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ActiveRain's NEW RainMaker Membership Plan

ACTIVERAIN - The NEW "RainMaker" Membership Plan

EDITED 7/10/2009

Click Here - for the most recent and up to date information regarding RainMaker memberships

We are implementing some changes in our membership structure on ActiveRain for NEW MEMBERS. We believe the NEW membership plan will be beneficial to both our existing members and to our "New" members joining the Community. We want ALL NEW MEMBERS to reap the same benefits and rewards that existing members have created and experienced in the past. The time has come for us to make a change.

Since 2006, ActiveRain has been hosting members Blogs for FREE. Many AR members have contributed fantastic content, and as a result has driven visitor traffic and SEO over the top. (Over 2,000,000 visits monthly) These members, along with our team, have worked hard and long to achieve these results. It's been a wonderful partnership and the rewards and success stories are simply amazing.

ActiveRain has hit a certain level of maturity and any new members signing up are in a position to receive tremendous benefits and value by doing so. Our founding members have had to invest much more time and effort when they signed up and got started here. The amount of consumers visiting the site is dramatically higher and the potential to learn, interact and share are all exponentially greater than they were two years ago. ActiveRain has become a very powerful network and useful resource to the Real Estate Industry.

The Network has clearly reached a point where participation here provides an undeniable tangible value to our members in the form of on-line marketing, networking, and as an educational forum. There really is no other Network or Community that compares to ours.

The ActiveRain New Membership Structure and Plan:

Members who have already setup accounts and have existing Blogs on ActiveRain will continue to benefit from their FREE access to the community and network. (nothing changes for current AR members with Blogs)

A "Basic" ActiveRain account will still be available to new members for FREE, however these new accounts will be limited to "Members Only" postings. This means that any new members will still be able to benefit from the networking aspects of ActiveRain for FREE, but will not be able to tap in to ActiveRain's huge consumer reach unless they sign up for the "New Membership Plan."

The New ActiveRain Membership (For New Members ONLY) will cost $39.00 per month, and will include an Outside ActiveBlog along with a unique domain name that allows them the ability to post content that will be visible to both consumers and search engines.

Any member accounts that were created before February 16th, 2009, but have NOT yet produced at least a single Blog post will continue to have access to the network and all the tools that they've utitlized up to this point. If those members wish to activate their account so their Blog posts will be viewable to consumers and search engines, they'll be required to sign up for the New Membership Plan at $29 per month.

All New and Existing ActiveRain Members will also receive:

Listing Router "Wholesale" pricing, with clicks being delivered to the highest bidder on an auction basis. All members will have the opportunity to pay the same price as bulk wholesale buyers. This represents a 70% per bid price reduction.

The NEW Rainmaker Badge: If you currently utilize any AR product (Listing Router Campaign, Outside Blogs, Sponsored Localism Communities etc.) the new RainMaker VIP Badge will appear when leaving comments and wherever the member profile picture is currently displayed.

ALL Outside Blogs will now have the ability to add multiple users/authors. The pricing will only be $19 per month for existing AR members going forward. (This includes Individual and Group Blogs)

Premium technical support will continue for paying members. Non paying members will only have access to email based support. These changes will be rolled out over the next few weeks and will be automatically applied to member accounts.

Weekly ActiveRain Webinars and On-line Training will also be made available to ALL ActiveRain Members.

All current members will be given ActiveRain Founder Accounts. You have gotten us to this point and your contributions have been the fuel to mature the network. Again, nothing changes for our existing Active AR members.

This new membership plan goes into effect at 5am PST on Monday, February 16th, 2009. Feel free to contact any of the ActiveRain staff or team if you have any questions or concerns. We are looking forward to the continued growth and success of our network and YOUR business here on ActiveRain. Thank you for your continued support, your contributions, and your allegiance.

Sign Up Here - AR RainMaker Membership

"RainMaker" Special - Signup Here and Get New Member Discount

Posted by Brad Andersohn ~ Community Manager on 02/16/2009 05:26 AM

Comments (769)

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Originally posted at: ActiveRain - The Official ActiveBlog: ActiveRain's NEW RainMaker Membership Plan

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769 Comments on ActiveRain's NEW RainMaker Membership Plan

FEB

Hi Brad, interesting. great job as always on the detail of your posts. Much appreciated. Keep up the good work.

Wow, what a HUGE change! Congrats and I can't wait to see where this goes! Sure glad I started back when we had 20,000 members so I can be a Founding Member ;-) I think this is going to be one of those "I remember when" moments!

Janie Coffey

I looked up and saw 135,000 members. I still can not believe how much we have come.

As one who began their involvement in the early days as a member, this plan makes total sense. There is no denying that AR offers excellent search engine results for those who are willing to invest the time and energy to post quality content. This is a value that surely warrants the change. But I also appreciate that new members will be able to participate in the networking and info sharing aspects, without cost. That, in and of itself, is worth the price of admission!

I wish I had know about this last week. I would have held the blogging class then (instead of Wednesday). What's that old saying...timing is everything?

Great move! I'm teaching a class Tuesday for my KW office and will have to update the 'free' aspect. Ah, timing. But I support you 100%. XXOO

Would love to talk to you about my free blog site by the way. Want to use it but have questions.

Smart decision, Brad (and the AR gang)! And, WOW--VIP and Founding status together! I feel SO special!

