Russ Cofano and I are giving our 2nd Bloginar for agents next week on how to use blogs to effectively generate leads. Interestingly, the sponsor of the event, Coldwell Banker, decided to open up our seminar to all southern california real estate agents and not just Coldwell Banker agents (WOW!)… Not only that, but they decided to make the even free (Double WOW!).
The catch is that the facility can only hold 200 people and they’ve decided to offer seats on a first-come, first-serve basis! The only place to register is on this fancy flash page they created for the event! (A little bird has told me that there are already over 50 people 70 people 80 people 100 people registered for the event, and the organizers are expecting a full house!)
The event is scheduled to start promptly at 9:30am and last until 12:30 on July 19 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Brentwood.
Last time, we ended up rushing things (and skipping one of two planned breaks) because we really have four hours worth of material we’re trying to condense into three hours. I’ve attempted to filter things a little more this time, but with the inevitable (and valuable) questions that real estate blogging encourages from the audience, I’m sure we’ll be rushing to cover everything in the end this time as well!
Some of the reviews we had from our first bloginar were very encouraging…
Dustin and Russ, your first bloginar class was awesome! I have not been so excited about a new idea in years. We have been searching for an idea for the fourth generation of our website www.MountHoodHomes.com and I am convinced this is it! I was surprised you were not selling something at the end of the “show
will you be offering a podcast of this seminar? will you make any more slides available? some of us on the east coast can’t get over to the event but would love to hear, see…maybe know a bit more! thanks.
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I’m with Drew on the podcast question. I’m in Memphis and would love to attend, but I won’t be able to make it.
Thanks much.
I’m with Drew on the podcast question. I’m in Memphis and would love to attend, but I won’t be able to make it.
Thanks much.
No podcasts for now but we will be announcing more dates later this year. Stay tuned…
Russ
You nudged me into going to town with a linking post today. Can you explain why this is beneficial?
Ardell,
I wrote about why linking is important in this post back in December.
But to summarize, linking provides three main benefits: It provides credibility, trust and search engine relevance. Credibility and trust are pretty straightforward, and the SE relevance stems from the fact that is it widely speculated that Google uses outbound links as a major factor in determining the topic of a website.
Ardell,
I wrote about why linking is important in this post back in December.
But to summarize, linking provides three main benefits: It provides credibility, trust and search engine relevance. Credibility and trust are pretty straightforward, and the SE relevance stems from the fact that is it widely speculated that Google uses outbound links as a major factor in determining the topic of a website.
OK, since I still don’t get it, how do links provide”credibility” and “trust”? As if someone else needs to have said it somewhere else that I link to for it to be “credible”? Or someone else must have come to that conclusion for anyone to rely or trust in the advice.
Totally not my style, as you know. I want to move sidewise into buyers having more control of the transaction. Finding someone else who agrees with me that I can link to is not all that easy, since we are breaking new ground for the most part in that regard.
I come to conclusions and change my mind daily as the market changes. Articles or Stats I could link to are not as relevant as the ones I make up myself. So if credibility and trust needs to answer the question “Who said so” by linking to someone else that is already a trusted source…I’ll stick with people trusting me…or not.
So that gives only one reason to link, SE relevance stems from the fact that is it widely speculated that Google uses outbound links as a major factor in determining the topic of a website.
You know I care a lot more about MSN Search than Google. Both have been very kind to me and know me by my first name. “Ardell Seattle” and Ardell Kirkland” or just plain old “ARDELL” brings me up on the first page of both. Google brings me more people from the
East Coast who have an inspection negotiation problem or the like. I answer those people, but MSN brings me more local people who I help to buy houses here in the Seattle Area.
I have no interest in being too widely known as I’m not interested in hopping on a plane to sell a house in Georgia 🙂
OK, since I still don’t get it, how do links provide”credibility” and “trust”? As if someone else needs to have said it somewhere else that I link to for it to be “credible”? Or someone else must have come to that conclusion for anyone to rely or trust in the advice.
Totally not my style, as you know. I want to move sidewise into buyers having more control of the transaction. Finding someone else who agrees with me that I can link to is not all that easy, since we are breaking new ground for the most part in that regard.
I come to conclusions and change my mind daily as the market changes. Articles or Stats I could link to are not as relevant as the ones I make up myself. So if credibility and trust needs to answer the question “Who said so” by linking to someone else that is already a trusted source…I’ll stick with people trusting me…or not.
So that gives only one reason to link, SE relevance stems from the fact that is it widely speculated that Google uses outbound links as a major factor in determining the topic of a website.
