The ActiveRain Paradox
Rich makes a wonderful point with this post! ActiveRain isn't about points, it's about reaching out to your audience - whoever that might be. Points come from doing the things that you need to do to get the most out of your RainMaker subscription, so don't make earning the points your focus. I've always thought that the points on ActiveRain are kind of like the points on "Who's Line is it Anyway". They don't matter.
Are you blogging for fun? Or are you blogging for business? The two are not the same, and it you get them confused, you won't be doing either one of them very well.
The ActiveRain Paradox
What is a paradox? "A paradox is a statement that is self contradictory because it often contains two statements that are both true, but in general, cannot both be true at the same time" (source).
Here's an example: receiving comments on posts is a good thing, but the posts that bring you business rarely receive comments.
Blog Posts that Get Lots of Comments
Getting lots of comments is good right? It means you've stimulated
your colleagues to the point where they've decided they should leave a comment. This is a good thing, right? ActiveRain even gives you points for this, and points are good, right?
Points look impressive. The number under your name on your profile looks impressive, and the more points you get, the higher you rank for your state. More points equals higher ranking equals more business, right?
Not necessarily...
You see it's easy to get comments and points. Publish in quantity instead of quality. Slam out Wordless Wednesday posts (but use 50 characters to get points). Reblog 5 posts a day. Respond to comments on your blog by creating individual comments for each and every one instead of grouping your responses together, etc, etc, etc.
And there are probably lots of other ways that I haven't thought of too.
Blog Posts that Bring You Business
I used to care about points until one day I snapped and said "wait, this blogging stuff sure is fun, but hey, I'm nearly broke, wasn't this supposed to bring me business?"
That day I came to the sobering conclusion that the posts that bring you comments don't usually bring you business, they just bring you.....well.....wait for it.....comments. Comments from friends, comments from colleagues, comments from people who write you comments because they know you'll always return their comments whether or not your post added any value to their day or not. Comments, comments, comments.
If I was a consumer and I stumble upon you ActiveRain blog and all I saw was meaningless posts with tons of comments from other Realtors I would think "what a bunch of garbage" and I would navigate away before you even said the word, you guessed it, "comment."
I also came to the conclusion that day, if I didn't figure out what posts brought in business that I'd be out of business soon.
Blog Posts that Make You Money
Alright, so if your such a smart guy what posts bring you money? Well I'll tell you.
Writing posts about neighborhoods brings you money. People who want to live in those neighborhoods will Google those neighborhoods up and they will find you.
Writing market reports will bring you money. Publish them for every neighborhood that you work. People who want to sell their houses in those neighborhoods will Google those stats up and they will find you.
Answer frequently asked buyer and seller questions. Buyers and sellers have questions about the process of buying and selling, and, you guessed it, they will Google these questions up and they will find you.
Which Type of Blogger Are You?
That is the paradox. The posts that bring you business rarely bring you points. So ask yourself "are you blogging for fun?" If so, then just keep playing in the rain.
But if you are you blogging for business, get serious and write about what is going to bring you business.
Decide which is right for you. And FFFFFFFFFFForget the points. And stop manipulating them, they don't count.
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