Just one question about all of this--does this mean that I'm going to lose my personal IT guy?! ;)

Debe in Charlotte

Maybe you should purge all of the "inactive" members first? Active Rain is an amazing resource with participation. There is a lot of dead weight. Shame on them for not knowing what they have.

Wow = Didn't see this coming

Ellie brings up an interesting point. Those members with inactive accounts who have basically abandoned them shouldn't get the same benefits of members who have broken their back for this network. Those inactive members should be purged even if at the cost of a total user reduction. We all know there's not really 135,000 active members anyways but no community is, in fact most only have 5% full user activity.

I wonder if the hundreds of people that I have invited will now regret not joining. Gosh knows I tried!

Brad,

I am soooo glad I joined over a year ago! I think the changes are a good idea. Thanks for everything. AR has truly changed my job!

Huge Change!

Let's see how it impacts interest and membership going forward.

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

I am glad I started a couple of years ago. This is a great site.

thanks for the update on the changes - I like the above comment about getting rid of the inactive members first - will charging a fee stop people from signing up??

This is a GREAT benefit for us old timers, Glad you Grandfathered us in. We are starting Monday Morning with a Smile!

Just keep repeating to myself.....

nothing changes for current AR members with Blogs

except doesn't stuff change? there are changes for

"Existing" members....

I don't believe that agents will pay it. The benefits are intangible and the yearly amount will be a barrier.

Some mortgage folks will pay it because they can market their services directly to agent members.

I believe that if ActiveRain were more branded as a "Real Estate Network", the chances of new paying members would be better. However, as long as the subtitle "Social Network" lingers, I don't believe so.

Of course, I could be wrong. . . .

again.

Brad,

Sounds like a good business decision for Active Rain going forward. Thanks for taking care of the current members while you move forward with the new plan.

Rich

Brad, Good for the old timers - how do you think that this will affect your new subscribers? I just invited 10 people. I told them that this was a free service. Well I guess I'll have to tell them that it was free at the time...

hmmm, maybe those inactive members will be putting their personas up on Ebay? ;-) ya never know!

Thanks for the update. Glad I joined when I did..wow a founding member!! Cool!!

Seems to me that everyone has until 5:00 AM PACIFIC TIME today to get their invitees up and moving!!! Hey, can I still invite people after the charge goes into effect? Will I get a finder's fee?

(I originally misread it, thought it said 5:00PM, and was about to blast out some re-invites. Oh well.)

CHANGE is everywhere --- Sounds good!

You warned us. . .that changes are coming.

Sounds great! I would like to thank you for showing your appreciation for the founding members. I have belonged to some groups in the past that didn't do that. It was free one day and the next you were being asked to pay. Congratulations on the growth.

I disagree with Lenn about new members not paying. I am nickled and dimed to death every month with things I signed up and pay for, and this does include the new outside blog - right? Some people think anything "free" is useless but now ActiveRain will seem to them to have value. Exception: a 30-day free trial makes sense.

It was inevitable that you had to monetize this business to produce revenue at some point, and I thank you for respecting your current members by not changing their terms. Way to go!

Wow...fascinating. So glad I got started blogging earlier this week. I'm sure the changes will be beneficial to the community.

Bold move in an economic turndown. I agree that all the old unactive members should be purged. I know 3 in my area that dont even have licenses anymore. Purge them.

My guess that new agents won't pay is from watching agents marketing on the Internet for years. Margaret may have a point that ActiveRain may be perceived to have signficant value simply because there is a fee.

However, just look at the folks who do NOT participate when it's free.

We'll see. Monetizing a web site is difficult at best. Generally, the traffic alone will attract advertising dollars. That's where the money is. Marketing services and benefits to members for a fee is one thing. Charging a fee to market their services to agents is going to take some work. They'll have to perceive a benefit for the cost.

I'm not sure it will work. We'll see.

Wow - this makes me glad I joined when I did. I have around 13,000+ points right now, and it seems like so much work to have attained that - I cannot imaging how some folks hit 100,000+ - except that they have been with the network for years?

Active Rain is a great tool for networking and being "seen" on the Internet. I hope new members will see these benefits and join in !

Brad - Wow that is a big change. I hope the reward outweighs the risk in terms of keeping up the growth without losing new members to the price in a bad market. I certainly think it is a HUGE value and we are SO glad we are a part of it. We also believe that AR deserves to have a revenue stream for providing such a wonderful asset as well! It will be interesting to see how things go. ~ Chris Somers

Lenn said "Some mortgage folks will pay it because they can market their services directly to agent members."

can't they do that for free? via member to member. It is if they want to address consumers it will cost $. Or maybe I am reading it wrong.

I have had little luck encouraging local lenders to post content for free. I invited a number, a few joined. I am not sure any posted content to members or consumers.

I read it as 5 PM first too and thought I would encourage those I'd invited to do their first post today. Too late. I feel real bad for my bud who joined and then quit in a snit over what another member in our office said at a sales meeting. I was not there so he had to tell me that I lost his points because of what someone else said. When did Teri Lussier leave and why? I did not notice until a couple of weeks later.... but saw a little sign via Twiitter of "taking marbles and leaving."

Hi Brad,

My manager Claudia Fox joined on 2/11/09. She has written a blog already. For some reason she is appearing under Albany even though we put New York, Manhattan in her profile. Can you correct that? Thanks.

