10 comments » The Websites of the Future - Part 3post about websites of the futureThis is the third part of websites of the future series. In my prior two posts, I discussed where the web has been, the impact of "web 2.0" on how and why people use the web and how the blog is becoming the most popular site on the internet. I also covered some of my reasons why I believe that a new type of blog site emerging will become a dominant force in organic search engine rankings, it not the most dominant. Here are the rest of my reasons why I believe that they are websites of the future: LINKAGE Another advantage that blogs enjoy is the ability to attract links. Links are the bread and butter of search engine rankings, and blog owners are far more likely to link to other sites as well as getting linked to. SEO experts often employ link baiting strategies around blog posts (like this one, hint, hint!) and are often quite successful in gaining natural inbound links. The more incoming links, the higher the odds are that the blog will receive a higher rank on Google and the other search engines. A good example of this would be realtor Jay Thompson’s blog phoenixrealestateguy.com. In the last Google update, his blog moved to the first page of results for the term Phoenix real estate, a highly competitive term to say the least, with 7,060,000 results found in Google. One of the reasons for the bump in ranking is the site’s backlinks. A Yahoo backlink search shows a total of 25,129 backlinks (861 per Google) for a site that is less than 2 years old. That’s a growth of over 10,000 backlinks per year. I had a chance to talk to Jay about that and the success of his blog. “The blog just gets links” Thompson said. “I do requests from other blogs to add them to my blogroll, but I usually just add the blogs I like.” Jay also attributed his success to attracting links to the constant updating of content. “For April fools I put up a post about the cost of insurance for a 16 year old. The post has already been picked up by an insurance site.” (this was three days later). When you compare Jay’s blog to the top listed site for the phoenix real estate, that site shows only 2,483 links, making it plain that there is more to great search engine rankings than just incoming links alone. Obviously, the on page factors are also critical, and here is where a regular blog is at a huge disadvantage due to the constantly changing home page text. That is why I think the sites of the future will be a hybrid of a standard static website and a blog. THE FUTURE AS I SEE IT I tried to think up a snappy name for the new site and found out that someone already beat me to it. These new sites are called blogsites (blog + website = blogsite). They will be become the new website standard, combining the best of the blog features along with being able to generate static pages. These next generation sites will feature a mostly static home page with links to the changing pages. Static pages for specific topics will be incorporated into the RSS feed of the site, along with any dynamic content. These new blogsites are already available at Famousagents.com. It is based on the Word press blogger software and has ability to add static pages with information about specific cities and communities. I’m currently tracking a Chicago real estate site that is in the process of switching from its current provider to the new blogsite. Prior to the switch, the site was ranked 10th to 11th for the term Chicago real estate. It will be interesting to see what impact the addition of the blog structure to the site will have on its rankings. The real estate industry was notoriously slow to embrace the internet up until a few years ago. Should these sites become very successful, it may be the real estate industry leading the next internet revolution instead of trying to not get left behind. About the author: Charles Richey is the webmaster for the highly successful real estate site, lvrealty.net. He has been an avid computer enthusiast since he received his first PC on his 10th birthday. He also authors a blog about the Las Vegas real estate market and other local news. Related PostsKilling me softly with your blogThe lazy man's guide to real estate blogging What is on my bookshelf? The websites of the future? The Websites of the Future - Part 2 http://www.rsspieces.com/000900 
Posted on April 23, 2007 04:10:50
Comment from: Shaun McLane [Visitor]  · http://www.ekday.com/blog/blog.htmlAnother great post, Charles. I've been working on my blogsite (didn't know it was called that) for only 6 months and am currently on page 2 of google for Orlando real estate! I'll be doing a new post this evening, and I'll be sure to mention this post (I took the bait). Keep 'em coming!  