With the current format of ActiveRain, we generally only feature content on the home page that is peer to peer by nature. This post is geared towards consumers in your market place. While ActiveRain gets quite a bit of consumer traffic directly to blog posts (as a result of search engines), our home page is mostly trafficked by real estate professionals. While this post might be really valuable to someone selling real estate in your market, it's not all that interesting to someone in say, FL or MI. 

The overwhelming majority of content that gets featured on the home page by our moderators is content that is interesting to real estate agents, no matter their geography.

If you ever have a piece of content like this that you've written, feel free to email it to me at bob@activerain.com. 

The one thing I ask however, is that you also send a link to a post from someone else that you think should be featured but was overlooked. We featured about 12-18 posts per day and there are 1500-2000 written. This means that lots of solid posts go unfeatured that should probably get additional exposure. 

Features/Schmeatures  ---- making the phone ring has the potential to bring much more "gold" than any featured post.   

I hear they don't feature bloggers who complain about not being featured!  

There are times you put together a quick post, and it gets featured, and others you spend hours on, and feel they have valuable content, and never do.   It is a mystery.

FWIW, 5 of the first 7 currently featured posts that I looked at all had contact / company info on them. So that doesn't seem to be a factor at all. 

Here is a good example of a currently featured post that's loaded with company info.

Heck Tony I believe every one of my blogs should be a feature.  

There is no "secret club" nor is there a "good ole boys" network that provides feature status.   Features come to those who write posts that are of interest to the majority, will spark a conversation, will benefit the membership of AR as a whole . . .

There is no magic formula other than to write quality stuff.  Those that do get featured often do so because they are quite good at it. They've written 1000's of blog posts or it is their very first one;  did I mention there is no secret club?

I'm not being nasty but your post is not feature worthy in my opinion. 

1. It appeals to very few people
2. No orignal photos
3. A link back to what is the real report
4. Very little information provided

Thanks for asking this question, Tony. And thank you Bob Stewart for answering it. I've always wondered why some so-so posts are featured while some great ones are not.

Hey Rainers, remember you can REBLOG posts you think are good. It's a great way to help the rest of us see good content we would otherwise miss.

I think I write great posts too but that view isn't always shared by the rest of AR. I am always surprised (and grateful) when a post of mine gets featured. 

I no longer know the criteria for features but I wish you luck Tony Lewis 

I learned more from reading Bob Stewart comment above... makes sense

Kudos to Bob Stewart for stepping in quickly to give an answer.

Tony Lewis - with all due respect, getting a Gold Star isn't the end game here. Don't get me wrong, I love getting featured here in the Rain. It's a nice affirmation that other members appreciate what I have to say. But the bottom line is the bottom line. Is your content attracting potential clients? At the end of the day, gold stars don't pay the bills. Closed deals do! Write to generate business, not to garner platform popularity! Your most recent post probably has meaning and benefit from a hyper-local perspective, but it certainly doesn't warrant a 'Featured' status  in terms of having signifcant value to the greater membership of ActiveRain. A featured post elicits substantive engagement and interaction. You can't achieve that with a short paragraph that simply states previously published, regurgitated facts. Again, I would challenge you, who are you writing for?

Tony,

I think that Bob Stewart gave you a good answer, and thanks for asking because I learned something new.  A

Hi Tony,  You have made some great posts, and you are doing what you should be doing...  writing about Santa Clarita.  This is what is going to get you business.  Getting Featured is not going to get you business.  Writing local content will.  

It seems the Featured stuff is more general, directed at topics for agents... not the general public.  

Keep up the good work, Tony!

Features are sometimes random.  There are a ton of great posts that don't get featured....I've noticed it helps when a new member writes a really good post (that seems like a surefire way to get a feature).  Helpful posts about AR are also regularly featured.  Localism posts, unless they serve as a great template for others, rarely get featured, however in the end....who cares?  If people are finding you online, that's WAY better than a gold star.  The posts I get the most phone calls about are not always the ones with gold stars.

I'm confident that if you put names and/or companies within the post, it's eliminated as a feature....if they did feature it, they'd be focusing their attention on re/max or keller or c-21 and how would that sit with Coldwell and others???

Bob Stewart has provided the information you requested.

Hi, Tony....this happens to a lot of us. There are only so many featured posts in a day. I think Bob Stewart gave you a great answer. Keep contributing. Who are you trying to target afterall? I'm trying to target the consumer and I don't need to get featured on AR. I'm here for my business and to blog to see what it can do for my business. 

You're a brave man, Tony Lewis!

Excellent question and one I've wondered about too (as far as what makes something featured).  I often wondered why my featured post was featured.

Thanks Bob for the explanation!

TO ADD A LITTLE...fun?

there once was a post that had mention, it just reached out and got your attention, when asked how it worked, the original poster just smirked, and said son, it got your attention!

Your article is pure gold for local readers.  Not quite as much "across the board" appeal, in my opinion.

That being said, I have seen featured posts of listings, and other hyper-local writing. 

It is a bit of a shot-in-the-dark, in my opinion.  I really don't believe in this old-boys-club, of which you speak.  I think it's more of a right-time-right-place club.  Sometimes it's just a matter of what you posted, and what else has been featured recently.

