Real Estate Marketing Blog

A Question About Getting into Google

We are having a hard time getting him good web optimization. I've had a hard time getting him up on Google. Got him on Yahoo but his name is somewhat problematic and he's in a saturated market.

It is always:

1.pages with keywords that represent your market

2. get the pages indexed

3. send in the links

You can rinse and repeat at this point but either way from here on out it is about links. Your success will be how many important links you have coming into your pages (notice I said pages not just your index), and how large of a network of pages you have that represent your market. Another reason blogs are cool as you can do this in a reasonably organized way. But without the inbound links it is a waste of time (thinking your internals will rank) from a search engine perspective. Sure you can get 2.0 non main engine type traffic, but those are the geeks and freaks that spend all day on the net like you and I. ;-) Probably not necessarily your market.

~Tim

The Anti Web 2.0

Joel Stein Rants at the LA Times about the implied entitlement to interactivity in today's society. (If too many days go by you may have to register.). So much for Web 2.0.

"That address on the bottom of this column? That is the pathetic, confused death knell of the once-proud newspaper industry, and I want nothing to do with it.....I don't want to talk to you; I want to talk at you...is not my attempt to engage in a conversation with you...Some newspapers even list the phone numbers of their reporters at the end of their articles. That's a smart use of their employees' time...Where does this end? Does Tom Hanks have to hold up a sign with his e-mail at the end of his movie? ...Are you starting to see how creepy this is?

There are some interesting distinctions that he discusses that I will be touching on in the Web 2.0 section of Blog Myths. Despite all that the hype about User Defined media, there is some amount of truth in his rant. But maybe this is why I have not received a response from my letter to the editor who wrote about the "Bubble Bloggers".

"THE SECRET & Real Estate"

Earl Nightingale said that "we become what we think about."

If you have not heard of the SECRET then you have either had your head in the cultural sand, or too busy selling real estate. This movie has taken the self help world by storm. It has stacked online and off line self help and metaphysical all stars.

Created by Rhonda Byrne, an Ozzie Film Maker who was inspired by the Wallace Wattles classic,  The Science of Getting Rich. (Its in the public domain. Do a search for the title and then .pdf and you will get several free sources)

The premise is similar to goal setting. Claim your desire, feel it, think about what you want, not what you don't want. We have all heard it before in any sales class. But not like this!

And it is sage advice, except it does not work!  The formula leaves out some very key ingredients that critics like Kevin Hogan and Dave Lakhani say are not only crucial. But the affects can be detrimental to your own and others well being. One huge variable is action. Nowhere in the Secret is take action.

Last week Kevin Hogan, Dave Lakhani , Blair Warren and Bob Beverly did a round table discussion about the movie and book The Secret.

If it was just a criticism of the movie, I would have not posted this. But the conversation turns to the marketing and sales of this cultural phenom.They talk about marketing principles and tactics that I have never considered and forever have changed some of my perceptions. It could be called "Consumer Protection for the Mind".

A Question From Manhattan Beach

Thanks Tim. I have been checking out your blogs. Nice stuff. My problem is consistently on those things.

consistency and relevancy are the hardest part of blogging.

Tim

A Question from NY

We get a ton of questions and I am usually pretty good about answering. If the agents allows me to post the question and my answer I give them a link. Got a burning question? Send us a Q! The post below is edited for readability and to keep it concise.

Mine is new, and I just try and focus on the local markets inside the Adirondack park of upstate NY.  Since I am starting out in real estate blogging, I read your blog and others a lot.  I hope to make some sort of local impact up here in an attempt to keep people honest and blog about our local market.  Posts have been far between, but as i gain footing it will be consistantly updated.  Other people from my office post as well.  Any suggestions would be appreciated, including etiquette for linking which i feel there is a lack of....

I do appreciate your tips on the writing, and have been keeping track of daily conversations and going-ons.  One thing it seems though is that there are a lot of negatives in Real Estate, whether that's opinions about RE agents, or news of the housing 'bubble' or agents acting in unethical ways, it seems to me only natural to report it and suggest ways to make it right.  However, the last thing I want is to be viewed as a downer, or whining about this and that, but I feel that it is important for the general public to know (or those who read our blog) that not every agent is like that.  These are the types of things that I hear talked about on a daily basis, but realize that doesn't make for good blog posts.  Where is the happy medium?

May be getting a bit long winded, but I really do take to heart your comments on writing as i am still trying to make a splash in the RE blogosphere.

.

Thanks again for the email!

Kind Regards,

Josh Pratt, Realtor

Century21 High Peaks Realty

"Politics Leads the Way We Blog"

"Blogs, Videos, and the Political Season"

Politics has led the new media revolution. And this year is promising already to be cutting edge.

