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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
RainCamp™ - "Because The Way We Do Business Online Has Changed!"

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.

Brad, I really TRIED to read all of the comments...appreciate Jorgen's input as well. First thing this morning, I NOTICED the photos of the one commenting. How cool is that? ;-) Since Debe still has her IT guy, I assume I will have mine as well? ;-)

P.S. The press? Wow! How cool is that? So glad I joined in 2006..AND too bad for those I invited and didn't take me up on it. Better get on the phone today. ;-)

Hey everyone, I am trying my best to keep up with all these great comments and feedback. I will keep responding between all the calls and emails I am receiving. The good news is that members ARE signing up to join us with the new RainMaker accounts and we welcome them warmly.

I think we all want ActiveRain to be around for many many years forever, and after the few calls I have just received, I am extremely confident now, we will be!!! :-)

I've been contacted from multiple members of the press, (this is breaking news) and I'm excited to be one that not only gets to witness and report all this, I get to be part of it and our company's history.

Today is not only a day to be honored and remembered as Presidents Day, it's also the day that ActiveRain and it's founding members clearly put the company, your network, permanently on the map of Top Real Estate Sites. It will be honored, remembered, and celebrated on the same day right along with some of the greatest men who served and protected this great Country of ours.

Wishing you all Happy Presidents Day!!

I'm glad I'm already here just been out of touch since the Holidays! Illness not apathy!

I also thought this might happen

And HOW do I get my picture on my comment?

Keep up the good work!

Kathy Carson

It's very generous of AR to let us stay on free of charge. After many bumps and many disappointments along the way, I've come to realize that AR has and will continue to help me. I may not be very active, but I certainly see the value in my outside blog and all the localism 'stuff', which is where I am trying to concentrate. Thanks AR; and best wishes for a bright future.

Thank you Brad,

for anyone concerned about the value of Active Rain let me tell you, Brad Andersohn, has been the most responsive, supportive and helpful person in my experience. For me personally, his value alone is worth every dime. I will always be a member and fan of Active Rain, we are a wonderful family of unique people.

Errr.... forgot to sign in first ... the comment above Ann Hayman is mine.
THANKS again AR. :)

Wow what a surprise! I am way confused about this whole idea and glad to be grandfathered (or I think I'm grandfathered?)

Beginning to Blog is confusing for many and the $29 fee is in my opinion - a huge deterrant for joining AR. I just this morning invited my new broker to join, not knowing it was no longer free. As for myself - I would not be able to afford the extra fee and I do not like the "outside blog" look. I think that the members who are justifying this new charge are blowing smoke up someone's hiney, nobody wants to pay for something they have been getting for free!

I will continue to use AR because I love it, (and because it is still free) but I'm sure there will be other sites to pop up and be just as useful down the road like Facebook and Twitter, both of which are FREE and have large website power.

As a relatively new member ( but grandfathered - WHEW!!!), it would be nice if you gave a bit of a break to people who registered within the past several days, but hadn't yet posted a blog. My one invitee registered yesterday afternoon (February 15th) and started filling in her profile when a prospect showed up at her open house and she couldn't finish the profile - much less post a blog.

She has 2 children and all the responsibilites that go along with being a wife, mother and real estate professional. She was excited about Active Rain after I had gone over the program with her, but she certainly doesn't have an extra $29 per month right now to go forward.

So how about giving a little bit of a break to the people who have registered since February 1, but haven't posted. Give them until the end of the month and if they haven't posted, then they are out of luck.

Other than that, it's an understandable concept. You guys have done a great job getting the community established and you should be rewarded for your work.

Teresa: There will still be a HUGE benefit to being a member of ActiveRain WITHOUT paying the $29 fee. You can join and network with other agents, building your referral base, and absorbing the vast braintrust of valued information you can access each and every day. That will continue to be FREE.

Kris & Susie: You shouldn't allow this change to deter you from enthusiastically teaching your classes. As I just commented, there is still tremendous value and benefit for those who join up moving forward. Networking with other professionals and having access to the wealth of information is reason enough to join without paying!

I think this is a great idea and about time personally...

I paid for a personal Dakno blog before you guys launched your outside blogs and it would take 28 months of outside AR blog time to be the same as my one-time cost of my Dakno blog. Good things cost money. It's that simple.

I think what you will find is that the quality of the blogger that will pay that fee will be increased. We won't see people joining and then blogging about facials, pantyhose, or dryer vents. The quality of the blogger than joins will already have some skin in the game because they are paying a fee now.

So, I think you will see a decrease in membership, but the quality content of the new bloggers will be substantial. I think this is a GOOD thing for all members. AR will get agents that are serious about blogging and creating good content. Who is going to pay $29 a month to post recipes?

I do have a Localism question though? Once you open it up to non-AR members, what prevents a real estate agent from entering in information that way? You would have some agents writing content on here and paying for it to get posted to Localism and some other agent could just enter a post in Localism directly?

That doesn't seem right to me. Anyway...those are my thoughts...I hope you guys have a lot of coffee brewing because it is going to be a long week for you with this annoucement.

Wow , I too am glad I joined when I did last year. I have tried to get others in my office to get on here already!!! Snooze you Loose.

June Tassillo

Lenn: You cannot discount the 'social network' aspect of this platform. That is a HUGE reason that many people frequent this site.

Jay Thompson wrote the first post ever on ActiveRain, FYI

I was sitting in a RE/MAX of Texas convention last week. The speaker who is on twitter, AR, etc. was talking about AR I was just imagining the #'s growing after that meeting alone! KM

Patty Bender: Can you tell me what sites you're referring to? Which platforms offer free blogging and provide the same degree of SEO/ranking/service/features as ActiveRain? Just curious.....

Brad,

Wow, what a bomb shell for Monday morning. I agree with one of the above comments about an early April fool's joke. I always thought, wow, ActiveRain is an unbelieveable resource for free. Now, that has changed. I'm just glad that I've been here prior to these changes. With the climate of Real Estate in my market and in the country, we will all have to evaluate what is important and where we want to spend our Real Estate dollars. I love ActiveRain and all the great people that I have met. I just hope that these charges are too drastic from free to $29/month. Time will tell. Thanks for all that you do for us and for ActiveRain. Your the best!!

Melina: That's a really excellent question. I'll see if there's an answer to that....

