Many Realtors spend hundreds of dollars each month on pay-per-click advertising such as Google Adwords and even Homegain’s BuyerLink product to generate traffic to their website. I have a bunch of existing well-ranked Realtor websites currently without Realtors - why not use those websites to direct traffic to the IDX Search and lead generating pages of your existing websites that perhaps are languishing in the search engine results?

I have some existing clients that have been doing this successfully for quite a while already - one has been doing it for over 4 years. The idea of redirecting traffic to the IDX search and lead pages of the website a Realtor has elsewhere - that is not one of ours - is not something that I ever offered before but was willing to do if asked.

The Realtor website landscape has changed a lot in the last couple of years however and I realize that often agents are spending many thousands of dollars on customized IDX searches and websites - which is not something that we offer. Agents can always use a little help in directing traffic to those high priced websites and IDX search services - and perhaps that is where our system can be of help.

The traffic that comes to our websites is high quality traffic that arrives by searching the big 3 search engines  for “city real estate” and other popular real estate keywords. It is not traffic that comes from deceptive advertising and popups etc. It is the same traffic you strive for when you work to have your current website ranking well in search engines. When visitors to sites we provide click on links to the search forms and listing searches on our sites - they can be directed to the IDX search and forms on your current site. The websites we provide would be personalized with your information - just as if you were not redirecting the traffic - so visitors would know right from the start that you are the Realtor providing the information to them. It would not be like Homegain’s BuyerLink service where visitors are redirected to a totally different Realtor (surprise!).

If this is an idea that holds some interest for you, check out our website for more information on our Realtor Websites.

Domain registrars and some hosts began using frames to forward parked domains - often calling the service “masking” - because using frames prevents the domain from changing in the address bar when the domain is forwarded to a website. This has become a popular way of forwarding parked domains and depending on how it was set up - worked well.

That all has changed however. I first noticed the change a few months ago with the Agents Online Real Estate Forums. The forums ran in a frame because the old version of the software was a cgi script that that could not be accessed by search engines. Using frames allowed links to be placed in the frame controller page which allowed search engines to spider the site. It worked well and the forums were #1 in search engines for many years.

When the forum software was upgraded the frames remained even though the new forums were search engine friendly - simply because they were working well and it was not worth changing and having ranks drop. A few months ago Google stopped reading the frame controller page and treated it like a redirect - using the information on the framed page instead of on the frame controller page. I guess that was when the change took place.

Something happened in the past week which really made me take notice though. A client discontinued our website service  due to the poor economic conditions and decided to have her domain and email hosted with Internet Crusade who would then forward her domain to the free website that her company provides. At that point her domain (and the website she had with us) had been ranking very well for a long time in search engines  due to our efforts - including a #3 for “city real estate” in Google.

I suppose that she expected that her domain would continue to rank well,  she would no longer have to pay us, and she would have more money as a result of the change. It did not work out that way however. Her new host used frames to forward the domain  and within 48 hours the change was reflected in Google with a drop to page 5 of results!

Her domain dissapeared from Google to be replaced by the url for her company web page way back on page 5. All of the “link juice”was lost immediately which is not something that would have happened just a few months ago.  A few months ago the domain would have remained in the search engine results and would have continued to rank well on the strength of links alone. Now the forwarding using frames is treated as a redirect without the benefit of the “link juice” being transferred as would be done if a 301 redirect was used.

If you have domains being forwarded using what your registrar or host calls “masking” - I would suggest you check your domains and change that forwarding to 301 redirects.

Ever since the inception of the web, there have been many opportunities to participate in activities that are a waste of time. I first wrote about this long before there was such a thing as blogs - but the issues were the same. Back in September 1999 I wrote an article titled “Get off the computer and back to work!” in my newsletter that was subscribed to by thousands of Realtors at the time - the forerunner of this blog.

