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ActiveRain from 97 feet up

By
Real Estate Agent

ActiveRain moves fast.  So fast that I know of only a few people who really have a clear picture of everything that ActiveRain has to offer.  AR is now averaging a site upgrade at least once a week.  To put that in proper context, most software companies are on a quarterly or 1/2 yearly deployment schedule. 

We've done five separate deploys in the last 10 days alone, so I thought it would be beneficial to do a high level overview of the different products and services available on ActiveRain, while focusing on our core business components.

1. Blogging:  There is a major shift from the traditional way real estate is marketed and blogging represents this new paradigms epicenter.

In the past advertising options included post cards and newspaper advertising with canned messages, listing magazines with latent information, nothing that provided any real testament to who the real estate professional really is.   ActiveRain continues to evolve a social media publishing (or blog) platform where real estate professionals can share their expertise and knowledge while creating a conversation with potential clients.

Our blogging platform will focus on empowering our members to syndicate their data to as many consumers as possible, involving integration with other highly trafficked sites.  Some of the sites I would like to see us work close with this year include: the major real estate brokerages, Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo, and Microsoft.  

(This feature of ActiveRain is Free)

2. Referral Exchange: Best ActiveRain resource that you haven't heard of. 

The basic premise behind the Referral Exchange is, you guessed it, a marketplace where real estate professionals can exchange referrals with ease and efficiency.  We launched it over a year ago without much fanfare as a fix for the frustration I experienced when needing to personally refer business out of state.  Finding a hard working and appreciative professional was a lot harder than it should have been.  The Exchange recently reappeared on my radar after I heard a series of fantastic success stories.

Using the Referral Exchange is simple and free.

Once a referral is added to the system an email is sent to all members on ActiveRain that have an alert set up that matches the parameters of the referral.  New members are setup with a basic referral alert at registration.  To change your alert settings click here

(This feature of ActiveRain is Free)

In the next few months we plan to implement a new element to the Referral Exchange product that will require all outbound referrals to be screened before it hits the board to eliminate any spam.

3. Profile:  You don't get a second chance to make a first impression...

For those who don't believe in the power of the ActiveRain profile, take a moment and Google your name.  Unless it's Brad Pitt, (or you've been on ActiveRain for just a short while) you will likely find your ActiveRain profile on Page 1 of your search results.  And even if it doesn't show up on page 1, it's information that consumers are highly interested in.  Take time to make your profile read and look beautiful.  When I practiced real estate I always considered myself unemployed and on a never-ending quest to find a new job. Your profile is your resume. Treat it with the respect it deserves. 

(This feature of ActiveRain is Free)

4. Individual & Team Blogs: Almost 10 years ago I created the first Search Engine Optimized IDX website that used listing content to generate long tail search results.  This innovation eventually allowed my team of real estate agents to generate over 5,000 leads a month and sell well over $100 million dollars in real estate a year. 

I believe our new ActiveBlogs are as powerful today as my SEO IDX website was back when I first created it. If used correctly, ActiveBlogs have the potential to revolutionize personal, team, office, and/or niche real estate production.  

The core value proposition of our blogs is an infrastructure that we call RAIndexing, or "Real Area Indexing".   Simply put, your blog turns into a long tail Search Engine Optimized website. Similar in nature to the SEO IDX website, the primary difference being the IDX website uses static listing content whereas ActiveBlogs utilize much more potent unique, fresh content.

We have a giant office whiteboard full of improvements that will continuously be released for the ActiveBlog platform.  For example, we just added the ability for people to add a Listing Router search widget to ActiveBlogs. In the next few weeks look for "New Theme Friday's", and a widget integration.  To sign up for an ActiveBlog click here.  

(ActiveBlogs cost $19/mo and $79/mo for an Individual and Team license respectively)

5. Localism: Localism is designed to be the worlds most complete Neighborpedia. 

Members may sponsor communities, cities and even sub-divisions on Localism.  The concept is based on a verb we call "localised", which is the process of adding location based meta-data to content, whether it be text, pictures or video.  The website is designed to exclusively feature 'hyper-local' real estate information for consumers.  Focused hyper-local content from an established and trusted website ranks inherently high on search engine result pages, like Google

Localism thus becomes a powerful resource for real estate professionals because it allows them to leverage their very local knowledge of a given area to potential clients that otherwise wouldn't know about unless they visited the area personally with a seasoned guide in tow. 

The long overdue feature of making Localism open for consumer and local merchant contribution is scheduled on our internal project board for completion in the next 30 days.  Relative content from local neighbors and businesses coupled with real estate professionals knowledge and expertise will benefit all participants, providing an engaging and comprehensive experience.  I'm confident that the sponsoring professional will reap the substantial rewards Localism was meant to provide from conception.

