ActiveRain Launches Outside Blogs
ActiveRain, the popular real estate social networking platform, has launched what it’s calling “Outside Blogs” - a new feature that lets AR members take their content outside of the walled-garden of the ActiveRain ecosystem.
From their blog post announcing the sneak preview:
A few of the highlights of our outside blog platform:
* You will be able to host your blog on your own domain. For example, you can have your posts feed to bobisgreat.com if you own that domain.
* You will be able to customize the look and feel of your blog.
* It’s easy to set up your outside blog. You can be up and running in less than 15 minutes.
* You will be able to build your posts in ActiveRain. You won’t have to learn a new platform.
* You will be able to decide where you want your posts to publish. Do you just want your outside blog to be about local content pertinent to your local market? You will be able to decide which posts go where. Send your local market reports to your outside blog. Send your real estate industry related posts to ActiveRain. The choice is yours.
* You will be able to benefit from the SEO knowledge and power of ActiveRain.
* You will be able to brand your own blog while at the same time staying connected with the ActiveRain community. Your comments will be syndicated between your ActiveRain blog and your outside blog.
This makes a lot of sense, as it lets bloggers move beyond the sandbox that ActiveRain currently provides. Until now, many budding real estate bloggers cut their chops on ActiveRain before seeking other alternatives (Wordpress, Typepad etc.) that allow them to move their blogging onto their own domain. Outside Blogs (needs a new name) allows them set out on their own yet retain their pre-existing content and still leverage the feel-good aspects of the ActiveRain community.
ActiveRain has slowly been rolling out features that begin to answer the lingering question of how they intend to monetize their flourishing community. ActiveRain Ads were the first step; Outside Blogs are, presumably, the next step.
Costs for this new feature, as yet, are un-announced.
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Todd Carpenter | Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
That’s pretty cool, but it’s hard to beat the price of WordPress.
The three blogs they show are basically the same template with a different header.
Chris Dowell | Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
After constantly keeping 2 blogs going, it is nice to use ActiveRains’s Blog and have it go to my personal blog. AR is a great SEO tool.
Dowell Taggart Team
http://www.DowellTaggart.com
loren nason | Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
This could turn into something very good, even if there is a cost to it.
One of my main complaints about AR is that it doesn’t build your own brand.
Now you can build your own brand and participate in AR at the same time.
Plus this could be a benefit for the agent that wants a blog but doesn’t want the hassle of setting up a hosting account install wordpress and so on
as long as the cost isn’t more than 10 bucks a month i think it’s a winner in my book
Incredible Agent | Dec 4, 2007 | Reply
I agree with Todd. Nothing beats free. It will be difficult for them to transfer their free clients to the paid version. The price point may make a difference. However the time, effort and customer service may cause some headaches for them. Trust me on this. Once people start paying for something (no matter what the cost) they demand a whole lot more from you.
Olga | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
I don’t think that this new feature is more than new marketing activity of ActiveRain. It seems for me that they did it only in order to attract the attention of real estate community one more time to their services. I believe that those having good bogs at ActiveRain will continue maintaining the. But if company or an agent invests time and money in their private blog they will never move it to ActiveRain or any other place in the Net. I can’t imagine for example Fizber moving its blog that has PR4 ( http://fsbo.fizber.com/ )anywhere….
Brian Block | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
I’ve been very active on Active Rain as well as experiencing quite a bit of success and growth on my “outside blog” which I started 3 months prior to blogging on Active Rain.
While I’m extremely happy with my current “outside blog,” I’ll be interested in taking a look at what Active Rain offers in this capacity.
Bobby Carroll | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
I too have been blogging for a while at AR and agree with the consensus that this is a natural move for them. Just think 60K of potential clients waiting with baited-breath for this product. I also agree that the design tends to make them look like “Me Too” sites. They’ll need to catchup with the competition with unique designs and include other “must-have” features like IDX, dropdowns and lead-generating forms. It’s early in the game, so we will see.
Pensacola Real Estate News | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
I wasn’t too impressed with the samples. But if it can help my SEO for my own blog and not take too much extra time or expense, I would be interested. I am very curious about the price. I say over $20/month would be too much. Even $20 is a bit much.
Joe Kennedy | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
I quit using Active Rain after the announcement that they are suing NAR - apparently they were going to sell us all down the river.
Not me. I prefer to write my own, independent blogs.
Interest Rate Maven | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
This is an ingenious move for ActiveRain, as there is great SEO value to them, in this network of “outside blogs” all linking to ActiveRain. Highway to the #1 real estate authority site.
Erik Hansen | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
What are they suing NAR for? Seems ironic, doesn’t it? Just curious. Thanks.
Metrowest MA Real Estate | Dec 5, 2007 | Reply
I see nothing but positive coming from this move. The site has incredible google presence. Combine that with fresh new features and a nice format and I see a win win. There is also something to be said for the strength in numbers and loyalty that AR commands.
Joel Burslem | Dec 6, 2007 | Reply
@Erik and @JoeKennedy - ActiveRain is suing Move.com not NAR.
McClellanville Real Estate | Dec 7, 2007 | Reply
All this will achieve is helping agents with minimal computer skills look like they know what they’re doing. Content is still king and if all the agents that are on AR start publishing their mostly worthless dribble and banter on their own site they will only be hurting their personal name, company image, and the overall image of real estate agents. Yes, there are some good agents on AR, but they already have great blogs and have been doing like I have since the beginning and focusing on their personal blog and cutting and pasting over on AR to get a few points and a little bit of SEO value. If you have half a brain, you’ll skip the templates and canned website that AR is offering and find a quality website designer like Real Estate Tomato to help you build a professional looking site and then learn some HTML basics and do the rest yourself. Blogging isn’t for everyone…AR proves that and that only. All this can be said for NAR’s recent (and far behind the times) attempt to make a presence in the blogging world.
Jonathan Dalton | Dec 8, 2007 | Reply
If they charge a monthly fee they’ll likely find success in spite of themselves. Real estate agents seem to like low monthly fees versus a one-time higher cost. Look at how many agents use template web sites like Superlative rather than paying a designed to come up with something.
Wordpress still has the best price around.
Robert | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Way to go AR, sell ads on our blog, and then make us pay to have the blogs on our web sites. That’s a good deal…. WordPress or Blogger here I come.
Kansas City Real Estate | Jan 11, 2008 | Reply
I concur with McClellanville Real Estate…
“…there are some good agents on AR, but they already have great blogs and have been doing like I have since the beginning and focusing on their personal blog and cutting and pasting over on AR to get a few points and a little bit of SEO value. If you have half a brain, you’ll skip the templates and canned website that AR is offering and find a quality website designer like Real Estate Tomato to help you build a professional looking site and then learn some HTML basics and do the rest yourself. Blogging isn’t for everyone…”
Huntsville realtor | Feb 2, 2008 | Reply
I think this is a great idea. It give real estate professionals additional scope in respect to marketing and reach