Everyone say Hi to Claudia she is really nice.

http://activerain.com/claudiafox

Maureen ... Email Teri directly ... she has some strong opinions. (Brad you should email her, too. Though I know she was talking with XBroker Jeff.)

I think you read it correctly ... I read the same thing. Member to member remains free. Consumer visibility is $

But, too bad, I would have liked a little advance warning to give some of my unaccepted invitees a little nudge. And to send out a couple more invitations I'm been meaning to send, but didn't get around to...... :-)

I KNOW she does. You can't miss 'em. Thanks Cheryl.

seems like there was quite a bit of thought that went into this new structure. after reading the comments I wonder myself about the inactive accounts that are here. can they be purged after a certain amount of time with inactivity?

Very cool I love the fact that you are wiling to reward those people that have been there through the beginning and who have contributed to everyones success.

Brad - I fully understand the business aspect of charging new users... I think that adding a cost to the service is necessary for the the long term health of AR - I'm glad that there will be no change for current members and thanking for providing us with this "priceless" service.

I love Active Rain, its become my morning companion. I'm very glad to be "grandfathered" in via the Founders club. The email I got about the Founders club said it would be free for one year... then we will need to buy into like everyone else.. is that still true?

Brad...

As a Founding Member (I like the sound of that) anything that puts cash in the system and keeps the platform afloat is fine with me!

Thank you for the heads up. I shall have to let my guys know. They have been dragging their feet. I have the sneaking suspicion I shall be seated at my computer with agents in tow opening accounts like their personal secretary (LOL). I've only been talking non-stop about this place for how long? April 2008? This is going to be very interesting. Oh my word - too funny! Does this qualify as the great account rush? :-)

Good morning Brad,

It looks like there are some exciting changes coming to an already GREAT place to be.

Hey Maureen-

A little birdie pointed me to this post...

I understand, respect, and have no issues with AR, or the other agents participating here, who derive enormous benefits from membership here. Every business model, market, need, and experience is different. This comment reflects my experience only.

I left because the system is buggy and the localism account was competing against my own blog. Time was, back in the day, that my AR account competed against TheBrickRanch.com, which was okay, but the new localism roll out replaced my AR blog in search engines. As you know, localism is populated by competing agents. Basically I was adding content in order to compete against myself. Didn't make a lick of sense to me.

Also, I can network more quickly and efficiently with other agents on twitter.

The best to all of you!

Good for you all at AR headquarters and for us. We do work hard and the forum creates great business opportunities if you are consistant and post valuable information. I hope you do well with this new effort. It can only mean more innovations and improvements with an extra cash flow in the stream. Good luck. PS I finally subscribed to your blog because I miss things other wise. Don't know why I did not do it before. If I could Blog for a living I would I love it!

Oh, here's an idea:

Allow each founding member a small number of FREE ACCOUNT invitations ... maybe based on points ... maybe 4 invites per 100,000 points or something along those lines .....

And a person who receives and accepts that invitiation gets in under the old ALL FREE pricing.....

I'm very interested in seeing how many agents are willing to pay.

But sometimes when you put a price on something you create perceived value.

I think the price is too high. I would make it $9.95/month. Make it comparable to going out and setting up a wordpress blog with a site at GoDaddy.com. Then sell all of the SEO benefits as free extras.

Brad, could you address if new members(with a free account) will be able to utilize localism for their content? If so then that content would be public no?

edit: and i'm guessing that would apply for the free outside blog we all started with as well.

As far as new members paying, i think it's a great way to seperate the members who contribute to this network from the ones who don't and leach from it. At least now with the hefty price tag we can be assured to get more quality members.

Lenn, I totally agree with you. I thought that this was only a matter of time after Point2Point decided to start charging as well. Glad that they at least grandfathered the rest of us in. I also must agree when someone said about purging old unused profiles, but then that really wouldn't help AR except for freeing up a little space on their servers.

I wish I could support this, but I don't. There are way too many "free" blog hosting companies out there that also have good SEO. As new agents join our company I've encouraged them to begin bloggin on here, we will now have to go elsewhere. Best of luck to you all, it's sad that we will be directing the efforts of our agents and staff to another site.

In a word; "WOW." This, in my opinion, is a great move. I appreciate the fact that you took into consideration the time and effort of the existing members. Thank you.

Kathy

Think you should go one step further. Those of us who started in the summer of 2006 should be considered founding members or maybe "legacy members" In active rain years we are 300 years old.

Active Rain has providede me with so much new knowledge and a resource for learning about, expanding and building an internet presence for free and in the maenrime AR had grown too and added vlue to me! I am gladI signed up last yera and plan to keep a couple of Localism neifhborhoods as well as upgrading my outside blog in the near future! All good things worth paying for!

Hi Brad:

It should be interesting to see how new membership does for this point..

ToulaRosebrock.com

I would think that purging members who joined and then did not post after 3 months would be a good idea. I've also tried to send emails to some group leaders who obviously are no longer active on the network to ask about taking the reigns of the group with no response. This is another area that needs to be explored as well.

I think it is a great move Brad. As I have said many times in the past it is well worth the money!

Hey, I finally got in on the grond floor of something and it has a real benefit. Yea for me!

T: We can borrow your name for the grandparents: "The Ancient Ones". :-) I was going to ask Brad about Localism as well.

