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Inaugural Real Estate Top Blog Index: March 2008

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.)

Rank	Website	Index Change	Alexa Ranking	Compete Ranking	Average
1	Curbed	-	32,028	20,721	26,375
2	Inman Blog	-	38,334	17,728	28,031
3	Real Estate Shows	-	67,862	8,319	38,091
4	Bigger Pockets	-	45,531	34,169	39,850
5	Bloodhound Blog	-	83,874	50,862	67,368
6	The Housing Bubble Blog	-	108,615	49,784	79,200
7	The Future of Real Estate Marketing	-	98,124	67,522	82,823
8	Zillow Blog	-	165,987	93,146	129,567
9	Raincity Guide	-	173,418	94,272	133,845
10	The Real Estate Bloggers	-	208,052	84,069	146,061
11	Phoenix Real Estate Guy	-	176,211	153,750	164,981
12	Agent Genius	-	171,996	170,370	171,183
13	Lenderama	-	236,704	135,902	186,303
14	4Realz.net	-	183,489	209,719	196,604
15	Housing Doom	-	272,952	131,822	202,387
16	Transparent Real Estate	-	292,958	116,751	204,855
17	St. Paul RE Blog	-	250,672	169,753	210,213
18	Blown Mortgage	-	338,434	82,223	210,329
19	360 Digest	-	226,618	226,218	226,418
20	All About Athens GA	-	371,115	144,189	257,652
21	Altos Research Real Estate Insights	-	371,115	144,189	257,652
22	GeekEstate Blog	-	315,675	238,595	277,135
23	Mortgage Fraud Blog	-	452,447	115,213	283,830
24	Long Beach Real Estate	-	271,387	319,758	295,573
25	Real Estate Radio USA	-	336,247	298,869	317,558
26	Matrix	-	466,820	195,732	331,276
27	House Blogger	-	446,765	265,226	355,996
28	Denver Real Estate & Relocation	-	500,739	407,964	454,352
29	REALCentralVA	-	673,194	300,654	486,924
30	REagent in CT	-	582,490	454,199	518,345
31	Dothan Home Search	-	723,015	416,043	569,529
32	MLPodcast Blog	-	710,285	433,534	571,910
33	The xBroker	-	805,370	364,327	584,849
34	Mi Oakland County	-	1,049,898	237,183	643,541
35	Maxsell	-	511,800	788,740	650,270
36	Phoenix RE Jonathan Dalton	-	894,477	421,129	657,803
37	Miamism	-	744,463	579,050	661,757
38	Reno Realty	-	868,997	503,693	686,345
39	Mortgage Porter	-	1,050,037	381,646	715,842
40	Maggie Dokic	-	1,085,708	354,450	720,079
41	Arizona Real Estate Notebook	-	1,203,604	240,507	722,056
42	Real Estate Zebra	-	960,314	488,419	724,367
43	Brian Brady	-	954,231	596,026	775,129
44	REI Blog	-	1,025,979	606,496	816,238
45	IndyRealEstateTalk.com	-	1,308,267	348,607	828,437
46	Colorado Springs RE Connection	-	1,263,948	490,779	877,364
47	Realty Thoughts	-	1,116,173	648,504	882,339
48	Triple Mint	-	1,158,433	626,177	892,305
49	Maureen McCabe	-	1,631,711	603,223	1,117,467
50	Brian Block	-	1,823,240	518,741	1,170,991
51	My Tucson Blog	-	2,256,042	402,756	1,329,399
52	NewHampshireMaineRealEstate.com	-	2,081,537	608,695	1,345,116
53	Gary Bolen	-	1,974,459	816,134	1,395,297
54	Focus on Crofton	-	2,042,381	886,459	1,464,420
55	AnnArborRealEstateTalk.com	-	2,046,045	896,350	1,471,198
56	Chris Elizabeth Griffith	-	2,468,992	484,125	1,476,559
57	Blog Arizona	-	2,416,182	657,229	1,536,706
58	Ian Marshall	-	2,608,052	513,381	1,560,717
59	Bryant Tutas	-	2,609,557	729,783	1,669,670
60	RealEstateSnippets.com	-	2,837,539	693,168	1,765,354
61	HousingBubbleCasualty	-	3,015,904	540,044	1,777,974
62	BlogCalabasas.com	-	3020087	655010	1,837,549
63	Real Crozet VA	-	3,277,741	785,197	2,031,469
64	RainCity Houses	-	3,535,301	707,084	2,121,193
65	West Chester Real Estate Blog	-	3,693,184	819,290	2,256,237
66	The Arlington Dirt	-	4,091,417	765,066	2,428,242
67	My Charlottesvile	-	4,615,861	636,203	2,626,032
68	Thesa Chambers	-	5,154,832	928,373	3,041,603
69	Foster City Blog	-	7,402,275	823,687	4,112,981
70	Marchel Peterson	-	7,315,750	922,248	4,118,999
71	Real Estate in Denver & The Suburbs	-	5,001,115	*	*
72	LaneBailey.com	-	6,049,969	*	*
73	Jim Lee	-	8,752,832	*	*
74	Gary White	-	11,501,859	*	*
75	Ryan Hukill	-	13,744,225	*	*
76	San Mateo RE News	-	2,405,605	*	*
77	Ardell DellaLoggia	-	3,004,566	*	*
78	The Landlord Blog	-	3,690,097	*	*
79	The FHA Expert	-	9,411,420	*	*
80	The Real Estate Text Book	-	*	*	*
81	NELA	-	*	*	*

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Update: Six amazing years after creating ActiveRain I am no longer CEO. I'm now focusing 100% of my efforts on revolutionizing the daily deals industry through the DailyTicket community. We are taking on Groupon and LivingSocial with our revolutionary business model powered by local franchise business owners and our focus on building strong communities through remarkable experiences.

