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Do consumers even visit ActiveRain?

I just stumbled upon the comment above that was a part of a post where people were debating the returns on various online real estate websites. I have heard the sentiments of the comment above numerous times since founding ActiveRain. Because of the rich professional-to-professional networking that happens everyday on ActiveRain some people dismiss the great consumer reach of the site. This is likely our fault as we tend not to toot our own horn regarding our accomplishments. As a result we have done a poor job educating the industry as to the power inherent in ActiveRain to connect real estate professionals with consumers.

I track our traffic numbers on a daily basis. It's a borderline obsession for me. When you've built websites your whole adult life, this tends to happen. For example, I know that yesterday was our second highest number of visitors ever to the site. 88% of our visitors on a monthly basis come from search engines or referral from other sites. These are potential clients doing search queries that are leading them to your posts.

But the stat that jumps out at me that lets me know ActiveRain is MUCH MORE than 'primarily a peer-to-peer platform' is this: the number of members on our site is quite a bit less than 10% of our unique visitors per month. That means there are over 9 consumers hitting the site for every one member.........and when you factor in how many of our members are actually contributing content, that number gets even higher.

As I was getting ready to write this post, I did some additional research and found the graph below that compares ActiveRain's traffic with other "big boys" of our industry: ColdwellBanker.com, REMAX.com, Century21.com, and KW.com. It is exciting for me to note that we started off one year ago in 5th place (out of 5) in this group and now we are ranking in 2nd place with almost a 200% yearly growth rate.

Posted by Jonathan Washburn on 01/14/2009 02:37 AM

Comments (125)

ActiveRain in the ActiveRain Channel

Originally posted at: jonwashburn: Do consumers even visit ActiveRain?

125 Comments on Do consumers even visit ActiveRain?

JAN

Jonathan, great information and thanks for driving the traffic (or consumers in this case) to the AR platform where they are sure to find whatever answers to questions that they might have. I applaud your efforts on the SEO front and I am sure you will surpass a couple more companies on the way to the top. Take care and happy blogging!

Hi Jason, wouldn't it be great it we could grow ActiveRain by another 200% in 2009. Since we have such a rich database of unique content from our members I think it is possible. This year will be a year where we really focus on doing a better job at helping our members to convert a higher percentage of consumer visitors to closed transactions.

I admit it, I caused the traffic. I was inviting and teaching a room full of mortgage agents why they better get onboard the activerain train before their competitors do. :)

Hello Jonathan, it is almost morning time! To see a 200% growth spurt is nothing short of amazing! Some may even say that is almost unheard of in a calendar year. I am excited at the prospects sure to come as a direct result of them finding me here on the AR platform. I have sponsored my local real estate market in Localism.com and have been very encouraged by the online traffic it has generated to my site already. Congrats and kudos to your entire team on this accomplishment. Here's to a successful year for us all. Take care and happy blogging!

Great post this is the type of information the active rain community needs to see! Thanks!

Laura,

Hi Jonathan - From September to October, traffic to each of the broker sites declined (looks like 50% for ColdwellBanker.com), while ActiveRain traffic improved slightly. Any ideas on what caused this?

Jonathan: Powerful data. I just got done reading Rich Jacobson's featured post and this information helps to support his statements. I have recently seen an increase of page rankings for my website. I would have to say it is from all the valuable SEO information I have read from other Active Rain members. You and your team have done a wonderful job creating a successful networking website, Thank you. I wish you much success in the year 2009.

Toot, toot, toot away Jonathan! The proof is in the pudding. Just about everytime I Google anything real estate related, an ActiveRain member's site (mine or someone else's) pops up in the first 3 pages of Google. This means that if for no more than the curiosity factor, consumers have to be clicking through and reading AR posts. I love data. Plz keep it coming. Thanks!

Jon - Your graph and stats are interesting.

