For those of you that know me- you must know by now there are two things I hate. 

1. Blogrolls

Read also: Real Estate Blogs and Reciprocal Linking Penalties: Does Google hate your Link Love?

2. Commenting for backlinks (That being said, since many of you do this, here are some tips)

Read also: Why commenting for traffic and backlinks to your real estate blog is a waste of time

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SEO tricks that can have your blog ranking better in 24 hours

Ever wonder why 70% of all RSS Pieces real estate blogs have first page search engine placement? 1. We have a great, feature rich blogging platform and 2. We advise our bloggers to use simple SEO techniques that work fast. These techniques are so simple you can begin implementing them in minutes and start seeing results within 24 hours. Don't believe me? Ask Cyndee Haydon, Mariana Wagner, Laurie Manny, Ines Garcia, Diane Aurit. Dennis Blackmore, etc. Heck, ask people we help that aren't our clients like Colleen Kulikowski. (That's right- we help people that aren't our clients- so, unlike other vendors- our HELP and advice is ALWAYS FREE and publicly available.  I, personally, host daily public webinars where I DO NOT PITCH my services.  I give you the help you need to make your website and/or blog a success. So, if you like what you find here... come and join one of the public webinars. I pormise you - you will learn something new and valuable.)

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So, I sat on a panel at RETech where we were asked, "How do you build traffic to your real estate website or blog?"  Great question, right?  As I strategically sat in the last seat on the panel, I got to listen as 4 of my peers told an audience of tech savvy Realtors that you build traffic by commenting on other blogs, putting blogrolls on your site and joining social networks. Hmmm... call me crazy, but doesn't that just garner you a whole lot of other Realtors coming to your site?  Is that really all that useful to you?  Does most of your business come from other Realtor referrals?  Do you relish splitting a commission with another Realtor for a referral fee when you do most of the work?  I know the Realtors we work with very rarely take in referrals so that kind of traffic would be totally useless to them.  Needless to say, my answer to the panel question, as usual, bucked the system:   "I must be simple, but I don't much care if your real estate sites gets 500 visitors that are other Realtors, I care that you get 500 consumer visitors.  So, here's my suggestion, build high quality backlinks from directories, RSS feed submissions and linkbait.  Write high quality real estate focused, hyper-local, keyword rich content. Don't waste your valuable time commenting on blogs that likely have the no-follow tag turned on, don't join every social network under the sun (be strategic in your choices).  Be smart- get indexed by Google for short tail keywords and watch the consumer traffic flow in."  Commenting simply isn't going to build you business, it may garner you some Realtor traffic, but that isn't the transactional traffic you are after! Does that make sense to you?

Why is commenting for backlinks or traffic a waste of time?

• You generally get bad anchor text if you are not mindful of putting in your keywords instead of your name
• Most comments are no-follow so you don't get the backlink
• Most sites you comment on have low PRs so even if you do get a backlink, it is worthless
• At the end of the day, it is still just a blog to blog link which doesn't carry as much weight as a site, directory or RSS site.

Read also: Ultimate guide to building backlinks

What is the no-follow tag?

Applying the no-follow tag to links tells Google not to follow the link which means a link from a blog with the no-follow tag turned on will not be counted as a backlink to your site.   6% of all URLs across the web contain the rel=nofollow attribute.  Nofollow attributes are used on a significant percentage of the web's most trusted and authoritative domains. (*source: SEOmoz) 

How can you tell if the no-follow tag is turned on in a blog?

Use SEO for Firefox.  When you visit a site with the no-follow tags turned on you will see links highlighted in red.

Is all commenting a waste of time?

No, I often comment on other blogs to build relationships with the blog owner.  For example, when I first entered the real estate world, I commented on a lot of real estate technology and marketing blogs.  Why?  Because it made a lot of sense for me, as a vendor, to develop relationships with those people.  Now, that I am predominately in the entertainment and business blogging sphere, I comment on more music executive, Fortune 500 business, general blogging, copywriting and SEO blogs.  Do I comment for backlinks?  No.  Did I ever?  No.  Do I get some from time to time.  Yes.  Do the people I connect with out there mean business to me?  Yes.  See, it makes sense.

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I recently had the pleasure of sitting on the panel at RETech and a question about chasing the long tail of search traffic was asked.  It greatly surprised me because chasing the long tail of search traffic has been mostly discredited as a viable means of building transactional readership in the niche blogosphere for the past year.  Since it seems that the RE Net is slightly behind the eight ball here- lets see if I cant lay out the various arguments for why the long tail should not be targeted and instead should just be a bonus result of chasing the short tail.

Read also: The myth of the long tail and the true value of blogging

What is the long tail theory?

Back in 2004 when Chris Anderson came up with the long tail.  He theorized that the future of business is to sell less of more. Collectively, things that are in rather low demand can amount to quite large volumes. So, in the case of Amazon, they would on any given day sell more of all other books combined than they would of those on the bestsellers list.  Makes sense, right?

Why does this make sense?  Because we are talking about a very specific type of product- books- for which there can be many thousands of different individual products.  What happens when you translate the long tail theory of business to search traffic for niche service sites like real estate?  Things get a bit hairy because the types of things people might enter as search criteria to find your site are endless especially if you dont focus your content.  The rub there is that people that wind up on your real estate blog for a long tail search are most likely not transactional visitors.  For example, someone searching for 'fishing el dorado is not likely to be someone in the market for a home.  Conversely, the short tail 'long beach real estate or 'foreclosures for sale in long beach ca search visitors are.  So, the question here is, where do you define the long tail and where do you define the Hail Mary Pass of search? 

