The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World
February 13, 2008
No, this post isn’t a plug for my favorite real estate agent. This post is about yet another SEO Contest. “The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” contest is being sponsored by Real Estate Webmasters. Having recently been released from Google jail, everyone in REW land is pretty excited, so why not celebrate by having a contest?
Upfront, it sounds like a fun exercise, and the prize package is actually pretty sweet. (A free site with lifetime hosting). But in the big picture, I don’t think it’s such a great idea. Especially considering the level of scrutiny the real estate space has been under lately.
The thing that most contest participants don’t consider is the fact that everyone is watching. (Including search engine engineers). Once the contest starts, people get obsessed and start pulling out all the stops. Then, when everything is said and done, all those cool little tricks, and quite little places you use to power your own rankings, either vanish, or become so overrun with “real spammers” that they become totally useless.
During some of the more recent SEO contests, I saw complete networks of sites get torched because one guy was stupid enough to put links for his contest phrase on the same sites he was using to drive the rankings for his “money” sites.
So the question to ask your self is whether or not winning a prize worth 4-5k is worth the potential negative impact that the site that puts food on the table might receive?
If you are 100% sure there are absolutely no skeletons in your link closet then you might decide that the answer is yes. But that isn’t the case for a huge chunk of the real estate SEO world. Almost everyone has dabbled in things that are now considered taboo. And there is a small underground community of real estate agents who are really good at SEO, which means they push the envelope quite often. If you consider yourself a member of that community, the best decision you could make is to “just say no.”
Comments
45 Responses to “The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World”
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You took the words out of my mouth Greg. True SEOs donot have to prove they are the best. They just know they are.
Mert,
“True SEOs do not have to prove they are the best, they just know they are”? Have you never competed in anything for fun?
Like Greg said, “Upfront, it sounds like a fun exercise, and the prize package is actually pretty sweet. This is supposed to be fun, could someone spoil it for everyone, maybe, but I doubt it. But you never know, crazier things have happened.
By posting this blog, looks like you joined the fun
[…] just wanted to share with you a wisdom by Greg Boser about an SEO competition for the keyword Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World for real estate agents and other related SEOs to satisfy their EGO for being the greatest SEO […]
[…] Update: Greg tells us why you might not want to participate in the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World contest! […]
“True SEOs donot have to prove they are the best. They just know they are.”
Ummm…..shouldn’t SEO’s constantly show that they can get rankings?
“Hey man, pay me $250/hour because I know, in my heart, that I’m the best.” I don’t think this would fly with any of my clients.
Good points about flying under the radar, Greg.
[…] The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World, by Greg Boser. […]
I assure you Tony, it would be quite ironic that Greg became #1 with this article. I mean the finest example is the current #1 RealEstateTomato Blog guy talking about (if I am not mistaken) how he spams hub site pages to get the article up. I mean if that does not make Greg’s point what does???? REW competition rules state that oh let’s teach other SEOs how we do SEO by stating what you did and what you learned from others. Can people really be so shortsighted????? I just donot get it. Good luck at the competition Tony. I think I win by default because every one will “teach” me what not to do as Google will catch on to it. What a waste of knowledge pool.
Hey Jonny, sorry forgot to answer your comment.
True SEOs (charging 250 an hour) also already have an accomplished portfolio to share with clients They can privately share with very serious prospects before charging 250 an hour. Yes I do have that portfolio. But again most real estate agents competing in there are not professional SEOs so what can I say.
LMAO, Mert you are the true definition of a Wannabe. Portfolio?… $250.00 an hr?… You Crack Me Up!!!
I am not defending the contest, but of course you will NOT join because you wouldn’t have a snowballs chance in Hell of winning.
Isn’t this the company that we have listened to you cry about for years? To the point I nearly quit the forums we were in because you make everything so negative. It sure seems like you would want to get back at them… I will reveal my identity if you even hit the bottom of page #1 by the end of that contest.
I DARE YOU TO ENTER!… I don’t care if you want their website or not. This is a Put Up or Shut Up Dare!
#1 How old are you again???
#2 Profesional SEOs do not disclose clients. You do not see a portfolios page with Jim Boykin, SEOBook or GregBoser.com do you ??
3 I never said I charge 250 but I know the head of the REW does for phone consulting. Oh yea, and what was his linking program again. Oh yes a link farm, how can I forget. The link to it is in this blog post.
#4 And yes I already said in my blog that I will support this entry to be #1 all the way. Ironically I am also supporting White hat tactics in that competition also. The ones that don’t race with link alliances or farms.
Oh yea what is the word ypu used again, Put your identity up or shut up.
I think the Dave Pasternack SEO contest put this genre to bed for good…a contest for “Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” is kinda silly because real estate agents and brokers are so big on self-promotion that for a real estate sales agent to classify themselves as “Great”, “Best”, “Top Producer”, etc. is just meaningless.