More interesting to me is the fact that I sold a house Sunday to someone who found my AR listing blog in a search, liked the pictures in my RES presentation, called me and said "If it is as nice as the pictures in the show, I will take it." It was, and he drove here from Calif and bought it. I got 2 buyer emails today direct from my AR blog, after emailing them more info, I have 2 appointments later this month to show property to out of town buyers. An investor from Canada called me this morning, we have a phone appointment tomorrow morning. My MLS search requests have tripled in the past few weeks - could that be my Localism sponsorship for a measly 9 bucks a month? That is 2 Starbucks.

So that is what my little AR blog has done for me since Saturday. I wish I knew how to make a graph.

Thanks, Jon.

It is exciting for me to note that we started off one year ago in 5th place (out of 5) in this group and now we are ranking in 2nd place with almost a 200% yearly growth rate.

That's a remarkable accomplishment.

Thank you for all you're doing to make A/R the powerful tool that it continues to be. And please, toot your horn a little more --- you deserve it! The graphs are a very helpful illustration showing just how strong this network has become.

This is GREAT information! I think many of us wonder; just how many "outside" folks are visiting us in the rain!

I often wondered about this too so thanks for posting on here.

I have never understood WHY people think that there are NOT consumers on the AR site. I LOVE graphs.

Jonathan - This is eerily similar to a question that I asked about a Mastermind group that I was in:

"How can I tell you in a nice way, without making you mad or upsetting you, that you just don't realize how valuable and important this ________ is for you?"

Most people just do not 'Get it"; thanks for the reminder of just how beneficial Active Rain is.

I appreciate you!

Bobby Wallace

Thanks for the post Jonathan. I was just asking myself this question and thanks to you all I had to do was log in and get the answer.

My error. I wrote the above comment before completing my login. Thanks again Jonathan.

Jonathan - thanks so much for sharing the numbers - and the graph! Very interesting that AR continues to grow as other sites experience a seasonal (or is it permanent) decline. Great content written by thousands of members will make this site continue this trend. Is there any way to see this graph updated once a month? (I'm a numbers person too!)

Jonathan, this is excellent. Consumers may not comment (although I've had a few who did, and also a PR person for a Congressman) however they do read and they do remember.

I also loved seeing the featured post below yours as it pertained to the same thing and was a succes story.

Al your adult life? LOL I love stats too and especially compete.com. AR is pretty powerful.

Very nice, J, please do this on a regular basis. I love numbers and graphs also. Info like this helps me also when I recommend AR to my friends in the biz.

There are too many posts here talking about the business people have gotten from their AR blogs for that notion of no consumers visiting AR to continue to persist. Whoever wrote that needs only visit here a few times to find that myth dispelled.

I like that green line up there, too! ;-)

Ann

I appreciate Active Rain and all you folks do for us.. I believe you hit the nail on the head when you stated, CONTENT, the buying public wants Content, here they can see it from all sides and all brokerages, big, small, independent and franchised. The more the public becomes aware of AR the higher the numbers will grow.

It would be interesting to see a long list of all the terms that get people to an ActiveRain page.

I had no idea you had those numbers and were out pacing some of the big boys. I see the huge value in your site for peer to peer netowkring. I know you have localism but I have never seen any data on that in terms of a consumer tool, do you have any?

Jonathon, I am fairly new here so this is very exciting to see. Thanks for posting.

This is a great stat to see! Thanks for providing the information. I see no way for AR to go but up - this year and in the future!

Jon,

That's pretty good if you can be ahead of the big boys...only says you must be doing something right. I get comments from the consumer...actually at first I didn't have that setting on to allow them so I probably missed out on some back in 2006. Unless they are a member then they wouldn't see it if it's a members only post.....I know when I post it to public that it will be seen but in the network it would only be if they were also members. I do look at my traffic but it's hard to sit down and really analyze it all the time.

Seriously? Shooting for another 200% in growth? I like the sound of that. I am going to have to up my game and get those animations done and cook up some more original content (LOL). We have plans for Little Minion TV and The Outside Blog Minion Report. We're still collecting writers for our team blog at Club Chaos, so this should be a very interesting year. Wishing you the very best with your projects. Regards, C. :-)

Have you seen Bill Gassett's most recent post/testimonial The POWER of Actve Rain? He is writing great content therefore consumers and MEDIA are contacting him.