Change is tough but thank you for making us founder accounts. ActiveRain has been such an unbelievable resource for us the past 2 years - it has made us far more than $29.95 per month with information, saved time, advice from top agents, SEO results, and most importantly AGENT REFERRALS and NEW CLIENTS!

Teresa, I respect and appreciate your comment and opinion. Your perception that, "I think that the members who are justifying this new charge are blowing smoke up someones hiney, nobody wants to pay for something they have been getting for free!" is not a correct perception in my opinion. Those who have benefited from AR for FREE will continue to do so, (call it grandfathered), this new membership only applies and is available to our new members.

The existing members who are behind this for reasons of their own, have no benefit in blowing any smoke up anyones hiney. The business they have grown and received, along with the relationships they've established here from the AR Network is probably more of what motivated their comments... again, in my opinion. Thx.

How about these brad?

bradtestbadgefinalsmall.jpg picture by vkdesigns lenntestbadge.jpg picture by vkdesigns lenntestbadge2.jpg picture by vkdesigns

btw, lenn has more points than that :)

This is a great site! I hope these changes continue to allow the site to grow and prosper.

Jorgen: Well said....

To bad NAR doesn't have this kind of courage and get rid of all the pretend real estate agents. How hard would it be to establish performance criteria to be part of NAR and really earn your REALTOR designation?...Or perhaps up the dues so you need to sell and make money to be part of this "Professional" organization.

Professionalism will never be achieved with our current levels of required education and performance. Congrats to AR. As individuals we can certainly perform on a professional level...but mostly we are being painted with a broad brush...

I see Rich is up and about, (and Jorgen is STILL up...lol ) thanks for stopping by to lend a hand with some comments guys. I'll slow down a little so as to not double up on our responses. :-))

I am new to AR, just learning my way around. WAS interested in starting a blog, but for $29.00/month I do not feel it is worth it - there are many free blog sites and even if they are not RE oriented, they give most of the same benefits for 0 cost. I do not feel that many people are going to start forking over the $29.00 when they are not already 'into' the site - they will just move elsewhere. I think it will lead to a stagnant community.

Ha!! I got the answer of the first post written correct!!! ;-)

And my prize is...... hmmm, let's see....... ;-)

Ann

I am only surprised that this has not happened sooner. Not unlike others in the above comments I too have invited multitudes of people to Active Rain who either didn't see the value in it or were too intimidated to put their written word out there. AR is a wonderful place to get started in the online world and a great place to learn and make new friends.

For somebody with no online presence, the exposure provided by this network is worth its weight in gold.

Best of luck with the new program.

Hi Brad, I have a question/recommendation - if you have members that have signed up and have zero (0) blog posts, they should be deleted or should at least be changed to a non-grandfathered member. Many people join just to get their profile on AR, but do not 'use/blog/contribute' to AR. Also, when you have a 'top contributor/featured contributor' blogging about a particular community and someone has signed up as having that community when they established their profile...the real AR contributors should overlay/replace those AR members that are not contributing, but are taking up a space on AR. I can email you an example if you would like to see what I am speaking of. I don't know...just creatively thinking today and wanted to share......

Brad, I am happy I started this addiction when I did... and a few hundred posts later... I am glad to be here... thanks for thinking about the group that hoped on board and ran with the bloging fun!

I am still confused about the photo piece, and why the Photos only seem to pop up randomly? IE: why is my photo not there in comments?

Brad wrote:

<The business they have grown and received, along with the relationships they've established here from the AR Network is probably more of what motivated their comments...>

The networking, the friendships, and the continual learning and sharing that go on here are what motivates many of us who keep hanging out here. No amount of seminars and classes could ever provide me the amount and the caliber of learning I've gleaned from being part of AR all this time. And the friendships --- those are priceless!

Glad to be part of the 'legacy group'... ;-)

Ann

Bob Stewart wrote: "Jay Thompson wrote the first post ever on ActiveRain, FYI"

And I've been walking to my mailbox every day since looking for that check you promised me... ;)

Victor - Nice RainMaker Badges, and yes, Lenn has WAY more points and effort invested in this community. Nice job on the examples. I know our guys are working on some pretty cool stuff too for "RainMakers" but one step at a time. Thanks my friend for your samples... :-)

I have an outside blog and there's no picture of me, what gives? Not that it's that big of a deal, all the people commenting on my posts that do have pictures kind of freak me out. Now as I read the comments I feel like everyone is staring at me.

by: I guess I was a day too late....

You are not too late! You can still join or be here for FREE. See Rich's comment above. Stagnant is one thing this community will never be. Ask anyone who's been here for any amount of time and I'm sure they'll agree. :-)

Brad - funny How I happened to read about this on Twitter first!!! Wow. Let me digest. - Oh, it doesn't change anything for us :) sweeeeet. ~Rita

While I understand what ActiveRain is trying to do I think that this might be the worst time to do it. More people are turning to the web for marketing during this economic downturn and I believe that ActiveRain's attempt to monetize this may benefit them in the short term but traffic may level off or even decline after this pricing change. A better time to introduce this pricing structure would be just as the economy is rebounding. Agents would be making money and their businesses growing and they wouldn't sweat $29/month.

I think the up should keep the fee around $10-15 dollars. Times are tough and membership will slow at $29.00 a month. That is may 2 cents.

Christopher: Any meaningful or effective marketing tool requires an investment, whether it's your website, mailers, etc.. The real question isn't a matter of timing as much as it is ROI. This holds true regardless of the current economical dynamic.

Hey Brad and AR gang... Perceived value is an interesting commodity. It would appear that ActiveRain has some serious internet momentum, and with 130,000+ members, the "value" of being an active member here might be an easy sell. But I for one have a feeling that you'll see NEW memberships start slowing down. If that happens, it's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as quantity vs. quality doesn't become the dominant theme.

I, like many others have already commented, wish that we had received a little more advance notice - to work on those folks that have not yet accepted our invitations or join - and/or that new members (for a limited time) would be able to test drive the full blown AR account without incurring fees. Just my 2 cents.

Best of luck on this major new implementation!

Randy Hooker - Dreamcatcher Realty - Arizona Real Estate

Bob Stewart wrote: "Jay Thompson wrote the first post ever on ActiveRain, FYI"

Yeah, and no one commented on his post either!.....hehehe

Laurie Manny: Thanks for the kind words and positive encouragement. You were one of those Legacy Members who were really instrumental in the early days that helped ActiveRain to achieve such phenonmenal growth. Your contributions will never be forgotten.

