photo courtesy of adamr.stone
When you wish upon a gold star...
Ahh, the coveted gold star at ActiveRain. It's a mark of pride, a influx of new readers, commenters, and even points. It's a good feeling. My last two posts received a feature and they were about as different as monster trucks and the Grand Canyon. I've been doing alright in the feature category since coming to ActiveRain, so I thought I'd take a few moments to analyze some of the things I've learned about ActiveRain Featured Posts.
1. Don't be afraid to be yourself. - In one of my first featured posts, "Christmas morning and the silence.," I went for a personal glimpse into who I am. It was a short post, but talked about the day as it laid out before me. It was all about me and what I thought. Give your insight, give your thoughts, tell us who you are.
2. Call it like you see it. - We've all heard that honesty is the best policy (and if you're full of lies, you probably shouldn't be in the real estate industry), but when you step up and call it like you see it, you'll often find yourself surrounded by people who agree with you and will get a conversation going. Think conversation starters. You don't need to ask questions, just leave something in the air, waiting for the next member to come along, pluck it up, and run with it.
3. Talk to your audience. - We wait for people to come along and comment on our posts, but what are our posts? If there's no conversation or argument or agreement, we wind up with a dead post with few visitors. To start a conversation, someone needs to speak first. You have the stage, take that opportunity and speak up. Talk as if you have a million readers, don't talk as if only one agent subscribes to your blog. When they talk back (comment) you had better be ready to reply.
4. Mix it up. - Many people recommend you talk about different thing - real estate and outside world things. Yes, that is correct, but I'm also talking about mixing it up within your field. Take the viewpoint of a buyer, take the viewpoint of a seller, take the viewpoint of a lender or inspector. By viewing things from different angles, you can create a well-rounded view of the topic at hand. I've actually been thinking about a specific post that will illustrate this idea. We have both buyers and sellers reading our blogs, so why not look at the same topic from both of their viewpoints? We all know they have to face different issues during a transaction, so use that to educate the consumer.
5. Experience. Hypothetical. - Talk from experience and talk in hypotheticals. Both provide valuable insight into who you are as a member and both provide value to us members. These are the things that get the conversation started and Featured Posts - they send conversation to a whole new level. Sometimes a post will be featured solely on the conversation it creates.
6. Don't write for a feature. - Ask anyone who's ever been featured. If you write it to be featured, it won't be. It's the posts you least expect.
Always think "what am I bringing to the table with this post." Ask "who will respond and how might they respond." Ask yourself "how would I comment if I wrote this post." Do you see the theme? Get the conversation started. Keep it going with your posts. See a great post that gets you thinking? Write a follow up to that author (and credit them with their article - a good way to make a few new friends).
And whatever you do...never think a post isn't worthy of a feature - you'll be surprised at what gets featured sometimes - "ActiveRain helped me find a long lost relative."
This is my first post in what I've decided to call the Ambassador Series. The idea is to give some helpful hints that I've learned along the way for some of the newcomers (of which I am still a member and always will be). They won't always contain the ultimate answer or the perfect solution, but they will be my thoughts and what I would (and often did) hear when I first started. I encourage any of the ActiveRain Ambassadors to follow along and add their own stories and tips to the mix with their own posts. Just title them "Ambassador Series: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" (this will make them easier to find). Perhaps someday someone can compile them all in one group.
You can read other Amabassador Series posts at "Ambassador Series: Writing with controversy." and "Ambassador Series: Are you a new blogger and feeling unsure? (RE-BLOG)."
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I like don't be afrain of yourself. Great blog. I think I'll flag this!