-Kathleen Buckley

Jonathan - thanks for that info. I will be copy/paste your graph to share with my office. The POWER of Active Rain is so BIG for me and my business. CONSUMERS DO read blog posts....they find it on GOOGLE. I have gotten so much business from CONSUMERS finding ME via my ACTIVE RAIN presense. I will be a LIFE-LONG active member here. I am very grateful I found the RAIN.

I agree somewhat that Active Rain is a great per to peer platform but I have been thoroughly amazed at the number of folks who are now reading my blog (and even commenting at times) who are part of my SOI and others I do not know. I have had excellent feedback from my open house announcements and am encouraged o finally start posting more real estate realted material for the areas of my city where I work! So it continues to develop in a positive way!

I just took a break from preparing a listing presentation to visit ActiveRain a few minutes. The prospective seller came to me Monday through ActiveRain, in spite of the fact that most of my recent posts have been written for members and I've never targeted her community. Over 50% of my 2008 business came from consumers who found me on ActiveRain. Pretty impressive. Congrats, Jonathan, on a great job, as evidenced by your little graph.

Most people doing searches find what they want, read it, copy it, whatever, and then go on their merry way. So because the consumer is not making it known that he's been here, doesn't mean that he hasn't. Your numbers don't lie.

They're out there. They're visiting Active Rain. And I'm glad I get to benefit from that.

Johathan, I'm new here and I'm a believer. Just reading Margaret's comments reinforces it. Your comment: This year will be a year where we really focus on doing a better job at helping our members to convert a higher percentage of consumer visitors to closed transactions. Active Rain was already part of my 2009 business plan and I see that you're planning to help!!!! Thank You!

That is great information and great growth especially in this market. Confirms AR is doing the right stuff.....

Jonathan, Good job my friend. You must be so proud of your "baby".

If folks are not getting consumer contacts form AR they need to check what they are writing about. I get TONS of consumer contacts from my blog on AR. Not only are the consumers here in force but they are also JOINING AR.

I hope 2009 is another great year for growth.

Jonathan , Here is my thoughts on your post, We want immediate success and blogging is a process, not a silver bullet, take your medicine every day and you will see the results. But it takes patience and commitment. Glad to see the stats, they are encouraging.

Jonathan - Nice to see the numbers in a clear format to reinforce the idea that consumers are out there. I've met the consumers that have read my work here at ActiveRain, so I know they exist. I say, let's give them more reason to keep coming with quality content and they will continue flowing towards ActiveRain.

That is very impressive information. Just the fact that so many local consumers (and clients) in my area have reached out to say "I love your blog !" tells me that OBVIOUSLY consumers are seeing and reading the blog. Is a no brainer... not to mention some of the consumer leads that have contacted us. I think the misconception just lies in the comments as most of the comments are "peer to peer" and every once in awhile a consumer will jump in on a blog post. ~ Chris Somers

Congrats! I figured out the MANY benefits from AR. Not is it a most brilliant RE Social Networking site, I use it for Localism and the SEO.

I love having my twitter account linked here and then fed into facebook. I only started it in the last month but have one sphere buyer in escrow because of it and another simply put "I want a house" comment in my REDC auction post feed last week and BAM we get her approved and start actively looking for a house.

I can't forget blogburst and other syndication feeds that eat up my monthly stats and give me additional exposure!

I have to change my writing style here and there every time I smell a new opportunity in the rain BUT THANKS!

There has to be that combination of consumer driven traffic. I don't think most of us here are blogging for fun, we do it as a part of our business strategy to make money. So with that being said having AR being consumer friendly is important.

WOW The graph is VERY interesting here. Active Rain growth is really tremendous. I see Re.Max seems to be declining

Thanks

Don

Jonathan I love it man! I am an avid tracker myself and know I get a ton of hits to my blog. I also did battle over at Trulia with a blogger that was putting down AR a little while back. Rich and Brad can tell you about it...I know they read my comments at the site.