Brad... Also glad to be a member of this great community. I've learned, and continue to learn more here than in many other courses and places combined.

I'm still trying to get totally weaned from print advertising... and getting close, thanks to the Rain. But until I do, it would be way cool to have a "founding Member" badge in print quality and format which I could include in print advertising. Anything in the works to provide something like that?

Ann

I'm always the last to know... we'll maybe not the last today. Was logged in moving around seeing all these posts with PHOTOS! So of course I did a search to find out more - thinking maybe it was a new setting I have to check off or something... boy was I wrong!! This really is big news. AR has been a tremendous source of great ideas and information from the founders as well as new members alike. After reading all the comments like with anything new their are those that will embrace the idea and those that won't. I too am just glad I learned about this network when I did and am considered an existing member. I'm not sure if I would have joined as a paying member.

So now I'll have to look into some of the ways in which I too can get our photo on our posts. Brad - as always you and your team at AR keep us moving forward. Thanks to all of you for your committment to the Rain.

Your Raleigh Realtors

I have been here since Sept. I believe, the value in anything is created by in the effort you put into it, as a collective group the value here is miles beyond the other realestate blogging sites.

30 day money back guarantee.

That's all it will take.

I think EVERYONE here will agree that there is no more powerful rush than that received in the first 30 days of blogging!

Charge the money and change the name to "Addicted Rain" LOL... they'll pay!

Brad, if someone is on the free account, do they upgrade at the new member site you published above? I just tried to do the upgrade there and the site isn't working. I'll keep trying! Thanks for all of your help!

Brad- I am amazed at how our little community has grown - so we are Founder Members - that is a cute titlle :-) .

I wish you would make it easier to e-mail other members when we are in our blog without having to go to that members home page to e-mail them. If for example I was writing a blog or commenting on one and wanted to e-mail the blog to you from where I was at the moment, if I could just type in your name and have your e-mail automatically come up, it would make life so much easier. Often I want to send some information I am reading in a blog to another ActiveRainer and do not know their e-mail address. Just another idea for some changes.

John - try this link below and see if it works any better for you, I'll have our techs take a look at the sign-up link on the landing page. Thanks.:-)

Here is the link to use if you already have an existing FREE account:

https://activerain.com/action/subscriptions/new

Brad- Thanks for the info. I started in Jan. and added an outside blog (thanks for your help)

Am I grandfathered ? What if I decided to drop my outside blog? (not that I'm thinking about it)

Brad, thanks for the link. It worked UNTIL it processed my entry and then I got the same error message as on the landing pages.

Not having my picture in the comments is a selling point for me;)

I am getting e-mails because it went into effect at 5AM and this was posted at 5:26 AM the same day effected. Too funny! Geez, a last stand would have been nice, don't you think? 5PM perhaps? Seriously... (LOL) I'm being fussed at here. ;-)

Not having to look at Sardi's picture is a selling point for me too : )

Seriously Jason? I was just about to ask where you, Melodious and Amanda Hall's photographs were. It's so Twitter-fabulous (LOL).

John - we're looking into this for you, it has worked for others so let me see what I can find out for you. I'll be back in a bit... :-)

Wow I'm a Founder at member 28,217!!! Thanks guys. Keep up the good work.

Brad, and, I suppose... all AR Members -

I am the first person to ditch when a platform I know and love decides to change something dramatically; we're all opposed to change. It's in the very fiber of our beings: we are most comfortable with that which we can predict.

But I have to ask...If no one on AR changed their marketing strategies to encompass the use of online presence, how many of them would be successful today? If no broker decided to start blogging, would he have the leads that he has today, or would he still be pressing the same old "This Company is your Friend" mentality?

The bottom line is that our community is a dynamic, brilliant opitome of what it is to embrace change and help propel it forward. As the staff, we are here to make AR the best it possibly can be; I said above that I'm the first to ditch when something scary rolls down the tube, but honestly, I'm still working here, and not just because AR pays my paycheck, but because I believe that the Rain has something valuable to offer people.

Simply put: I would not work for a company that was dishonest, greedy, and downright unabashedly awful for those who endorse it. I am very, very thankful that ActiveRain is none of these things. If you want to now the moral stature of a company, truly, you need to look to those people who continue to work for it - those staffers that you all know and love. I'm fairly sure that we would have many of them abandoning ship if we didn't believe that this new roll-out is best for the company, the community, and our members.

I have to say, I believe in ActiveRain. I know our members believe in it too.

Our groups still aren't working.

I think it will make a big difference to the quality of content...which will be a good thing.

Any truth to the 1 year free rumor for founding members?

Brad, I am still confused...don't I get a picture badge? I sponsor a few communities on localism and I have been participating in the listing router since day 1. still no photo on my comments???

Hi Brad

If I understand the post new members to active rain will pay $360.00 a year to be a member. Your timing may be off.

Good luck and success

Lou Ludwig

I'm not a new member though...and I have posted tons of blogs in the last couple years... with 49,552 points and blogging since february of 2007. Am i missing something? Oh, btw, I having been paying listing router since it's birth and I am sponsoring localism communities.

Lou: Only if you want to post content that isn't 'Members Only." You can join for FREE and take advantage of the networking among peers and have access to all the amazing information being shared everyday.

Brad (and the whole ActiveRain community too),

I sent you an email about this, but thought I'd make it public. I know you're swamped with all sorts of things today because of the changes, but I sent the email anyway...if you get to it, just read it and smile...no response necessary.

Basically, my email said that I was excited to see what the future brings with the new version of ActiveRain. I'm certainly glad I joined when I did and I've gotten a lot out of ActiveRain (see my "ActiveRain Success Story" for my thoughts on that). I thank you all for everything you've done since I've been here and the groundwork you laid long before I had a license. Because of this effort on your part to always further the site for our (and your own) interests without making me feel like I'm being robbed all the time (I get actual value in return for my time here), I decided to jump in and finally get my individual blog. I had considered it off and on since they were announced, but consider my way of saying thanks for the free account for so long. Now I know everyone is thinking why is he paying them back for something he didn't have to. That's just it, I don't have to. But I like ActiveRain and I support them much like I feel they support me. Of course, I get a return in value for having my own individual blog as well, but the decision was made to do it now as a way to thank everyone at ActiveRain for all they've done for me. That may sound crazy to some people, but I am firm believer in supporting the things I feel are above and beyond what I should expect. That is the definition of ActiveRain, both the users and the team behind it.

