Google's PageRank system is a great way to see how websites or blogsites are doing. It's on a scale of 1 to 10.

One way to discover a site's page rank is to download the Google toolbar. This works easily but there are some issues. The biggest for me was not privacy (the toolbar, when showing page rank, also tells Google some of what you're doing online) but the fact that my tablet computer kept crashing. (My tablet doesn't like toolbars, period. The California Association of Realtors has a fabulous toolbar but it, too, caused my tablet to writhe and crash.)

For a less invasive way to learn your PR or that of your competitors, just visit Page Rank checker:  http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

Active Rain is a huge, active site, and it's PR score is 6. So too does the Keller Williams site (KW.com) enjoy a 6/10. That's running with the big dogs.

My local MLS provider, MLSListings.com, gets a strong 5. Laurie Manny's impressive site, www.LongBeachRealEstateHome.com, merits a 4. That's still a really great score and no small feat to acheive.

My site, PopeHandy.com, and my ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com blog are both at a 3. Here's the interesting thing - I only started the latter about 6 months ago, but started the former nearly a decade ago. There's the power of blogging for you. (I have enhanced my templated website a lot. Friends of mine with the same basic template have a 1 or 2 PR for theirs.)

A friend of mine told me that his blog seems to not be seen by Google. I checked it out and sure enough, his blog, which is on Wordpress, is a PR 0. He was right. With a score so low, and with all his writing, I would probably want to consult with an SEO guru to get it fixed.

What about your blog?