Spending your time maintaining a real estate blog at one of the many blog communities may just be a colossal waste of time. Yes, I know that statement is politically incorrect but I did not say blogging was necessarily a waste of time - just the reasons most agents give for frequently writing blog posts at blogging communities may no longer be valid.

If you check, you will find that I have been writing this blog since 2004 - so I am not anti-blogging!

If you are spending your time blogging at real estate blog communities because you enjoy the socialization - rock on! However, Realtors often give other reasons for their time there and those reasons need to be looked at a bit more closely.

One of the main reasons given for maintaining blogs at blogging communities is for the “link juice” - one can always find ways of getting links back to your main website within your posts.

Recently however Google has lumped blog posts at blogging communities in the same category as link exchange directories and article sites, and has awarded them all the “grey bar” on the Google Toolbar. This greyed out Page Rank indicator is used by Google to show that no Page Rank has been awarded to the page being viewed.

It seems that Google has abandoned their campaign to have us all use “no follow” to render links valueless and has instead decided to make the pages themselves valueless - making the links on the pages of little or no value whether they use “no follow” or not. Blogs maintained independent of blogging communities often fare better - the posts in blogs on your own website for example are more likely to have Page Rank .

If you are maintaining a blog at a real estate blogging community for link juice purposes - there would be better ways to spend your time.

Another reason often given for blogging is because blog posts often show up in Google quickly for what is called “long tail” search terms. - i.e. search terms that are rather obscure and seldom searched for. That may not really be a valid reason for spending time in blogging communities either as such terms are generally only searched for once in a blue moon and each term usually would bring just one or two visitors a month. Those one or two visitors could be directed to your site using pay-per-click for mere pennies instead.

If you spend a half an hour writing a blog post that will generate the same traffic to your site as a few pennies will - I would argue that your time is better spent elsewhere.

Another reason given for frequenting blogging communities is the opportunity to network with other agents and perhaps pick up a buyer or seller referral. I was an active participant in one of the first networks of Realtors on the internet a decade ago ( the E-Team Referral Network) and I did receive a referral or two in the process. In order for this to happen though I had to spend a hour a day at least working on the network and participating in the community.

When you take all this time into account - I probably would have been better off and made more money just spending that time marketing the old fashioned way - calling past clients for example. It seems that the other members came to the same conclusion as the network did eventually die.

Within the real estate bloging communities only a miniscule number of agents in a very few select cities will ever have clients moving to your area. You would be better of spending the time zeroing in on the cities that produce the most newcomers to your area and “farming” a large number of agents that work those cities.

With the spring market approaching it may be a good time to evaluate your use of time. The reasons why you spend time in real estate blogging communities should be one of the things considered during this process.

Today’s leads are already up so check it out !

Today’s Seller Leads…. Houston TX, Calgary AB

Today’s Buyer Leads…. Ocala FL, Fort Lauderdale FL, Savannah GA, Vernon BC, Windsor ON, Langley BC, Nanaimo BC, Peterborough ON, Surrey BC, Prince George BC, Yorkton SK, Pembroke ON, Thunder Bay ON

Buyer Leads….Buffalo NY, Macon GA, Vernon BC, Grande Prairie AB, Pembroke ON, Langley BC, Nanaimo BC, Moose Jaw SK, Lloydminster AB, Niagara-On-The-Lake ON, Port Coquitlam BC

Information about these leads and how to contact me to obtain the lead for your area can be found in a previous post - Free No Fee, No Referral Real Estate Leads

Orlando FL, St. Catharines ON, Lloydminster SK, Regina SK

Information about these leads and how to contact me to obtain the lead for your area can be found in a previous post - Free No Fee, No Referral Real Estate Leads

Buyer Leads - Wasaga Beach ON, Surrey BC, Peterborough ON, Thunder Bay ON, Lloydminster AB

Seller Leads - Niagara Falls ON

Buyer Leads - Toledo OH, Regina SK, Leduc AB, North Bay ON, Thunder Bay ON, Pembroke ON, Lloydminster AB

Seller Leads - Merced CA

Instead of letting these leads “fall on the floor” as I have been doing up until now, I have decided to make them available to local agents at no cost, no referral and no strings attached! I will be posting fresh (from within the last 24 hours) leads - usually daily - here on this blog. The leads include the prospects needs and their email address and phone number to make it easy to contact them.

