I've always cherished getting a featured post, but it's never been a driving force for me. When I got one, though, I'd enjoy that gold star.  Nice feeling, but again....it's never been the what makes me write.  Over the weekend, I was thinking about my last featured post, What Every Buyer Needs to Know in 2011, and thought that there must be more than just getting featured.  What's the Why?

WHY YOU SHOULD TRY TO ALWAYS WRITE A KICKIN POST???? 

1. The Grand Pubas at Active Rain take notice of you.  Yahoo....I'm on someone's radar!  My work is paying off.  What amazes me is that there are a number of people who are on the top 100 nationally and they don't have even one featured post.  That means that they are throwing up a lot of post with little to show for.  Probably a lot of listings or just writing for points or just throwing up.  In the top 50 nationally on A.R. there isn't one blogger who doesn't have a featured post.  In the next 50 there are four.  The list grows as you scroll down.  For me, I don't need the recognition, but if I'm writing well, then the feature is a validation that I'm doing something right. 
2. IF YOU'RE FEATURED, IT MEANS THAT ENOUGH PEOPLE RECOGNIZE YOUR POST AS GOOD ENOUGH TO BE FEATURED.  I love it when someone says I'm featured, because I'm really starting to connect with a good enough writing style and good enough points to connect with the right folks;
3. Recognition by your peers.  Feature means that you're gonna get a bunch of comments too.  Why is this important?  For two reasons.  First, you connect with a lot of folks who are now reading your blog on the featured blog scroll.  I may never connect with that person had it not been for my post being featured.   Secondly, as a result you are bound to pick up other subscribers to your blog.  This is huge.  It's a great way to continue to build relationships and network.  Ultimately, I'm in the business for referrals.  I give them, but I love receiving them as well.  Just last night I was on Facebook with a fellow Active Rain member and we connected directly for the first time ever.  I have a referral that may work for her and she said that she's to have a client call me over the course of the week.  This is referral number 76 as a pure and direct result of Active Rain.  I guarantee you that I wouldn't be receiving any referrals if I just threw up a lot of schlock posts on rates or listings. 
4. If recognized by your peers, then the odds are that your writing will be enjoyed by the consumers who are searching the net as well.  I guess this is the most important for me.  I'm spending all of this time reaching out to others trying to create the Bettag brand.  The featured post means that my peers like me, and, as a result, I should expect the consumers who read my blog to like it as well.  I received a call from someone a bit ago who said, "Larry, we love your posts.  You're family is just like ours and I love the beliefs you adhere by.  We love reading your posts. Having said that, here's our situation....."  How awesome is that?  I'd love to find a way to let others, outside of Active Rain to subscribe to my posts so that I know who is subscribing.  I'm not the techy who knows how to set up the RSS feeds, etc, but obviously, my writing is influencing some folks. 
5. THE RE-BLOG -  .  My last feature was re-blogged 19 times.  If you think about the law of multiplicity, that's one more reason you want to be featured.  Write a good post, have everyone else re-blog it and it becomes like one side of the NCAA March Madness bracket, but instead of working to the center, you're now working to the outside.  Everyone else is doing it for you.  I love re-blogging someone else's good post.  It's fun to discover great content.  Those who re-blog your post are multiplying you to the masses!  How cool is that.

Needless to say there are a lot of other benefits to getting featured, but for me the ultimate reason for writing a great post is to know that I'm writing in such a fashion to connect with those with whom I need to connect with.  From my peers to the consumers, I'm in it to win it. 

By the way, it's not about the points.  You could have a million posts out there and no points, and I'd still do it.  76 referrals (only 75 as of today) is still enough of a reason to make sure that I'm controlling the quality of the content that I want broadcast to the world.  I matters to me and it should matter to you.  Being number 1 anywhere is fairly empty if you're not getting the relationships and referrals that you desire.

I don't need the feature, but I am in it to win it.  The feature is a good indicator that you're doing something right.  By the way....it took me a long, long time to get my first feature.  It's worth the effort to learn how to write well.  The gold star that you received is a good indicator that you're well on your way!

Go get em!