There are written rules for this community and if you haven't read them, it's a good idea to find out what they are and you'll understand why this community thrives.
If you want to keep things rosy, there are some clear no-nos.
- Don't self-advertise on another bloggers post.
- Don't be rude! (remember learning how to play nice in the sandbox when you were in kindergarten? Same principles, just a MUCH bigger sandbox).
- Don't violate the law. That's fair housing, commission discussions, and other topics that need to stay in your head and not typed.
- Don't spam other members
And that last is one of the rules that you might find has the written component, and the unwritten expectations of the community.
Directly, that means no direct mailing, calling other members, etc. to solicit their business. Face it, we're here to build our own business, NOT be the target of someone giving us the hard sell for the latest shiny. Write your posts and if I read and find I like what you offer, we'll be in touch. Otherwise...stay offa my lawn!
Now the unwritten expectation is a bit fuzzier, and that's back to question in the title. How many posts can you release in a short time without enciting the community's wrath? Because here's the reality, carpet bombing the blog roll with pages of posts will put a burr under a few saddles.
Technically, there's no limit by the ActiveRain community standards as long as you're NOT writing true spam posts (e.g. Internet gambling, live stream sports channels, etc.). Obviously you stop getting points after you hit your weekly limit, but face it, if you're looking to drop 10, 20, 30, 40 or more posts posts in a day, you're not doing it for the points are you?
But it's never a good idea to intentionally incur the wrath of the community. For some members, a mass onslaught of posts by one Rainer is perceived as spamming. I know, you're writing legit content to attract the consumer, but at the same time that monopolizing of the blog roll takes away the "community" part of the Rain. And there's no rule specifically against a mass posting as long as it's your content.
So what's the magic number? The answer isn't exactly a clear answer to that question. There's 20 slots per page of the blog roll. I'd venture that for most Rainers, they'd like half (or more) of each 20 slots to be from a variety of bloggers. Breaking up your posting into chunks that maintain that balance will help.
And perhaps even better would be concentrating on "off hours" when fewer Rainers are likely to be busy reading the blog roll. Late night/early morning (and keep in mind East Coast/West Coast time differences) might be the optimal time to post. The consumer won't care when you post just as long as you provide the content they need when they search. And the Google bots never sleep, so anytime works for them too!
The Rain is a social community, give it the chance to be social.
Until next Tuesday, just Ask An Ambassador if you need help!
Bill of Liz and Bill aka BLiz
Comments(52)