You know I care a lot more about MSN Search than Google. Both have been very kind to me and know me by my first name. “Ardell Seattle” and Ardell Kirkland” or just plain old “ARDELL” brings me up on the first page of both. Google brings me more people from the
East Coast who have an inspection negotiation problem or the like. I answer those people, but MSN brings me more local people who I help to buy houses here in the Seattle Area.
I have no interest in being too widely known as I’m not interested in hopping on a plane to sell a house in Georgia 🙂
Ardell,
How about if I take some time out next time I’m in Seattle to give you the full version of the presentation! 🙂
The trust and credibility have an equal amount to do with other bloggers (i.e. they earn inbound links) as they do with readers (i.e. you’re willing to search out interesting information for them).
And I’ve always enjoyed your insistence on liking MSN Search. I happen to think that MSN results are filled with way too much spam and are not nearly as relevant as Google. If you compare a simple search term like “Seattle Real Estate” on Google and MSN and play around on the top ten results, you will see that the MSN results are MUCH more influenced by basic SEO techniques that are irrelevant to the users (like stuffing the page with keywords).
I’ve also always smile when you mention that you are on a first name basis with the search engines… In reality, first names (and especially unusual ones) are pretty easy to optimize for. I’d much rather that RCG showed up under relevant neighborhood and real estate searches that have nothing to do with a person’s name (especially since very few potential real estate leads start out searching for Anna!). One trick to showing up under those neighborhood searches is to link to websites that are associated with those neighborhoods! (Shh… But don’t share this tip with anyone else! 🙂 )
Ardell,
How about if I take some time out next time I’m in Seattle to give you the full version of the presentation! 🙂
The trust and credibility have an equal amount to do with other bloggers (i.e. they earn inbound links) as they do with readers (i.e. you’re willing to search out interesting information for them).
And I’ve always enjoyed your insistence on liking MSN Search. I happen to think that MSN results are filled with way too much spam and are not nearly as relevant as Google. If you compare a simple search term like “Seattle Real Estate” on Google and MSN and play around on the top ten results, you will see that the MSN results are MUCH more influenced by basic SEO techniques that are irrelevant to the users (like stuffing the page with keywords).
I’ve also always smile when you mention that you are on a first name basis with the search engines… In reality, first names (and especially unusual ones) are pretty easy to optimize for. I’d much rather that RCG showed up under relevant neighborhood and real estate searches that have nothing to do with a person’s name (especially since very few potential real estate leads start out searching for Anna!). One trick to showing up under those neighborhood searches is to link to websites that are associated with those neighborhoods! (Shh… But don’t share this tip with anyone else! 🙂 )
Now that Google is in Kirkland, and I am fast growing as many clients that work for Google as work for Microsoft, I’ll weight them evenly 🙂
Remember, I’m older than you. Loyalty to local businesses that support our economy and provide jobs is maybe a little old fashioned, but I will always spend more and go the extra mile, to support the businesses that make a difference in the lives of my clients.
Jobs support housing prices. Any company that contributes to the job force in my local area gets first preference from me. It may not make the most sense from a selfish standpoint, but it’s just how I feel about it.
I know one person doesn’t make a difference, but it makes me feel like I’m operating from the right place in my heart.
Awesome info!!! Thanks, thanks, thanks!
http://www.historiccentralphoenix.com
Hi, Dustin. We just hosted our first Chicago Meetup for Bloggers tonight. It’s amazing how many people want to start blogging, if they were only hand-held through the beginning.
Keep up the Road Show and hope to see you in town sometime.
Dustin,
I think you’re just mad because MSN Search doesn’t list you on the first page of it’s search results, but Google does. 😉
That said, both search engines are awful for relevant real estate searches. I’d probably expect large brokers, Seattle newspapers, the NWMLS or blogs to be at the top of list, instead of small broker web sites or agents that I have never heard of, that happen to have seattle, homes or real estate in the url and paid a lot for SEO games. What the hell is kreick.com doing at #1 on Google? It isn’t because his site is more relevant than the Seattle Times or Rain City Guide, I know that much.
Personally, I’d be more worried about my Technorati rank at this point in the game, since winning the web search engine game for real estates agents/brokers is much harder and a lot more expensive than winning the blog search engine game at this point.
Dustin,
I think you’re just mad because MSN Search doesn’t list you on the first page of it’s search results, but Google does. 😉
That said, both search engines are awful for relevant real estate searches. I’d probably expect large brokers, Seattle newspapers, the NWMLS or blogs to be at the top of list, instead of small broker web sites or agents that I have never heard of, that happen to have seattle, homes or real estate in the url and paid a lot for SEO games. What the hell is kreick.com doing at #1 on Google? It isn’t because his site is more relevant than the Seattle Times or Rain City Guide, I know that much.
