I am asked this question on a regular basis, recently I was told that I should post a reminder on this. A message I received today reminded to post something about this.
Here's a short response.
Keep in mind that featuring is definitely subjective.
1. When it comes down to it getting featured starts with catching someone's eye.
2. The content should interest and engage the reader.
3. It should not have grammatical, factual or formatting errors.
4. The topic should not be one that could potentially violate, or encourage a member to violate a guideline or the law.
Eye catching post can use an image, formatting, or headlines to get noticed.
Interesting content also means it should be well written.
Featured posts do often have grammatical errors but it's easier to feature your post if it's clean.
I hope this helps.
Thank you.
Update: This means is that there are a great number of posts that aren't featured. We don't aim to feature every great post, only a sample of them.
Caleb : As long as this Blog is in existance I will imagine that this will be a fairly frequent question. So how are you guys doing on that Hand book?
Is number 5 written in invisible ink? :-) Thanks for the guidelines and explanation - it should help us all.
#5 must be my magic answer-i think I must be writing stuff that falls between the cracks. =)
I thought maybe we were seeing an example of "error" in a post. But I like you're idea of falling between the cracks better.
Caleb ~ Please don't tell Tony what #5 is! We must keep some thing secret!
kk
Caleb, thanks. Many, many unfeatured blogs seem to meet these guidelines. What else helps grab attention? Sometimes, in my humble opinion--featured posts may be very mundane, general real estate 101 where as other posts that are dynamic, refreshing, thought provoking go to the 0 comment graveyard. Does it matter how long one has been a member, how many blogs a blogger has posted, credentials, a known blogger at other sites? Is there a formula? Time of day, key words, etc.?
I just want to remind all members to use the search engine. There is a treasure chest and goldmine of non recognized blogs.
Well - I for one think this post should be featured!
kk - was it something about shoes? :-)
Caleb, all these are very useful tips, I think more of my posts should be featured for example LOL
caleb,
thanks for recall us that, even I do my best on my blogs sometimes people do not get interested :) sometimes it is a matter of time and friendhips, as I have seen that there are many people here, many rainers, it is so difficult to keep a follow of everybody, even when you have them in your Associates.
How can you handle that?
Ah, the ever illusive 'Featured' post!
Suzi - I have actually had a large number of our members state that most of the 'featured' posts seem to have little, if anything. to do with real estate. As a moderator, I try to find a balance in what I feature. Will it value our network? Is it relevant? Informative? Thought-provoking? Fun? Provocative? At times, I also intentionally look for newer members, perhaps some that have been blogging and commenting consistently, just hoping for that 1st 'featured' post that will give them the added encouragment they need to persevere.
I know how I felt the first time an article of mine was 'featured!'
I also know that many times the articles I spent the most time on seemed to go unnoticed, with few comments. And then, the one that took me very little time to draft. got featured and comments up the kazoo.
Go figure!
I think this is some good information here to lay out the "featured" blog. From what I have seen, being a well known personality it probably just as important as these items. It seems like some blogs have been featured as soon as they are posted.
I have had three featured posts in the last 2 weeks, and still have no idea as to who nominated it (it it is a case of nomination), or if it was from number of times viewed, or some other reason...
My featured posts were as follows:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/74145/Listing-Withdrawn-and-then
http://activerain.com/blogsview/70533/The-importance-of-UPDATED
http://activerain.com/blogsview/67989/Is-the-main-stream
the first one listed above is the one that has drawn the most page views, and created the most diverse discussion, pro and con...
the second one above is about something that is one of my big pet peeves,
and the third one was just a case of me ranting about media manipulation of the marketplace....
I don't know why they were featured...
Rich, so nice to hear from you again. You were my greeter when I joined AR. I agree with you. I think I got it figured out--Its all the above plus supply and demand.
Is it possible that supply and demand on a certain day at a certain time may effect whether one is featured or not. I know we have all discovered a 0 comment post and wondered how that could have missed being featured. Then, I have also spotted some featured posts that have 0 to few comments.
This really is related to Caleb's post:-)
If you want to have fun with this go to the search bar: blogs, then type in 0 comments. Then type in featured 0 comments.
I haven't blogged much lately until today. Then I quogged rather than blogged (Quog=question blog). I quogged not for feature, and not for points, but because I wanted professional input. I got what I needed. My value from AR now is not in point accumulation, or in being featured (or not )but in knowing that "all of you are out there". In case I do not get the response I need in a special circumstance I feel comfortable private mailing until I get a comfortable resolution.
Featured posts or not, I consider AR my swat team.
Like Rich said as a Moderator I too try and find balance in what I feature. I tend to go in cycles in what I go looking for. As for posts that get missed, the Moderators are busy professionals with businesses that we have to run. So with that said sometimes we just plain miss posts! And there are days that all of us are featuring on top of each other and then there are days that I get to the board finally and see that it has been 12 hours since someone featured...
That is why I keep stressing that people rate the posts. When I have a very busy day I go looking at the highest rated first, because that is an indication of what the MEMBERS feel is important. Then I go look at those with the most comments. Then I reverse time and start from where I left off and move to the most recent. Sometimes I feature at 6 in the morning, sometimes at noon, sometimes 3 in the afternoon and sometimes 10 at night. All the moderators bounce around. And sometimes I just read for pleasure.
Paul -- first off you are welcome for the featured posts, and the most likely reason they were featured was that you were discussing topics that have not been discussed and they were fresh ideas for the network to discuss. You caught the attention of a moderator and they featured it. That is what Caleb is talking about. Capture the attention of one of us and you will get featured. There is no hard rule why. Make sense?