Mert - I think the point is that you’ve never publicly shown ANY results that you’ve been able to get for ANYBODY, yet you blog/forum comment from a position of authority (that you haven’t earned.) Nobody’s asking you to disclose clients, just show a few projects you’ve worked on (for yourself, or from happy clients that will let you disclose) and everyone will shut up. You’ve put yourself out here as the expert, so there’s going to be some scrutiny - that’s why this topic has even come up.
Mert, this shouldn’t be a problem, especially if you practice white hat
that is what you do right? I agree with the comment above - I haven’t seen any real results, how could you be #1 I ask myself? Hrm no, I know the truth.
BTW - I think the challenge to hit the bottom of page 1 for the term by the end of the contest is a valid one. Shouldn’t take too much of an SEO God’s time to hit the bottom of page one for such a non-competitive term, in a contest against a bunch of agents/brokers who “aren’t professional SEO’s” like you.
Come on….show us your skills. You don’t even have to formally enter the contest, or give ANY updates on what you’re doing. Just sprinkle some of your magic Google dust on the page and make that sucker rank. You can do it, right?
Jonny,
SEO is not a magic dust to play with. Every SEO has certain sources and systems up his/her sleeve that he does not want to share. My personal blog (linked from my name) ranks #6 for Real Estate SEO even though my title tag does not have those words in it and my onpage has no optimization as it is not a static page. If I simply changed my title tag of the home page to ” the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” and made the home page a static page fully optimized, I assure you it would rank top 10. Will I do it for an REW competition so my page goes into scrunity by Google engineers (for an award that would never be given to me and I would not even want it in the first place) just because two hidden identity people are telling me I should prove myself? In your dreams……And no I will never share my client names (even with their permission) in a public blog due to Google scrutiny.
You’re right, it would be very easy to take an already ranking site, turn it static, and change up the title tags…if the prize were, say, $100k or so, then it’s a tactic I’m sure a lot of people would use. However, no contestants are using that tactic, everyone is just posting up a blog post & then optimizing that blog post.
Come on, man, it’s easy - you don’t have to hurt your business by changing up metroseo.com, just post up a “Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” blog post & start using your superior SEO skills. Show all these hacks what’s up. Smoke them…do it, do it. You have the skills, right?
While I only have a very small list of clients I admittedly have recently passed on something I picked up from you Greg and it appears to be working well. I believe that observation and analysis of what is successful is the key to SEO. While I pay attention to what you say, I also pay attention to what you do.
Thanks to you, we are currently focused on building the BEST real estate sites, not the best SEO on real estate sites and Google is responding positively.
Image that.
Thanks for keeping us focused Greg.
And no I will never share my client names (even with their permission) in a public blog due to Google scrutiny.
?por que? I thought your hat was white like rice.
no SEO is white as rice (except for Eric Ward according to his claim). But every SEO knows the boundaries not to cross. This is one of them.
You have a good reason not to enter the competition, but it’s not for any of them that you’ve listed above. It’s because it would hurt your already damaged rep by getting smoked (as in, not even making page 1) by a bunch of hobby SEO’s.
Mert your real estate site ranks but it was built and promoted by who you blast. now you use that as your flagship seo success story.
http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/thread10156.html
[…] to the best SEO on real estate websites as I posted on Greg Boser
Mert, The title of your SEO site is “chicago internet marketing”, but I don’t see you at number one or even on the first page in google for that phrase. You seem like an ok guy, but you’re no Boser.
I just wanted to say, this is truly a great blog.
Thanks.
[…] Gregboser.com Down 1 […]
Hey Mert - that’s pretty sweet that every time someone links to or promotes this post, they hurt your reputation. Sort of like, “what do we care about more - hurting Morgan’s rep, or helping preserve Mert’s rep?” That’s right, we care more about damaging Morgan’s.
There are people who stand behind their names. There are also people who hide behind hidden words. Yes, in my more ignorant days, I believed Morgan to be a God. I told my God one day that he needs to stop this link farming as he was playing with the bread that the ignorant real estate agents bring to them. That his servant (me) would pay even 2K a month for a one way link building campaign. His response to me was that no agent would be willing to give more than 500 at a time so there was no other way to do link building campaign (other than a link farm). He did not say, you are right Mert, I would rather scrap a link farm black hat tactic to not risk agents’ families bread rather than make 30K a month and tell people that webmasters that obey the Google principles in my signature line.That was the day ( way after that testimonial of mine you guys linked to was posted) where it was a wake up call for me. I just wish one of you were brave enough to not to insult people behind hidden identities. I would respect you at least then. This will be my last post here.
sorry his signature line reads. “Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles [Of Google] will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit. Google.com”.
and then read the definition of a link farm. Herds, and clans attack people 20 at a time but they are so afraid to reveal their names because they know that he is wrong. Have a good day ladies and gentlemen.