I track my personal web site and have learned the ISP's of my competition and even know how often they are looking at my pages :)

I know that consumers are reading my posts... they call me, it sometimes has been for non real estate related issues... like could I give them the theater phone number or could I give them the Marina's phone number and resturants' hours. Those calls got me to modify those posts to include that information. But it also tickled me pink that local consumers who might want to sell or buy were reading my blog.

Intriguing post. I think AR is both a peer to peer and a consumer -read medium. Most of my writing is in a peer to peer voice but written with the thought that consumers could be lurking. I think that as it grows and keeps pinging the hell out of the search engines that it will be more consumer -read.

I've known the traffic aspect of AR for some time now. I'll often times blog about an event in our area to get exposure by someone searching for that event then finding me and my blog post. At times, the blog post I write here outranks the website of the event I'm blogging about!

I have no doubt that consumers are finding and reading my blog. I have calls or emails from buyers and sellers who tell me that they have read my blog. Some are regular readers who when we met they talk to me about my posts or told me that they called me because they felt comfortable with me or liked my style. They don't comment but they do read!

Jonathan- Great stats. It's even more impressive considering the others appear to be trending fairly flat to negative, for the year. Nice work! Congratulations.

Jonathan, good to know. But, a factor I think is really key is "Length of Visit." As any marketer knows, lots of traffic simply stumbles upon your site and quickly leave. I suggest to anyone serious about online marketing definitely record that factor.

Happy Sailing ... _/) Paul -- www.eNewsletterSolutions.com

Wow that's informative... Thanks for posting this AR info. It helps to know how it stands up. Very well I think, and it has helped my business.

Thanks for the stats, I am printing it out right now and giving it the the members of my team!!!! AR is great, and I am glad to finally be apart of the group ( I just got my RE license!)!

Johnathan -- Great info! I've always wondered how many consumers are actually visiting AR.

That is interesting, I have only been a member for a little over a month and have gotten a few leads from it....one looks very promising...thank you (rainers) for all the great info and interesting posts....peace zane

Thanks so much for the statistics - it helps to see what is going on with the traffic! I think you guys do such a phenomenol job on this site - I feel so fortunate to have found it myself --- keep it up!!!

Jonathon - did you look at the traffic at Weichert.com? I think you will find that your list of the "big boys" needs to be adjusted.

Hi Johnathan...Well Done and Thanks to you all. Active Rain has put me on the Top of Google for searches in Victoria in my farm areas from posts I have written here on Market Stats and Victoria Real Estate and Properties I post about.

Once again Thanks :O)

Jonathan - this is indeed impressive. Thank you for sharing this little known tidbit. It poitns out even more how valuable it is for members to be here. One would have little idea of the reach by simply looking at comments since they are overwhelming from other members. Great news.

Jeff

I know for a fact that consumers visit my blog. I do not know if they visit other blogs within the network, nor if they find me from the "State" page here on AR - but I do know that they find my blogs with local content via search engines.

Do they just come to ActiveRain and then find me? Maybe - but I think they find me because of what I write.

Jonathan - thanks for the information on the statistics, and it is good to see that AR is ranking highly among other real estate sites.

Jonathan,

Your team and the contributing bloggers have built a great site. I agree you have not done a great job educating or letting us bloggers know who visits our blogs. Our stats reports from you are pretty basic.

I know we get consumer traffic and lots of it from our outside stat counters.

I appreciate the wonderful platform, but no bloggie, no trafficy. Gotta get back to work.

Great information . However, I view this site as a place to share ideas and experiences with fellow people in our industry. I like the fact I have met a lot of people that I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to meet and share ideas with .

If clients are coming and reading. I am all for that as well. Thank you for the stat update.

LMF

Jonathan, thanks for all you guys do at Activerain! Fantastic information and a perfect primer for Brad's Omaha event tomorrow!

I know that A|R has lots of eyes out there. I have seen it on my blog (I am using Clicky to track my A|R traffic...). I also see how much traffic moves back to my "other platforms" from A|R. I too often start thinking of A|R as peer to peer, but I really do know better.

Hi John, just wanted to say a few words. We joined Active Rain about 2 months ago. I am a first time blogger and learning. I have read the "rules" to not just advertise yourself, but give the consumer info they can use.

