ASK AN AMBASSADOR: ActiveRain Would Have Changed, With Or Without Zillow
#BlameItOnZillow
I wander the halls of ActiveRain and for many it seems that when anything is going wrong in the Rain, first take is that it must be the fault of Zillow. It's because they bought ActiveRain, right?? They're CHANGING things, making it worse, etc.
Your points not adding up right? #BlameItOnZillow.
Some of your favorite bloggers blogging less? #BlameItOnZillow
Not getting as much Google Juice? #BlameItOnZillow
You think the quality of posts has slipped? #BlameItOnZillow.
And I don't buy it for a second.
Points MIA? Shoot, that was going on long before Zillow ever made the scene.
Bloggers blogging less or quitting entirely? It's been happening for years. The bottom of my Subscribed to list is populated with bloggers that quit LONG before MarketLeader begat Trulia begat Zillow. It's the nature of our industry. Agents come and go. Bloggers move to other sites, quit the business, etc.
Think the quality of posts is down? Last I checked, no one tells us what to write or how to write it, so quality is solely in our control. We don't HAVE to enter contests, we don't HAVE to write 20 posts in a week when we only have topics for 5 good ones. We don't HAVE to look at the Feature board and get disturbed if we don't agree with what's there (or not there). All this is in OUR control, no matter what company has ownership.
For us, the benefits of AR are still right there where it's always been. We have a far greater web presence than pre-blogging days. Our chances of getting a referral from another agent? WAY better. Knowledge level? Also way up thanks to all the tips gained in the Rain. And friends in the Rain? Still plenty of them on a daily basis.
ActiveRain pre-Z and post-Z isn't any different from most small businesses. How do we gain clients? How do we keep them? How do we improve? True, the members might not always agree with what "improve" actually means, but since when have you ever seen 100,000 real estate agents agree on anything? And have you ever truly believed the AR staff didn't have the best interests of the AR community in mind? I can't say I've seen one iota of evidence to indicate they don't care. Swamped and overloaded? Now that I've seen!
The saying that change is the one constant in Life is true for ActiveRain too. Stagnation in a volatile business is the beginning of the end. We need to keep new members joining and engaged to guarantee the long term health of the community. That would have been the challenge, with or without Zillow.
Questions? Just Ask An Ambassador!
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
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