Zolve Tries to Kick ActiveRain While its Down
Zolve, the real estate networking site dreamt up by Iraqi war vet and GeekEstate Blog contributor Brian Wilson, launched today, Techcrunch reports.
Honestly I haven’t spent much time on the site over the last few weeks, like Mike Price I found myself quickly annoyed with the talking head that kept coming back to the home page with every refresh, so I didn’t hang around long.
A cursory inspection reveals the basic idea of the site looks solid enough. The premise is to help connect real estate professionals and ancillary services (lenders, service providers) through a community and then help them manage their referrals to and from each other. The whole process is automated and Realtors earn “eBay-like rankings” on each of the transactions.
There’s no doubt that referrals are big business, and there is certainly room for the Internet to help streamline the whole process. I’m just not sure a social network is the way to do that.
Zolve faces two bigger battles on its launch day however. The first is social network fatigue - I’m not sure that the real estate community is ready for yet another destination to build a profile and start blogging. This is a big red ocean, to use a much over-used term.
That said, the timing of the launch could be timely; people may be looking for an alternative to popular blogging destination (who’s come up bloodied in its spat with Move.com). If I were Wilson, I wouldn’t be banking on that however. ActiveRain members are a tight-knit bunch and are fanatically loyal and I suspect that they won’t be dislodged easily.
The second is an even bigger hurdle to overcome. Cost.
Zolve charges $395 for the service, with an annual renewal of $995. The service currently has over 2000 members in their Beta (presumably pulled in from their Realtor Magazine Ad) but it’ll be interesting to see how many pony up real dollars to have access to the site once it’s live.
Unlike Techcrunch blogger Erick Schonfeld who writes “Brokers are so desperate to keep their commissions these days, they might just pony up the subscription fee without a second’s hesitation,” I think Realtors are going to be evaluating their marketing spends much more carefully these days. A thousand bones is a lot to throw at an unproven idea with questionable ROI.
In any case, Zolve’s launch means the real estate social networking playing field has just gotten even more crowded. ActiveRain now has some direct competition chomping at its heels so should be even more focused than ever building out a clear business model. As they’ve proved, a successful social networking site is very much about “catching lightning in a bottle” and these days there’s a lot more folks heading straight into that storm.
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21 Comment(s)
7 Trackback(s)
- From Usletter.Com » Zolve Tries to Kick ActiveRain While its Down | Oct 9, 2007
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Mark Lomas | Oct 9, 2007 | Reply
By attacking someone or a web site you’ll definitely attract attention. Temporarily will probably be the case, unless your content is humourous and or informative. In the end cheap shots are less valuable then cheap. But, as there is with Triumph- Conan O’Brians dog puppet insult comic - there may be a place for insulting blogs. Seems that from some of the comments/rants here Zolve is dissolving into another flavor of the week with limited life expectancy…hope that’s not insulting.
Andrew | Oct 9, 2007 | Reply
Why is everything a social network nowadays. This is hardly a social network - its a referral network. This will not work out.
Andy Kaufman | Oct 9, 2007 | Reply
While Brian’s story if definitely an inspiring one, I’m not so sure that Zolve is the answer. Social network is fatigue is real and I have a hard time believing that there are enough people ready to pony up that kind of dough for an unproven return. That being said I’m extremely curious to poke around and see what’s under the hood.
BTW, that talking head has to go. It’s like the talking agent website 2.0
TJ | Oct 9, 2007 | Reply
Kill the talking head immediately! I’m not going farther than the homepage until that thing is gone.
Taylor Plumblee | Oct 9, 2007 | Reply
I think the #1 problem for Zolve is going to be cost. All successful networking sites that I can think of share one common thread… they are free. Think MySpace, Facebook, ActiveRain, etc. Why would someone pay for something they can get for free… and not just that.. why would they pay almost $400 the first year and almost $1000 every year after that? I hate to say it but I think Zolve is destined for failure. On the topic of an “ebay-like rankings” why not make it more ebay like and charge on a per-referral basis or something to that effect??? On ebay.. they make their money on the number of sellers they have not by charging a small number of sellers HUGE fees. Ebay wisely chose to keep fees reasonable and attract as many people as possible. I would think it wise for Zolve to take a similar stratgey and figure out a way to make it affordable if they change at all.
Mariana - Springs Realty Scoop | Oct 9, 2007 | Reply
The talking head MUST DIE!!! And?
Regarding Active Rain … Like the label on a Mike’s Hard Lemonade … “If you’re gonna be original, you can count on being copied.”
But what is up with the $$?? Good luck with that one, Zolve.
Ines | Oct 10, 2007 | Reply
I’m with Mariana - go ahead and copy, but don’t claim to be the “only one” or “the first”, as for people paying for the service, I don’t see it happening.