Oh, you have a problem with anonymity now? You’ve never had a problem w/ anonymous bashing of anyone in the forums you moderate. Why is anonymity so important suddenly?
Has anyone seen my flip-flops? It’s sunny out, and I can’t find them anywhere….
And on that note, I think I’m going to close the comments on this one. If the two of you want to continue you can do it on Mert’s blog.
It looks to me like Greg is trying to win the contest and at the same time trying to convince his competitors not to play in the game.
Hopefully the contestants will keep it above board, and prevent this contest from turning into a complete “spam fest” as one person called it. Besides the opportunities for education, I think we can turn this contest into an opportunity to do something good for the world, by donating the proceeds to charity, which is what I will be doing if my team happens to win.
I would like to see Mert try to do this. Though this blog post is doing well with all of Greg’s friends posting to it, and the already great PR the blog has.
did that person really post to this with the name of Spammer??????
did that person really post to this with the name of Spammer??????
No, that person is an agent who repeatedly posted lame “this is a great blog” posts with her spammy anchor text. When that happens the first time, I’ll change it to their name. If they do it again, I’ll change it to whatever I think is appropriate.
How can anyone honestly make a case or REW make a contest for being the “Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World”? Shouldn’t the name be “Greatest Real Estate Viral Spam Contest On The Internet”?
I read a few blog’s dedicated to this contest before I got sick to my stomach. Some blog’s even pointed out how “market or product knowledge” in one’s local market was important to being The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World. Seriously?
This contest title reminds me of a episode of the Simpsons where Bart says to Homer:
Bart: What’d you do? Screw up like the Beatles and say you were bigger than Jesus?
Homer: All the time. It was the title of our second album.
Greg, Did you warn that person by e-mail or just change the name a few times and get feed-up with the lame posts, and spammy anchor text, and such just change the name to Spammer?
Not that I have a issue with that, Just curious?
No, I didn’t email her. If she didn’t take the time to notice whether or not I allow keyword anchor text, I’m not going to waste the time to contact her. The only time I would possibly do that is if the person dropping links was also contributing quality comments to the post.
Well I did notice that you are ranking number 2 for this contest. So does that mean you are in the fight to be the best real estate agent in the world?
So does that mean you are in the fight to be the best real estate agent in the world?
If by “in the fight” you mean am I actively participating in the contest, then the answer is no. The only effort I’ve expended is writing this post. Where it ends up will be determined solely by the level of authority this site has. I can’t imagine that it will hold up in the long run because I haven’t recruited an army of friends to go out and drop anchor text on every spammy do follow blog on the web.
But the fact that this page is doing so well without all the effort being put into the other pages is actually a valuable lesson for most agents. Unfortunately, very few will get it.
And Greg, that’s what I am learning through my participation in this contest. Create authority for my site by continuously adding good content to my own sites and blogs. I don’t understand a lot about seo but this contest has taught me about things I just wasn’t sure of. I’ve always tried adding content and keeping up, but maybe I didn’t do it consistenty enough.
The light bulb went off a couple times reading some blogs I went to because of this contest and spent some time reading through.
Some of the learning has been provided by the team I’m on and some from sources such as this blog and others. But I still don’t understand why some people are getting so serious about it.
It’s like holding the tv remote, if someone thinks it’s stupid or a spamfest, then just change the channel and don’t watch.
Where it ends up will be determined solely by the level of authority this site has.
Come on, man…this is some great linkbait. You’re naturally garnering links all over the place by taking the contrary position. If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s “write linkbait, not spam.” I’m sure your blog carries weight on its own, but you’re ranking b/c people are linking.
I have to agree, your getting lots of visits and PR based on taking the opposite view on the SEO world.
You said;
“I can’t imagine that it will hold up in the long run because I haven’t recruited an army of friends to go out and drop anchor text on every spammy do follow blog on the web.
But the fact that this page is doing so well without all the effort being put into the other pages is actually a valuable lesson for most agents. Unfortunately, very few will get it.”
Well said Greg. It is an army isn’t it? And no, most won’t get it but I can see that Judy has made progress and is pointed in the right direction.
If you think you are catching flack you should check out http://www.raincityguide (dot) com/2008/02/12/greatest-real-estate-agent-in-the-world. Ardell is getting crucified.
I could care less about the contest but went into a rant when I saw how she was being attacked on he own blog.
So once again, so much for free speech when it concerns REW.
Keep up the good work Greg!
Some of us really do listen.
~Mack
Just thought you might be interested - this page ranks #3 for ‘real estate SEO blog’!
Real estate SEO seems to be big money — others even in our region have hired fly by night companies to push out their link all over the place. I’d be very worried about google pulling the plug. Considering how much traffic comes from organic search results, it could really hurt.
SEO contests aside, we really do have the greatest real estate agents in the world