ASK AN AMBASSADOR: Chasing The Feature Fairy
We're in real estate. By nature, that means most of us are competitive. That we've got some ego (which we put aside for our clients' sake). That we like to get recognized (because really, what good is a plaque on the wall or some glass trophy but to tell us "we done good"??).
But as bloggers in the Rain, it's EASY to get caught up in the chase for a Feature.
But frankly it's long odds. Let's do the math:
Typical day there's 18 slots on the Home page and they don't always cycle through in a day, so maybe there won't even be 18 new featured posts that day.
Next, assume 1500 to 2000 posts a day get written on an average day in the Rain.
18 divided by 2000 means 1 out of every 111 posts gets featured.
And that's just if everything was done at random and there weren't any criteria involved, but if you watch the Feature Board you'll see some things that increase or decrease your odds.
Things that decrease your odds:
- You write about a listing or open house
- You write about a subdivision
- You write a market report
- You write about a local event.
Note that these topics are GREAT for building your business with local buyers and sellers, but they're not going to gain much engagement from fellow Rainers. But what's more important to you, BUSINESS that pays the bills, or another notch in your Gold Star belt?
Other things that can hurt your odds of getting Featured:
- Your post isn't aesthetically appealing (wall of words, no pictures/graphics, small font, etc.)
- This also means don't use stolen photos/graphics (e.g the ones that still have the watermark on them!).
- It's full of typos and grammar errors
- Your topic choice (have you seen many posts about politics or religion on the front page?)
On the flip side, things that IMPROVE your odds:
- Solid well written ORIGINAL content of broad appeal to agents across the community
- Being a first time poster (after that, well it's a bit tougher until you've built more of a reputation)
- Being likable. People clicking the Like button on your posts improve the odds the AR Staff takes a look at what you've written.
- Engage people and the community. (E.g. Pat Kennedy's and Kathy Streib's Sunday posts are a community service type post that spotlight a lot of different Rainers, so their odds of being Featured are pretty solid each week because those posts are a service to the Rain community).
Bottom line, if you write with the hope of getting Featured, you're probably going to be disappointed. That's just the blunt math of the situation. There's no exact formula to getting that gold star Feature, there's some mystery and illogical happenings behind the green curtain. Some you'll agree with, some you won't. Some great stuff WILL get missed, and that's going to happen every day. But if you write every post with quality, the odds of something good happening do go up!
Personally, we've collected plenty of features in 5+ years of blogging nonstop. And here's the dirty secret about Features: THEY DO NOT MAKE MY PHONE RING! Buyers and sellers call us based on posts that will NEVER see the light of the front page, nor should those posts. The audience for them is NOT other Rainers but the consumer. Those posts are the ones that pay our bills.
On the other hand, do I appreciate it when one of our Tuesday Ask An Ambassador series does get featured? Of course, but perhaps not for the reason you think. My primary reason for writing the series is to (hopefully) help other members of the Rain have a better blogging experience and get results from blogging.
If we can help shorten the learning curve to blogging effectiveness, bloggers are more likely to stick around. That's good for the entire community, because who knows who will be the next person that blogs that nugget of great information that makes our personal or business lives that much better?
Until next Tuesday, just Ask An Ambassador if you need help!
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
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