So thanks everyone...I'll see you on my blog and yours.

It was not my intent to offend anyone and obviously there is a need to defend the new fee. I recognize the value of Active Rain, or I wouldn't be here. I am not saying that Active Rain isn't worth the $29/mo. I am just saying that in my opinion, blogging is still such a foreign concept to newbies and with so many free forums out there, whether they work well or not, that paying this large of a fee in the current economy may be a deal killer for AR.

I think it has been said and re-said here that we are all glad that we are grandfathered in because we are here for FREE. I still hold my opinion that no one wants to pay for something that they have had for free. To quote Lenn Harley, "of course I could be wrong..."

Monika,

No truth to the rumor of founding members only getting one year free. Founding members have a free membership for life!

Interesting timing to start the fees. We have several hundred thousand surplus agents that should be considering new careers. Many can not afford anything new.

I am happy with ActiveRain and wish for continued success.

Roy Kelley

I second CLaire. You guys ROCK. I'm still recruiting and killing my keyboard (LOL). BTW, how does one look up their member number? DM me a link people. I'm a curious kinda gal. :-)

Teresa: No one was offended by your comment. We welcome and encourage opposing views and opinions! Absolutely there are many other FREE blogging platforms out there for people to choose from. If people want to expend the time and energy contributing content to sites that provide very little in the way of SEO/page rank, then that's their choice. I spent 6 months talking to myself on Blogger.com, so in that instance, you get what you pay for.

Well, it's about time. You guys work too hard! Thanks

WOW! I'm be gone for 24 hours and the whole world changes :) Well, it sucks to be all of my friends who have whined for months about wanting to have a Blog and have not signed up YET...I'm so thankful that we are grandfathered in! *mwa*!

When I relocated to Huntsville, I knew no one. I love my career and was not ready to be a part timer nor did I have the patience to rebuild my business. I joined Active Rain, and I"ve never looked back. Active Rain has PAID me, basically. I've had 3 closings, one more in the works, and 2 more on the line...6, in less than a year. I've also been able to refer 2 sellers to AR members. All of this, from a person that never reads the directions, has no clue what SEO is, blah blah blah. If I can do it, any dummy can do it. Why NOT do it?

I think it's a bold move to try this and I hope you have much success doing so. I'd pay! (but don't get any ideas, lol) I agree with Missy. Why not offer a 30 day free trial, without a credit card number? Earn their trust and show 'em what it's all about first? I think that would be successful.

Hate it that I missed all of you in Seattle :( Mom is home from the Hospital and doing well, again :) She's a cat with nine lives, thankfully! I hear her ringing the bell for me. Duty calls! SO happy to be a part of Active Rain and SO thankful for all the dough it's put in my pocket, LOL. Really, I am :) I'm also so thankful for all of the wonderful friends I have made.

LOL @ ERCG. Elizabeth, you have such a way with words. :-)

I am pleased with Active Rain, though I am still exploring its value after a few months of participation.In the scheme of things, $29 a month may not be too bad but to have the fee go from $0 to $29 a month (350 a year) for new members is quite an increase. Many people just starting with blogging do not have an outside blog so that may seem like a dubious feature to some. Since many agents are tightening their belts, your timing seems off. Though this doesnt affect me as I am "grandfathered," it doesn't set right that you disclose new fees a half hour after they took effect with no notice. What happened to the concept of "advance notice?"

Active Rain is a great service though. I really appreciate all your good advice, Brad.

Yonas Woldu

Elizabeth Ramsey Cooper-Golden JingleHeimer Smith: I'm still not talking to you!....frickin' 'No-SHOW!' .....just kidding! :)

Yonas: If you're a new member starting today you don't have to pay the $29 if you don't want to. You can simply network with other professionals and post 'Member's Only' articles. But for these folks, there really isn't any 'increase' per se, since they've haven't been participating on the network up to this point. My sense is that any amount of 'advance notice' would not have made any substantive difference since this change does not affect the majority of members who are grandfathered in. The ones it will affect the most are those who just recently joined, but failed to post anything.

OH NO! - My Blog post has been abducted by numerous members and staff. Please, one comment at a time here!!!! lol~

I also want to acknowledge the 300+ emails I have received today and thank those of you who took the time to contact me. Though I cannot respond to every email, nor every comment here, I am happy to see that others are jumping in to help answer questions and comments. Please take a moment to review or at least graze over these comments as many of your questions may be repeats and have already answered.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, share your thoughts and comments, and for recognizing the value and purpose of these changes.

I also want to WELCOME all of you that have joined ActiveRain today, we welcome you to the network and to our community. Thanks and Good Luck to each of you. ActiveRain New Members

Thanks for the update on the changes. I'm glad I joined some time ago.

"No truth to the rumor of founding members only getting one year free. Founding members have a free membership for life!" Can I take my membership with me to the after-life, Jon:)

And I saw the shot above fired by Sandra Cummings at yours truly. Being a member since June of 2006, I will gladly trade in all my points and future stock options to make Sandra the very first AR Member to visit the AR Penalty Box. It's a new addition for those hoodwinks that are acting up around here. And Sandra should get a life long membership in that box. That's all for now, carry on.

I'm not a huge fan of this. Actually, I see a pattern forming here.

I'm grateful for the "free" grandfathering in, but at same time, AR just lost some of its appeal.

Real estate professionals are broke. To me, to try and start a fee-based service during these current times seems like a bad move. ESPECIALLY at $29 a month.

The AR experience (even for grandfathered-in members) just became a tad less appealing. Why?

Because we will have less new people to interact with.

MySpace doesn't charge anyone for anything. Either does Facebook. Why does AR have to?

Aaron - you may not be a fan of this and we're not asking you to be. I think you might want to read this post again and some of the comments and responses, think it through, then answer your own question. MEMBERS CAN STILL JOIN FOR FREE but with limited service. We are NOT MySpace!! I don't mean to come across defensive in any way, but that comment is rediculous. Do you think MySpace just runs for FREE because they want to? How do they do it? Hmmmm.... you're a funny guy. :-))

Brad & You Awesome Team: You guys ROCK!!! When I consider what it costs me to run 1 1/4 page ad in my local RETW, paying for a year of AR exposure is a bargain and brings me more results. I'm glad to be grandfathered in, glad that many of my associates at RE/MAX 1st Olympic are active AR members and I recruited a member who joined today! You make my business, thank you!

