The Network

As I begin thinking about how to maximize the usefulness of RE.net and how a player like Active Rain could leverage and monetize their traffic, I'd rather start with what I see as prerequisites for any online effort to succeed in being a win/win for brokers and the means they might use.

The primary goal as I see it from the viewpoint of a broker is to increase my business by connecting with consumers who can use my services. This is obvious. What's not obvious is the best way to accomplish this. The existing options, in my opinion, are insufficient. My website and blogging efforts are the most effective means; however, looking forward I see greater opportunities, and greater obstacles to being seen, not just to increase business by a certain, moderate amount, but to be wildly successful and to be  part of a powerful network. Everyone connected and aware has their dreams of how it will manifest itself for them personally.

But enough about me, what I really want to write about, initially, is what it'll take to create this network. It will take having a radical, fanatic dedication to consumers, so much so that consumers recognize, trust and praise what I will call, The Network (Duh). Existing sites such as Zillow or Trulia could innovate their business models to be The Network. Active Rain could do this as well with the proper backing. Microhoo or Google could definitely do it, if they choose to put the effort into real estate. A group of diverse RE professionals from across the country could do it. More about "it" later.

One of the problems, so far, has been the expectation of "free". It will take some doing to convince consumers of value. First there will actually have to be value. Sites that offer a free service and hit or miss experiences for consumers to get information will not last long, either because the consumer experience is poor so often that word-of-mouth destroys reputations, or the companies run out of investment money because they failed to monetize what they have to offer. Nothing is free. If consumers start leaving sites, even what little ad revenue being generated will dry up.

The Network that provides value will be able to charge for value, whether it's the consumer being charged or whether it's a partnership with local RE professionals being charged -- perhaps a combination of both that's proportionate to the value being received. If a local broker/professional is increasing business by hundreds of thousands through a partnership, the broker/professional would be paying the lion's share proportionately, say where a consumer might be paying a small fee or a low monthly charge that adds up through volume.

So what is the partnership and what constitutes the value? The partnership is the structure of The Network and the value is information processing, management and analysis. It's the two missing links in web 2.0 -- personalization and context.

These are the broad strokes of what I'm thinking about. I will try to create my idea of The Network in following posts, but it's only my limited ideas -- all other ideas are welcomed and needed. Basically, I'm stalling one more day - tomorrow I will take the risk of getting into specifics - I just had free time and wanted to set the stage and force myself to go forward.

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