You can get points without blogging.  Just by commenting 20 per day, you get 25 points per day.  You also get points for inviting people to join AR and you get 10% of what points they make.  You also get points for participting in the Q & A section.

Ben DeHaven, take your printed posts (neatly bound and with an eye-catching cover) and go to the closest McDonalds, where you can redeem them, along with an approximate $5 surcharge, for a Happy Meal (toy not included)...

Kevin, I've seen people become so overly concerned about the points they forget their purpose for being here. 

The purpose must  be to 'juice' your website from a authority website. Then you MUST have a public facing blog on AR. Those who have RAINMAKER or higher status do have blogs exposed to the public.

Stay focused on your PLAN and let the points do what ever they want. They have very little bearing on anything that is of real importance to you.

Write. Have some fun. Share your wisdom. Invite us to share in your celebrations. 

What is missing from your question, and this is EXTREMELY important, "What benefit do you derive from having points?" 

You can get points without posting any blogs: inviting others and getting 10% of their points, logging in every day for years, commenting and answering questions.

Kevin,

Contests add lots of points, and logging in daily and commenting daily on posts adds points.  A

Many ways to earn pts here.

There are many activities that earn points.

I believe there are many ways to earn points here.

They do other things.

I don't think so

You don't have to post to your blog to get points. You can get points for commenting on posts, too. Although it's really in your best interest to write a post, because that will help get you out there for the consumer and other members to see. You never know when a great referral opportunity might come along. I have sent out three over the last year. And I live in an extremely rural area. AR is my go to place to find that perfect agent. 

The others have already answered the question. You get points for commenting, and answering questions and for asking questions.

I just printed out all of my points, what do I do with them now?

You can earn points without posting. Probably defeats some of the purpose of having a blog. I haven't seen any 5-10K bonus points.

Everyone has pointed out different ways to get points and now we're moving into a "there are better rewards than just points" discussion.

True organic thinking & discussion.

Now I need to go find some people who love to write and invite them to join.

Kevin, This link by ActiveRain staff may prove helpful.  It's the (as it exists now) complete breakdown on earning points.  As mentioned above, lots of ways to gain points without ever writing a post.  http://activerain.com/blogsview/4563477/the-activerain-point-system

Kevin S. McCullough there are many ways to earn a point - you can earn as much as 3500 points per week just by commenting (20/day) as compared to blogging (2250/week for 10 posts).

And of course, many have started earlier and have been collecting points for many years......

I don't know exactly what they're doing or who they are but what the others said is true.  Some have amassed a great amount of points from inviting others and having them become active.  Some will churn out listings and market reports day after day.  And don't forget about commenting.  You get points for that and for when others comment on your posts. 

Hi Kevin  -- in addition to the answers previously left:

they may be excellent at inviting members, especially those who have achieved some very lofty numbers and keep accumulating 10% of their points without ever posting.   

Those people are only commenting.  For many blogging is very scarry.

My guess is that they signed up some great bloggers and now are sitting back and racking in the points. I have gotten about a dozen to sign up but can't get any of them motivated to be a regular.

That has stumped me in the past too.  I can't believe you would get that many points without adding posts.

Kevin there are a ton of people who post self serving blog after blog and log on every day to get the 10 points for logging in. They have been on here for many years, you add up the points.

They can just leave comments, enter contests or even just log in every day. The real benefit of AR is getting new clients and that comes from blogging