From reading Brad's annoucement post it sounds to me that one would need to be a founding or paying member for posts to appear on Localism. After all, Localism does not display "members only" posts.

On the other hand, that kind of wipes out the idea of opening Localism up to small local non-real estate businesses.

H Brad, Thanks for the detailed explanation. Glad I joined when I did.

Major Change!! Can't wait to see where it goes.

Brad, I joined Active rain over a year ago, have had a few featured posts, have clients than check my localism blog frequently and I'm seeing recognition for my efforts. I feel this move (announced) is fair and balanced, after all I have spent a good amount of time contributing and like all the other existing account holders We would feel we deserve to be grandfathered. If I joined and were able to post members only blogs, it would truly be up to me to determine if the value was there and I could justify paying for the service. Steve

Brad, what a great idea! I'm so happy to be considered one of the founding members. I think of all the agents I've tried to recruit here that have never signed up. They'll be sorry they didn't. Great move!

gail tassey said:

"The email I got about the Founders club said it would be free for one year... then we will need to buy into like everyone else.. is that still true?"

so if i understand that correctly, founding members only have this free service for 1 more year starting today? some clarification is needed here. Anyone else know anything about that?

Can you link me to that source gail? We just checked our inbox and didn't see any founding members club msg.

Wow, this is a big change. All the best with the new concept. As an existing member, thank you. ActiveRain has provided a forum for good interaction among my peers and of course the ultimate "Google Juice". Thanks again.

Hi Brad,

I concur, this is a huge business decision and I think it will be very interesting to watch. I think this is a smart, strategic decision. You all have built an amazing product and engine and we can't expect to get so much for free. I saw how people objected to $19/month for the outside blog so $29/month is likely to be met with objections.

Agents need good solid training on everything AR has to offer. I do believe that once people "get it" they come on board with things.

I do have one question, your post states, "ALL Outside Blogs will now have the ability to add multiple users/authors. The pricing will only be $19 per month for existing AR members going forward. (This includes Individual and Group Blogs)"

What does this mean? If you could elaborate on this I would greatly appreciate it.

Jodi Bakst

This will be interesting to watch.

Geeze, I remember when the first AR member got to 1,000 points. We said "no way, a THOUSAND points!!" Of course that was before there were blogs and comments. About all you could do was invite other people.

Brad - you guys should give the member that left the first blog post ever on AR a few free memberships to hand out.... ;)

Cheryl, good point. if they needed to buy into active rain to use localism than that would defeat their purpose. Perhaps The AR team is going to charge use on localism when it goes live. One hopes they won't cut out our ability to post things directly to localism from AR.

Jay said "you guys should give the member that left the first blog post ever"

Who???? who wrote the first post ever?

I have no problem with this, just think it would be good to give new members 30 days free, to see if they will appreciate what we have here. Wise Agent a CRM gave us 30.00 days free, lots of training, no credit card to put in.

Our team loved it and signed up, we felt no pressure, if we didn't like it oh well.

The support was fabulous so we are quite happy with that decision.

Also think it would be good to purge the folks who signed up and have never posted.

Hey Guys, This is great! Congratulations and I'm so happy for you all. I think it's a fantastic idea and well deserved.

Thanks for everything that all of you do.

Well thank goodness I'm already here because I would really hate to leave and I would have to cut back on something else to stay, ugh! I know the people in my area won't pay for this , at least the ones that I've talked too. They were skeptical when it was free and that was when we had a better economy. I really hope this isn't the beginning of the end for AR :(

Great job on the new profile pictures within blog comments. Always ahead of the 8ball :)

Victor - you're on it, the first to comment so early in the morn... thanks.

Janie - I remember starting when you started, that was about the time I started too.

Randy - We'll hit 200,000 this year easily I'm sure, maybe 250,000.

Rich - You know I agree with you on that one, thanks for being one of the pioneers that got AR started.

Kris - timing is everything. Your class is blessed to have you sharing this with them, you have watched this network grow and this is just the beginning. You're a proud founder and contributor of one of the greatest Real Estate Networks in the country. There are many out there who still need to see and know the value that AR brings to the Industry and to their business. You're a great ambassador to do that. Thanks. :-)

I think $29 per month is very high, but I'm not here to make your decisions for you, and I don't advocate for my competition. I guess I am lucky I locked in the $19 when I upgraded this past week, although even that seemed high.

On another note, if this is going to become a fee- based platform, please clean up the referral exchange, which is a cesspool of spam and faux postings.

With the photo's now appearing with comments, I bet this will change some things around here. I see this as yet another great improvement from our developement team. These guys are some of the best I have ever met and I am so proud to be part of this team. It just keeps getting better and better all the time!

Great new features indeed. You guys do a great job.

Oh no, I've just gotten really active since Jan 2009. I've sent out to all my fellow agents to get on here because it is awesome and FREE. I didn't know that you were going to start charging. Most of them have been "waiting" for a rainy day or something.

I think you should consider offering it at $19.95 per month since things are so tough in the real estate market right now. Lucky me I signed up a while back and didn't really use the sight. Diane Aurit has been awesome at helping me out. I'm getting better each week with her help and all the other agents on AR that have helped.

Wow, interesting move in these economically challenging times. Seems to me the pricing is a bit strong, since I can get an outside blog for $10/month elsewhere. I know there is better value in AR than other blogs, but how will you convince the new members to join in the face of that pricing?

