Many of the children will only hear that their dad was a hero, but will never know the true impact that their dad had on keeping us Free and Safe.

Gary Lundholm and the folks at The Real Estate Group are based in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA, right where SEAL Team Six is located. They have many Navy veterans as well as active duty spouses who are agents in his offices. Gary is not the kind of guy to not jump in when it comes to helping others.

So last night he launched SealKids.com - a site to help by raising $100,000 for the children of these fallen warriors. In the few hours it has been up, it is already starting to have people donate to it, It has ignited a little spark of "Pay it Forward" in his community. As many of you know, paying it forward has always been a key part of how I operate and when Gary asked me to help with the project, I was glad to donate the time to it. I could do no less when I thought about these brave families.

I'd like to ask that you visit the site. Whether you give or not is entirely up to you. Jen and I did. When we thought of our four teenagers who live safely here in the US because of the sacrifices of these brave men, we could not do otherwise.

More importantly, if you could share this with your real estate friends and clients and let them know about the site by either mentioning it on your blogs or via social media or whatever way that you can, I am sure that Gary would appreciate it.

Ok, so my first post on the subject was about how links are followed in Google plus. This post is going to be a little bit more detailed look at that and why.

Lots of SEO people have taken a shot at giving people recommendations on Google plus usage, but the truth is that the platform is so new at this point that it will LIKELY change. That's important. Early in the development of every major social netowrking platform there are lots of changes as they vie to please everyone and gain traction. The follow up truth to that first one is that when they change the platform MANY of the SEO types' recommendations change as well. That may happen, so if you are reading this months down the road from when I posted it, please check to make sure things have not changed.

The person who has done the best write up to date (in my opinion) is Eric Ward's write up in Search Engine Land. I have linked it here for convenience. It also contains link to some other reading. Some of it I agree with and some I do not, but it is good background material. (Kudos to Bill Hartzer who writes occaisionaly here on the REW forum for the write up there!) Another great reason to hang out here.

While some people are noticing that Google plus pages are starting to be indexed and that is great, my focus has been more on some basic principles for REALTORS to follow. Below are several recommendations that should be of some help. They are NOT put forward as ways to spam. They are offered as ways to keep the social media time that you use to good use in a way that Google can measure it and (potentially) reward you in ways that facebook does not, How much weight will be put on G+ in the algo is anyones guess and at this early stage of the game there is no way for Google to put much weight on it...except to say that they MAY (theory on my part) be using that as a way to benefit those who participate in the early stages of the platform and they MAY alter the weight a bit as they gain enough data in their grid to actually put some weight on it.

OK..enough theory. Here is what I am trying to do on Google Plus...

Google Plus for REALTORS - The bottom line

1) BUILD CONNECTIONS. Just like any social media site, the size of your influence expands with the number of people who you can reach with a single click. If you Share a link directly in your stream, the link is followed. If you have more friends, you have (ostensibly) built more links.

2) FORWARDING SHARED LINKS is a followed link if you are the person sending it and a followed link to the url that is being shared, but the link to the original person who shared it is no followed. This means that it is a good thing to share stuff that you get from others that is interesting and on topic. This also means that the system (in my opinion) is designed to benefit in a big way those who share content that goes viral. Makes sense, This also reinforces the point that it is important to expand the number of friends you have.

3) Include enough text to have a take on something and to hopefully describe what you are sharing. This is important to help the shared link get forwarded, but also we do not yet know how Google will treat the text of a shared link. We DO know that Google is a librarian and its usually best with librarians to be totally clear so they file the page in right part of the library. Even though we do not know HOW this data will be used, we can assume that "Check this out!" is not going to feed the bulldog. ;-) You might as well add something to the conversation.

4) Your profile is the point where your authority accumulates. Make sure to list your real estate site and / or your real estate blog there. Those links are currently followed.

5) Bring your Facebook friends over to G+. The bigger the group of firends that you have, the more perceived influence you have.

6) +1 the things that you like on the web (like REW! see the home page) and do it honestly. There are already people spamming the system and that is not cool. No need for that,

7) Keep it social. (OK this is not really anything to do SEO, just a pet peeve of mine. ;-) ) Social media is about socializing and having fun and not about blatant self promotion. I try really hard not to be "THAT" guy -grin

There are a lot more ways to use Google plus to accumulate authority over time... what are some of your favorites?

Whenever we write on someone else's site you know that the rules can always change. But for now at least, there are some decent reasons to at least 1) set up a Google plus account and 2) go back and check your Google Profile and make sure any links are up to date.