We are in the mortgage industry, are utilizing Active Rain and google business listings. By posting news a consumer can use in the process of buying a home we are getting web traffic. Not only web traffic but phone calls. We have had 5 calls in the last week. Now 1 refi in process, from 75 miles away, one appointment for refi, and a pre approval for a purchase.

Now we can use this pre approvedclient to give to a Realtor for a home purchase. We know that the best way to build a realtor relationship is to give them a referral.

In 30 days we have managed to get to the front page on google searches. 1, we get in the top 10 for local searches in our area, and 2, generally 1-3 Active Rain references will appear on that front page t5hus creating more hits. Talk about a presence! Please google fha mortgages Brighton MI . We are right there front page with Active Rain references

As we begin to drive traffic to our site by utilizing Active Rain, our authoritative role in our local Internet community will become more powerful. Now what do you think if I was to show a Realtor our presence on the first page of the searches. Would they not like to be a preferred Realtor on our website with a porthole to theirs?

I am no "Tech Guy" by a long shot, but make an effort everyday to use Active Rain as a Tool and a pillar of business.

Thanks and keep up the good work,

Victor Bals
Manager
American Mortgage Centers
517-586-4030
www.44mortgage.com

I've heard before "ActiveRain is just real estate agents talking" and I've always thought to myself: Well, why wouldn't consumers pop in and see what's going on in the market, their local area, etc? It makes complete sense to me as both a real estate professional and consumer. ActiveRain is a wealth of information for real estate. (period) - not just agent to agent, but real estate as a whole.

Glad to see data confirming consumer traffic! Good stuff.

Jonathon - thanks for the awesome stats! I just talked to a national trainer who thinks that there is too much risk in social networking and he advises against it. I'm a newer member on AR, out to prove him wrong. Keep up the good work!

Wow, what a great post. I am new on AR and that is just the shot of info I needed. Now I will be sure to post info for consumers on my blog. I do enjoy reading all the blogs I see here everyday too.

Jonathan,

Thanks for sharing this with us. I knew the public was looking but did not know we are doing so well.

it is definitely more of a peer to peer network than business to consumer , consumers do get here, but there are better ways to reach consumers direclty

I think most AR members realize the consumer power of AR, which is why you guys get so much grief from members over Localism. We know you can do it...you're just not doing it as fast as some people want you to go...

Anyone who blogs for consumers on here knows the google juice generated by this site. Members that don't see it, aren't blogging for consumers.

AR fluctuates as my #1 and #2 referral site to my website. Just got a call a couple of days ago from a consumer reading my blog for the past two months. Hired me, no questions asked.

AR is what you want to get out of it.

Hey Jonathan. Thanks for sharing the information with us. Active Rain does work. Real Estate professionals who are not members of this great site need to get onboard. Great post.

Congrats on a remarkable growth spurt amongst some very well-established competition! Also, thanks for enlightening everyone of the traffic from non-members/potential clients that Active Rain draws. Wish you a very prosperous 2009!

So WHERE are those consumers going, on the site? Can you track that? Are they looking at Localism for certain areas?

When I first got on Active Rain I felt is was a site for realtors to share information, areas of expertise, and viewpoints with other realtors. You may also be able to see who is dedicated to their craft and has a considerable knowledge of what they are doing by sourcing Active Rain. It's a very valuable resource for consumers if they are willing to look through it.

Jonathan, "clap, clap clap!" You have created a GIANT in Active Rain. The statistics are proof. I know first hand that consumers DO search Active Rain. I have 2 closings to prove it and 2 more in the works, from Active Rain. I get comments from clients that read my blog and comment on it. I'm always surprised. Guess I shouldn't be! From my boring market statistics, to Localism posts, they DO read it. My hat goes off to you. Job well done:)

I'm coming to the ReBar Camp in Seattle and can't wait. It will be my first. Hoping to get the tour of your new headquarters!? :) Get the autographed t-shirts ready, and the camera ready smiles :)

Jonathan - I first joined AR, I too thought it was basically a site for Realtors, lenders and other RE professionals to socialize with each other. That was until I got my first lead and have since closed that transaction. Now, I know it can be so much more. Like most things, it is what you make it.

