why not announce daily themes and put them out there for us to write about.

I'm not sure how that would improve the "feature worthiness" of individual posts.

It would give the writer the "what" but not the how.

Lenn: The purpose would not be to improve feature worthiness. It would be to launch new writers, or reluctant writers.

Maybe we need to have writer mentors also to clean up posts..maybe a pre-feature status or something like that.

How can you get to how if you can't come up with the what.

Hi Janet,

I think its a great idea. Personally, most of my stuff is localism. Of little interest to anything but local agents and consumers. That's where I focus my attention. So I'm not surprised that my posts are left alone by most. Nor does it bother me. But new bloggers often feel discouraged.

For those new writers who feel "lost" the idea of giving them some direction might help them actually get started writing regularly. Sometimes, its hard to wrap your head around WHAT to write. This is particularly true for those who have never blogged. Being given some direction - or perhaps a goal - might help them organize their thoughts. This would also allow new members who are writing and feel invisible to have a chance to stand out and not get lost in the flood of posts.

Janet - Great idea! However, like Ruthmarie, most of the stuff I write is localism stuff of member only picture posts. How about if the Gods just designate certain days as "No Bashing" day, where they don't feature bashing posts.

JUL

Interesting idea. My only thoughts is this ... if too few people write something, AR would possibly be forced to promote lower quality work. But this seems like a good idea for once a week or something. I'd like to see it limited to 1 or 2 maybe ... :)

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?