Sardi - you crack me up... say, you're not one of those creative lenders that helps people buy and get into homes are you? What a novel concept, I would have never known!! lol~ Thanks for playing, we'll be here all week, and don't forget to tip your waitress. Carry on my friend. :-)

Hi Brad ~ I still can't figure out the pictures / badges. If I understand it correctly the photos show up on the comments of members who are paying for some service on the site. Do you have to do something - edit your Profile or something or other - to make the picture show up? I have sponsored communities but no picture. I also wondered if new members are paying will their picture show up?

Thanks! Liz

Elizabeth, all the pictures don't appear to be up yet. Give them some time to work on this. If you're paying for a service then you'll get a badge. Good question about new members paying and if they'll get a badge for that. Will be interested to hear that response.

Based on what i've seen and what i can conjure up, certain members will get a different insignia based on what i can only imagine to be a plethora of ranks one can attain. Would be cool if there were different regalia's so to speak for most associations, most subscribed, most points, featured members, most invites, etc etc. Will be fun to see how many they can come up with.

speaking of, gotta try to come up with some new ones myself.

edit: hey brad, how about military-like insignia's. The higher your rank, etc the more stripes or the thicker the bands. Just an idea. We should start a brainstorming group on this :)

Michael - it is still FREE to post to our network members only and associates. Let the 10 you invited join for FREE and they'll see after time why they might want to consider getting a rainmaker account. Some may want to sign up right away, but let them decide. As many have said here in these comments, they couldn't get 10 people to sign up when EVERYTHING here was absolutely FREE.

They can still join and be part of a great network and community. Take a look at all the new subscribers just today, I think you'll see many are still joining and wanting to be part of our site, and will continue to do so long into the future. :-)

Brad,Bob and Rich,

You sure know what is the valuable part(worth paying for) of Activerain. I would not belong here if the public could not see my information I put out there. Time will tell if this change will work for Activerain.

Yonas, don't miss your moment. I've only been blogging since April 2008. I've received 19 referrals and given out 2. First we try, then we trust. You have to make friends to earn business. People prefer to give their clients and prospects to people they feel familiar and comfortable with. A few months is really not a lot of time. I don't mean that in a bad way, it just isn't. I can not imagine being a Realtor and not being here because (1) it's fun, (2) it's informative and (3) a lot of people who read my blog have opened some very interesting doors for me...

I've made some stellar friends who call like crazy and we visit in real life now. Very cool to incorporate AR into my business plan. I schedule time to blog. I am an AR cheerleader because the SEO generated here works (LOL). Where else can I be read in 19 countries and have to use babel-fish to read my e-mail? Seriously. I've the analytics to prove it. :-)

You know AR has grown when I hear about the changes on Inman News first :-)

Quite a change. I remember when AR hit 100,000 users just a few months ago, now over 135,000. Glad to be a member of this group. I find great value in the professionals I've come in contact with since joining last Summer.

Way to go Brad!

So everybody with an .02 needs to kick in another $28.98. (What? You know other people wanted to say it and just didn't.)

Have all the proxy boogers been worked out? It was a lot easier for you to deal with back when it was free and now that it's fee based, people will really scream if the hamsters get out of control at the God console. You know me, I am patient about missing blog buttons and the like.

Brad ~ Thanks for keeping the Founding Members (which I'm very proud to be included in) in mind when making plans for the new changes. This forum is simply great, whether you're new or old, and it works!

As you know, this new policy has stirred up a firestorm of commentary. Yet, I see the real need for monetizing the system in order to support continued growth. I must admit to being happy I'm grandfathered in.

Is the popcorn still FREE. How 'bout the butter? :)

And just so you know Guys I'm having a blast messing around with my image today :)

P.S. Oh...I forgot to mention...Banging your head against a wall burns 100 calories per hour. I'll send you all some band aids :)

TLW...Parking...ROAR!

For everyone worrying about cost, just remember that one closing from AR will pay for your blogging habits in spades (LOL). Do you really want to risk not being found by another member for the cost of a decent lunch, some snacks and reading a magazine or newspaper? Seriously. If your fave actor came out in a new movie you'd lay it out on a date. Are you not worth the price of pizza and a movie? Some of you spend more on your cigarette habits.

At least you can write your professional advertising and marketing activities off on your taxes... Geez... List your listings here to trigger the tax break. You are advertising your business with every blog post you write and comment you make. Get with it or go play somewhere else, but please stop bashing the fact that these people pay mad money to maintain those servers and give us an excellent place to do our original content thing.

AR is well worth every reasonable penny. I love my Team Blog. I love Club Chaos. I am soooo not giving this place up.

Someone told me that 'Founding Members' get their own personal Blog Button....is that true?

Interesting news. Things definitely have grown on AR. I hope to see continued AR growth in the coming months.

Thanks for the info Brad. I guess my procrasting friends are not going to be to happy.

I want a badge for the most hijacked posts. (Yep. A monster has now been created!)

Pssssttt Brad , when you get a free minute (not being facitious :-) could you check your voice mail? I don't want to be a pest, but I have a deadline so to speak.

Thanks!

LOL @ Rich. That is a scary thought. :-)

I heart the Blog Button!

Boy, you guys are on a roll... I would think adding the monthly cost wouldn't necessarily increase membership but it might increase the quality of the membership... and I've always been a proponent of quality over quantity. :) I certainly appreciate AR recognizing the work everyone put into this site... you guys (and gals) get major kudos for that.

One question though... We have oodles of fake/spam profiles in the Alaska section... it's very misleading to consumers...how do we get those cleaned up?

I personally do not have a problem with the changes. Maybe the timing is off, since times are challenging charging any monthly fee at this time will severely limit the number of new members. I am in agreement with some comments about purging the system of many inactive members. I think out of the 25 who had signed up in my area in the past only 5 of us are active.

Never ceases to amaze me how many people want expect something for nothing.

If you don't want to pay $29/month, the solution is simple. Don't. Go grab hosting for $4/month and install Wordpress (it's free). Then just blog your ass off in a vacuum for a year or two (or 3) and you too may be able to build up enough links and authority to have "Google Juice" that rivals (or exceeds) that of AR. And you'll have better branding as well.

But if you want a jump start, if you want a basically captive (and caring and receptive) audience, then do the AR thing. And if you STILL don't want to pay $29/month, don't. Get the free "basic" membership and join a great networking community.

