A Guide For Active Rain Groupies!

Right now, there are 4,445 groups on Active Rain.  That's a lot of groups!   It's a lot of different focuses and interests, and the group is sort of the basic level of participation for our bloggers.

As a new blogger, I explored a lot of the groups and starting to join in and post to many of them.  Usually my posts were welcome, if they were noticed at all!  But, like most newbies, I did run up against some of the guidelines that many groups put up there - writing lovely posts that just didn't fit with whatever the group was all about.  And, while I joined a lot (a whole lot) of groups that looked promising, there were many that I never checked regularly and lost interest in.  So today, I unjoined a bunch of them.

And that got me to thinking about groups.  Which are the good ones?  How can a new blogger tell if a group with a great name is a great group?  Which ones are the "Must Joins"?  Here are some of my tips and picks:

The tips?

• Look to see if there are recently featured articles.  If the group is alive and well, there should be recently posts featured within the last week or so..
• Are most of the featured posts the group founders?  In my favorite groups, there are both, but mostly features from the members.
• Is the group into something that interests you?  If so, join - at least for a time.
• Is the group going to help you be a better blogger?  Then join.
• Before you post to any group, read the group guidelines!  You don't post a partisan political rant on POSITIVE ATTITUDE for the Weary Soul.  Go instead to Blatant Politics, where it might be welcomed.
• The most active and most subscribed groups are usually that way because they are fun, educational or inspirational - at least worth checking out!
  

The picks?  This is sort of dangerous, like trying to list your favorite bloggers - you're going to leave somebody you really love off your list!  So these are some of my personal picks.  You'll find your own, but these are where I started.

Active Rain Newbies:  this is the Active Rain Welcome Wagon for new bloggers, and it has a lot of fabulous information about the ins and outs of everything from earning points to earning gold stars.  There are great posts about blogging protocol and feeling your way around this amazing site.  This group is a great first stop on your road to blogging - and a good place to meet and compare notes with other newbies.

Realtors®:  This is the largest and most active group on Active Rain.  And you needn't be a Realtor® to join.  As an agent, most of my posts relating to my real estate practice go here, and if you are a different type of real estate professional, learn here about what agents think and find the equivalent group for staging (there are several good stagers groups) or lenders. 

Addicted To Active Rain is the group for those of you who have fallen asleep with your laptop on your face, or who forgot to feed the cats because you were trying to get in your tenth post of the week late on a Saturday night.  And if you need one, your blog buddies might even be able to arrange an intervention for you!

Positive Attitude For The Weary Soul: founded by one of my favorite bloggers, Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman, this is a place to go when you feel like a little uplifting!  You can pretty much always find something here to give you some major warm fuzzies, or it's a good place to share your own.  It's the cute puppies and warm chocolate chip cookies spot on Active Rain.

Posts to Localism is pretty much of a "must join" as far as I'm concerned.  This is a group home for your, du-uh, Localism posts, in addition to funneling them into the "new" Localsim.  And as you are learning the Localism ropes, this is a good group to find featured posts that are great examples bloggers of doing it right.

The Art of Marketing You is another group that I found helpful and interesting.  Whether you are an agent, lender or stager, you'll find lots of new and effective ways to get your name out there.  And every so often, you'll read about something really amazing that you'd never have thought of on your own!

If Active Rain is your town, the groups are your neighborhood, bridge club, Weight Watchers, office, continuing ed classes, PTA meetings, and dog sitter. 

So don't be shy!  Joining a group is as easy as pushing the "join" button, and you can un-join just as easily!  Just have fun with it!