Project Blogger Review

Caleb Martini contacted me last week and asked if I might provide a penultimate sendoff review for the Project Bloggers. Caleb really did wonderful work coordinating the contest... I appreciated Caleb's thought to offer, and am eager to do so. I must admit I was not active enough with Project Blogger due to personal business convergence this spring. My friend and Project Blogger London Whitted experienced the same convergence and we'll continue to work on the Future of Commercial blog.
With this review, I lump all the new Project Bloggers into one group and make four conclusions. I try to discuss what I think are the pitfalls of new bloggers.
1) Content is king... and it's too tricky to judge content
I'll say it simply... blogs are read for content. Design, amazing pictures and videos, and widgets enhance a blog's presentation. The specifics of whether this article or widget works is subjective and the judges performed their reviews according to their own personal code. The real measure of the content's appeal is acknowledged by a growing readership.
Project Blogger really wasn't meant to provide the definitive blogging success blueprint - many of the Bloggers themselves admit they didn't really change much. So what if one judge says one thing and the next judge says the opposite? Another Blogger comment suggested an idea that the judges be agents themselves because they would judge the blog from the perspective of an agent... ridiculous. The contest sometimes turned mildly contentious because belief systems were colliding about who was the real authority or what was the real deal... when in reality (or Zen), the blog just evolves based on the private mission of the blogger. It will live or die by content.
The judges collectively did great jobs reviewing the myriad details of the blog but for the most part, it's hard to lavishly praise or criticize content because it's so ... personal.
2) Hyperlocal blogs don't link out well, and thus are underperforming
Hyperlocal content makes for useful and often entertaining reading... but blogging success requires a secondary effort that surprises many new bloggers - interacting with other bloggers to drive traffic. The reason? Most real estate blog readers are the bloggers themselves... the consumer readership hasn't solidly kicked in yet and the bloggers are building their online presence in anticipation of the consumer finding them.
All the Project Bloggers are so hyperlocal centered, most of the authors have found it hard to link to other real estate blogs... (in essence, it's hard because other blogs don't discuss their locales in, say, Plainfield, IL). Yes, the agent's blog mission is lead generation and the target readership is the local consumer, but most Project Bloggers are guilty of not diversifying some of their work to attract a wider, non-local audience. It's easy to find well read agent blogs who practice "linkage":
- Jim's Real Central VA links all over the place yet remains true to Charlotteville
- Kevin's 3Oceans adds many perspectives on Redfin, Zillow and new technologies
- Here are Jay's Phoenix Guy's last six articles - 2 are for consumers, the rest is for a national audience...
- BlogTourUSA is Rolling Toward Phoenix
- New Words: Ginormous Makes the Cut. Still no Unzillowable
- Arizona First Time Buyer Help AND FICO Score Goodies
- I Don’t Like TV Cameras…
- Inspection Period: How Do I Count the Days?
- Lunching with the Point2 Ladies
update 7/17: want to mention three pioneering hyperlocal blogs that everyone knows. St Paul, MiOakland and NYHouses4Sale don't go beyond their city limits but they are well recognized as models for local real estate marketing.
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So which Project Bloggers got the linkage based on the Technorati authority (acknowledged to be the number of websites inbound linking into the blog)?
Project Blogger | Authority |
Brick Ranch | 58 |
Miamism | 34 |
Real Estate Sizzle | 33 |
Route 66 Living | 31 |
Living in Plainfield | 28 |
Rancho Santa Margarita Lifestyles | 20 |
South Beach Condo Blog | 20 |
Live in Los Gatos | 13 |
Future of Commercial | 13 |
Beachamptons | 11 |
Note that the continual publicity of Project Blogger contributed a minimum of 11 links. (I'm surprised Mary"s Live in Los Gatos lacks authority, does it have something to do with the Realtown platform?). There are exceptions, but well trafficked blogs tend to attain inbound links.
