First, a funny observation. Just got my Realtor Daily email. It hailed the “new” real estate networking site, Zolve. You know, the same one Benn talked about, I dunno, in OCTOBER. I’m not saying…I’m just saying…
Anyway, the good thing about it is that it reminded me that I had planned on taking one for the team. Yes, I created a Zolve profile. I need another network to keep up with like Carpenter needs another sheep thrown at him…but none the less, here it is. (BTW – you should go over to facebook right now and throw sheep at him…he loves it and we will wait…)
I did see some two of the usual suspects out there – Jay and Shailesh. However, the pages looked just like mine when I got finished – unexcited about creating yet another “This is me and my view on world peace” page.
Here is the skinnie.
- Evidently there has been 2,500 new profiles created last month. However, poking around, many of the profiles look like mine – bare bones to get that freaking completion bar to fill up.
- The blog posts now total 89 (correction – 350. 89 is this week’s count only – thanks, Brian)…Sorting by most active, the most comments I saw were 4. Most of the comments throughout were from Brian Wilson – you know, the guy that owns the place
Here’s why I like it and will continue to see if it works out
- Brian Wilson – The man is a Realtor and built the site while serving in the Middle East. If that doesn’t give him some street cred, I don’t know what will.
- Referrals are a big part of my business. I live near a military town. Folks are always moving in and out. Another resource to try and find good agents are always a plus.
- It was free.
- You don’t have to log on to search profiles. This makes it easy for the consumer. I hate having to create a profile and log in to search for some one to give my business to.
And there you have it – or as much as I know for now. I’ll keep you posted.
Now I am supposed to go check out this “cre8buzz” network…but not today…I have had enough “profile creating” for one day.
Update – I had a problem with the “select a market” function of the profile creation. Sent an email from the “contact page.” Brian Wilson emailed me back, from his Blackberry, in under an hour. Points given for customer service.
Shailesh Ghimire
December 3, 2007 at 2:30 pm
April,
Jay’s the usual suspect. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.. 🙂
Kelley Koehler
December 3, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I’m there too, although I haven’t completed my profile – I got to the part about inviting 5 other people to complete it and stopped. I asked Jay and Shailesh to join my spehere, but maybe they fell off, as they haven’t responded. Or maybe they did and I wasn’t told about it.
April Groves
December 3, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Shailesh – you are guilty by association – maybe you should watch the riff-raff you hang out with 😛
Kelley – You stopped the same place I did…and I didn’t see those guys on your sphere. But I did send you the desperate “add me” msg 😉
Mariana
December 3, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Nope. I cannot join one more stinkin’ RE community … even if Brian is my neighbor! (Sorry Brian!)
Jay Thompson
December 3, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I *thought* I accepted your sphere invite Kelley. Maybe I forgot.
Brian’s a great guy, and I wish him well in this endeavor. But I do wonder if the world needs another networkingthingy.
Arpil – if you get a chance, could you fix the link to me? I need all the link love I can get. 🙂
April
December 3, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Mariana – I feel your pain…really
Jay – Sorry…to many “http”s in the soup
Brian Wilsn
December 3, 2007 at 5:56 pm
April, thanks for joining the network and for your perspective. I am sorry that I haven’t closed the circle on your question but we have had 232 people join today – an all-time high for us but it is keeping me busy answering questions and the like.
You were only looking at “this week’s” blogs. Since our launch 6 weeks ago, we have had over 350, which isn’t too shabby. However, Zolve is not a blogging site; we offer blogs for our members who want to use this feature to drive traffic to their online brand. We are a real estate networking and referral site.
Wait until tomorrow or Wednesday when you log in… you will see a screen for Zolve Connects which means for a specialist in helping military families like you, April, will be able to select “connect me” for that specialty amongst abut 50 other business specialties and professional interests.
In a few days, you will receive an email from Zolve introducing you to the three Zolve members from around the world that show the most connections with you. You will have the option to “say hello” or invite them to your sphere of influence. If another member has a strong Chinese cultural background, she could select that as a “connect me” and build a national network of other real estate professionals that share that cultural background and want to work with like folks.
My friend Marc tells me that I write too long of posts. He’s right!
Brian Wilson, Zolve
April
December 3, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Brian – You did a fine job responding to my question. I was very happy with the level of response it received.
Thanks for clearing up the blog numbers. I went back and looked at the search filters. I also corrected the post.
I will be poking around there. I am a firm believer that you never know where your next bid lead is coming from.
And I always give kudos to the military service. Thank you…