(And Todd, yes, these examples are for you- they are real world examples taken from a real client site.  The link love is to a post Todd did interviewing Aaron wall of SEOBook where he basically says what I say about blogrolls- put them on a single page unto themselves not sitewide in your sdiebar.)

Read also: Does Google Hate Your Blogroll?

What is the long tail of search traffic?

When I hear people talking about targeting long tail search terms, I just shake my head.  If all you are after is traffic, then go for it, but if you are after real transactional visitors looking to buy and sell real estate, chase the short tail, your prime real estate related terms.  Seek to drive in traffic that is interested in your offering.  The interesting thing you will find is that by virtue of chasing the short tail with rich well written real estate focused content, you will attract long tail traffic as well.  And if that long tail traffic converts to leads great, if it doesnt you always have the tried and true short tail traffic to support you.

There seems to be a huge misconception as to what the long tail of search really is.  Many people seem to think long tail searches are searches with long strings of words.  While that can be true, the real definition should be any search that only results in one to two new visitors per month and/or is not directly related to your prime keywords.  The short tail of traffic for your blog is your prime terms and terms having to do with real estate. Another way to think about long tail search is that because people’s search habits vary based on age, race, region, linguistical patterns and even psychographics you have to look at the intent of the search not necessarily the words in the search.  If the search is for something related to real estate in your area, then it is a short tail search- if the intent of the search is to find non real estate or hyper local content then it is a longtail search.  Basically, if the searcher intended to land on a real estate site- then you have a short tail search, no matter how long the phrase was they used to get to your result in the SERP.

Lets head on over to SEO Fast Start for this answer to what long tail search traffic is for further clarification.  Over to SEO Fast Start for this answer (He just explains it so well):

'The 'long tail of search is very real. Half of the queries in a given month (more or less) are one-offs. One search query for that term. By one person. It should be obvious to those who have read the keyword strategy chapter in SEO Fast Start, that these search terms are:

1.       Not going to show up in any keyword database

2.       Not worth targeting individually

3.       Very easy to 'target by writing keyword rich copy¦.

Read also: Keyword Strategy Long Tail Myth and Reality

*Notice the last statement about how the long tail search terms are 'very easy to 'target by writing keyword rich copy¦.  Hmmm¦ so, by always targeting your key terms and writing rich content, you would by default get long tail search traffic too.  Kind of blows the roof of targeting long tail traffic, doesnt it?

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Whether you love Greg Swann or you love to hate Greg Swann, one thing is clear... he engages people.  He knows something most people don't.  Humans are emotional junkies and the more outrageous you are the more people will flock to you.  Why? Because engaging is sometimes enraging!  People love to be happy, mad, sad.  It is one of the first things you learn when studying sociology.  Don't believe me?  Just look at how many people subscribe and read his blog daily.  Look at how many people kill themselves to write on Greg's blog so they can experience just a sliver of his popularity fallout. 

So, what did I do to stir up some Greg Swann fallout?  With my coveted invite to Unchained (I'm not stupid, I never would have done this if I didn't have that yet and yes, this blog is a shameless plug for the event), I thought I would do what I do my best, stir up a little controversy.  And where better to do that but on Real Estate Radio?  So, with the Barrys in tow and my Unchained invite in hand, I said the most outrageous thing I could think of about the most contentious celebrity of the real estate blogosphere.  I said, "Greg is my favorite fremeny, he is the Nicole Richie to my Paris Hilton." Then to add more fuel to the fire, I called out my compadre in crime, Brian Brady by disagreeing with him about who really needs a blog!  Why on earth would I do this to these two respected guys? Because it drives traffic back to me.  It gets me read, it gets me subscribed and moreover, it gets me trust. People trust people who are not afraid to speak their minds and say unpopular things. 

"I consider myself the Ann Coulter of the real estate blogosphere - outrageous and thick skinned.  Are you an Ann Coulter or a Princess Diana?"

You are not a dog, you don't need pats on the back or behind to keep your tail waggling.  You need traffic and leads.  This is a lesson many a Realtor or real estate tech pundit needs to get their head around.  You can't always be loved.  To be popular and I mean wildly popular you have to have a few dissenters.  Hold fast to your opinion even if people disagree with you.  I'm sure you all remember my first rails against blogrolls and single property websites. (and YES NikNik, I have changed my mind on SPS')

Read also: Google hates your blogroll

Read also: Does Google hate your link love?

Want to hear me call Greg Nicole Richie and possibly tell him I was bringing a leash to Unchained?

 Mary McKnight from RssPieces.com [44:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

And Greg, you know I am just pulling your chain, right? 

For anyone who wants to know more about the Unchained event, get all the info here:

From my keyboard to your ears: You are not anyone if you are not at Unchained.  Get your ticket now because I'm pretty confident this event won't be an industry circle jerk.  It will be the real deal.  Technology presented by people that speak their minds, know their stuff and give you solid knowledge on how to improve your business with it.  Real Estate Radio and BrokerIPTV will also be there to make this a total multi media event.

Social Media Marketing Conference
for real estate professionals
May 18-20, 2008, Phoenix, AZ
Click here to learn more