As far as purging inactive members, who cares? If they are inactive, they are not receiving any benefits from AR, so why are so many of you insisting they be purged or be made to pay? They are irrelevant.

I do wish now that I had created on outside blog instead of choosing to maintain just my AR blog, but that's life...

Good luck with the move,

Wow glad I signed up in the beginning, and that I came back recently to post...would hate to be purged but would understand if you did do that. So do we still get the VIP for the outside blogs if we sign up now or has that passed too?

Hey where's my picture ???

Brad- I wish I had pushed the people I got to join, to add a post. Most of them never got around to it, when it was free, and now I doubt they ever will.

I don't like this because there are so many ways to generate money already in place. I really think that what's in place works. I have two big hitters that I've been trying to get in the rain for sometime, but the price tag will kabash that. To pay when it takes so long to get recognized is a dfficult consideration. Needless to say, I personally find that there's so many benefits that I'd have a hard time turning my back on the rain. I'm just grateful that I'm part of the founder's club. Thanks AR.

Hi -- I think Lenn raises some interesting points. Good luck to you and I hope that this brings in the revenue you have been looking for!

Where's my picture too?

Maureen, I believe the first was a guy we now call Grandaddy... :-)

Brad.. The guys at AR rock and I am happy for all of the exciting times ahead for the company.

@Maureen... Oh I want to know that, too. Who posted the very, very first blog on Active Rain? Probably one of AR's creators, but I'd still like to know.

Brad - This was a move that many of us anticipated for over a year, but I always figured I would have to pay as well. Good stuff, my friend. On another note, how do I get my photo to show up with my comment? I see tons of those floating around today all of a sudden.

Phew, made it in by the skin of my teeth with one blog post!

It is a good move htough i think, and it is good to see you taking care of the 'fouding fathers' as it were. More site owners in various industries can learn from that!

Susie - call me today, I can walk you through getting that setup in about 5 minutes. My number is on my profile. If today doesn't work for you, at your convenience then.

Debe - lol~ I'll always be your personal IT guy, and the rest of the team is here behind you too.

Ellie - maybe now they'll come back and be more active, members who have joined in the past 2-3 years and not contributed will still have a profile here, but they missed an awesome opportunity to become founders and grow with the network. I don't know how the purge thing will work, that'll be a great topic to add to our next meeting agenda.

Sandra - I always thought this day would come, just didn't know when. Now that AR has proven to the members and Industry to have great value and benefits beyond doubt, we need to keep it alive and thriving for those who have helped build it, we also need to keep it growing and improving for those who want to jump on and share in the networks successes. There is a cost for us to do this, some values come at a price, but members can still join for free. AR once again is giving options and choices to our new members.

DID YOU KNOW - AR members produce nearly 12,000 new posts per week? My guess is sometime in the next 60-90 days, we will have over 1,000,000 articles and posts on ActiveRain.

WOW. This is a huge change. Glad I signed up about a year ago when I did. Too bad to the people I invited and they chose not to join. Their loss.

Man, I barely got my account set up....oh wait, I been here long enough to not need to worry. Whew! :) I hope the new structure works out well! I am sure we will see shortly!

To clarify: If you created your account and posted at least one blog entry before February 16, 2009 (5am PST), you are considered a Founding member. You (the Founding members) are the driving force behind ActiveRain and will never be charged to participate in the network.

Brad - Interesting move. Its actually made me sit and think about the value I have received so far from ActiveRain. I hope this works out well for the team and all of us here (new members are always a great thing). It took me a little bit to wrap my head around the new FREE account and Members Only posts, but now that I re-read it, I understand what you're doing and I like that concept.

Certainly glad I asked Kristin Moran questions when I did.

Brad,

Success brings challenges and obstacles. I can remember before I even discovered blogging I was paying so much in advertising, and I could not blink without dumping thousands a month. I have had obtained a number listings, and a slew of buyers from this media. I think my return for a few listing routers and a few outside blogs, as well as some effort, is an amazing return for the fact that it brought 5 digits of income back, and I name could have never been out there like it is now.

$29 bucks, can you even eat for that anymore?

Business is business, and it was inevitable that this day was going to come.

Sincerely

Tom Braatz

fabulous! Thanks for keeping the current members in mind! I hope we continue to grow

It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I'm commenting just so I can stay informed on this post...

Premium technical support will continue for paying members.

Brad- Does "paying members" include Listing Router and Community Sponsors, or are you only referring to those paying for an outside blog?

Jason, apparently if you use a service on Active rain or on Localism then you are honored with a badge. You of all people should be able to turn in some points for a badge as a trade-in.

edit: it appears you and jeremy blanton to name a few also have your badges now. I'm not sure if you guys just paid for a service and/or if you already had been paying for something but regardless there you are :)

NOW THATS A WAY TO WAKE UP THE MEMBERS ON MONDAY MORNING!

No doubt many will be kicking themselves for several different reasons...I am with Len, one more monthly fee. It's only $XX a month! Yes, but they are all adding up and I am thinking twice about a lot of them....and so will everyone else...

just this friday we had a speaker come in, and in mentioning AR, he eluded to "the future", and I thought he was nuts....looks like he's very accurate! And Tom, your comment about where can you eat for $29 anymore, makes you look like a New Yorker!

So, I guess I am feeling lucky, that I got on board (and was truly active) when I did!

