I just spent almost two hours digging for ActiveRain gold. And did I ever hit the jackpot!
After reading Matt's blog asking how we cruised the AR blogosphere, it struck me how many people said they looked at featured posts, most commented, and associates blogs. And I understand that, really I do. I asked Matt roughly how many blog posts AR gets a day and the answer is around TWO HUNDRED! No one can read all 200 blogs, every day, day in and day out.
So I thought as I sat here watching back-to-back Law & Orders on the TiVo that I would attempt to do a little "mining for nuggets". Originally I thought I would come up with a few individual blog posts that I could share with the AR community. Maybe give a couple of folks a little additional exposure.
What I found was a veritable treasure trove of blognastic bliss. I couldn't find just a couple of blogs to share. As time marched on, and I lost complete track of the Law & Order plot, I was discovering not single blog entries, but consistently good blogs by writers I hadn't really paid a lot of attention to in the past. I don't know why I didn't notice these before. Some are of a local flavor, which I tend to skip over when there's too much to read (which really is a mistake). Maybe they just tend to post in my "off time" and their posts are burried by the time I log on. There are agents of course, but one's a stager, there's a loan officer or two in there. It's really quite the diverse group, which I think is a great representation of the ActiveRain community.
Others may be well aware of these fine writers. But judging by the realtively low volume of comments, and given that there are only only two featured posts among them, I think a lot of people may have missed these folks, especially those that tend to view/search blogs based on comments and gold stars.
So here, oh fellow Rainers, I give you the fruits of my labor. 10 consistently great bloggers. Read some of these and see if you don't think you hit the 7 - 7 - 7 ActiveRain jackpot:
- Christine Forgione
- Andrew Hodge
- Christopher Farrell
- Rich Kruse
- Christopher Smith
- Kristin Gunn
- Cheryl Johnson
- Robert Whitelaw
- Robert Mayo
- Lisa Kauffman Tharp
I few I had been following already. Cheryl Johson was already on my radar.
Oh, no! More to read!!
Thanks for the tips. Looks like I will be adding some associates today.
thanks for the research! Yes, we do tend to overlook many, due to the volume of the site.
That is a very good list. I do try to read all the post so I don't miss anything good and have found many excellent writers. It's great of you to take the time to highlight a few.
Now that AR is really taking off it's a very good reflection of our business. Presentation and timing is everything in order to get "noticed". There are definitely certain times of the day where your post will get more attention. I think AR, just like RE, requires marketing and positioning in order to get your post noticed. There is more to it that writing and posting. Featured post are not necesarily the best post just the best "marketed".
Food for thought.
Recently I stopped reading the "Featured Blogs" and started with the "all" category. That, too, has rounded out my repertoire. I enjoy reading more voices than the one who seem to always get the limelight. The list you gave was very helpful.
You forgot MY name!!!
Rich Jacobson, www.KitsapLife.com
Rich - You've got a great blog! In addition to top notch content, you make great use of formatting and pics (which is important, IMHO). Hey, anyone that can incorporate a pic of Bluto from Animal House is top notch in my book!
You didn't make my list simply due to my completely unscientific criteria. Ya got too many gold stars and comments!
I hate CHERRY tomatoes (no offense Jim Cronin!)
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Thank you for taking the time to read all the posts. I find myself getting very overwhelmed by the vloume of posts. I really appreciate you taking the time. I will still continue to read your posts on a regular basis. ;)
Jonathan my new cyberpal and cross-town rival, you were "DQ'ed" from my list because ya got too many goldstarred posts!
You're definitely one good blogger!
Thank you Jay for the recognition. It is a little over whelming to get such high praise from someone that I have looked to, as a great source for quality information, since we first met (virtually) through HV about a year ago. After reading this post and the comments I will definitely try to start incorporating more pictures. I just need to figure out where I can come up with a good source of visuals for all topics. Well in time I am sure I will improve the quality of my blogs to be fully deserving of such accolades.
Every time I post a comment I always seem to get hungry for fruit. Mmm Orange :-)