RealTown's RealTalk

I just saw a posting from Brad Andersohn of Active Rain saying that they are changing to a 2-tier membership system. Essentially, they will be charging $29 per month to new members who want their blogs to be seen by the consumer or search engines. Check it out at http://activerain.com/blogsview/925822/ActiveRains-NEW-Membership-Plan

A couple of thoughts on this. First, and most obvious, this demonstrates what great value the Three Amigos give us on RealTalk. Maybe all agents don't realize this but you don't have to be an agent to be a member of RealTalk. Anybody can join! And you can blog here without it costing you anything.

Secondly, listen up John, Saul and Mike - this could be a great opportunity to promote RealTalk as the FREE real estate platform where consumers can interact with agents.

Personally, I find ActiveRain too cumbersome and complicated. RealTalk is more intuitive and has the options of email or web delivery which is a massive plus to me.

Bernard Gibbons

Bernard Gibbons, Realtor, e-PRO Certified Internet Specialist
J. Rockcliff Realtors, 15 Railroad Avenue, Danville, CA 94526
Phone (925) 997-1585
bernard@bernardgibbons.com
www.bernardgibbons.com

Please send me your referrals - I will treat them like family.
25% paid up to $1m - 30% over $1m

Everyone on this thread makes some very good points. I have spent considerable time surveying the social media landscape and find myself drawn back to RealTown increasingly ... the blog platform offers enormous advantages in formatting, editing, and SEO, albeit some difficulty with customization, especially for Boomers. The GOOD news is that customization of RealTown blogs is UNLIMITED for those with some HTML savvy, making it the BEST choice on many levels.

I gotta tell ya, RealTown and its online communities are looking better and better to me these days in large measure because the Three Amigos bring abundant real estate savvy and leadership to a RE Net where risk management is a BIG part of a social media business plan.

Think about it!

Frances Flynn Thorsen
No Blogger Left Behind

I followed the link and read this:

The ActiveRain New Membership Structure and Plan:

• Members who have already setup accounts and have existing Blogs on ActiveRain will continue to benefit from their FREE access to the community and network. (nothing changes for current AR members with Blogs)
  

• A "Basic" ActiveRain account will still be available to new members for FREE, however these new accounts will be limited to "Members Only" postings. This means that any new members will still be able to benefit from the networking aspects of ActiveRain for FREE, but will not be able to tap in to ActiveRain's huge consumer reach unless they sign up for the "New Membership Plan."
  

• The New ActiveRain Membership (For New Members ONLY) will cost $29.00 per month, and will include an Outside ActiveBlog along with a unique domain name that allows them the ability to post content that will be visible to both consumers and search engines.

• Any member accounts that were created before February 16th, 2009, but have NOT yet produced at least a single Blog post will continue to have access to the network and all the tools that they've utitlized up to this point. If those members wish to activate their account so their Blog posts will be viewable to consumers and search engines, they'll be required to sign up for the New Membership Plan at $29 per month.