Personally, I’d be more worried about my Technorati rank at this point in the game, since winning the web search engine game for real estates agents/brokers is much harder and a lot more expensive than winning the blog search engine game at this point.
I come up three times on the first page of msn search for Kirkland Real Estate Blogs. Google on the other hand has me no where and shows other blogs that aren’t even in Washington under the search for Kirkland Real Estate blogs. So I’d say msn is getting better all the time.
Ardell,
I just looked over the results between the two search engines, and I’d have to completely disagree… The fact that MSN lists this blog post as the #1 result is complete junk and could only occur because she’s stuffed the title of her blog with the keyword Kirkland. Google definitely doesn’t let you get away with such simple (and irrelevant) solutions.
[Kirkland Real Estate blog] on MSN
[Kirkland Real Estate blog] on Google
The reason your blog is still not showing up in Google is almost definitely the issue that I warned you about previously which is that you copied a bunch of posts you put on RCG onto your personal blog. RCG simply has too much google juice and it may take quite a while for Google to reexamine your blog and decide you are not a spam blog that is just out to copy RCG content.
In terms of the non-local websites that show up before you on Google, they are sites that are much more relevant on three of the four keywords (i.e. [real estate blog]). Conveniently, many of those sites are only showing up for kirkland because they are linking to your blog! 🙂
The moral: Give it time and generate a ton more links to your site and you’ll get noticed by Google sooner than later. Or go spend a ton of money on SEO and you’ll likely be able to score well on MSN. Personally, I prefer the google route, but that probably has something to do with Robbie’s comment that I do very well with Google! 😉
Ardell,
I just looked over the results between the two search engines, and I’d have to completely disagree… The fact that MSN lists this blog post as the #1 result is complete junk and could only occur because she’s stuffed the title of her blog with the keyword Kirkland. Google definitely doesn’t let you get away with such simple (and irrelevant) solutions.
[Kirkland Real Estate blog] on MSN
[Kirkland Real Estate blog] on Google
The reason your blog is still not showing up in Google is almost definitely the issue that I warned you about previously which is that you copied a bunch of posts you put on RCG onto your personal blog. RCG simply has too much google juice and it may take quite a while for Google to reexamine your blog and decide you are not a spam blog that is just out to copy RCG content.
In terms of the non-local websites that show up before you on Google, they are sites that are much more relevant on three of the four keywords (i.e. [real estate blog]). Conveniently, many of those sites are only showing up for kirkland because they are linking to your blog! 🙂
The moral: Give it time and generate a ton more links to your site and you’ll get noticed by Google sooner than later. Or go spend a ton of money on SEO and you’ll likely be able to score well on MSN. Personally, I prefer the google route, but that probably has something to do with Robbie’s comment that I do very well with Google! 😉
Dustin,
Now that I have learned to link, I don’t need to cut and paste. Thanks for teaching me and now others this nifty feature. I did just notice that Grow A Brain, in CA, one of my favorite sites, shows under Kirkland Real Estate Blogs because they link to me, as you said. But many other sites link to me as often and do not show.
Oddly, most of my referrals come from Yahoo and not msn or Google, and yet Yahoo doesn’t show me at all. Very odd.
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Thank you for the insight on blogs, as it is something that I and my business are now incorporating into our area. My business partners is young and tech savvy and understand blogging, as I really did not. The use of the set up is simple and easy, keeping up on it will be something we will both be part of it. As for the class, you went too fast over the set up as Dustin is very excited about his success. Russ was a little slower in his presentation and it was easy to follow. I did not like when you got off track, it bogged down. I did not like it that you started late, as I understand you wanted to wait for the people who had not arrived yet. But agents know traffic and should have allowed the time to be there. Two agents from Santa Barbara were there on time, why could not everyone else.
Thank you Dustin and Russ for opening a whole new world up for me yesterday — your seminar on Blogs..blogging.. was well presented. I enjoyed your handout — still absorbing it. You did well to cover the important points within the time constraints — there is a lot of material but both of you complemented each other well and tried to keep the subject as simple as possible.
I’ve told my colleagues about it and they are interested in attending next class offering.
Thank you again!
Joe and Judy,
Thanks for your feedback!
Joe and Judy,
Thanks for your feedback!
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Dustin –
First and foremost, good to see from your post this morning that you and your family are safe from the fires.
Secondly, are you doing another bloginar in the near future, and if so, where?
Chad, I’ll be giving a seminar on Thursday, but it is LA… I’ve been meaning to blog about it for a while… Maybe I’ll do that right now! 🙂