I think the $29 price point may be a little high. But setting a price point is a very difficult thing to do, particulary an entery price point. It can always be adjusted. And the fact that thousands of active users are being grandfathered for life is a comendable action on the part of AR.

I don't see how monetizing the AR platform should be a shock to anyone. Would you rather they sell out to some other entity that would do God knows what? Did you think that somone was sitting in a room in Seattle providing all of this out of the goodness of their heart? You can't compare an industry specific network like AR to a wide-open network like MySpace or Facebook. They'll never have the traffic or VC interest those platforms have as the audience is too small. Servers and rack space and bandwidth aren't free. Nor is developers time.

I'm wondering what took them so long. I know a lot of the folks at AR and can assure you this was not some flippant decision. They are good people who genuinely care about their users. I say good on them and I hope they all get stupid filthy rich.

Would suggest , as some others have said, that the "dead wood" , those who signed up some time in the past , but who have never done anything on the site, be purged off..... what is the point of having them remaining on the website at all.

I'm glad to be on the bandwagon and happy I don't work at AR today. I bet the communication lines are crackling!

Rich - stop trying to cause trouble here, I heard it would be a "Founders Widget" that would allow you to have an animated gif?? DOH!! :-O

I gotta go get some food, (and popcorn TLW..lol~) I'm starving, will be back shortly....

LMAO @ Amanda. As a third generation HJ bay-bay directly descended from TLW and you, I must say that is a stellar idea. It would give me more incentive to coordinate the HJ game... Rain-jacking may never be the same again (LOL).

You know I'm pretty much an AR varsity cheerleader but I don't think this is going to work well to get new members.

I understand you have to be profitable but I think other methods would work better then a member fee based model.

If a new agent creates a relevant Blogspot or Wordpress blog combined with some help from Twitter. They will get all the exposure they could want.

You know how I found out about this change? I didn't come to AR, I received a Tweet about it from someone I follow on Twitter.

Mike

Ok, Brad... now for a stoopid question. How/why are some pictures showing up in comments and others not? It IS a Monday so operator error is no doubt involved.

Yeah...what Jay said. Blog your ass off people!

Enjoy your meal, Brad. I should run out and knock off a few errands as well. See you guys later. :-)

Hey Brad - or whoever wants to answer this....Maybe you've already addessed this in the myriad comments, and I tried to check it out in case; however, why are some posts showing photos and others do not. I was thinking that was a pretty cool idea...but not everyone is showing up. ;-)

Jay Thompson stated:

"If you don't want to pay $29/month, the solution is simple. Don't. Go grab hosting for $4/month and install Wordpress (it's free). Then just blog your ass off in a vacuum for a year or two (or 3) and you too may be able to build up enough links and authority to have "Google Juice" that rivals (or exceeds) that of AR. And you'll have better branding as well."

And that, my friends, is why I LOVE Jay Thompson!

I'll keep an eye on things around here while you are gone, Brad. No worries.

Personally I don't have a problem with the changes. However in these challenging times charging a monthly fee will severly limit the amount of new members I would think. However if you pay the monthly fee you are likely to post blogs an be an active member of AR.

Like many other comments I would be in favor of purging the system of inactive members. In my area there are about 25 people who have signed up over time, only about 5 of us are active. many of them haven't posted anything since the day the signed up.

Pretty cool, Brad! And I was tyring to figure out what was making the photos show up in comments! Now I get it!

Brad- I really appreciate Claire's comment and Jon's assurance that "Founding members have a free membership for life!". But the end of the Inman article makes me a bit nervous. Specifically, where it states that HouseValues acquired the right to buy all of ActiveRain for various prices, depending on the date.

What happens to those assurances, then? What happens to our content? No one can blame the founders for building a unique product and wanting to profit from its sale, but I wonder where that will leave the members.

Pretty cool, Brad! And I was tyring to figure out what was making the photos show up in comments! Now I get it!

Gracious Rich...

Do you remember the days when Members would lay it on me for going off topic both on my Blog and in the comments? Do you also remember me telling Members to bite me if they don't like it? Back then, did you ever think for one moment that we would wind up with 3 generations of Rain Jackers? I didn't :)

TLW...ROAR!

Change happens. I want to second the motion that inactive members be purged, especially people who have never posted a blog, or even a comment.

thanks for the update and continuing to enhance the value proposition of Active Rain and its passionate community members. Aloha from Kauai...

HI TLW.

As if most folks aren't already struggling enough in this economy.

$29 per year, maybe. But $29 per month? $348 per year???

If AR needs to cover costs & turn a little profit, that's one thing. But this smacks of pure greed.

AR is useful, but it doesn't hold a patent on social networking, blogging, Google PR, SEO, etc...

Oh, and please lose the "if you don't want to pay, you shouldn't be a member" position. That's an elitist's argument. Might as well say "if you're not making tons of money, you don't belong here."

ActiveRain? Or ToxicRain? Welcome, TR.

Brad...

In relation to your remarks about Presidents Day and AR. How much did Jonathan give you to type all of that? :)

Oh...And I have $50 bucks on 50 spin offs. Big Money on the line for this one :)

TLW...ROAR!

Wow, what a change! Good luck with it. I learned so much about blogging and the internet here, I hope all the newbies do too!

Brad, I wrote a post a little bit ago addressing the ROI that I have documented.

Last year I grossed $16,025 in commissions directly because of ActiveRain. I invested
approximately $50.

The learning experience itself is priceless. If new members do nothing else but sign on and read they will reap many rich benefits.

Hi Princess...

Can I borrow $29 dollars? I have a friend that for whatever reason doesn't have $29 to invest in their monthly Google Juice :)

TLW...ROAR!

I agree, you should go thru and get out the dead wood that does not even post a photo or a single blog.

A few days (or hours) notice would have been nice... to send out reminders to friends and collegues on the fence. This was posted after the policy went into effect.

Not surprised. Glad I joined last year. You all do a great job and appreciate being grandfathered in. Thanks and continued success!

The $29 is just to freak everybody out so that $27 a month doesn't sound so bad later on. Relax.

Love AR and glad you still live in a country where you can try to make a profit. I know I do. I've enjoyed my short time here and will continue to promote it, free or not!

Have a Fantastic President's Day!

Wow this is fantastic news, keep up the good work! I am glad I joined when I did.

Yes, Queen TLW, you can have the $29. MWA!

Wow, I'm honored to receive a founder's account and love when early membership comes with unknown perks. Thank you!