If you are a Realtor who works in one of the areas posted and are interested in working one of the leads - simply email me letting me know of your interest and which market area and I will forward the lead to you.

Most of the buyer leads will be from Canada as the buyer traffic from US websites is being directed to local Realtors already. There will still be some US seller leads though so keep checking back to see if there is one in your area.

**I will be limiting the number of leads sent to any one agent to six - but you can always have all of the leads by simply taking our website package for the available area. We only produce one website package in each market area - so areas are exclusive.

To get started, below are todays leads…

Seller Leads - Fort Worth TX

Buyer Leads - Regina SK, Windsor ON, North Bay ON, Thunder Bay ON, Orillia ON, St. Catharines ON, Pembroke ON, Medicine Hat AB

Why is extensive reciprocal linking not acceptable? Because it works - and causes individual Realtor sites to rank well for real estate related keywords and Google would rather not have individual Realtor websites ranking for general “my city real estate” keywords.

Google has always made ajustments where necessary to include or exclude sites in order to have the results presented that it deems appropriate. Google deemed many years ago that it is OK for Realtor sites to rank for “Realtor” keywords but Google would really rather have a different type of website ranking for “real estate” keywords.

The earliest attempt by Google to shape the “real estate” keyword results that I remember occurred around the turn of the century. Google used to give a lot of “weight” to a site if it was listed in the Open Directory Project and when this became widely known Realtors or their webmasters tripped over themselves to list their websites. It worked well and Realtor websites ranked well in Google of “real estate” keywords.

Google’s response to this was to change the Page Rank all of the “city real estate” directory pages at the Open Directory Project. Where these pages all had a PR of 3 to 5 previously, they were all changed to PR0 which reduced the ranking benefit and caused Realtor websites to drop in rank for “real estate” keyword searches. At the same time, the caetgories for larger real estate authority sites retained theit PR resulting in these sites increasing in rank in Google at the expense of Realtor sites.

The second major attack on Realtor websites began back in the fall of 2003 with the famous “Florida” update where the majority of Realtor websites in competitive market areas dropped dramatically in rank to be replaced by directory-type “authority” sites. This change in Google’s ranking was keyword specific and geographic specific - it was applied to a list of keywords in combination with geographic names. Some cities were not on the original list and were unaffected initially. More were added in the weeks that followed. Some areas actually avoided the “Florida” update altogther - at least for “real estate” keywords. It seems Google overlooked some City names altogether.

As soon as the Realtor web design industry discovered that the “authority” sites that replaced their Realtor sites in Google’s results were little more than directories with lots of links pointing at them - the Realtor website designers included large directories organized in different categories within their own sites and set about aggressively trading links.

This strategy worked (depending on the quality of the incoming links) and in the last few years Realtor websites have slowly been reclaiming some of the good “real estate” rankings enjoyed by Realtor websites prior to the fall of 2003. That strategy has now been rendered obsolete or at least extremely risky with Google’s recent penalties. Most of the sites penalized removed all of their directory pages, filed re-inclusion requests and many have regained their previous rankings.

The problem is, that these reclaimed rankings will only be temporary. Now that these websites have removed all of their outgoing previously-traded links, their former partners will be doing the same in return. When Google gets around to factoring the new lack of incoming links into the rankings several months from now - these websites will drop once again.

Google will be happy - many Realtor websites will once again be absent from “real estate” rankings. Realtors on the other hand need to be looking to the future and trying to figure out how they will get their name out in front of those searching the web for “city real estate” keywords.

