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Blogging, Features, and High School: Are They Related?

By Lisa Hill

Real Estate Agent with Florida Property Experts

November 13, 2009 02:55 PM

Blogging Tips and Advice, by Lisa Hill "The Smart Choice" for all your real estate needs

Last week, Broker Bryant Tutas wrote a post that addressed the bloggers who complain about not being featured... and all the silly complaining that occurs. He also offered advice to Active Rain Newbies. You can follow the link above to read his post. But to briefly summarize, there are many people who think the only way to get a featured post is to be "popular" (lol). Oh my! If I'm not part of the in-crowd, I can't get a featured post! (WRONG!)

So I'm writing this post to further address this topic, and to share with you, how I commented on Broker Bryant's post. My comment is as follows...

"I haven't noticed the "whiner" posts, but I usually stick to my sub list. However, I think there may be a bit of correlation between features and high school... Here's my theory...

In high school, if you wrote a good paper, you got a good grade!
In high school, if you consistently got good grades, you were rewarded by being placed on the Dean's List, the Honor Roll, and eventually, by graduating with Honors.

So obviously, there is a correlation ;-)"

Voila! I've discovered the key to getting my posts featured! What do you know? All I have to do is write quality content. How about that!?

And for the nosy folks, over the years I've had 17 featured Active Rain posts, and even more posts that were Localism featured. And I don't consider myself to be one of the "popular crowd".

Lisa Hill Daytona Beach Native and Realtor

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Cheryl Clayton

Westlake Village home buyers and sellers Thousand Oaks homes - Westlake Village, CA

Conejo Valley and Simi Valley Realtor

Lisa, I'm still working on getting featured. It seems like writing quality content comes easier to some more than others. Great post. Thanks for sharing.

Nov 13, 2009 02:58 PM

Guy Thomas

WR Starkey Mortgage - Colorado Springs, CO

Lisa, I for one think you are onto something. Now if we can get the 50% of folks who think the government can spend our money better than we can to realize that responsibility, self-determination, and a little"content from within" will accomplish a lot of rewards for everybody.

Nov 13, 2009 03:03 PM

Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL

Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL

Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Lisa,

I would have missed BB's post. Thanks.

As for featured, the more members are there the more complaints we would see. It wold be toughter to get featured, but hey, some write better than others.

We simply need to know our limitations

Nov 13, 2009 03:04 PM

Lisa Hill

Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL

Daytona Beach Real Estate

Cheryl- Jon left a good comment below, that I forgot to mention in my post. As we get more and more members here, it becomes harder to get a featured post. The majority of my features are from years past, when we had much fewer members. Right now, it's been a while since I've had a post featured. BUT, I've also been busy, and haven't taken the time to write long, extensively researched posts that would most likely be featured. So I understand =)

Guy- Agreed!

Jon- Glad to be of service =) And you're right about the amount of members here. I should have mentioned that in my post. And you're right about the limitations too. In the last few months, I've been busy with other things, and I haven't put as much time and effort into my posts... and I haven't had any features. So that just takes me back to the issue of "quality". I wonder if some people realize how time-consuming (hours on end) it is to write some of these posts. Thanks for the comment =)

Nov 13, 2009 03:21 PM

Liz Moras Migic

Chilliwack, BC

Chilliwack, British Columbia - Realtor

hmmm - 'quality content' is so subjective isn't it? totally in the eye of the beholder :-) I behold you are quality content girl!

Nov 13, 2009 03:57 PM

Jeff Dowler, CRS

eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA

The Southern California Relocation Dude

Lisa:

Quality is such a tough issue, and it's clear that many posts that are featured appeal to the folks that make those decisions in a number of ways, with quality being one, but not the only issue they consider. And it obviously varies from writer to writer as well.

Jeff

Nov 13, 2009 07:20 PM

Loreena and Michael Yeo

3:16 team REALTY ~ Locally-owned Prosper TX Real Estate Co. - Prosper, TX

Real Estate Agents

I too like you didn't find the Whiner posts that everyone's talking about. Maybe I was actually working instead of whining like Blogging Bertha.

I've discovered the key to getting my posts featured! What do you know? All I have to do is write quality content. How about that!?

Yeah.... that's really profound. We actually have to write QUALITY instead of trashy with no personality??? (insert sarcasm here but you know my heart). Eyes rolled back.

I just commented on Karen Rice's post. There isnt much quality posts to comment on and actually there are. But spooling the content out too fast by EVERY MEMBER has caused many good quality posts not be commented or overlooked.

Nov 13, 2009 09:30 PM

Betina Foreman

WJK Realty - Austin, TX

Realtor, C.N.E., with WJK REALTY

Dear Lisa,

High quality posts will trump popularity every time. This one is right on the money. Good luck!Thanks!

Betina

Nov 13, 2009 11:56 PM

Gary L. Waters Broker Associate, Bucci Realty

Bucci Realty, Inc. - Melbourne, FL

Eighteen Years Experience in Brevard County

And in high school if you were a "problem" you got sent to the Principal's office. Speaking from experience (about features not the office) I can say that sometimes you get featured, sometimes you don't, more often not. But if features were chosen based on the writer's looks...well, I will not be going there!

Nov 14, 2009 12:09 AM

Gerry Michaels

Glasswork Media Arts - Gettysburg, PA

GettysburgGerry Social Meida

Can't say that I agree, some of the content in some of the featured posts are far from what I would consider "quality". I have read some great informative, instructive posts that go nowhere, only to read a featured post that was clearly written by somebody just looking to fill a page. I love AR, I don't care if my posts get featured or not, it is the networking, learning, and inspiration that AR gives me that keeps me coming back. However I don't see that the content of featured posts has anything to do with quality. Just my humble opinion.

Nov 14, 2009 02:45 AM

Ann Allen Hoover

RE/MAX Advantage South - Hoover, AL

CDPE SRES ASP e-PRO Realtor - Homes for Sale - AL

Every once in a while I'll run across a whiney post and wonder if they realize how silly they sound?

Nov 14, 2009 09:34 AM

Susie Blackmon

Ocala, FL

Ocala, Horses, Western Wear, Horse Farms, Marketing

Quality is always in the mind of the reader... I've seen many featured posts that made no sense to me, but that doesn't matter! If you are blogging to get featured on AR, you are blogging for the wrong reason. I don't fit the mold, I don't write about many things that most realtors do because there are zillions of posts about many of the same subjects. But that's my choice and no one else's choice. If I want more features, I'll start writing about the same thing that's been written about everywhere. ;-)

Nov 14, 2009 09:41 AM

Lisa Hill

Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL

Daytona Beach Real Estate

Susie- Surely you've had posts that were "Localism Featured"?? You certainly fit that mold!

Several other of you have noted that you've seen posts that have no business being featured... there is no quality to them. And I agree with you. I've seen some absolutely ridiculous feature posts. But quality content is still the best way to get there. And then you can take pride in your work as well =)

Nov 14, 2009 03:07 PM

Patricia Kennedy

RLAH@properties - Washington, DC

Home in the Capital

Lisa, yeah. Du uh! Although I'm often surprised by some of mine that I never expected to get featured and there goes the little star! It's pretty capricious and arbitrary and nice when it happens.

Nov 15, 2009 12:49 AM