I am concerned it will limit growth but increasing membership does have a cost and you guys have to keep the lights on too.

Well, looks like today is the ideal day for a first blog post. Glad the bar is set low for those of us to are mostly lurkers...

I feel like I've won the lottery! It pays to move with technology and not wait until the last minute to begrudgingly take part.

Well looks like Brad has his hands full with emails. Perhaps somebody else could help me out. I've been having a great time getting more involved with AR since the 1st of the year, reading the blogs and writing a few myself. I've really enjoyed reading the blogs and totally get the value of this network. So help me out here.....am I good to go or what? I didn't sign up for an external blog link so does that mean anything? Thanks! Anna Banana, Phoenix

Thanks for grandfathering us in as Founders! I first heard about it in an email Inman News sent out. About 30 minutes later I got the Active Rain newsletter.

Marilyn: Those concerns have been shared by many of us since the very beginning. I always feel like that guy on TV for the Men's Hair Club:

"I'm not only on ActiveRain Staff, but I'm also a Member!"

My response to your concerns would be to consider the track record of ActiveRain management. Most everyone on our staff comes from a background in real estate. They are uniquely attuned to the challenges facing real estate professionals today and empathize greatly with our rank & file. They have always demonstrated a high level of integrity/commitment to us as members since the very beginning, and have worked hard to merit our trust. They have not given us any reason to question or doubt their intentions. As far as content is concerned, I have always recommended that bloggers should back-up all of their posts to an external hard drive prior to publishing, no matter where you blog - whether on ActiveRain, a WordPress, or TypePad, etc..

OK I am a founding member and I WANT to pay. How can I make that happen? My suggestion would be for any person that is struggling financially (and I know a lot of us are) is to cancel HBO or find some way to save $7 a week so you can invest it in your business on AR. That's a little over $350 a year. If you spent the next 12 months diligently blogging to attract business you should be able to get back minimum 100 TIMES that $300 investment.

Brad, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I am happy to be considered one of the founders, and am able to blog and post comments for free. On the other hand, I feel bad for everyone else that has not yet joined this fantastic community. I guess all good things must come to an end, and by the way, my free website just converted to a monthly fee as well. Can't wait to see what's coming next with AR.

Wow, this will be interesting to see. Perhaps a 60 day trial or something would work also? I just see that $29 a month being a barrier for some Realtors....although is that bad? I think this will be a good move for you guys and I love that "nothing will change for existing members"

Brad-I'm glad I finally got with the program! Thanks so much for all your help! Your the best!

I just hope my picture shows up...

Honestly, I have been consumed all day by a database issue on one of my sites... and just saw the news on my daily Inman email. I don't really know what to think yet.

I really want you guys to be able to successfully monetize the site, but I have concerns over the viability of this path. Actually, the end of the Inman there was a short bit about HouseValues having an option to purchase that was more disturbing to me.

Forgot password.

Anna Banana (Why do I feel iike singing the 'Name Game?') You're good to go. You would qualify as a 'Founding' member, and will continue to have FREE access. Blog On!

Thank Goodness I am a dino -soar.... =)... and appreciate the nod to the oldies but goodies...

Brad: I have been amazed that Active Rain has given so much for so long at the previous price. There will be many kicking themselfs in the back side as they had the opportunity to join before and never got around to it. This is the same like P2A done... Was free.. now they charge starting in March.

Lane: I can understand the sense of 'Disturbia'...but we're still here for you and will continue to be....

Hi Brad -- Question for you: I've been debating about getting an outside blog. I'm an existing member. If I want a 2-person (or group blog), what is the total cost? 29+19 monthly?

Disclaimer: I'm likely to be the most outspoken officer employed by ActiveRain, so anyway...

MySpace, FaceBook and a multitude of other Social Networking (and other industry) sites do not charge for membership and neither does ActiveRain. All of these sites upcharge for premium and/or ancillary services and now so does ActiveRain.

I'm consistantly bemused by people who 'don't understand' why a company needs revenue models, why they cant just offer everything for free for perpetuity. We are a business. It costs money to support hosting 12,000+ new articles per week, 135,000+ profiles, provide member technical support and customer service, accounting, legal, office expenses, sponsor industry events, and continually work to upgrade everything thats apparently taken for granted.

Economic times are tough. $29/month for new members to post public (potential business) facing and high ranking search engine content, is a very inexpensive and very cost effective marketing expense.

We are very cognizant and appreciative of the members who have gotten us to this point, which is why we 'grandfathered' everyone of you in. New members may still sign-up and interact with other professionals for free, so there shouldn't be any less people to interact with.

Its true you can sign up for a multitude of free blogging platforms and you get what you pay for.

If you are not already a publishing member and:

Understand SEO and don't need the Juice AR can provide your existing website...
Are a naturally compelling and gifted writer...
Are a Social Media savant...
Are a relatively technologically savvy individual...
Don't mind swimming in an ocean for 3 months to 3 years before being discovered...
Know most everything there is to about online marketing...
Think technical support and customer service is for sissy's...

Paying ActiveRain $29/month is not worth your money.

I'm a frequent member on the real estate 'seminar' circuit and without fail I hear everyone advocate using ActiveRain on some level to further their business...This place obviously provides value, so you'll have to excuse us if we begin to charge for it.

Finally: If you're a real estate professional, or working in any industry for that matter, and are 'broke', it's probably time to look for another job.

Terry Westbrook: Appreciate your comments. Therein lies the quandry. Find a reasonable source of revenue that allows for self-sustainment or suffer the potential of closing the doors.

Hmmmm. I'm hoping this means I'm a grandfather. Or... wait. Why's it so male, anyway??

I'm definitely glad i don't have to pay. Times are tough and I'm not sure what I'd do if I had to fork up another monthly payment. I'd probably just add a blog-page to my website instead of framing in AR. I dunno. Thankfully I'm saved from that decision!

I do think advance notice would have been appreciated instead of being told after the charges started, but since we're not getting charged maybe it wasn't an issue.

I do wish you success, I love AR and don't want to lose it, so hopefully lots of folks will fork it over!!

And yeah, you know we're all commenting just to see our pictures come up. ;)

Well I was looking forward to having more Canadians sign up in the future but now I'm not so sure that will happen with the fee. Hmmm, maybe that's not a bad thing. You will be stuck with those of us that are already here, for referrals lol. Can I be Grandmothered instead of Grandfathered?