Why? a) Because links in Google Plus are followed unlike many of the other social media venues. (they were in G profiles as well if memory serves). b) There are about 20 million more people seeing that profile now than there were previously since they are part of G+ and these people now have a convenient way to find their way back to your side. This makes participation in Google plus a pretty good thing. If you want to see where I added links into my profile please feel free to. Notice that they are not keyword stuffed. I had to use four links only because I do a LOT of varied online stuff. I would typically only recommend your real estate website and your blog for example.

Am I saying because you can add Google Plus links to your site that you should spam it? OF COURSE NOT. I have long been a proponent of building your reputation online naturally and making your online reputation match your offline one. Nuff said.

But I also would point out that when you go to Google plus and share someone's website with another person...those links are folllowed as well. So encouraging others to share your blog posts on social media has a multitude of benefits.

What this is, is not really a thought as much as a starting point for a discussion.

How are some ways that you are using Google plus to build your online reputation? Do you find it user friendly?

Would welcome your thoughts....

I thought that now would be a good time to offer some observations on how it is going. I hope some of my thoughts will start some conversations and some learning not only about online reputation management, but of SEO in general. Contests in general are good places to learn. It fortifies a truth that I have always held to.

"Competition by it's nature is not about one person smashing the other person. It is about both people becoming stronger and wiser from the effort "

With that in mind, please take these observations as they are intended. To make us all stronger, wiser and to help us have more fun!

Observation 1: We now have 8 of the top 10 spots for the REAL Carolyn. I would call that a raging success by any measure.

Ovservation 2: Nobody has scaled Mt Spitzer (grin) and taken over the #1 spot. Interesting, but also a sign that Google has it right. By this I mean that relevance comes in many ways. It can be notoriety, infamy or true authority, or all of the above.

Observation 3: One thing that we can see is that some folks are going with "exavt match" domains...and doing fairly well. This appears to me to be more successful of a strategy these days than in years past, but is it a strategy for your business? Would love to have some conversation on city-real-estate.xyz vs branding.com...my take is that for a REALTOR running their business, it would be better to have a branded domain than a dash domain over the long haul. (EricOnSearch did not seem to have much trouble ranking for Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World..grin) And before you say it...yeah I know that now is different. I am talking about as an overall asset vs just what will rank.

Observation 4: Rick Clarke seems to be doing ok with realestatevalley.ca despite the fact that there is no text on his page about Carolyn or Capalbo and so forth. Way to go! A great conversation starter and instructive as well. Thoughts? It also offers some insights into what is important...grin

Observation 5: Lisa Udy has done a terrific job of builing links to her Active Rain blog and getting it to rank and help Carolyn out. Commendable, but one has to ask the following question: Would you have been better off building links to a page that you actually owned as opposed to someone else's domain where they have made it clear that the juice is theirs? Again Lisa - please do not take this as criticism, just encouragement for you with the next opportunity to post the contest piece on your own site and promote it on AR...you only get a profile link from AR (last I checked) and that is a lot of work for little reward.

Observation 6: There are a lot of great folks in the top three pages...all of whom could win (and I wish them the best). How many of them will stick with it? How many will cooperate with each other to help promote each others' efforts? I have not yet seen anyone go at this as a team sport...interesting.

Observation 7: Established blogs (like the Bloodhound Blog) as doing quite well despite the post not attracting tons of links or promotion outside of the original post itsself and the publicity that it gained. That says something about the value and authority of established blogs.

Observation 8: Some of the typical social media sites are showing up and others are not...in years past we would have seen someone hitting on Squidoo pretty hard, but not this time...hmmm...grin

Final thoughts and observations: At least as of today's date, I am seeing a significant number of REALTORS get involved to help a person who has an online reputation management issue and that is great. Things left on the to do list:

a. Pictures. Get some more up to replace the bikini shots (grin)

b. Mt. Spitzer - Who is gonna be the first to scale it?

c. Has someone attempted a video entry yet? Last time around, we had some fun videos to accompany the effort...grin

d. Still need to assist Carolyn in building her own blogs authority. That would be a nice way to wrap this up in a couple of months. It is the gift that keeps on giving.

My best to all in the contest...and on a personal level thanks for your support of our community. Would love your thoughts and comments.

Eric

Mercantile Lofts - Downtown Louisville Condos

Those videos impressed me with the satisfied Mercantile Lofts community owners and the truly staggering array of amenities (this is quite a find in the Louisville area), but the thing that did me in was the location. You need to understand Louisville to realize how nicely Mercantile Lofts is positioned into the downtown lifestyle and community. Living here, you are within EASY walking distance of:

• The New Arena that houses University of Louisville's Basketball team
  
• Slugger Field (home of Louisville's AAA baseball team)
  
• The Ali Center (if you are from out of town, Muhammad Ali calls Louisville his hometown!)
  