I find it interesting with some of the answers to what I still call a mystery.
I have heard that it must be eye catching, I have heard it must have photos, I heard it must have real estate content and I heard it does not necessarily have anything to do with real estate.
I have seen some great posts that were featured and it did not matter to me about whether the subject was real estate, mortgages, or just life stories.
Some like more links, some like less...some like bold words, some do not.
But on the other hand I have seen some posts that in my opinion did not deserve a feature ...yet they seem to always be featured no matter what the content.
I am not an expert at moderating, but I still believe some just simply do not belong featured, yet they are.
Without going back in to search I believe I have even seen some with misspelled words.
I think it is hit or miss and it depends which moderator sees it at that time...I think it is timing, at what time to post.
Some moderators probably like posts that have to do with business, some others I am sure would rather rate based on other stories.
I also think that there really is nothing set in stone as to what or how it should be posted.
Neal -- stop trying to predict what will and will not be featured. Matt Heaton wrote an excellent post about the Rhyme & Reason to Featured Posts. Back then they were featuring approximately 10 posts a day. We feature more than that now. Are you rating the posts a 5 when you think they should be featured? I am human and when I only have an hour to feature I can only read so many posts. Same with the other Moderators. If the members would rate the posts honestly, based on the merit of the post it would help. The more people that rate the more effective the ratings are.
We each take a break from featuring from time to time which leaves the burden on the others. That is ok, but when business calls, that is our first priority. Members forget that we do this for free. So there can be 12 hours that goes by without someone moderating based on the day. And the posts that you are talking about could easily fall into one of those dead times. Other times everyone gets active and there are 50 great posts in a 10 hour span. Not all of them are going to be featured. It happens too!
That was what the Week In Review was about, a different member going through and highlighting what they thought was the best of the week. Perhaps you would like to take a stab at it this week. Sunday to Sunday. Make it easy on yourself, you pick the best 25 posts.
Ah, just write - vent - talk. If you say something that strikes a chord with multiple people, you'll be featured. Doesn't mean your other posts are irrelevant.
My blog is for my clients, period. I try to write every post, even vents, so that they provide our clients valuable information. Some of my posts have been featured (I am honored), most have not.
Quite frankly, it just doesn't matter. As I said, my blog is for my clients, period.
Touche, Christina. Our satisfaction is dependent on our purpose in blogging. One reason that I blog is to get different perspectives on issues. Of course being featured helps get balanced feedback, but when my purpose is feedback and I am not satisfied, I will review via the search engine and overtly contact bloggers who have written in a certain category.
Moderators definitely have their challenges. I believe the questions are not in disrespect to moderators, but a result of bloggers looking for a non existent formula for featured "success".
It's subjective. It has to be. It was subjective when AR was doing it. It is subjective now that the moderators are featuring posts. Rate the ones you've enjoyed reading high, my understanding is the moderators look for high ratings....that's our opporunity to say what we enjoyed reading...
is our opportunity to vote. It's the Peoples Choice Award in comparison to the Grammy's, the Academy Awards, the Emmy's etc.
Caleb does our flagging a post to be featured help at all? I asked this a few weeks back when Toby Barnett blogged about featured posts and one of the moderators said they don't get that information to help them determine what to feature.
I've enjoyed the featureds I've gotten but I don't write with that goal in mind. I prefer comments. I love the interaction that goes along with the commenting back and forth. The moderators have a difficult job with what they're doing. I love it when they feature someone new. It provides an opportunity for a new participant to get blog exposure and may provide just the incentive they need to keep at it. It's getting tougher and tougher to keep up with everyone now that this place is growing by leaps and bounds.
Thanks for the info, Caleb. Given the sheer number of posts I would think that getting featured is becoming harder and harder. There is lots of good quality but clearly all the great posts cannot get featured, even if there are deserving of being so. Thanks for all the work your guys do and to the moderators, who do NOT have an enviable job, except they get to read LOTS of good stuff!
Jeff
Colleen,
I am not trying to predict...just giving an opinion from the responses I see on the subject.
All I was saying is that there are many different opinions from other people trying to figure it out and many people write about it.
I never said moderators didn't have a hard job, as we discussed today...on the contrary,it must be very time consuming , I probably would be buried with everything else I do and I do not even know what goes on behind the scene and I guess I am reading this after we already talked about it. LOL!
I'm in the camp that things that getting featured is pretty much dumb luck! That's not to diminish what the folks here at AR to, it's got to be a hell of a job, but there are great articles that get passed by. That said, I have to admit I do enjoy reading the featured posts better than the the posts at random...
The guy above who said that you shouldn't forget to use the search feature is right on! Some great jewels buried in here!
R.B. "Bob" Mitchell
ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.
Hey Caleb! Thanks for dropping by my blog today! I think the most important thing is this surely helps with the no smoking thing....and keeps me from going to WebMD all the time...(like to research stuff) or Pet sites to find out why my dog is the way she is....geez. (no, that's not all....mostly saving anything and everything re: real estate, loans or whatever)
I want my name in lights! Make the gold star twinkle and all that stuff....Just kidding.
Ya'll keep hammering away and you'll get lucky!
Getting a featured post would be great. My goals are to create positive blogs, providing useful information, and contributing to other people's blogs. If I get a featured post I will be happy, but it seems after reading the other posts that it can be very difficult to find a rhyme or reason to getting a featured post consistently.
wow,
who knew it was all so complicated! I just thought in order to be featured you just had to have more points than someone else. Well, I guess I have learned something today!
Great posts btw.