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Update 7/18 8:30pdt: Greg Swann takes the SEO analysis of the project Bloggers a step further.
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3) Write articles, not blog postings (click link for article)
One thing I've tried to do with Transparent is to create articles with some research behind it and then provide conclusions. Many blog education sites recommend writing "flagpole" articles - articles so strong, they continue to attract readers long after they hide in the archives. No matter how insightful and well developed the hyperlocal content is, it generally doesn't become a flagpole read nationally. All the Project Bloggers need to work on these flagpoles.
Perhaps it's because the Project Bloggers are new, but none of the blogs had "Top" or "Best" Article sidebar lists. Some also didn't have the basic "search box" or an archive sidebar. Here are some blogs that list their top posts :
4) The Judging
1) Brick Ranch
2) Live in Los Gatos
3) South Beach Condo Blog
4) Route 66 Living
5) Real Estate Sizzle
I'll have to explain my selection in the next article.
Finally, kudos to Active Rain's Jon and Matt, and Inman for their sponsorship - we look forward to meeting up with all the bloggers at Inman's Blogger Connect !
Technorati Tags: project blogger, active rain, Brick Ranch, Miamism, Real Estate Sizzle, Route 66 Living, Living in Plainfield, Rancho Santa Margarita Lifestyles, South Beach Condo Blog, Live in Los Gatos, Future of Commercial, Beachamptons, blogging, real estate blogging
Pat-
Thanks for judging. I found your critique and suggestions clear and well presented AND HELPFUL.
I look forward to meeting you in San Francisco.
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Thanks for the encouraging feedback Kevin... see you soon...
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Great post Pat, one of the better "Project Blogger" posts I've seen.
The point of linkage in a "hyper-local" blog is a good one. I've been told by more than one very well meaning person that my blog "lacks focus", and it does tend to wander about. But it is what it is. I'm fortunate in that I live in a large market, so even in a "hyper-local" post I can usually find something to link to (though it tends to be a static website, and not another blog).
"Linkation" is vital component of blogging. It drives traffic, helps with "authority" recognition and is a large factor in search engine placement. As such, it's an important "thing to do"...
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Hi Pat,
Thank you so very much for providing valuable and usable information. It is wonderful to find out what people "liked", but useful to find out what I need to do to accomplish my goal which is to have a tool that works consistently and works well.
Giving me information on what I should also be focusing on is not just helpful it is critical to my future success. I am deeply appreciative.
Thank you again for your willingness to tackle this difficult task and sharing not just what and why, but also how.
Take care, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!
Tisza
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Good insights, Pat.
As for your comment that "the consumer readership hasn't solidly kicked in yet"...I'm of the opinion that the current approach to real estate blogging is a bit wrongheaded.
A site like yours has a natural "readership" made up of real estate professionals and other non-real estate types who are interested in the general subject of market transparency.
Likewise a blog that is about woodworking or flying airplanes or fishing or any other subject will have a natural readership. People will subscribe, read, and eventually contribute.
This is just my opinion, but I think the natural readership for realtors is other realtors and that the consumer readership will never kick in.
That's not a reason not to work on a blog, though. Blogs are *great* search engine magnets and will continue to be. A blog with a decent page rank will be a good tool for savvy realtors, I think - but I'm not holding my breath for the day when the public at large is following along with the conversation and commenting.
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Hi Pat,
Thanks for doing the judging.(I'm guessing this was for Week 13?)
This was really very helpful and I like your formatting too (collective tips). As for my ranking, that is my one key area of remaining difficulty and the Tech Gurus at Real Town have been working away to try to help me with this massive hurdle (that totally baffles me as I've written soooo much). My friend, fellow blogger and Realtor, Steve Leung (1SiliconValley.com), looked at my blog a few days ago and suggested that a problem with my blog invisibility might be the tags (and the way they link back to my profile on RT instead of my home page). This is nothing I can fix myself so I asked Fran Thorsen (my wonderful mentor for PB and the managing editor of RT) and the Real Town IT guys to please change that as well as a few other things.