• Actor's Theatre
  
• The Kentucky Center for the Arts
  
• The Convention Center
  
• University of Louisville Medical Center (if you are studying here, this place is the ULTIMATE)
  
• this list could go on and on... The access to restaurants, activities, amenities and a great lifestyle is unbelievable.

For Mercantile Lofts - Downtown Condominiums Information

I don't sell real estate. I am just the technologist in our real estate office that gets to drool over stuff like this. The easiest way is to get in touch with Joann Rankin at 502.639.3247. Joann is a good friend of mine who specializes in marketing condominiums and lofts in the Louisville area. She is great at helping people find the perfect home to fit their lifestyle.

REMAX Convention 2010 - The Agenda

Actually, MY agenda will be including meeting up with Marnie Blanco (see my previous blog post about her). I am also looking forward to the keynote speech by mary matalin and James Carville as well. That ought to be a hoot! (Two presicential advisors - from opposite sides of the political spectrum...and they are married. Yikes!)

My biggest agenda item is going to be hanging out with as many REALTORS who have websites as I can and turn them into successful online marketers. (The first step in that is that they become an REW customer as well. (grin)) My business @ EricOnSearch is more and more coming from joint ventures and non real estate business, but real estate is where I started, It is where I met REW and some of the coolest friends I have are in the real estate game.

I enjoy, now more than ever going to REMAX conventions...and 2010 in Orlando will be no different. SO HERE"S the DEAL. If you are a REMAX er and are headed to convention 2010 and you'd like to hang out...leave me a comment here and I will PM you my contact info and we can hook up in sunny Florida and have some fun!

I was touched by her efforts at trying to give a young person a new life here in the USA (or Canada for that matter...). I did not wait for permission, I simply bought a domain and put up the site. We agreed together that this site would belong to Natasha and that if we could raise awareness and possibly find adoptive families for even a few of the thousands of wonderful kids in the Ukraine and else where, it would be a nice Christmas indeed here in Louisville. When Natasha finds a home here, the site would serve as a symbol of how many people cared about her enough to find her a home.

Natasha arrives tomorrow here in Louisville and will stay with my friend Nancy Schafer (and if I know Nancy, she is going to have a BLAST while she is here.)

Here is what I would ask from my friends at Real Estate Webmasters. If you could, go to the site and sign the "Welcome to America" card. I want a kid who has lived in an orphanage to know that she has people all over the world who love her and wish her a wonderful life. It is my Christmas wish for Natasha. The link to the card is at the top of the page. If you can put where you are from in your comment on the card that would be even cooler.

There is a neat little video on the blog that I YouTubed. If you want to embed that....so much the better. If you feel inclined, tweeting or Facebooking this is always appreciated. We would really love to find her a permanent home in the US or Canada and the more awareness we raise, the better the odds.

Thanks again for your help and an early Merry Christmas from Louisville.

Best

Eric

In case you did not click on that link and read to the bottom, please do. These statistics are telling. YouTube is WELL ahead of Yahoo in terms of searches as well. And look right below that to the video of Coldwell Banker at SES 2009. Interesting at least to me

Google was #1 with 9.4 billion expanded search queries.
YouTube was #2 with 3.5 billion.
Yahoo! as #3 with 2.7 billion.
Bing was #4 with 1.2 billion.

Granted, much of it is teenagers viewing fun stuff. My kids came to me and told me to check out the Vitamin String Quartet doing Bohemian Rhapsody (grin- go to YouTube do a search for it and check it out....I am not kidding!) But 10 Billion is a huge number for just thirty days.

With that kind of traffic, it makes sense to find a way to funnel some of it your way... If anyone here has had success with that as a REALTOR, fire up a comment below and let's discuss!

Those who know me well realize just how much I dislike REALTOR.com and those who portend to help REALTORS while not helping anyone but themselves. Anyway enough of that....

Here's what they are apparently starting to target:

Google this phrase: Homes In (insert city here) Try Austin if it does not work in your neck of the woods. If you look at the page that ranks, you will see that it is far more SEO'd than a regular R,com page...

I'd be interested in folks' thoughts on this.

Eric

First off, thanks a BUNCH to the REW Crew for a great Summit!

I wanted to post the slides from my presentation at the REW Conference. After looking at them, I realize that they are just bullet points and leave some of the things that I said incomplete. As I get time in the next day or so, I will be writing about some of the techniques that we talked about at the conference on this blog.

Thanks again to everyone for making it a great event and to all who were able to make it. My second visit to Nanaimo was the best yet... and it will not be my last.

Eric