Point 2 Launches the "NLS"

Love my P2A websites.  I have one for the office and a personal one.  Started with the free sites and am getting ready to upgrade to premium sites.  I'm not a "techie" and even I could set them up with basic info.  Will get a little more creative with the premium sites. 

Well... all good things got to come to an end... and so with P2 : (

I'm sure he's referring to the demise of the "FREE" standard site, which some time in March becomes $9.95/month w/out the 6 mo free period.

Still, we had to know that would come eventually, especially given the current economy.

It remains a good product and a good source of leads for me.

Hopefully this means they can put their time, energy and funds into further developing a few of the features that could use a little more attention to qualify as "bleeding edge", such as the contact mgmt system, drips, and e-mail. I'd like to see some new music on the virtual tours as well.

BTW Tour Factory presented at our office this week. I think P2's syndication is pretty solid, but TF is sending their tours to U-Tube as well. It would be neat to see that added.

LOL!!! No doubt there (I think I can hear it from here), and I'm in agreement with you on the free thing.

I too love point 2.

Praise resounds across this blog.

Jay, Beth:

Yes, what I referred to when saying all "good things got to come to an end"  was the Free Sites at P2A.

I don't care if they ended it.  Yes they gave warning. 

My issue is that they were rude in the language they put up on the pages of those agents who chose not to upgrade. It was a slap in the face to those agents, IMHO.

I was not whining. I was sharing an intentionally critical viewpoint that Point 2 had been rude to those Realtors who chose not to upgrade their free site to a paid site.

I had already heeded the warning and moved my site - so this issue of their rudeness did not affect me. 

However, I felt (and still feel) it was a sad day for Sauk Klein and company when they would be so rude to the very agents who might yet want to buy something. 

KIND OF LIKE KICKING THEM WHEN THEY WERE DOWN....      

I guess that's ok with you if they want to promise FREE SITES to (y)our colleagues, and then pull the rug out from under them.   

Did they have to say any more than this?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR FREE TRIAL - WHICH HAS NOW ENDED.

SITE OWNERS MAY <LOGIN HERE> TO RE-ACTIVATE THE ACCOUNT IF THEY WANT TO CONTINUE TO ENJOY OUR SERVICES AND FEATURES. 

Wow, Lonn, I can't speak for Jay, but you evidently took from my comments something that wasn't even there, so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't put words in my mouth.

The only reason your name even entered into it was your comment about things coming to an end, and my evidently accurate assumption that you were referring to the free sites. This simply wasn't about you.

As it happens, I agree that they could have handled things a little differently, and seem to remember being told that the standard site was free 'forever'. However, forever is a pretty long time, and I was brought up understanding the wisdom of TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

Everything has to be paid for at some point in time by somebody.

People tend to value and take better care of the things they pay for.

No one is really served by having a bunch of abandoned sites littering up the web. I did have a free standard site that I was using to experiment in niche marketing, but what I learned from it is that I don't have time to maintain 2 sites.

The web is an important business tool for Realtors®, and they do offer different price points for different pocket books. Serious practitioners have a choice about what to invest in based on their needs.

I am a paying customer who would prefer they concentrated their talents, energies and resources on maintaining and improving the product rather than carrying 'free' sites. I think that a 90 day free trial is reasonable and sufficient. It sure beats the 30 day trial offered by most vendors.

Many companies offer free or subsidized product while they are building their business and their value proposition. It seems that phase is over for Point2 and they have proven to me, at least, that their product is worth paying for. They can continue to prove it by keeping the product relevant, not so much by giving it away.

Simply my opinion.

Wow Beth : )

I promise... No comments were taken and no words were put in your mouth : )

I simply addressed you and Jay in a single comment because you had both commented my earlier post by seeming to be in favor of this development. As I said, I don't care if they change their business model.  That's not the point. You both seem to feel that P2 has done what any business needs to do in an evolving market.  Jay suggested "whining will be extensive". To you both, I posed a comment and a question:

I felt (and still feel) it was a sad day for Sauk Klein and company when they would be so rude to the very agents who might yet want to buy something.

KIND OF LIKE KICKING THEM WHEN THEY WERE DOWN....      

I guess that's ok with you if they want to promise FREE SITES to (y)our colleagues, and then pull the rug out from under them.   

BUT - Did they have to say any more than this?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR FREE TRIAL - WHICH HAS NOW ENDED.

SITE OWNERS MAY <LOGIN HERE> TO RE-ACTIVATE THE ACCOUNT IF THEY WANT TO CONTINUE TO ENJOY OUR SERVICES AND FEATURES. 

This is all very encouraging as I am considering getting Point2 and I am wondering why I haven't already done so. No time like the right time.

Jay,

Are you still using point2agent since it has gotten rid of the free website?  If so, are you noticing that it is better or worse than before in terms of traffic you are getting.

My Point2 site is www.NorthShoreBuyer.com in Massachusetts. I think that Point2 is still emerging in our area. I would like to see more agents using Point2 here in MA. I had previously used a local website service when I was with RE/MAX - IMAX. It had an excellent MLS VOW component but was not as 'sexy; as Point2. Point2's Virtual Tours are particularly fabulous. They do a really good job making photos 'pop'

I have been looking for a new website and wondered if P2A is still a viable deal or not. If it is which do you recommend of th emodels they have ot choose from.

Hi Charles,

I have a P2A Professional level site (since May of '05). I like the flexibility of the product, the ease of making changes, and the way it performs (easy to optimize, performs well in appearing on searches-though as with any site, you have to put some work into it, both with content and understanding keywords, tags, etc).

Most of my business comes from my website, either directly or indirectly from the syndication and from having a strong presence on the web.

They also provide a good help database and live training opportunities.

Jump in, it's a good product. Let us know how it goes.

Just started with them, good to get this input.

Hey, Jay. I'm just kind of branching out on AR and noticed this P2A group and bang there you were right at the top, so I joined. Then I came back and noticed just how old the blog post was - just goes to show you that the words on the internet never die. Anyway, I had stopped posting replies to the blogs on relib a few months ago and well you know they are doing away with relib now. The few remaining there are saying their good-byes. Sorry some have not been able to migrate over to AR. I met so many great real estate agents and people there.

I've had a Point2 website for several years. It was free...and then it wasn't. Last year, I paid $9.95 a month and I have now received a notice that the cost will rise from $99 a year to $140. That's ok...I understand economics and I am in favor of weeding out those who should not be agents.

What is NOT ok about Point2 is that they allow agents to post "listings" that are not actually "listed" and to keep them active on their site long after the listing...if there ever was one....has expired. To me, this is misrepresentation. It says "brokered by" and "listed by" so it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. I think this allows those 10th-rate agents to perpetuate their 10th rate service.