(Localism sponsorships are less than $10/mo per sponsorship.  Price breaks are available with multiple sponsorships)

6. Listing Router: Leads are dead; 2009 is all about the "click".

Early in the decade well-funded companies utilized marketing budgets and technology that was largely out of reach to individual real estate professionals to generate huge quantities of 'leads' at a much lower cost than an individual was able to.  Many real estate professionals felt that they got burned by these lead generation companies as a result of excessive long term contracts and poor conversion rates.  As a result the concept of buying a lead conjures up a foul taste for most practitioners in the industry. 

Today, many of these lead capture technologies have become cost effective and subsequently made their way into the hands of individual practitioners.  As these points have crossed, a fast growing alternative to 'lead reselling' has manifested called click marketing.  Our entrance into this field is a product we call Listing Router.  Foundationally Listing Router is very simple: ActiveRain members can buy clicks from ActiveRain consumer traffic and route them to specific locations (web-pages) of their choice.  We've taken a novel approaches with Listing Router by sharing a portion of the click revenue with the member who's post and content drove the traffic.

In the future we hope to become the central market place where real estate professionals buy clicks, and Search Engine Marketers sell clicks.  To set up your Listing Router account click here.

(Clicks range in price from $.89 to $3.89 per click.  AR members with high point total are automatically given discounts on the per click price.)

Bonus: Spellcheck: This has been the cause of almost as much headache to ActiveRain members as has been the dreaded Proxy Errors. In the future we plan to add the words: blog, Localism, Raindex, and ActiveRain, to our dictionary.  It irritates us as well.  For some reason this is not an easy technical fix.

Comments (102)

Jen Bowman
Keller Williams on the Water - Holmes Beach, FL
Realtor - Anna Maria Island & Bradenton FL

Jonathan, Active Rain rocks! Thanks for all that you do!

Jan 21, 2009 09:55 AM
Renae Bolton
Marketing 4 Realtors - Garfield Heights, OH
I'm your Professional Real Estate Marketing VA!

I just wish it were a little easier to post to my blog.  If we could just click for colors.  Click for sizes, etc.  That would be awesome!  Not that AR isn't awesome already.  That would just be a big scoop of cookies-n-cream ice cream on top of my fudge marble cake!

~Renae

Jan 21, 2009 10:07 AM
Teresa Boardman
Boardman Realty - Saint Paul, MN

OK maybe with photo shop I can just make one of my own.

Jan 21, 2009 10:21 AM
Benjamin Clark
Homebuyer Representation, Inc. - Salt Lake City, UT
Buyer's Agent - Certified Negotiation Expert

I'd like to thank you guys for everything and am looking at implementing some of the paid features into my 2009 business plan. Do you offer an annual commitment discount?

Jan 21, 2009 10:40 AM
Anonymous
Eloise Gift

Jonathan- Thank you! I am tempted to think may have come across my recent ranting and raving about not being able to keep up with changes. Your post could not be more timely and I am pleased to learn I was not the only one struggling to make sense of all the changes. My very kind friends tried to help and assuage my fears the best they could but of course, they were not the creators either

Today is a day of enlightenment. First, I found my lost blog and now  I have your explanation. The fog has lifted somewhat. I hope AR will continue to keep us up-to date. I do wan to be one of those "with a clear picture.

Jan 21, 2009 10:43 AM
#88
Anonymous
Eloise

Wish I could have bookmarked your post. That's something that went away, I guess.

Jan 21, 2009 10:45 AM
#89
Gary Woltal
Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX
Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Jonathan, great post. Active Rain does move so fast as you described with all the enhancements. Even us regulars have a hard time keeping up with new stuff that keeps coming up over the horizon.

Jan 21, 2009 11:09 AM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Great info.  Thank you so much!

Jenny

 

Jan 21, 2009 11:10 AM
#91
Laurie Manny
Long Beach CA Real Estate - Long Beach, CA

"Some of the sites I would like to see us work close with this year include: the major real estate brokerages, Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo, and Microsoft.

None of these are real estate brokerages.  As a matter of fact, none of them are even licensed in real estate.  Lets not get confused or mislead the public.

 

Jan 21, 2009 12:04 PM
JoAnn Borelli-Mardesich
Placentia, CA

This is so exciting and I too love the overview of the enhancements that we will be getting with Active Rain.  Thanks for your hard work.  What a team!

