Comments on: Localism Sponsorship: Hype or Value?

By: sean

sean — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:06:43 +0000

Localism from what i’ve seen is going to be huge. Their layout and ease of transferring over posts from current posts already on Active rain is great.

They’re predicting Localism will garner the same amount of traffic as Zillow and Trulia combined and while real estate agents currently hold the cards there ( providing pertinent information that only realtors know) soon the site will be open to everyone and everyone will have a chance to claim their community as their own including being able to claim they are the local expert.

By: Bill Gassett

Bill Gassett — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:41:20 +0000

My money is on Active Rain making the new Localism site something of great value. Only time will tell but I will be real surprised if it does not become a huge success.

By: Jeremy Rivera

Jeremy Rivera — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:06:13 +0000

Jeff,

I also was considering how Localism is just flouting the sponsorship with the links for sale. Maybe they think Google won’t notice…
I can see some relevance, if they allow anchor text, coming from a related city page. I do see a couple pages with page rank- In fact, their la Jolla page is PR5.

Brad,

As a site owner myself, and poster to AR, I too hope that it’s success full and valuable in the future…hopefully it won’t be a failure because it’s a pretty good thing for users to have more and more quality information.

By: Brad Andersohn

Brad Andersohn — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:16:17 +0000

Hype or Value? Hmmmm….Can I say Both? What comes first, the hype or the value? If I had to make a choice, I’d have to go with value.

That may not be fair to answer since I’ve had the chances and opportunities internally to see the entire vision.

There may have been some hype in the beginning, but there will sure be value in the end.

By: Jeff in Hawaii

Jeff in Hawaii — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:24:53 +0000

Jeremy – not sure if there is even value in the links as I do not see any PR on the state pages or cities. Is that maybe because there is duplicate content from AR? Still might be worth a couple links, but then it might not take long before Google nukes them. Because they would qualify as a paid link and that is a big No-No with G.

By: Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:26:55 +0000

I knew there was a risk to “coming out of the dark” and posting! We are finishing up the launch of our 2nd phase here in two weeks which will enable me to me social and less of free-loader .

By: Drew Meyers

Drew Meyers — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:14:10 +0000

Brian-
Thanks for the kinds words. When are we going to see the next Brian Wilson post on GEB?

By: Jeremy Rivera

Jeremy Rivera — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:58:27 +0000

“The jury is out on whether they’ll be able to attract real estate consumers”

I agree on that point…It doesn’t seem to me like they are really focusing on the real estate aspect themselves, but trying to get into rankings for community information… Since their primary posting source has been Realtors, I think this may have tilted the site in the past towards real estate, but if they’ve opened it up to the public, then I think they’re going for a more general and community oriented audience/participation group.

By: Jay Thompson

Jay Thompson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:49:49 +0000

“if that was included in the sponsorship, then it might be more attractive, do you agree?”

Absolutely. And of course that data can’t be provided, yet, because the system is brand new.

I’ve got no ill-wishes for AR,the people that work there or the agents that use it. I do believe (strongly) that an agent would be better served by hosting their own blog. But AR is a *great* place to network and meet other real estate professionals.

The jury is out on whether they’ll be able to attract real estate consumers.

By: Jeremy Rivera

Jeremy Rivera — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:24:49 +0000

Brian I appreciate the thumbs up, and also respect Drew for opening this platform up

In the end, I do respect the Active rain team, and hopefully Localism will be successful and beneficial to RE agents and users alike.