Well, let's see where it goes. I am glad to have been in early. AR has been a HUGE help to me, but I don't know if I would have taken the leap if I had to enter my credit card first. Obviously, you are running a business and have to make decisions accordingly. I just hope this does not create stagnation with a slow-down in new memberships. People are really reluctant to spend money right now. The people here are great, but the new blood is invaluable.

A question from the curious. What happens to the content of those who join now, create content and stop paying at a later date?

Good luck with your new program. I'm curious as to what percentage of invitations sent have turned into memberships. I know most of my invitations went unanswered. I think you'll have to put together a good sales presentation to get new members at $29 per month especially when many people are looking for ways to reduce expenses in a tight market.

Brad: Glad to see the "I signed up but never contributed anything members are not receiving future services, beyond a basic membership, free. This is a ell thought out plan. Thanks.

This very nice indeed of AR to keep things "status quo" for the present members and start fresh with new ones.

Patricia Aulson/ Portsmouth NH Real Estate

I like the way you've added the branding to our comments. It should have been done years ago, along with letting us indicate the area we service.

Let's hope the new fee structure generates income for all the hardworking folks behind the curtain.

Brad - interesting ... I will wait with anticipation what will happen with membership etc...I understand that lots of times people don't perceive any value in freebies...but it seems to me like 29 is a steep price...well, my two cents...

AR rocks...

With smiles,

The main issue with my collegues when I talked about joining AR was that they wanted to know the ROI and I couldn't tell them that exactly because I don't keep track of how long I'm on here. And I did it by the time I joined and the business I've gotten I definitely wouldn't pay for that. The contacts and material I have learned are priceless but in the end people can't pay their mortgage or buy groceries with "priceless".

As far as I am concerned Brad Active Rain deserves it. We have all worked very hard to get to this point as you said and it is about time to pay the price for your teams hard work and genius. This site has a tremendous amount of benefit.

I like Teresa's idea about those who joined way back in the summer of 2006 -
<Think you should go one step further. Those of us who started in the summer of 2006 should be considered founding members or maybe "legacy members" In active rain years we are 300 years old.>

As for the comments wanting more time for free invites - what difference would that make at this point? I guess I'm missing something there. If those who were invited didn't see the value in joining back when they were invited, why would they now? They can still join for free, they just have some limitations on what they can do for the 'free' status.

My guess is that Jay wrote the very first post here on AR, since he posed the question and then added a smiley face after it - am I correct Mr. Phoenix Homes Guy??? ;-))

Interesting changes all over the place these days....
Ann

I have a picture!!!!!! Thanks A.R.

I'm back.. hey, where's my picture? Anyway, I just had one other question which I see has been brought up - what about 30-days free with no cc until...If you could decide by tomorrow morning early that would be great info for my class...

Thanks!

Congratulations Brad, I think you guys are getting things pretty well figured out... the AR platform is relevant and it works!

PS. AR certainly deserves to get paid for the network it has created. I am glad I am in the non-paying pool.

I can tell you that the barrier to agents on A/R first for blogging is that:

1. They are still daunted by blogging, not sure where to start, afraid they won't add content that is worthy (wonder where that comes from with all the posts about what NOT to write about).

and then

2. Though I do fully understand the need for A/R to monetize the existing membership who writes are the ones that are convinced of the worth. It is the inactive membership of A/R that is not or is scared to and these are the folks you are seeking a membership fee from.

I have seen these models since 2001 and this is gonna be interesting. Not sure especially in this climate that you are going to be able to get money from an unconvinced audience who is cutting back on their expenses and renewal rates at local REALTOR board associations are dropping because of attritition, let alone the ones that hang on are cutting fees left and right.

You know I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor but having been in this arena directly since 2001 I'm not sure this is gonna work like it's intended.

I hope I am wrong.

Good luck with the new structure. Keep us posted on the numbers of new contributors that are willing to spend to join.

I am glad that I joined when I did! I have often wondered how we could get so much for nothing. I understand the changes and wish you the best. Thank you.

Victor - I don't know the answer to the purge concept you mention, but as I commented to Ellie, I'm sure this will come up in one of our meetings this week. Thanks. :-)

Margaret - I was wondering the same thing, I have invited literally thousands of Industry Professionals to AR. I think we did our part in sending out those invites, it was up to them to see the value and join. There's no looking back now with any regret on our part. We did the right thing even if they didn't.

Cherimie - Thanks. We feel the same way and are happy you joined when you did and helped contribute to AR's successes. We will ALL continue to build, improve, grow, and succeed here.

Dean - We are confident that this will impact interest and new membership growth in a very positive way.

Gita - I'm certain our New members will feel the same as you do, and the cost will be justified in the days ahead for those getting on board with the new "RainMaker" accounts. The option to have a FREE account for "members only posting" will also remain in place for those who want to just check out the rain waters and use the networking aspect of AR. :-)

Inviting new members to AR shouldn't change at all. Just as before, you can still invite other Industry Professionals to AR, but it has always been up to them to decide if they want to join, the difference now is that they'll also have to decide what type of account they'll want here.

Very interesting change - I wonder how many newbies you will get as a result - there are just too many other "free" websites out there to social network in - although, in my opinion, NONE OF THEM HAVE EVEN COME CLOSE to what I have gained on this website!!!!!