Jan 21, 2009 12:23 PM
Jon Washburn
Seattle, WA

Benjamin, So glad to hear that you are planning on buying some of our products.  I promise that we will do everything in our power to make our products empower you to make a huge return on your investment.  (Plus buying stuff from us helps to keep us in business.  We have 10 full time employees working extremely hard to bring our members the best of the best.)

Eloise, Your recent "rantings" about getting overwhelmed is not the only rantings I have seen.  There is so much happening so fast that many of our members are feeling a bit lost.

Gary, I know that keeping up is hard.  I just encourage you to not feel overwhelmed. USE ActiveRain the way you want; the site should serve you. Not the other way around.

Laurie, I meant to communicate that the syndication partners would include the major real estate brokerages like Coldwell Banker, RE/MAX, etc, and other major online real estate portals like Trulia, and Zillow.

JoAnn, "Exciting" you are telling me!  This is the most fun I have ever had in my life at work.

 

Jan 21, 2009 01:21 PM
Lizette Fitzpatrick
Lizette Realty - Richmond KY - Lexington, KY
Lizette Realty, Lexington KY MLS - Kentucky Homes

There's never a dull moment around this place! Thanks for always improving a wonderfiul community!

Jan 21, 2009 01:27 PM
Catherine C Capasso
Catherine Cornelia Real Estate - Eastchester, NY
Cottage or Castle, What's Your Dream!

Thanks for all you do to make ActiveRain the fantastic site it is. 2008 was my year to focus on technology in my business. In the fourth quarter I really started utilizing ActiveRain and I have seen many changes in the past few months. I am happy to know it is the behind the scenes work you and your team are doing to put this site in the forefront. Using the site and following blogs has helped me really take a giant leap forward in getting the most from my time "in the rain".

For anyone who may be feeling overwhelmed I have a few suggestions:

  1. Start blogging and start following blogs you connect with. 
  2. Don't overthink this. It really is a very simple, easy to use site that yields great results.
  3. Learn by doing. Improvements are happening so fast that I have found the best way to keep up is by being here.
  4. Ask questions. The support from ActiveRain is among the best I have experienced.

Thanks again.

Jan 21, 2009 10:30 PM
Thom Abbott
MyMidtownMojo.com |770.713.1505 | Intown Atlanta GA Condo Living - Atlanta, GA
Midtown Atlanta GA Condos For Sale

Jon....thanks for this "all-in'one" reminder of what Active Rain can do/has to offer to us!

I've got many features to explore, and I for one, am one of those that at times seems overwhelmed with Web 10.0 (I swear we'll be calling it that in no time!)

While I just did my Business Plan for '09, I think I'm gong to have to step back and create a bit of a seperate plan for my Active Rain and other activities!

But thanks for giving me us so much to work with!

Jan 22, 2009 12:28 AM
Larry Bettag
Cherry Creek Mortgage Illinois Residential Mortgage License LMB #0005759 Cherry Creek Mortgage NMLS #: 3001 - Saint Charles, IL
Vice-President of National Production

Good to hear.  I was thinking of bagging localism, but Im' excited to see what we can do to move it even further forward.

Jan 22, 2009 12:57 AM
Debe Maxwell, CRS
Savvy + Company (704) 491-3310 - Charlotte, NC
The RIGHT CHARLOTTE REALTOR!

Hi Jon!  WAY Cool!  I have but, two things to say--well, okay 3: 

1.  I'd best get my rear in gear!

2.  Will YOU optimize MY website for ME?!!  5K/MO?!  I'm IN!

3.  I'm seriously glad that you're going to weed out the spam on referrals.  I know that the vast majority of us do not use this function because the vast majority of what we receive in alerts from this function IS spam! 

Debe in Charlotte

Jan 22, 2009 01:16 PM
Esko Kiuru
Bethesda, MD

Jonathan,

It's good to see the steady flow of improvements done to the platform. Sometimes, though, it is a bit overwhelming to keep up with all of it, put your arms around them. Still, wonderful.

Jan 22, 2009 01:56 PM
Brian Schulman
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Lancaster PA - Lancaster, PA
Lancaster County PA RealEstate Expert 717-951-5552

Jonathan, thanks for the overview.  We need a periodic review of all the features you folks come up with!

Jan 23, 2009 03:37 AM
Debbie Summers
Charles Rutenberg Realty - New Smyrna Beach, FL

Jonathan - I love AR...  The improvements continue to just make a "good thing" better...  I can't wait to see what else you have planned.

Jan 24, 2009 05:06 AM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Jonathan~AR is awesome.  Thanks for reminding a newbie like me of all you have to offer!  I'm gonna go for the outside active blog!  Thank You again, for all that AR does!!

Mar 01, 2009 12:16 AM
#104