It is interesting to see the spikes for Coldwell Banker, I bet it coincides with National advertising on HGTV & such. Active Rain acheived 2nd place through SEO & referring sites and word of mouth.

When I wonder about consumers, I just check the stats on my posts that I target toward consumers only. There are consumers reading my posts, they just do not comment in large numbers. I think that maybe that is what confuses some members. They do not understand that consumers are swarming their posts, they just do not leave comments as often.

Thanks for the post! I just wish I would have found AR sooner!!!

Jonathan: Thanks for your statistic and graphs. I think Active rain is a great place to network and boost up our internet presence... I am somewhat a newbie on AR community as this may be my new found secret amount my local competitors, I am manifesting a huge return in 2009 from AR and then I can rave it up in a blog! :-)

This is great information, I too often wonder how many consumers use AR. I am still waiting to have my first business opportunity from AR, but I'm sure it will come.

This is a great post. It let's us know that some of our blogs are truly going to a useful purpose.

This is not only good information it is motivating on more than one level. It this site can do so well in such a short time than we can make great improvements in our web presence as well. Thanks for all the research!!!

This was one of the questions I have had in the past, and it is great to see something being done about it.

There has been no question of the value of Active Rain for my business. Now I am solidly on page one of google for my name, and Dawn Maloney is not an uncommon name. Confession: I am still goofing off on learning about longtail keywords and SEO stuff, etc. but AR still gets me results that I could never get on my own.

Active Rain makes me look like a PR genius.

I have had people say, 'I know you are using Active Rain, but that's just not for me...'

I guess they don't want people to know who they are??

My Active Rain posts put me on the first page of Google for some keywords where my web site is page two or three and when my web site is on the first page I can have three or four spots on page one.

I have had current property management clients contact me through the activerain email, and not people who were in the business. I have not had any business come to me because of the site, but I expect it will happen.

Sorry you had to defend yourself or the site. Those of us who are still here after many have moved on know the value. The chart is not surprising to me at all. Consumers don't comment they call, whether here or on outside blogs, that is just their behavior. Well, I shouldn't say never because they do comment but not on a regular basis.

I definately think we can double in 2009.

Jonathan, as the Realtor web traffic goes down Active Rain has gone up. Interesting. More Realtors having more time to blog, less consumers searching for houses maybe?

Jonathan - This is an interesting analysis. It's good to hear firm numbers about the volume of consumer traffic vs. member traffic. Thanks!

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Very interesting and I will be sending it out for others to take note of.

Jonathan...I am a numbers person too so love getting this information! I check my stats before I do anything else on my computer in the morning:) Congratulations...I honestly think AR will be #1 be the end of this year!

9:1 is a pretty darn good ratio.

I think the perception is that because the majority of the comment replies are from agents, that they are the only ones on here - I don't think that is true and your numbers support this.

Furthermore, the last time I checked, agents can make referral commissions from other agents. :)

Hi Jonathan~ I guess we jsut can't worry about what the naysayers think, WE all know better!

Great post, really informative. For whoever it was that made the post on December 10th,

Everyone is a consumer

i like stats... thanks for the information. very promising

Jonathan,

This is really important information. I appreciate this post. The next question is what are the top 5 or 10 things that consumers are looking for on Active Rain. This information is useful to know the type of posts to put up for consumers. Also, I a sure you can parse out or detail the focus on information on localism or AR in general. I would love to get more detail on this.

I definitely realize the power that AR has...but am still astonished and thankful at the numbers you provided. I had no idea! Thanks for all of your hard work in making this a successful part of my business plan!

Wow Jon!!! That's terrific on the stats!!! =) I LOVE what AR does!!!

I have closed deals off the rain

Hi Jon...We can definitely grow by another 200% in 2009 even though I haven't had success as yet bringing in new members I'm not going to stop trying.

I wonder what the heck is happening to RE/MAX. I have a vested interest there also. I guess it is just the times.

