Introducing the Real Estate Blog Index! This is the inaugural index, so my list is incomplete and I am eagerly hoping for submission of blogs to add to my list.
The Rules:
Blog must be about real estate.
The URL must be ranked individually on Alexa and Compete. (For instance a blog address of sethgodin.typepad.com would not be allowed because the typepad.com domain is the site that is being ranked. This applies to all inside ActiveRain blogs as well; sorry.)
The blog must drive the majority of traffic to the domain name. (For instance although Bloodhoundrealty.com is a real estate brokerage, it is my opinion that the Bloodhound blog drives a majority of the sites traffic.)
Jonathan - very cool. How do you check a blog's ranking? Looking forward to having the links so I can check out these top blogs, will be coming back soon!
Jonathan... I have a lot to learn..... I am just now getting to a few of my little sites from type pad and I am working on an outside one soon.... but I need to work on my rankings and such. I just looked up the two that I have....
www.thefhaexpert.com and www.zeromoneydownbook.com
Alexa said....
Thefhaexpert.com has a traffic rank of: <!--Did you know? Alexa offers this data programmatically. Visit http://aws.amazon.com/awis for more information about the Alexa Web Information Service.-->9,411,420
Zeromoneydownbook.com has a traffic rank of: <!--Did you know? Alexa offers this data programmatically. Visit http://aws.amazon.com/awis for more information about the Alexa Web Information Service.-->9,431,619
OUCH.,.... lol
In regards to compete, I am having a hard time navigating through this site....
I recognize a lot of those names from AR. Way to go! But how the heck did Zillow get so high up there? I just noticed they even had a blog, a couple of days ago.
Jonathan, I was excited to see my blog on this list. One quick thought -- perhaps you could make the list with active hyperlinks so that we can all check out each of these great real estate blogs.
I'm so vain, I think # 18 may be me - I'm the only consistent blogger in Athens GA, but the blog name is actually All About Athens GA. Of course, I'm going to be highly embarrased if I missed someone else in Athens, GA and it's not me, lol.
Regarding names: Will get that updated and fixed for everyone as soon as possible. For some of the names I will have to guess. Sorry about any problems this may cause.
I knew this first list would be brutal, but I figured that it would be better to publish a list that has errors than obsess over it for a few days.
Jonathan,
There are just so many blogs, so it's great to see some on here I have never read before. Alas,sad that I can't submit my A/R blog or my corporate blog because it has a typepad address, but this is good added incentive to get off my butt and start the wordpress blog I'd been thinking about. Though it might have more than real estate:-)
Rebecca Levinson- Real Estate Blogger (Connect2Agent)
According to Alexa, 4realz.net is ranked around RCG levels with a rank of <!--Did you know? Alexa offers this data programmatically. Visit http://aws.amazon.com/awis for more information about the Alexa Web Information Service.-->184K(having access to the backend stats for both sites, I can't tell you they aren't even close yet!) and a compete ranking of 210K... for an average of 197K. I think it meets the requirements to be included next month. ;)
Jonathan, thanks for including Focus On Crofton. I'm honored to be included, but it looks like I have some climbing to do. Well, if I want to learn to do that, ActiveRain is the right place to do it.
Please take a look at my entry (#12) the link and stats are correct, but the text for the link is "Phoenix RE Jonathan Dalton" whose blog appears at #30. Can you change the link text to "Phoenix Real Estate Guy"?
So, I found this because of my google alert - Central Oregon Real Estate is certainly my baby - I was completely taken by surprise to be on your list - thank you so much for the recognition
Maureen - Alexa gives the same credit to all the realtown blogs, or at least it used to. It doesn't read the sub-domains. Or at least it didn't, back when I checked regularly.
Hi Jonathan, count me in. www.TheRealEstateTextBook.com I hope it is OK to put the link here? Usually I would not add it in any comments. Interested to see if I make any list at all,lol
Jonathan (Washburn) - you gotta help me man, Dalton is already scooping up half the Canadian buyers in the area, he doesn't need to be attached to my blog too!
Jonathon, I must admit, I'm both greatly honored and surprised! Considering I've only had that blog up for less than 90 days, I'm pleasantly surprised to be anywhere in this list of lists. Thanks for the link-love man. Hope to keep it going strong and building to something huge!
Jonathan, I've gone awol as of late, but my Google alert sent me over here for a lovely surprise. I'm not really sure what it all means, but I am honored to be included in your list and in such good company! Sincere thanks.