Tony, it is a good post but of more local interest. If you wrote something that was really meaningful to the whole community then I could see possibility of a feature. This is a local post and not interesting to people all through the community.

I will say this, it is an excellent local post, keep up the good work. I hope you get business from this.

I was also going to advise to also add a graphic to every post - that seems to be a criteria as well, Tony Lewis!

I have no clue.  I don't even think about features anymore.  

If you are writing posts for consumers you should check the clicks that you get. You will be surprised that poeple are raeding your blog . It does not matter if the posts are not featured.

You are asking us to tell you what the mystery is behind features in AR. And that's the point...it's a mystery. All of us have written great posts that weren't featured and then suddenly we were featured for something totally unexpected.

Tony Lewis the blogs that seem to get featured are one sthat creat a conversation, they get people talking, they generate comments. Although your blog on the community is good, it is good for local people, not for a iniversal audience. You got it right from Bob, but i wanted to let you know what I learned over the last 5 years. I also know that the blogs i think will bever get a feature get one, thise i think as gold, ofte get missed.

Great question and I am so glad to hear all of the answers here.  It is funny that sometimes we all think alike, then get the answers because someone finally asks the question.  I decided I didn't write enough to get featured, but then got featured once.  It was a good feeling, but I know the content was good and relevant to a lot of people.  It was about flood insurance rates going up on rental properties.  I was not happy when I found out, I had to blog about it-to rant, but did it professionally so it wouldn't sound like a rant.  Thanks for asking this one!

 Good Wednesday morning Tony. The active rain gods pick and choose. It seems as if Bob is given your pretty good answer.

Tony Lewis well, not only you, we also got the answer from Bob...thanks for asking.

Sometimes, they miss some posts that should have been Featured.

Please read Liz and Bill Spear post on this very subject. Your post may have been very well written and golden but not of a topic that caught the eye of the feature picker or general interests of the masses. You have intrigued me and I want to go read it now.

Yikes Tony, I really like my market reports too, but I don't expect them to ever get featured...

Tony, it took a very long time for the Gold Star Fairy to find any of my posts.  The whole process is a little bit arbitrary, but generally the content of your posts has a lot to do with it.  While your posts will probably attract attention in your community and bring you business, a blog heavily loaded with local content might not get that many comments from the members here. 

Me?  I think the attention from your local community is more important than an occassional feature.  I should do more local stuff!

I like Bob Stewart's answer. When I go to the featured posts, I want to read something different, with a different slant. Certainly not something specific to one market area that has no impact on the rest of us. It's also nice to have some new members featured, they can bring new insights.  And if I see one more blog about "how to choose your real estate agent"; or, worse, denigrating others in our industry and how great they are in comparison, I will puke. I hope this is "members only" ?!

Don't feel alone,  I have also but same results

I agree, you should be featured!  I noticed none of my blogs have been featured since the upgrades, many have had hundreds of views and many comments too.  Good luck!

Tony,

I've just scanned to titles of your blogs and compared them to the titles of featured blogs. (I did not READ your blogs)

What you will observe is the featured titles promise a topic with every broad appeal and concise subject matter.

It is much like big data, the broader the appeal the less useful it is to the local agent. 

This is why I advise those who are first time bloggers on AR to have fun playing in the rain. Don't take participation here too seriously.

Start writing about stuff nobody can use and relate it to real estate and your prospects of being featured increase.

Now I have read some of your AR blogs.

Here is an example of a broad appeal blog that gets featured.

I suggest you READ more featured blogs.

Then it becomes your choice if pivoting away from hard hitting California focused blogs and dabble in the 'soft' stuff. It is up to you.

Help me out, provide a link to the blog you published that you thought deserved to be FEATURED.

Hard to say. Try adding some more text. Also, when I clicked on your link it said " Invalid address", so check your link. There is just no magic formula for getting featured.

There doesn't seem to be a specific formula that gets a post featured, although many seem to be about topics that could be nationwide in their appeal. Your post is a localism post that provides information about one specific community in one specific town. Most of the featured posts don't seem to be that focused. 

I think that is a question that many of us have! 

I long ago gave up on pursuing the elusive feature, they just happen when they are ready.

Bill Spears just did a lovely post about what your 'odds' are of having a feature. You shouldn't be looking for this accolade - write for consumers.

Some featured posts are also tutorials or help focused.

Many years ago I did a a post about 'top shelf' content & great examples here. Get your fingers on that keyboard & learn what others are doing for success.  You can improve from it immensely.

I have over 2700 and often wonder the same thing ....I don't worry about it any more ....

What Bob Stewart said!

 I thought the blog post I wrote yesterday, "Does The Street Name Matter" was FEATURE material, but A/R not. What do you think?

I think Bob did a good job of answering your question.

Are you in the club? Judging by many of the blogs I've read here, it appears there is a distinct pattern of the same people who continually have their blogs featured. This leads me to believe that there is somewhat of a "good ole' boys" network at play. Just my observations... nothing more, nothing less.

FWIW... I took a look at your post/blog. I hate to be harsh, but in my opinion that is not feature worthy.