Kate

From my stats I can say with certainty consumers read my content just about every day. No doubt I think AR can achieve growth goals in 2009.

Awesome data, thanks so much. I was beginning to wonder about that and glad to know the truth.

Great statistics I love numbers even better when they support my thoughts.

I think that AR is doing a great job so far, just look at how much the network has accomplished alone in 2008. Since we have jumped to 2nd place, I think that 2009 will be even a greater year for future analytics. I also think that this may be a wake up call to AR members to blog not only to other members but with the consumer in mind as well.

Thanks Jonothan! I love ActiveRain! Hopefully with Re/Max AND ActiveRain I should get real busy! November Newbie!

Debbie

This is all very excitng news. Hope I can step up to the plate on active rain!

Thanks,

Cindy

I have wondered about this for two years, and I just stumbled across this, so my concerns have been eliminated. The 9-to-1 ratio is absolutely astounding. If this isn't impetus enough, I'm not sure what is.

AR Rocks Baby!

Because we blog so much, the more successful one is the more they are googled, and active rain will be everywhere. I google search farmed areas and it is amazing to see how many people read active rain (not localism) blogs....and it shows the metatags that were typed....which helps you determine which ones work and don't work. Great work!

Jonathan - you mentioned the big boys in your stats but you did not mention where Windermere or John L. Scott come up in your stats.

AR has been the greatest investment of my time yet. With so many in the Real Estate Industry contributing valuable content it will continue to grow. Thanks for all you do ...

Johnathan: It is great to see that there are such a high number of consumers hitting the AR site in general. Even better when they are hitting our blogs

Love the numbers and stats as well. I like to use numbers when I show sellers how powerful blogging and using AR is. So keep the numbers coming please. Interesting to see Remax dipping ~Rita

JAN

Jonathan: Unbelievable. Nine out of ten people that visit Active Rain are not Realtors? I always thought Active Rain was the site for incredible intelligent Real Estate professionals that got together to share their knowledge. When I stumbled into Active Rain I knew the site was something really special. Now, I know that not only have I learned a lot from Active Rain members after 32 years into the profession, but also, I can profit from my membership if I learn to use it wisely.

Thank you all for your comments and support! This site, and it's traffic, would be nothing without the incredible investment of knowledge by our members.

A few people asked me to compare AR's traffic with other larger brokerages, so I put that graph together. It is interesting to note that ActiveRain last month had more visits to it's site than all three of the listed brokerages combined: Windermere, Weichert, JohnLScott.

Lastly, a few people called out the down tick in traffic at Remax.com. It is not fair to single them out exclusively; online real estate traffic is down across the board. Most of the traffic changes with the brokerage companies are a result of seasonality or corresponding marketing campaigns. (sadly most of the advertising campaigns most of the big brokerages employ are on TV and don't really move the online dials.)

Great stats! I love numbers!! It's good to see that AR is getting that much traffic, and it's also good to see that the RE/MAX site still dominates as a national franchise.

Nice blog, we have quite a few websites, ActiveRain accounts anywhere from 3-10% of the visits as a referral. Strangely, these visits are often the shortest in duration. I have no idea why...

Thanks for sharing - wonderful news and awesome stats. I personally have more than one client come from AR each month, and I've been here for only 4 months.

JAN

Fantastic information. I just used Compete.com to check Activerain.com vs. our company website. Activerain rocks out!

JAN

KW doesn't have much of a web presence. My blog has more traffic that all the local KW sites combined but Coldwell Banker and other have a stong presence. Much of it is consumers searching for homes. Locally Edina Realty has the biggest presence. Your number surprise me because I would think that the sites with the more listings on them would be getting more traffic. You should comapre AR numbers with ziollow and trulia and it would also be interesting to see what the bounce rates are.

JAN

So helpful to see the numbers do the talking. Thanks!

JAN

This is really encouraging news! Thanks for the graphs which make it really easy to visualize. You could do more posts like this.

MAR

Great post. I had no idea that so many consumers hit the ActiveRain site everyday. Also kudos for making it to number two against the big sites. I'd like to see how you compare against Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow.

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