Brian, for anyone that is serious about real estate, the value of this site can't compare to the points (and I was a points favor-er).  When the lightbulb goes on, the dollars come from the advice far more often than the consumer contact.  Consumer contact is a noble goal for those that haven't yet figured out that there is some serious brilliance here- subscribe wisely!

The points are great because they get a newbie started with commenting.  But everything else good about AR soon takes over.  I've learned more on AR than I have in any educational program or my previous years of experience.  The points are kinda fun, but they don't keep me here - people do, and all they have to share!  Nice post.

I truly couldn't say it any better than Laurie.  AR has been wonderful to me personally and professionally.  No direct leads yet, but it'll come with time!

Someone said that 20,000 is the magic number of points...thats when things start to happen. Like you said though, you are learning and thats the important thing here.

I love the learning opportunities I have found here on AR and other places in the blogosphere.  The points are a fun way of keeping track of contributions and challenging oneself.  The BEST reason is the support, and being able to learn from so many, and broaden my exporsure to many different opinions and ways of doing things.

I have been an ActiveRain member only a few days.  At first I wanted to get points to move up on the list of local realtors.  Now I have over 1,000 points, not a lot, but it's amazing how much I have learned in only a few hours (well maybe 10) on this website.  Thanks to everyone.

Brian ~ I agree with you. For us, I like to blog on issues of interest to my customers, so my public (localism) feed runs through my website, keeping existing & past customers up to date on issues relevant to them. And for new customers, it gives them a glimpse into who we are, what we are about, and hopefully they see we are not a "love them and leave them" style of agents! What a great way ti interact, and meet new agents at the same time!

Merry x-mas

Brian, good post. The points are fun, but participation in the forums sparks new ideas or reminds one of the fundamentals. You mentioned how it is possible to hire an online persona, but that rarely works. Glad you are you :)

Neither, I blog for insight and experience from others.

Melonie Haag

Melonie, Rene, Brian, Sallie, Deborah, Elaine, Natalie, Margaret, Laurie,

When you get the point you get the points, take out (neither, i) and Melonie hit it right on... blog for insight and experience from others.  It only works if you give in order to receive.

So when I say for the points I didn't mean numbers but some of your understand that.  The information you can receive here is priceless

Brian,

Steady blogging will bring points and added exposure to search engines and that in turn will generate those all-important leads. That's just one of the benefits. Learning about your industry is another, as is networking.

Brian: I have blogging on AR and my own blog for a little over 3 months now. It is definately time commitment in order to be found on the searches. I have written a lot of neighborhood profiles and posted them on localism. Try writing posts about the neighborhoods in your area. These posts usually get high google rankings

Brian,

I think we all got hooked for the lead reason to start, but learned it has many other benefits. 

I have not received any leads from activerain.com as of yet. Yes, I would like some!

I've been posting and commenting, so we will see what happens. 

Brian, Good question. I think it is fun to try to get the points and it can give you a measure of whether of not you are really staying on top of your blogging and reading, but I don't like focusing on the points at all.it can kind of make you nutty/obsessive

Brian - Consistant blogging gives you more points, more hits, and in turn, gives you more exposure to the search engines.  So, even though many people blog for increased exposure...the points come with it.