Hillary Clinton does not typically show good numbers across all demographics when making public appearances. She has brilliantly counteracted that by having personal "visits" with her viewers of her website, thusly controlling her appearance. She has a new video about every week for you to watch.

Ironically, it has been the Conservative side of American Politics that has typically dominated new media, with Cable and now the Internet. Many believe John Kerry's demise in 2004 was because of a very strong right wing net base that attacked him on every front, mostly from the web.

Politicians have lived and died by the net so far in this short century. Heck, even journalists have lost their tenure because of "corrections" by bloggers.

And as the right has typically dominated the new channels, it seems to be the left whom have been cutting edge. You will recall that Howard Dean was able to get huge grassroots support thru his blogging efforts in 2004.

Now Hillary is Vblogging. And Obama is attacking back not on TV or Cable. But on You Tube!

"#3 Blog Myth:Google Loves a Blog! Really."

1. You gotta Blog if you are going to Survive Online
2. The Search Engines like blogs better than a website.
3. A Blog Is easier to get traffic from engines.
4. I can write anything on my blog
5. The Blogosphere matters
6. A Blog Is about You
7. Social Media and Web 2.0 is the future of the web

This one will be short as it is similar to #2 but is worthy of its own Topic.

A Blog is easier to get traffic from the engines only because of constant content.

Now technically you can say it is built with search friendly metas, it is fully W3 qualified, etc. But no content=no traffic. No inbound links=no traffic.

Perhaps a better name for this category is...

Build it and they will come

That was the old line we used to use for traditional websites. It is of course untrue. And it implies that if you simply blog you are done. But even worse just because you get traffic does not mean that you are going to make any money. And that is the largest, most costly LIE of Internet marketing.

You must build it so the search spiders are greeted by good content and good inbound linkage. And simutaneously build it so humans come and CONVERT.Which is the subject of our next Myth.

"One More Blog Myth"

"THE SEVEN REAL ESTATE BLOG MYTHS"

1. You gotta Blog if you are going to Survive Online
2. The Search Engines like blogs better than a website.
3. A Blog Is easier to get traffic from engines.
4. I can write anything on my blog
5. The Blogoshpere matters
6. A Blog Is about You
7. Social Media and Web 2.0 is the future of the web

There is a pervasive myth that permeates the web like a cancer. That a blog will help you in the engines. Each day that goes by this becomes more false than yesterday.

1. There are more and more webpages being created at an explosive pace. Your competition is growing. This is important from an obvious perspective( you can see it in the search engine results). But, as the proliferation of pages grow, it gets harder to do well in the engines from a Page Rank perspective.
2. Search engine spiders like content. Content does not have to be on a blog. Its just easier.
3. Pinging was once a useful way to get insta traffic. Not anymore.

"Housing Prices"

I read this in a University of the Pacific Eberhardt School of Business alumni magazine.

The author was referencing the California & Metro Forecast.

Housing prices will continue to decline until excess inventory can be worked down. Current worst case scenarios for some areas put declines in the range of 10-20%. A Bubble bursting? Hardly. If NASDAQ had fallen 10-20% in 2001 from its high point, would we still refer to it as the dot-com bubble?

That! Is the SMARTEST thing I have read about the so called bubble in a long time.

"SEVEN MYTHS ABOUT REALTY BLOGS"

So after I finished the Ten Myths of SEO, I promised a Ten Myths of  Blog Marketing. I can only come up with 7. I find myself at a creative block on these as this is stuff I have said a million other ways. So I have to come up with a new way of saying it, without redundancy.

I will fill these in over the next week or so but here they are in all their glory. This list will no doubt ruffle some feathers as it will show that most realty are not very effective if they are promoting a business of any sort.

1. You gotta Blog if you are going to Survive Online
2. The Search Engines like blogs better than a website.
3. A Blog Is easier to get traffic from engines.
4. I can write anything on my blog
5. The Blogosphere matters
6. A Blog Is about You
7. Social Media and Web 2.0 is the future of the web

Talking about Search Engine Algos & Marketing is much like a political spinning. There is always two sides if not many more answers to a question. It often sounds almost like triangulating to cover all bases so as not to ever be wrong.

The reality is that SEO and online marketing does not have a right or wrong answer. It is more like gradations. The fact is to blog is better than not to have blogged. To have many websites is better than one.

Like a Coach told me once, "It is better to do something crappy, than not at all".

So please take my advise as a best world scenario. Often, time, budgets, and skill do not match the perfect world that I am deluded by in this post or any of my others for that matter.

Let's tackle number one.

YOU GOTTA BLOG IF YOU ARE TO SURVIVE ONLINE

Bull.  Most visitors do not know what a blog is. They only know that if it smells like a website page, and looks like a webpage. Then it is a webpage. So why the big deal about blogs?

Lets look at the hype first