Permalink April 23, 2007 07:48:17Comment from: Kathy Drewien [Visitor] · http://www.NorthAtlantaRealEstateReview.comTotally agree. I already see the impact of my blogsite and it is only in it's infancy. Permalink April 24, 2007 00:19:45Comment from: Toby Barnett [Visitor] · http://www.twresourcegroup.comI have been watching the blogsite concept for one of my sites and currently have a Wordpress site that allows for a static homepage. The only issue I am having is incorporating an RSS feed and/or have the blogs on their own section (my technology limitation). I totally agree that the blogsite is going to be the way of the future becuase of its easily link bait and functionality. Another item I've noticed there two teir structure which makes indexing a snap for search engines. Since there are easily indexed by SEs I find that deep pages/old posts are quick to gain some PR and good rankings in the SERPS. Permalink April 25, 2007 12:58:30Comment from: Sean [Visitor] · http://www.NMHomesOnline.com Real estate sites, such as New Mexico Homes Online, have enjoyed the benefits of blogging, as well as other methods, to increase their web hits. Blogging alone cannot generate huge page visits, but advertising on popular web pages, such as yahoo and google, which are visited very frequently, and in some instances set as many PC's home pages, will increase web hits. Permalink April 29, 2007 20:49:42Comment from: Guest [Visitor] · http://www.rsspieces.com I beg to differ. If you are relying on advertising on paid placement for traffic then you are not getting decent organic placement with your blog which means there may be something wrong with your SEO, ping services or overall content quality. Fact is, search engines like blogs better than regular websites, so over time they should place higher. in the SERPS than your competitors with traditional sites. For example, I have never seen Ardell (who gets 90% of all leads from her blog), or Jay Thompson (who has outrageous traffic according to Alexa) pay for placement. Quality content, frequent participation on other blogs and backlinks are what drive organic placement, which drives traffic and ultimately leads. Re-evaluate your blogging strategy if you can only garner traffic through paid placement. Permalink April 30, 2007 09:48:45Comment from: Charles Richey [Member] · http://www.lvrealty.netI have to agree with Mary. Paying for placement via Adwords or Overture is not the same as having your site rank naturally in the search engine results. While you will get traffic by doing a PPC campaign, I think you would get more traffic by appearing high up in the se results naturally. Permalink April 30, 2007 14:06:51Comment from: Robb Young [Visitor] · http://www.insidesales.comOne question you might consider: What do you do with leads once they are generated on your site? Many companies spend thousands of dollars monthly with Google, Yahoo, and MSN to generate clicks to their website. These same companies invest tens of thousands on building web sites and using analytical tools like Omniture, WebSideStory, or WebTrends to track visitors and help convert clicks to leads; only to let those leads sit in some sales managers’ inbox for 48 hours before they get routed to the right salesperson to call them back. Our research shows that the salesperson only makes four to five attempts to reach them over the course of the next week; that means only 55% of web leads actually get contacted. By the time they get called back (if they get called back) a competitor often has qualified the prospect and is well on their way to another customer; your customer. Why? Because they called them back immediately, and followed up consistently. Just how immediately do they follow up? Within seconds and minutes, not hours and days. And they keep calling, often at different times of day and days of the week until they make contact. Why spend thousands of dollars on generating clicks, high conversion websites, and powerful analytics if you are going to let your leads sit for 2 days and contact roughly half of your potential prospects? The question is almost insulting, yet that is what most organizations do. We at InsideSales.com call this ‘Lead Response Management’. It is the process if wringing every last ounce of value out of your expensive leads, and tracking a true return on investment from your lead sources all the way through to closure. Permalink May 02, 2007 19:03:16Comment from: Gerhard [Visitor] · http://www.seattlerealestatenews.comEven a first place, first page ranking for a relevant real estate term on Google is meaningless if you can't convert it into clients and income. Do a quick check on the REALLY successful real estate agents in the Seattle area: does any of them have a blog? What they do have is YEARS of connections and a HUGE local network. No web site and no blog can make up for personal contact. The notion that you can blog yourself to success is a myth. Permalink May 02, 2007 21:31:19Comment from: Wendell Martin-Realtor [Visitor] · http://www.realty.asI posted the previous blogs on my site for other realtors to se at http://www.realty.as. Permalink May 09, 2007 20:05:07Comment from: Sam Chapman [Visitor] · http://www.austinrealestateguy.comSeveral comments here are about conversion and how quickly you respond to someone. This is absolutely true. First, your site needs to have good information for buyers or sellers. Second, there should be a way for you to be automatically notified immediately when someone contacts you through your site. Third, you need to be quick and thorough with your response. I have a $299,000 listing that was a result of a quick and thorough response to a web hit. I also was the Buyer's Agent for a $4.2 million listing because I was quick and thorough with my response. If you're first to respond, you're much more likely to have a client rather than a prospect. Permalink May 22, 2007 14:41:09Comment on this article This post has no feedback awaiting moderation... |
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