I, too, think that maybe purging the inactives would be a good idea...

I continue to enjoy ActiveRain on a weekly and usually daily basis! Thank you so much for everything that you have done!

Brad - This is a great bomb to drop on Monday morning. I do agree with missy on this about giving new people a free period of at least 30 days. I would never have paid $50 a month for my point2agent site without trying it out first.

Rebecca: First-time agents are welcome to start their blogging adventure with a free account. These free accounts carry many benefits, including a safe, supportive environment to get one's feet wet and the ability to network with other real estate professionals. The value of ActiveRain is not inherently obvious to a newcomer; by providing a free, no-commitment environment to get started in, we're certain that agents will soon realize the many advantages afforded by a "full" account.

I have to admit that I've been anticipating a move like this for some time now. And like Jason mentioned, I figured we'd all have to pay. I know that this move will help AR continue to do more of what it has been doing -- keeping one step ahead of us and dazzling us along the way! I know that everyone I've invited will soon regret not doing so before this change!

Sounds good brad, we weren't the only ones who thought similar. It would help members of each state get a better handle of who they can refer to. btw: i sent you an email (2), forgot a link in the first, with an idea you guys could use for the badges.

btw: i didn't see you answer the question in regards to new members and how or if they could utilize localism since parsed posts will only show up if submitted in public view on localism.

I agree with your idea. It is frustrating to put a lot of work into a community and have a newbie swoop in and benefit from the hard work of the community founders.

I think it will be difficult for newbies to feel the price is justified because they will not experience the success until they already paid.

This is a tough time in real estate to ask agents to spend more money as they probably expereince a decline in income.

www.KathleenKelly.com

I just received word that the New Landing Page is up and running for new members to join. You can take a look at it here: JOIN ACTIVERAIN and see the options available for those who wish to join going forward.

They can still join for FREE, (a free unlimited period if you will) or they can sign up for the RainMaker account right away. The nice thing is that the testimonials on this page really say it all. Thanks to those of you who have shared so many of your great success stories from being involved on AR. ActiveRain Success Stories

Interesting.

Larry, Missy: We offer free accounts for those getting started in the "rain". The only big difference between the free and RainMaker accounts is the ability to showcase your content to consumers. Other than that, you're welcome to "kick the tires" and test drive for years!

It didn't make sense to offer a timed trial of a full RainMaker account. Indexing content and building a reputation on google takes time, and that's hard to demonstrate in a brief 30-day window. Once an agent has that famous ActiveRain epiphany that you're likely familiar with, the upgrade will be a no-brainer.

Interesting.

To be honest, I'm not sure I like the idea and I am already a member so it doesn't really affect me.

I guess I'd better invite some new members today or let them know it's going to cost them tomorrow. Glad I signed up last month. Can't say that I would have paid at the time without knowing the benefits of the site.

I almost thought this was your annual April Fool's joke a month and a half early.

I'm sort of with Lenn about people joining at the $29 price point, but then again, I signed up for the outside blog for the $19 price tag ... so maybe. Although I already understand the value of ActiveRain. :-)

I do know that word is spreading and that membership is ticking upward at a superfast clip, so this is AR's moment.

Sounds fair to me! I CJ's idea of giving us a few free invites, love the pics on comments.

Growth has been great so change was going to have to happen.

Wow, nice landing page guys. Looks very good. The testimonials make sense now :) What's next? Localism?

That is an interesting turn of events. It will be interesting to see how it progresses.

The barrier to entry has increased, probably a good thing for people who have been here for awhile, probably a good thing for Active Rain, you guys gotta make some money. I'm all for it!

this is a good turn of events for htose who have established themselvers, however, the barrier to entry for new people may be too high

Brad,

I still haven't heard from your tech department about my card, I really would like to use my upgraded

Outside blog. I sponser a community, does that count as a "old member?

Blogging in the Dallas-Fort Worth area hasn't really caught on that strong and the $29.95 means my competition is likely not to get involved. I like it. AR Rocks.

The change to a paid platform is understandable from a business standpoint. It arrived kind of suddenly, but sometimes the element of surprise is a strong motivator.

The ability to link posts/info to Twitter, Facebook, etc. is invaluable. This alone can make a huge difference in the amount of juice we get from the search engines.

For those that will balk at the price ... how much do you pay for one small ad in your local newspaper? The last time I ran a print ad it cost me $78 for one day. The exposure and return for the $29/month fee will far outweigh the antiquated print ad method.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm extremely grateful to be among the Founding Members group. But as with anything in business, there comes a time ...

Thanks for such a comprehensive explanation of the change. And I agree with purging those non-active members - the ones that signed up and never did anything after that. Decreasing the maintenance load by removing these 'members' may make the job of the AR folks much easier. Why maintain empty memberships?

I certainly am grateful for all the wonderful folks I've met by being involved in AR. A blessing from above, for sure.

Brad - thanks for the update, and I am grateful that I signed up over a year ago as well. I think AR is a very beneficial site, and to me worth the investment that I have made.

Blogging in the Dallas-Fort Worth area hasn't really catch on that strong and the $29.95 means my competition is likely not to get involved. I like it. AR Rocks.