Project Blogger is over and the immediate pressure is off, but blogs are no good if they are a secret to Google so now this is my # 1 priority. Your input on this front will be helpful to the IT guys too, I am sure!
Thanks again, Pat. Looking forward to seeing you at Bloggers Connect in a couple of weeks!
Best wishes,
Mary
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Several interesting things to note:
1. How does one get points in a week that one doesn't post anything? I suppose that is, yet another, change in the rules.
2. Techonorati is related to your blog being read by other "bloggers", not by Joe Public, or the potential clients you are trying to attract. I don't blog for bloggers...never have..never will.
3. A Project Blogger contestant who "bagged" the contest while the rest of us "hung in" is not someone who should be a judge.
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Jackie,
I'm sure that Pat was a coach, not a "contestant". If Pat's apprentice decided not to continue on with the competition, how can you say that he "bagged" the competition.
I'm not following.
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Thank you, Pat. As you know, I like organically driven SEO placement. So I'm not surprised regarding Kevin's stats there.
But I have to say I'm impressed with Teri's stats...go Greg! Greg has accomplished some amazing results with bloodhoundblog, and we were using his sidebar as a model for Kev's site when we were tweaking it during week 13.
We also widened the post space. So while Kevin wasn't writing posts that week, we were working on changing some of the font colors and modifying the blog itself.
Sometimes you have to do the grunt work, as a blog is not all about posts. I'm very happy you recognized the entire blog set up, and not just the words written in the posts. Coaches and Apprentices probably spent at least as much time on that, as they did the writing of posts.
Good job!
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Pat - I think your comments were well thought out and for the first time in the contest, I learned from the judge, coach or not, this was a fair assessment. I particularly enjoyed the "hyper local" commentary.
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Pat... excellent review. Thank you for taking the time to be thorough. I'm not surprised by Teri's stats at all. And I'm encouraged by Julie's, since she still does not link as much as I'd like her to. She will.
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Pat - Definitely one of the better judging presentations we've seen during the course of this competition. I always appreciate those who take the time to critique, but also offer up solid, practical advice on how to make adjustments/improvements. Thanks for your valued input in this process...
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My blog is not about rankings or authority or links. The truth is 64% of my readers come in through search engines and those are the people who contact me and the people who end up being my clients. My blog only exists for one reason. I had offered to be a judge in the contest rather than a coach because I think I am one of the few people in our industry who understands business blogs for real estate agents. During the contest blogs were judged using several different measures depending upon who was doing the judging. Most of the critiques were not very helpful because most of the judges do not understand how this works for realtor's, but do understand how corporate blogs work.
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In the past few years I've been researching who are the successful agents, tried to figure out why top agents are top agents.
Do they have a common educational background? No. Good ones have high school diplomas, masters and doctorates. No correlation.
Similar previous careers? No. One of the best agents I know used to teach baton twirling. I doubt if I could find a lot of those if I tried! I've had waiters, teachers, high powered executives and stay-at-home Moms who were all very successful.
Common interests? No. Other than eating, (which we Realtor-types seem to do exceptional well) the interests are widely diverse.
After 13 years in real estate sales and management, I've only found a few constants.
1. Successful agents treat the real estate business as a business. They actually have a business plan and a budget. They understand that you have to spend money to make money. They know how many sales they need to make the income they require and then they figure how they'll get from here to there. They plan in advance and execute the plan.
2. They actually work when they work and play when they play and take a day or two off every week. (Just like a "real job!")
3. They have fun and enjoy selling real estate but know that it won't be forever.
4. They buy a lot of real estate for investment when they see good deals because they know that no one gets rich selling the stuff. You get rich owning it! Financial independence gives one a lot of freedom, autonomy and a certain air of confidence that smells like success.
. . . And people like to do business with successful people so they do more business!
That’s why I choose this realtor http://www.realtydirectorymakers.com/ for my future
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