ActiveRain.com is a new “social network” for real estate professionals. (It’s also going to be a darn find way to locate real estate professionals).
Social networks are getting a lot of buzz lately. ActiveRain may be the best implementation of a social network I’ve seen yet, and they claim (and I believe it) that they are the first one for real estate professionals. It hasn’t been up long, but it’s already picking up steam. You can upload a VERY detailed profile, link to other professionals, etc. The owner/CEO/head geek is also very responsive to input and feedback. The guy actually answers email (if you’re reading this Matt, get AR going in Canada! I’ve got agents there ready to join!)
Blogs for members are coming soon. I see little (yet significant) changes to the site on almost a daily basis.
So if you are a real estate professional (and that means agent, lender, inspector, title company, builder or coach) you really ought to register on Active Rain. It’s free. Here’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of something that could be huge…
What do you have to lose? Do it…. do it here!
From their press release:
Bellevue, WA June 14, 2006: Real estate B2B services company ActiveRain Corp., has launched the real estate industry’s first online networking resource for real estate professionals. The ActiveRain Real Estate Network is helping real estate professionals to grow their businesses with simple and effective tools.
The Network’s free services help real estate agents, mortgage brokers, builders, and others in the industry to quickly and simply increase their network of contacts, and to expand their web presence. Members can set up a profile in under 5 minutes. One RE/MAX agent tells others “it’s easy to do and the price is right.”
Members are using the network to connect with each other. Clients are also catching on. A John L. Scott agent wrote that “Within 1 week of posting my profile . . . I have already had a client call me and begin working with me.”
CEO Matt Heaton, founder of the project sees the site as a way for real estate professionals to develop their own online network where they can easily connect with each other and with their clients. “It’s been exciting to see how active the members have been at growing the network to this point. It’s their network and their doing their part to build it.”
The company will continually add tools to help develop the social network. The community of members is helping to design the site. Their input has helped to add an associate’s list, enabling users to grow a referral network. Coming is a personalized blogging system to help draw more visibility to member profiles.
The community is quickly becoming a simple and effective tool for real estate professionals to network and grow their businesses.
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Matt (Head Geek) 06.21.06 at 9:50 pm
I’m glad you and other agents are finding the ActiveRain Real Estate Network to be a good tool. We launched the site less than a month ago and we’ve gotten a great response so far. There are 288 profiles so far and growth is on an exponential curve. Like you said we are rolling out new features continuously. The current site is just a skeleton of what will be there in a few months. There will be lots of blogging, groups, forums and other communication tools for real estate professionals. But most of what we do will be driven by the response we get from our members, what they need and ask for.
Yes, we will be adding support for our friends up north soon.
We’ve already had a couple agents report that they’re showing houses based off of consumers who have contacted them through the site, even though we haven’t done anything to specifically target consumers. It just proves if you provide useful information on your profile, search engines will find it and so will the public. Because we are building a large network we have a lot more authority with the search engines than a bunch of individual sites. Maybe we can knock some of those unnamed lead generation companies which clutter to top of the rankings down a few notches and be able to pass the traffic directly onto the members of our network instead.
“Grow your Network”
Caleb 06.21.06 at 10:31 pm
Thanks for the write up and please keep spreading the word. This kind of enthusiasm is very much appreciated. I myself have been an agent since 1997. When I saw what Matt was doing I got very excited and jumped on board. Feed back, suggestions, and spreading the word are very much welcome.
Randall Wilson 08.09.06 at 8:27 pm
ActiveRain is a great tools and their format is extremely easy to use. You simply sign up, post your profile and away you go. Every agent needs to start using this and other social networking tools.
RW
4MySales.com A Simple System to close More Sales
austin texas real estate 08.21.06 at 10:35 pm
Very Interesting point that you have. Keep on posting quality content.
Lead Generation 10.05.06 at 7:38 am
Hello. Just looking around for blogs on the subject of lead generation and marketing to send my visitors to.
I just started a new free membership site and wanted some good places to send my visitors and subscribers.
Anyways thanks for the info. I’ll be stopping back by soon to see if you always have a regular churn of good info.
kenney
Andy Piper 11.12.06 at 7:13 am
There are many agents who are not up to speed on blogging, social networks etc. Getting started with a blog on Active rain, is a great way to get started with this important maketing tool - blogging.
Maureen Francis 01.08.07 at 11:35 am
Wow, you got Matt and Caleb out of the rain to comment on this. 288 members! Crazy.
Portland Real Estate 01.14.08 at 2:05 am
Great network. Its even possible to exchange leads. So much information.