Last year, Active Rain sponsored a contest called Project Blogger.  It was a fantastic idea where the A-list bloggers tutored some of the newer bloggers.  A competition was held and the winner was given a check for $5,000 to give to her charity. Mary Pope-Handy was awarded that prize; a worthy champion indeed. Ever the gracious winner, Mary shared an analysis of her experience with the community last April.

I mentioned that Greg Swann was looking for his apprentice, and Teri Lussier jumped at the chance.  Project Bloodhound focused on building a weblog for Teri and  "The Brick Ranch" was created.  Simultaneously, Greg enrolled Teri on the contributors' bar at Bloodhound Blog, a popular online edition of what REALTOR magazine might look like if the agents were in charge.  Teri turned into a fabulous blogger, alternating her warm commentary about life in Huber Heights, Ohio, on The Brick Ranch, with hard-hitting critical thought on Bloodhound Blog.  Teri was most recently featured with Laurie Manny at the Bloodhound Blog Unchained Social Media Marketing Conference for excellence in hyper-local weblogging. That original contest spawned our collaborative project, Real Estate Weblogging 101, an online "book about real estate blogging.

Project Blogger was perhaps the greatest gift Active Rain gave the real estate 2.0 community.  It was accomplished real estate professionals sharing their expertise, for free, with other real estate professionals.  That success caused the folks at Bloodhound to wonder when it was going to be offered again.  In true Bloodhound fashion, if Mohammed won't come to the mountain, we bring the mountain to Mohammed.  Teri Lussier wanted to give something back to the Active Rain community, so in the absence of Project Blogger...

Project Bloodhound is (re) born.

Greg Swann answering a question about what we're doing:

One or more hyperlocal weblogs for people relatively new to our world, along with all the other aspects of a well-rounded Social Media presence. The original Project Blogger was a contents pitting teams of mentors and proteges against each other. We’re talking about doing something similar, but with a cooperative, shared-learning focus.

Da Blogmutha, Cheryl Johnson offers her expertise:

I could cover some “HTML Basics and Photoshop for Beginners” angles.

Cheryl explains the stated purpose for our project:

Just what is the difference between the previous Project Blogger and the upcoming Project Bloodhound II

1.    In Project Bloodhound II, there are no winners or losers.  Excellence is its own reward.

2.    Project Blogger was based on one coach - one apprentice.  Project Bloodhound II will be based on the "It Takes a Village to Grow a Weblogger" approach.  Several members of the Bloodhound community have volunteered to share their particular knowledge and skills from design, programming and photography, to social media networking, to philosophy and history with any and all apprentices.

Eric Blackwell will be offering SEO advice:

I will gladly dump some time into helping folks get hooked up. Pay it forward is how I roll. Greg- you know my skillsets and abilities…I don’t have a ton of time, but will gladly help where I can.

Always happy to make new friends and have new fun- and learn new stuff along the way.

Teri Lussier wants to give back:

Anyone who commented here has something valuable to offer and while Greg might not cotton to collective think, I’ve seen it happen as one idea sparks another, and another, and it builds, sometimes that’s not a good thing, but here, with you all? It’s definitely a shot at brilliance.

All I’m asking (if I may) is that you keep your mind open to learning and also sharing. If you try something, whether it works or not, share it in a comment thread. There are no judges this time around, no popular vote to woo, just us, paying it forward because that’s how we roll, as Eric says. back at ya, Eric.

I'll try to direct folks how to use social platforms and utilities to promote your local blog and connect with members of your community.

We're trying to kick the bums out of the business while making the good people better, through online interactive marketing.  Blogging is a key component of your online marketing efforts so it behooves you to perfect the craft.  If you're interested, we'd love to have you.  Contact Teri Lussier to join the fun.

PS:  In Cheryl's post, "It Takes A Village To Grow A Weblogger" a prominent real estate blogger (and former Project Blogger coach) offered that her post "read like a commercial" which, indeed it does.  However, since the offer "don't cost nuttin", it would be more accurately described as a "public service announcement".

We thought Project Blogger was a great idea and intend to continue the tradition of paying it forward...

...with or without the spotlight.

PPS:  If you have an interest in participating, the work will be hard.  Greg Swann is a brilliant writer and expects excellence.  Teri Lussier literally rewrote the manual for upstart blogging with her contributions to Real Estate Weblogging 101.  Cheryl Johnson is a detailed task master as is evidenced by her painfully detailed instructional posts on Da Blogmother.  I evangelize the gospel of ubiquity in my social media efforts, and Eric Blackwell knows how to make posts jump in SERPs.  It's free but it won't be easy..

Contact Teri to be considered for an apprenticeship.