I've been reading all the recent posts on who gets featured and why. The recent series started with Bob Stewart's post titled, "Why Was THAT Post Featured?" and quickly followed up with posts by Richard Weisser, Nestor & Katerina Gasset, and Lenn Harley.
To some extent it is a numbers game. Those bloggers who have been here longer have a much larger subscriber base. I'll argue that there's much more to it than that. It's also about the quality of the writing or the personality that comes through.
Take a look at Lenn Harley, Greg Nino or Barbara Todaro if you want to see some feisty personalities come through. If you're looking for well-written and logical, take a look at Leslie Ebersole. Want inspirational? Take a look at Loreena Yeo.
Although an AR Member since December 25, 2007, I started serious blogging on AR in April 2010. In those 9 months, I've written 305 blogs, have 72 AR subscribers, and have been featured 33 times.
I average one blog per day and I write two kinds of posts. One kind is looking for business at the local level and the other kind is giving back to the AR community or something with a broader scope.
I browsed through my featured blogs as part of writing this post and 32 of the 33 featured blogs dealt with larger issues. My first featured blog (May 2010) was titled, "Are You Combative or Cooperative? " and talked about agent styles. The last featured blog (Jan 2011) titled, "New Single Level Townhomes at Craig Ranch in McKinney, TX" was the only one that was local in nature. While Bob Stewart liked the post, I would have traded it for one of the two others I wrote that day.
If you want to be a Feature Machine, you need to step back and look at what you're posting. Lenn's blog touched on it but the bottom line is finding your voice and finding topics or issues that will appeal to larger audiences. I call it "developing your Blog Brand." "How?" you ask. Read the comments left in your blog and interact with those who comment. Seek feedback from other successful bloggers, most of them will be more than happy to help you.
Once you find your voice, be consistent. Blog often, have fun, and use the voice you discovered in the first step. People will subscribe to your blog and come back expecting to find that same voice (your Blog Brand). So once you find it, you have to deliver on it to keep your readers coming back.
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