Introducing rewards: badges and points
Today we rolled out a new feature – user rewards. They come in two forms – points and badges; given for doing things that make the site better such as looking at listings, reading posts, leaving comments, referring new users, and visiting regularly.
You even got points for looking at this post (if you were logged in). If you are not logged in, quickly get logged in and claim your points.
Everyone who was a member when we rolled this out has been granted one of a few special rewards. The BETA badge which comes with a whole load of points and is only for you early adopters. If you do not already have an account, you missed out on that badge but there are others you can earn. For example, the “fixer” badge is for admins to give to people that help find and fix any issues with the site.
This is just a fun way to thank you for using Kent Index. I am looking into ways to give enhanced/early access to new features for people with high point totals.
Get points for checking out other people’s listings
In order to help encourage the viewing of everyone’s listings, we award points for looking at other people’s listings. This reward is just a tiny reminder that the best thing you can do for other people is to look at their stuff. If you like what you see, don’t forget to contact the user with an offer before someone else beats you to it.
You can get quite a lot of points each day before you hit your daily cap. You would need to look at a lot of listings before you stopped getting points. Even if you did, you could come back tomorrow and look at some more. This is because Kent Index exists to show people stuff that other people are offing. The whole reason for having this website only works if people legitimately look at other people’s stuff.
Not to mention the “most popular” section is a bit static and I’d like to see some new listings make it up in there.
Get rewards for telling your friends
You get points for each friend you tell about Kent Index and more points if they create an account. To get credit for your referrals, you will need to use your referral link. Find the link in the sidebar of each page.
Those rewards for sending people our way includes your own listings. Sending your friends to look at your listing is a good way to increase your chances of getting positive responses. Only now, you can score points too.
This is for exactly the same reason as the points for looking at listings reason. New people are what we need to make Kent Index valuable. Every friend you send along to look at your stuff could be the customer that someone else is looking for too. I did not make Kent Index in order to earn money; I made it because I hoped it could be useful to people.
Of course, it does not hurt that more people joining in makes the points system more enjoyable and fun. But that fun is very much secondary to the primary aim of helping your advert be seen by more people.
Get a badge for coming back (a lot)
One of the badges that are fully automatic is the “Super Keen” badge. The badge is given for coming back again and again. In fact, you can level your badge up by keeping on visiting. Each successive level requires more dedication to obtain as a reward to the sites most loyal members.
Dedicated users are what communities are built from. Which is why I want to reward the most dedicated users with an acknowledgement of participation. I hope you will agree that this is only fair.
Get rewards for commenting
It should go without saying that posting a classified advert gets you points. What you might not know is that posting a comment to the blog gets you points too. At least the first time you post one on a blog post.
Active comments on blog posts shows new users that there really is a community here that might look at the classifieds they want to share. I do not post very often but I would still be mightily encouraged if there were more comments.
More badges and points coming soon
As soon as I have time to crete some more appealing art-work, there will be new badges rolled out. So keep coming back, keep posting adverts, and keep using the site. You never know when the next big update is going to be ready.
Let me know in the comments what you think of this update. Do you want more ways to earn points, new badges, or some other feature entirely?
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