Cheers

Jenny Kotulak

Wow I wish I got this many comments on my posts. Turn away for a little while and see what you miss. It took me ages to reach this far down reading as I went. Thank you for offering current members who contribute something of value. We truly appreciate it. I personally have had so much support through Active Rain i don't understand why anyone when it was free missed the opportunity to join and contribute. Good luck with the price point as many have siad it may be a barrier to some but for others they will assign value to it as the internet becomes the way to go.

WOW! What a surprise...but figured it was coming sooner or later. I appreciate being a founder, but I've also put a lot of time and energy into Active Rain too. It's been well worth it!

What percentage of members have never blogged a single post?

Do you want them on the network if they've never done anything?

Wow, this is great. I usually never get in on any great deal. I am sure glad that I signed up a long time ago. I'd never be able to do the monthly fee. Thanks.

Just curious ... how did you come up with the $29/month price tag? The number seems arbitrary at best, mercenary at worst (especially in the current economic climate). For $29/month, I can get a web site, complete with content and IDX feed. For $24.99/month, I can get a professionally written newsletter as well as national exposure for my monthly market conditions reports. For $19/month, I can get unlimited hi-def virtual tours.

I'll be the first to admit that my participation in Active Rain has been somewhat sporadic - but I still consider it a valuable tool in my marketing arsenal. I'm just not sure I could convince someone that they have to pay a monthly fee of $29 *AND* produce their own blog content. Seriously, how did you arrive at that number?

Membership has it's priviledges...

and to think I started doing this just because I liked it, still do, in fact I don't know if I'd keep it up if I didn't enjoy it so much. I never really thought about what I'd personally get from this when I started and I must say it's been a better source of networking/business than any weekly networking group I've ever been to and when you think of the costs of some of those groups (and the return or not) the return has been much greater here in the Rain - but again, my time has been a valuable investment as well but it has given me a platform for others to know me and my work.

And then there's the therapy sessions I have not had to pay for when I can go to my friends I've made here... ;-)

I think I feel a blog or two coming on...

Well, I joined Active Rain Almost a year ago. I did not post anything because I was waiting for Puerto Rico to be included in the States areas above, but I guess I waited too long. I signed up and chose Florida state but it is not the same as being in Puerto Rico area, where I actually practice real estate. I sent a note to Activerain asking about this and they said something about including Puerto Rico in the second quarter of this year or something like that.

Anyway, there was no advance notice. I was always reading all the feature posts I received in my email, learning and getting ready. I always thought that if Activerain was going to make a move like this they would at least announce it a few days before actually implanting it.

Right now I do not have the luxury of paying this monthly fee, I am almost out of business because of this great economy gone bad. So maybe I will consider it if I survive in the industry and do not go and get a JOB to get at least some 'secure" money on the table.

Ernesto

Hey, I'm glad I got here early! There were only 21000 members then. Funny, I was just telling my new potential agent she needed to join. Wish she had done this yesterday.

Great observations by all. It's interesting timing on your part. I understand that running a business entails charging fairly and I also understand that fair warning would be helpful. I am happy to admit that am one of your free riders here so take what I say with a grain of salt:

I can tell you a number of mortgage professionals have let many of their extraneous expenses including gym memberships and latte accounts lapse in this economy as well as larger advertising budgets. We are using more creative guerilla tactics now . The very folks who should be marketing NOW are the ones that have not in the past so perhaps it's too late for them. I agree it is a prudent move to charge for premium services if you can identify the 'value added' sufficiently like any media business. As a power blogger myself spread across several social networks I simply cannot justify your premium product. I do provide valuable content to the sites I frequent so the admiration is mutual. I have also referred a number of Realtors and friends who are premium payers so at least I'm earning my keep!

Point 1: The question a person in my position must ask is what is the actual benefit of a paid blog such as Active Rain? It is unique, although a similar site exists in my region (www.raincity.com) For me, Active Rain is another place to be seen and heard-- I know the only folks who actually notice me per se, are local realtors and my compatriots who may or may not be 'leads' for my business 'yet'. Point 2: Profile building is important or I would not be here. I cannot say I have gleaned a single lead. Point 3: Ideas Exchage: I have used this site to communicate with peers mostly. Late nights one needs inspiration and for that I am eternally grateful of members who share. But that point is cruicial: without sharing members you have nothing and sharing members cannot be quantified (nor should they) as to who pays and who does not. One of the other blog sites I frequent has a nasty habit of downgrading my articles because I am a free rider. Shortsighted of them!

Next Ask: What does Active Rain get from this particular blogger? Besides several referrals your way, I added Active Rain link on one of my own blogs: (www.loannetter.blogspot.com) I allow reblogging of some of my articles.

BTW: I referred one of my LO's to your site on Friday so I hope she followed through. This is a perfect example of a newbie to blogging who would be a great source to grow...how about offering newbies a free three month trial? It makes sense to support each other however we can right now.

Regards, Susan

Brad - How do I add my picture to my comments? Thanks in advance!

Can I get a refill on my stapler?

Damn it X...

--> Finally: If you're a real estate professional, or working in any industry for that matter, and are 'broke', it's probably time to look for another job.

You beat me to that Punch. I was saving it for later. I was going to have it with my FREE buttered popcorn :)

TLW...ROAR!

Joel Klutch said:

"$29 per year, maybe. But $29 per month? $348 per year???

If you need to cover costs & turn a little profit, that's one thing. But this sounds like pure greed.

As if folks aren't struggling enough in this economy.

Shame on you!"

With all due respect, Joel, but greed is not a motivating factor for us. Our primary passion/goal from the very beginning has always been to create & maintain a network that offers true value and benefits to its members. That we have achieved this is clearly evident in the numerous accounts from members, like Kris Wales above, who share about their successes. In order to maintain this network, and to continue to offer our members these valued benefits, we have to be self-sustaining.

In the past, I paid nearly $1000 annually for my custom website. That included hosting, IDX, and SEO. In my first year as an ActiveRain member, I received more viable leads that led to closed transactions than I did for 5 years with my website.

WIIFM - What's in it for me

I'm not sure about one thing. Nobody has asked the question. Will you still be able to post an outside blog for free like you used to be able too. I honestly had this on my to do list today. I haven't taken advantage of it yet because I'm still getting my feet wet blogging.

I wanted to sign up for the free tool first, and then if I saw value upgrade to the paid account.

I read through the first hundred comments, but I haven't seen this issue raised yet.