Some seem to think that social networking and blog communities may be the answer and it may be in part - for Realtors who are willing to devote large amounts of time and energy into adding fresh commentary and content. You see, this solution largely removes the ranking onus from the webmaster and puts it onto the Realtor - which is not the reason Realtors hire webmasters / realtor website designers in the first place. Most Realtors would rather be toe-to-toe with buyers and sellers than sitting in front of a computer screen trying to think of something to say.

For those that do not find an attraction in social networking and blogging, you may want to explore being listed within the authority-type sites that Google seems to like for “real estate” keywords. In many cases it is possible to have an individual presence for your market area within such authority sites so a web page promoting you and/or linking to your main website is found in Google when someone searches for “yourcity real estate”. This solution frees you from the computer and gives you more face time with real clients.

It seems that the barriers to entering the web hosting business have lowered to the point where almost anyone can now set up shop as a web hosting company and present the appearance of a large, stable, and experienced web host - even though they may have entered the business only a few months ago and be flying by the seat of their pants.

Competition has increased and as a result and the cost of acquiring web space has dropped dramatically in the past few months while the amount of space and bandwidth included has increased just as dramatically. This has made some long-time web hosts unprofitable and takeovers are common. A reduction in support services has also been noticed as cost-cutting programs reflect the new pricing structures.

In the past few weeks one hosting company I had recently signed up with basically closed up shop - websites stopped working and the company became unresponsive. Their support ticket system forms went nowhere, their online help was not online, and their telephone went to an answering machine (calls were not returned). Most hosting companies offer a discount if you pay for the year rather than pay month to month. I lost a years worth of hosting fees because I pre-paid for the year up front.

At the same time as this was happening, another hosting company also became unresponsive - their support ticket system stopped working and emails were not answered. Oh, no! Not again! I had paid them for a year in advance as well. After 10 days or so, a phone number appeared on their site which led to an answering machine and to my surprise I did receive a response to the message I left. It seems that spammers had forced them to shut down their email and support ticket system.

Also at the same time as I was having problems with these two hosts, problems developed with another host that I had also paid a year in advance. This particular host was chosen specifically because the the large amount of webspace and bandwidth offered with the account. Within a month I began to to run into problems with the host turning off my services even though I was using just 10% of the web space and bandwidth I was entitled to. It seems that the host oversold the server so every time the server was overworked they chose the busiest website to shut down to relieve the pressure. Since I had the highest traffic, my site used the most server processes and ram and I would be shut down on that basis.

A couple of points to consider from my experiences these past few weeks - first, paying for a year instead of monthly to save a few bucks may not be a bargain after all. Second - the amount of webspace and bandwidth offered is really meaningless unless you plan on filling up the space and plan on having little traffic coming to your site.

How do you tell a good host from bad? It is pretty hard nowadays as some hosts that used to be good and have been around for many years are now feeling the pressure of competition and their services have deteriorated or may be doing so soon. You can however increase the odds that the host you choose will be good by checking for a few things…

1) How long has the host been in business? Check the Wayback Machine at Archive.org

2)Is there a phone number on the site in addition to email and a Support Ticket System?

3)Do they have Community Forums? That is a big one for me as it is evidence that the host is open about their business and is willing to communicate with their customers. You can check the forums to research how long they have been in operation and how responsive they are to complaints. Most Hosts with forums use the forums to post server announcements as well so if you are having a problem you can quickly check whether it is a server problem or just you.

If a host checks out well on the above three points, they usually check out well on all of other items that may be important such as the quality of their servers, frequency of backups, etc.

You may notice that I did not mention price as an important thing to look for - it isn’t really. You can pay too much of course - but you can also pay too little. By trying to save too much you usually end up with more trouble than you can bear. Be willing to pay a competitive price.

Paying monthly gives you the peace of mind that you can make a change at any time if the service is not good - on paper it may cost a bit more but it increase your flexibility.