With an Alexa Ranking of 336,247 and with a Compete ranking of 298,869 Real Estate Radio USA has an average of 317,558 and should be number 21 or so on this list and we got left off.
And our first post ever wasn't until January 2, 2008 so we moved that far just in three months and "we were passed over"...feeling a bit like Fredo Corleone here!!
Wow...talk about your red headed step child!
Jonathan..great list but hey man..what's the deal?
Jonathan can you tell us why you chose to use these two sites to measure, both being traffic? I think I've seen indexes of blogs that use Technorati and a traffic site (usually Alexa) why do two traffic sites? Just wondering...
So, where is NELA, ( http://www.nelalive.net ) already? :-) With an Alexa rating of 4,607,661 at least it wouldn't be the ~very~ last one on the list ......
"For instance although Bloodhoundrealty.com is a real estate brokerage, it is my opinion that the Bloodhound blog drives a majority of the sites traffic."
Given how little real estate Bloodhound Realty actually sells, I think your opinion is correct. They will probably make more money this year selling marketing ideas to agents than they will selling homes. If their marketing was nearly as effective as claimed, wouldn't they sell more real estate?
Since I just launched my blog on the rear end of my website in January I'm excited to see it on there. I think that where my website ranking is at has helped the blog and vice versa.
"I knew this first list would be brutal, but I figured that it would be better to publish a list that has errors than obsess over it for a few days."
I understand that, sort of. But there are wrong names on there, duplicate numbers (see #18 and 19), a glaring inclusion of a real town blog at #6 and duplicate names. #61 isn't even a blog. Obviously you can't include everyone in a first pass, but if it's too difficult to correct existing mistakes, maybe it would be best if it was taken offline until fixed.
Okay, I updated the list and not longer than 2 minutes after the list was live I realized I missed a very important blog: TruliaBlog.com.
Sorry Rudy and Pete and all the other Truliaers.
To everyone else who commented, thank you for all of your help! This was truly a collaborative effort. I am sure over the next few months all of the wrinkles will be ironed out.
Please do not hesitate to contact me through email or on the comments with any other suggestions that you may have.
btw, congrats to all of those that made the list. You are in the top .01% of real estate professionals in the world. :) (I think I did my math right)
I sure hope you have some sort of bot to pull these stats. Otherwise it would have to be a royal PITA! (or more accurately, even more of a PITA than it likely is...)
Just what I need, a few more to add to my feed reader. Thanks. ;)
Nice list Jonathan. I can honestly admit I've never looked at my ranking for either Alexa or Compete, but with such a list I had to see. For Alexa, I came in at 2,534,212 while for Compete I came in at 417,858, which was honestly very surprising. By Compete's ranking, that would put me up with some big time bloggers. Anyway, my blog is: www.realphoenixliving.com. I'd welcome the inclusion to your list with sincere gratitude.
Jonathan - all manual, yuk. If you use Firefox, this extension might make it easier:
http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/
It will put a little "toolbar" in the lower right corner of your browser and show both Alexa and Compete rankings. (Page Rank too). Just pull up a site, hover over the toolbar and you'll have the numbers...
Teresa is right. I just added the Alexa Widget to my browser and website and cut my ranking in half. My Alexa ranking is now 1,507,180. Not a bad increase for just one day. Or wait maybe I became an over night Pop Star...
#58 whooo! I am almost famous! All joking aside this is a great list. There is much to learn from the top sites. Jonathan..thanks for putting this together.
Actually Alexa just announced (yesterday) that they have "improved" their traffic estimates and no longer relay only on the installed Alexa toolbar (per TechCrunch). Some sites are reporting significant shifts in Alexa rating - in both directions.
That being said, their traffic numbers are still suspect, or at least subject to much debate. Ditto with Compete. It's interesting to compare, and everyone likes lists and things. And of course agents being the competitive types also want to be at the top of the list. So lists like these will always get attention. I like them because invariably they lead me to blogs I haven't discovered yet.
Personally, I could care less what Alexa, Compete, Technorati or other such "rankers" think of my blog. Like T said, it's not the number of readers, it's who they are that really matters.
@Jim Lee - it's Jay. I *just* got Francy to post on the blog after almost three years of trying... I may never get her to AR!
@Laurie - with Alexa's change to their ranking system yesterday, I suspect almost everyone saw shifts. If I were Jonathan (and clearly I am not) I'd probably wait for next months addition to update them all (I'm assuming since it's titled "March 2008" there will be an April addition. Is that a safe assumption Jonathan?)
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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I want to play!
Well, that's a start anyways.