To all of those real estate professionals who love comparing Wanna Network to Active Rain blogs, we’d actually like to encourage challenge you to continue with the discussion.
When I first launched Wanna Network in June of 2006, my initial vision was to create an online real estate social network that contained profiles, a real estate forum, colleagues, a listing section… and all of the other stuff that was not available specifically for our industry at the time.
Ironically, the features that got the most action when we first launched had nothing to do with blogging – but the industry evolved quickly.
While it is apparent that we didn’t build our network on a blogging platform, I’ve been reading articles for the past two years comparing WannaNetwork and Active Rain based on our ability to connect real estate professionals through blogging.
We all pretty much know who won that debate as it was shared through the real estate blogging community.
Fair enough.
However, the needs and expectations of real estate bloggers have changed along with the web 2.0 landscape.
Discussions have shifted from the excitement of being heard to the need of being found. Where is the true return on investment? Do all of these connections or time commitments really close transactions?
People love sharing their voice, education through conversation, and networking. This is part of our human need to connect.
At the end of the day though, participating in social networks and blogging has to generate income so that real estate professionals can still consider it part of their business marketing routines.
So here we are, October 2008, two and a half years since the launch of WannaNetwork.com. We’ve listened and learned.
And then, we listened some more.
Wanna Network has recently developed a blogging platform that promotes the professional instead of the social network. This gives real estate professionals the ability to leverage our site’s power for exposure, without having to worry about losing potential clients within our network.
One reason people participate on social networks is so that their content will have a chance at being found in the search engines. Well, if everyone is being found as a result of your great content, then where is the money motivation?
What ever happened to just blogging for business? You know, writing something that your target audience needs to find at moment they are ready to buy, sell, or refinance.
Wanna Network has just released a few beta WordPress blogs for our members to try out and will be releasing them to the real estate industry for FREE very soon!
The strategy with our Wanna Network Real Estate Blogs is to be the only voice and option being found by your target audience.
Need proof? Ask any real estate agent with a top 10 ranking site where they get more business. Then, ask them a little about the time and financial commitment it took them to get there.
Is this a magic bullet? No – we just give you a slight unfair advantage and head start. Check out our features for more information.
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I have several top 10 listings on google. Ask me how hard they where to get. Most people wont work as hard ass i did. I run 4 different real estate websites. All rank in the top 10 for many terms.