Amanda - though we all hope and are confident that won't be the case, you bring up a creative and positive point. It really all depends on each individual and how they see it. Just like those who didn't sign up early on, they had to make a decision then too. By the same token, those who did join saw the value, received the benefits, and like you are being rewarded for their efforts. Keep rockin in Dallas-Fort Worth!! :-)

The Competition will never go away, but what if this does change the quality of the competitor vs the quantity??

I first thought Oh another couple of bucks to add to the multitude of small monthly fees I pay. But I don't expect anyone to work for free and I don't. I'm just going to be grateful for what I have.

However I do agree that marginal Realtors will not pay. Some people will always look at a half empty glass.

Bob

Brad—I've been expecting these changes for sometime, but didn't know exactly when or how it would occur. Whether anyone likes the changes or not isn't the issue to me. No one should expect all we receive from AR for free forever. This is a necessary move as AR grows and matures. Some folks think the fee is too high, but I think it's a fair price even though i'd rather pay $19.95/month :-) The monthly fee can be deducted from our taxes (cost of doing business). If I have to cut my expenses somewhere I'd rather maintain my subscription with AR and cut three lunches out per month... the benefits out weigh the cost AND my waist line wins too - it's a no brainer!

Why are only some avatars showing in the comments section?

I heart Active Rain.

The founding members should not be to smug! I can almost gurantee they will be next. I have a Point2agent website that was free for standard members when they first started and then after it was a hit they began charging new members only. After 9 months PTA announed this policy was not fair to new members and everyone will have to start paying the same.

$29.00 a month seems pretty hefty and I think the membership is going to suffer!

I think back to when we were taking bets on how long it would take to reach 100k members... and we blew through that number quickly. Thank you AR!

Wow. I feel honored. I'm also excited that AR is monetizing its true value.

Very interesting! Glad you will finally make some money after all this time and very glad that I'm considered one of the "oldies!"

I too, would like to know who wrote the 1st article here besides Matt or Jonathan. If memory serves me correctly, I am one of the first 3,000 members here (can't remember the actual number off hand).

For those who do not have an outside blog, this sounds like a great option.

Of course, no one expects to work for free; however, $29 a month is a lot of money to ask from a bunch of hard up real estate people in this market. Look, we are already paying board dues of $600 a year. Then there are office dues of $50-300/m most of us pay. Add on the cost of adverstising, signage, and all the new taxes that we are going to get reamed with by both California and the Feds, and I do believe you will see a great reduction in sign ups.

Then you have the arguments about content and who owns the content. In other words, this is a two way street.

Nevertheless; I believe that the market will dictate the your success or failure. As a real estate broker, I have to compete with many others in my field, 500000 licenses in the State of California. Remember, Google, Wordpress, etc. all have free blogs.

Regardless, I wish you much success!

Sincerely,

www.longbeachrealestateandloans.com

Hi Brad,
Active Rain is a magnificent tool that helps us in our online presence tremendously....I have no doubt that potential members will join even if they have to pay a fee...and they are more likely to post regularly too since they will want to make sure they are utilizing their money wisely and getting something out of it.

thank you for grandfathering the existing members in....

((-:

I've invited many over the past year or so. Not all have taken advantage of all that AR has to offer, but those that have know the benefits!

Linda: ActiveRain is not point2agent. When you signed up, we promised you full access to the network for free. Even as we begin to charge new agents, that promise to you has not changed. I'd rather see ActiveRain fold than be part of a company that would renege on its word to make a few dollars.

Have to laugh - I found out about this on facebook!

Anyway, I am thrilled that I get to be a founding member. As others said, wow, I got in on the ground floor of something good for a change! AR has done so much for me and I have contributed, too. I think this is fair.

Will it stop others from joining? I don't think so - they were reluctant to join for free!

Thanks for thinking and keeping this marketing machine running - the future looks bright!

Hmm...not sure how I feel about this. I've read the comments and there seems to be a divided response. On the one hand, I'm proud to be a founding member, but also concerned that growth of the community will suffer. The next few months shoud be interesting.

Bold move indeed.

I also wonder about purging of inactive members. Of the nine members listed for my area, two are not working in real estate any more, one is an accidental duplicate entry with strange username, and two have never posted to their blogs. Of the remaining four, only two of us post to our blogs with any sort of regularity.

I'm with Ellie and Castellum!

(Maybe you should purge all of the "inactive" members first? Active Rain is an amazing resource with participation. There is a lot of dead weight. Shame on them for not knowing what they have.)

Assigning a price to something adds percieved value to the product. It quantitates itself into terms that can be easily figured by the mind. We learned a long time ago in my industry that "free" referrals were only called on 1/8 of the time compared to a paid referral. This will be the case with AR. There may be some initial growing pain, but as the value is determined, the serious will gladly pay the fee.

Brad,

It only makes sense to me that AR will charge a small (really small) fee to run the business. I think the $29 per month is a GREAT RETURN ON INVESTMENT. Not only on the knowledge gained and shared, but in the SEO placement benefit, plus Localism. This is a no brainer investment. If someone is pushed for money, cut $30 per month out of your budget somewhere else.

List and Sell (AR pays off) Gary @ RentonHomeFinder.com

PSSS thanks for hanging out with us in Seattle last week, seeing you with a FLIP attached to that monster camera mount on your shoulder was hilarious ... just another benefit of AR

I am amazed at the number of invites I've sent out and how FEW have signed up. The value is immense!

Also, I cannot believe the number of people who log on and then never come back. I think abandoned profiles should be deleted.