Christiane | Oct 10, 2007 | Reply
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” Chales Colton, 1820.
The jury is still out as to whether or not Zolve really can truly “imitate” ActiveRain. My guess is no…the financials get in the eay.
Kevin Webber | Oct 11, 2007 | Reply
Ok so I went on Zolve. I searched around and didn’t see too many members. This is perfectly fine when you haven’t established yourself…… except when you’re charging $400 to join followed by $1,000 to continue.
I’m not quite sure why sign-up is so expensive. Seems to me to mimic http://www.referralkey.com/ ($9.99 a month). Brian’s added some nice features i.e. cool tutorial and google maps, but these features are secondary (and free on google). So why the price?
Why only real estate agents? Some of my best referrals come from associates in other professions. Referral Key, BNI, Chamber of Commerce all work because their professions are complimentary not competitive.
I think I’ll stick with referral key
Hawaii Real Estate | Oct 11, 2007 | Reply
I searched around and didn’t see too many members.
Craig Davidenko | Oct 12, 2007 | Reply
Denial, some people think that certain things last forever.however those people eventually learn the plain and simple truth.many many years ago the dinosaurs romed the earth alongside real estate brokers and agents who held the “holy grail”..”the mls book” but then came along came the world wide web.dinosaurs extinct and brokers and agents wondering when people would notice that they in fact did not hold the “mls” anymore.
I am a real estate broker who lives in the year 2007. To be exact 10/07″A time that will be read about” I am starting a New Real Estate Marketing Company called FlatRateRealEstate.com-Interested brokers should call as I will begin with seeds throughout the country. If you live in Tampa Florida your domain would be tampa.flatraterealestate.com THE FUTURE OF REAL ESTATE IS HERE AND COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU!
Craig Davidenko
912.398.7245
Teresa Boardman | Oct 14, 2007 | Reply
Did someone say social network fatigue?
Bhopu.com>>Zolve not just another real estate website | Oct 16, 2007 | Reply
This is to a lot of poeple who think Zolve is just another real estate website, you have to visit the site to make out the difference it carries from a lot others on web today.
For more read my blog on
http://bhopu.com
Parul Bindra
Brand Manager
Vinfotech
Joe Boylan | Oct 20, 2007 | Reply
Not a bad concept. It seems like most startups take the approach of “Once we get huge, we’ll sell advertising”. What if they never get huge? I don’t think the income model is the problem, although the price seems high, I think the real problem is that the site lacks clarity, the concept isn’t concrete enough to hook visitors, quickly.
Metrowest MA Real Estate | Oct 22, 2007 | Reply
Zolve is asking Realtors to pony up $400 and then $1000 to renew. Most Realtors don’t want to spend $100 on a mailer. Spending money on a networking site when there are FREE options??? The site better blow your socks off and give you an immediate return otherwise the site is destined for failure. Fortunately for me, too many Realtors in this business are short sighted. There is a plague in the Real Estate community…only the successful agents know that you continually have to re-invest to in your business to remain on top.
Gena Riede | Dec 6, 2007 | Reply
I don’t think anyone can beat Active Rain. And as far as Zolve charging…that will be the end before it can even get the wheels moving. Realtors have been paying through the nose for years to all the predators and now, finally there is Active Rain.
Loyality, you bet!
Tony Sena | Dec 9, 2007 | Reply
Any sites coming online right now that charges the Real Estate Industry will have a hard time surviving! Many real estate professionals are leaving the industry because of the market, so I don’t see how Zolve is helping by charging?
I would venture to say that http://www.WannaNetwork.com is the only site, currently, that has a chance to compete with Active Rain, especially once the new platform is launched! Expect to see the new platform by January 07, 2008!
Karen Rice | Mar 23, 2008 | Reply
Someone posted a link to Zolve the other day - before I had a chance to look around and check things out, the talking head that is still there chased me away.
No thanks - not interested…if I run away from that page, so will any real estate customers. Why waste my time?
David | Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
Anyone want to check out Propertyqube.com? I mean from what you guys say this network does bad, or that one, no has mentioned Propertyqube.com.
It’s already “live”, already has a steady stream of users, and new users daily, and has lots of free tools and functionality all while being consumer focused.
I think it nails the social networking for Real Estate because it doesnt focus on Agents, and it doesn’t focus on consumers, its a very nice blend, os education for consumers, and branding for agents…
Anyone want to check it out and compare against the others mentioned?
David | Mar 24, 2008 | Reply
Link: http://www.Propertyqube.com
Overland Park Real Estate | Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
6 months since this article was written and they still have the talking head on the main page. That alone is a poor indicator of the site to me.