Posted by Jon Washburn on 04/14/2008 04:41 PM

Comments (101)

real estate blog index

Originally posted at: jonwashburn: Inaugural Real Estate Top Blog Index: March 2008

Short URL: http://actvra.in/428

101 Comments on Inaugural Real Estate Top Blog Index: March 2008

APR

2008

I want to play!

Well, that's a start anyways.

I like this grid. Now, what do all these sites have in common that drive viewers to them? That's the important thing.

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!

Thanks Mike, those will make it into the next index review! Feel free to add or edit that list all you want. :)

David, Exactly! Use this list to grow your traffic.

Penny, Go to Alexa.com and compete.com

Don't forget about me....http://www.PortOrangeJuice.com

Well...I only visit about a third of those, guess I better get busy reading.

Thanks for the heads up. Not sure how it ranks but you're welcome to add

http://www.mlpodcast.com/blog

To the mix.

I just stumbled on to compete.com. Bob Carney showed me it. I have been known to get lost for lengths of time snooping on that site.

Thanks Mike, Not sure how I missed that. Actually I am sure I missed a ton of obvious ones.

Would love to be included in your rockin' compilation of real estate blogs. Here are the scores for MyTechOpinion:

Alexa: 577,412

Compete: 395,821

AVERAGE: 486,616

Thanks for putting together this list! NikNik

I heard I made "the list" and I'm so glad it wasn't your "you-know-what" list - why did you use Alexa and Compete? as opposed to other ranking sites

Count me in as well. www.realestatesnippets.com (If I have a ranking on Compete or Alexa!) You should add the links so one could check them out.

Please add IndyRealEstateTalk.com.

Thanks!

Jonathan...

I am a little brain dead right now but I'll come back and bring some goodies with me :)

I do read outside of AR...I just don't tell anyone I'm there :)

TLW...ROAR!

I don't get it. If ActiveRain blogs don't qualify, how can RealTown blogs qualify?

Lenn, RealTown blogs shouldn't be on there. I'll get the links up soon.

TLW, Looking forward to your goodies!

Others that provide links: I will make sure to include all the suggestions here that qualify.

http://www.knoxvilletennesseerealestateblog.com/

I'm in.

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: 9,411,420

Zeromoneydownbook.com has a traffic rank of: 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.

Jonathan, I have no idea what any of those numbers mean.

www.RainCityHouses.com is mine:)

Thanks,This is great info.

Jonathan... I had to laugh at BB's comment. It made me want to raise my hand and shout "I know! I know! :)

... Way cool ...

what great ease of use

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.

Thanks Jonathan, Like most others, my blog has a name! Would you mind correcting it to "Denver Real Estate & Relocation'? Thanks,

Looks like I missed Geekestateblog.com - don't forget to add it next month

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:-)

Me too. (westchesterrealestateblog.com) Alex ranking 3,500,----

My LaneBailey.com blog has an Alexa ranking of #6,049,969... And Compete #958,191

I'm rockin'... ;^ )

Jonathan - great exposure - isn't it interesting how controversial any kind of listing or ranking can be.

Also, I see Phoenix RE Jonathon Dalton on the list twice, and Jay Thompson isn't there at all (PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com)

According to Alexa, 4realz.net is ranked around RCG levels with a rank of 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. ;)

That's a lot to keep up with. I, too, wonder....what REALLY drives people to the sites. Even the most quality blog needs some good feeder tubes.

Dustin, I left 4realz.net out purposely - just to create some controversy. ;)

I will try to amend this list tomorrow evening after everyone gets a chance to comment.

Sharon, at least its good and exciting controversy.

How about adding www.mortgageporter.com

Thanks a bunch, Jonathan!

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.

Jonathan~ Great list! Where does Pat Kitano's Transparent Real Estate go..?

Is Julie Emery getting credit for all of the traffic on all of the RealTown blogs?

Her url is http://realtown.com/jemery/blog/

Aren't Julie's Alexa rating / compete rating the same as mine for my RT blog which is

http://realtown.com/maureen/blog/

Which is all the traffic on all the RealTown blogs???

What a comprehensive list - it must have taken a long time to put this together. Will have to check out the unknowns. Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the inclusion Jonathan!

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"?

Thanks, and great job!

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

Oh, be quiet Jay ...

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

APR

2008

This is the kick in the pants that I needed. blogcalabasas.com

Alexa 2,020,087

Compete 655,010

Average 1,837,548

Yikes I better get busy

Jonathan (Dalton) - You be quiet! ;)

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!

Thanks so much for including me - SanMateoRealEstateNews.com! Hard work, diligence and Mary McKnight coaching me along the way helps a lot.

Thank you for this great info. I am still learning all this high tech staff, but see alredy how it can build my business!

Very neat. I wonder if I will ever be at the top of that list. I hope to be on it at some time.

Here's mine - www.NewHampshireMaineRealEstate.com

Thanks!
Ann

AnnArborRealEstateTalk.com only launced in November.

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.

Thanks for the post.I will check out the blogs.

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?

This is a great list that shows me I have lots to learn about the world of online blogging.

Real Estate in Denver & The Suburbs has an Alexa ranking. I am not sure about the Compete.com though. Cool list - lots more to check out!

Don't see Real Estate Tomato on your list. Their Alexa ranking is 231,362 and the Compete ranking is not easy to find.

Thanks for including us in the list and also it was great meeting you at RETech South a couple of weeks ago.

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 ......

Laurie Manny

Long Beach Real Estate

Alexa Ranking: 271,387

Compete Ranking: 319,758

Average: 295,572

"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?

Good post Jonathan -- very interesting.

thanks for the list

Numbers on are very wrong:

Athens Georgia RE

371,115

144,189

257,652

I certainly appreciate making the list. There are several blogs ranked below ours that are far superior, imo.

Again though, it is nice to be even mentioned in such high company.

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.

Hi Jonathon,

Great list so far...thanks for mentioning BlogArizona.com!

Here is mine. Thanks

www.newhampshirerealestateblogs.com

OK Jonathan slap me up there on your list.

http://FocusOnFrederick.com

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)

This one is fairly new but already getting rankings:

www.FindCapeCoralRealEstate.com

Thanks for updating Jonathan!

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. ;)

Jay, Nope all done by hand. Bob and Kara pitched in to help though.

Margaret, The Tomato blog is hosted on a Typepad URL believe it or not. Jim must be concerned with damaging SEO placement from switching.

Maureen, Not a lot of thought put into Alexa and Compete. I am not sure of any other third party rankings that would work.

Jonathan - We'd love to be included too...

Our Clearwater Beach Real Estate one is www.sandbarstosunsets.com

www.SandbarsToSunsets.com appears to be:

Alexa ranking is 587,622
Compete ranking 264,511

Our Clearwater Florida Real Estate one is

www.ClearwaterRealEstateTampaHomes.com

Alexa ranking is 1,942,148
Compete ranking is 891,362

Woo hoo... I'm on the list. Now I have to try to get higher on the list...

APR

2008

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.

All the best.

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...

Hmmm..... so would my 4,438,053 Alexa ranking qualify my www.LasVegasRealEstate4u.com blog?

I didn't pop in my ranking numbers here you go. Not sure which rank number you want from Alexa.com but here's the 3 month ave.

Compete.com - focusonfrederick.com 750,685

ALexa.com 3,682,671

Johnathan, I would love to be included in the index. My blog is at http://www.blue60.com/ the blog address is http://www.blue60.com/blogger/blue60blogger.html For Alexa my traffic rank is 1,341,093 for the 3 month average and 679,174 for 1 week average.

Thanks Jonathan - you are awesome! You work hard for us!

Looking forward to the update....

www.Buffaloniagararealestatehomesales.com

Alexa: 290,091

Compete: 457,281

What about the Real Estate Tech Coach? Still waiting on Compete to update but Alexa has me in their system. retechcoach.com

Great list, seems like it was quite a bit of work. I'd like to add mine for round 2

bloghomedenver.com, Alexa rank 2,008,487

Thanks again!

APR

2008

How many people read a blog is not nearly as important is who is reading it and why.

did you know that alexa only records hits from people who are using the Alexa tool and it may not be the best measurement of blog traffic?

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.

Ian Marshall

http://www.ianmarshall.com/

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.

I'm with you Jay (or Francy).

I don't care about numbers, just call or email me to buy or sell a house.

Although high numbers are a sign that people are looking at whatever you're trolling out there.

Please adjust my numbers they jumped substatially today, can you please adjust my

alexa ranking to 186,176

compete 319758

average 252,967

Thank you,

Laurie

@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?)

APR

2008

Jonathan: Several of us AR bloggers were hurt by the recent hacking attack (sites maliciously deleted), but we are in recovery mode:

http://www.SanDiegoPreviews.com

Alexa: 522,072

Compete: 464.568

Average: 493,320

http://www.LuxuryHomeDigest.com

Alexa: 530,234

Compete: 418.632

Average: 474,433

hmmm...timing is everything, yes?

OCT

2008

This was the beginning? I thought you'd done it a couple of months... maybe three... I came to see what the beginning was like.

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Jon Washburn

Seattle, WA

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Originally created to interact with the ActiveRain community this blog has taken on a new life as my time leading ActiveRain has waned. My writing has now taken a turn to chronically the joys and challenges of creating a new community: DailyTicket.

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