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"Teams, lay down your keyboards," It's time to take a break. It's week 14 and contest blogging is done. I'm sure both coaches and apprentices are thankful ;). We're taking audience votes via email please send in your votes now. Voting closes this Friday. Follow the link for instructions. After the results from Week 3 are completed and the audience votes are verified we'll present the winning team at Bloggers Connect.


14 weeks is an incredibly long period of time for a contest of this sort. Our teams have put in an amazing amount of work. Staying in and a part of this contest is an accomplishment in itself. I've also been continually impressed with the efforts put in by all of our judges. This week's judges were no exception. John Paul and Deborah Micek took a lot of time and put together a video to help wrap up the judging for this contest. Please go over and check out the results at Tribalseduction.com.

Deborah and John Paul Micek are founders of the international business coaching company, RPM Success Group Inc. They are experts and in-demand speakers on online persuasion and New Media Marketing. They work with business owners, marketers, and sales professionals around the world from their offices overlooking the North Shore coastline of Oahu in Hawaii. Coach Deb and J.P. are authors of the underground hit book, "Secrets of Online Persuasion" and creators of the ONLY Web site system that works FOR you: BLOG i360.


Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Audience Totals
1 Mary Pope-Handy, Frances Flynn Thorsen 100 100 65 100 35 35 100 100 80 50

80 50 213.57 1108.57
2 Jackie Colson-Miller,Jim Cronin 65
100 80
80 50 65 35 35 100 100 35 80 263.12 1088.12
3 Tisza Major-Posner,Drew Meyers
65 80 35 80 65 65 80 100 65 65
50
82.01 832.01
4 Kevin Tomlinson, Ardell DellaLoggia

35
50 100 35 35

35 50 65 65 181.11 651.11
5 Theresa Lussier, Greg Swan
80
65 65


50 80
80 100 35 1.71 556.71
6 Ines Hegedus-Garcia, Paul Cheney 35



50
50

80 65
100 70.05 450.05
7 Kelly Kilpatrick, Joel Burslem
35 50 50 100
80
65





380
8 Julie Ferenzi, Jeff Turner 80 50






100 50 35


315
9 Vali Wimberly,Teresa Boardman 50












3.42 53.42
10 Madison Hildebrand, Dustin Luther














0
10 London Whitted, Pat Kitano














0
10 Michael & Barbara Daley, Joe Ferra & Rudy Bacharty














0
*1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th places are determined each week. For the judging points allotted are 100, 80, 65, 50, and 35 respectively. Audience points are divided from a total of 815 points and represent proportionally the number of points earned by the member through voting.

For judging the penultimate week of the competition I asked one of the original contestants, Pat Kitano of the Transparent Real Estate Blog. He offers sound advice for any blogger looking to improve what they do. Please check out the results at the Transparent Real Estate Blog. Pat Kitano is currently the Managing Principal of Domus Consulting Group, a management consulting firm working with real estate brokerages, title insurance companies and Web 2.0 companies to develop technology marketing strategies. Pat is a regular speaker and commentator on real estate industry and technology issues and am always on the lookout for a "transparency" angle.

The for week 12 are by Niki Scevak of the Homethinking blog. Niki is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Homethinking LLC, a service that helps home owners choose real estate agents based upon what they have done and consumer reviews about the job they did.

Oliver of vFlyer is week 11's Judge. The results are posted on the vFlyer blog in two sections. The overview with the rankings, and a more detailed summary with advice. Oliver Muoto is a co-founder of vFlyer (http://www.vflyer.com). vFlyer allows real estate professionals and other online sellers to create "eye-catching" listings once and then have them distributed to all the leading online marketplaces like Google Base, Trulia, Propsmart, Oodle and Vast. vFlyer enables agents to further distribute and syndicate their listings by allowing them to generate HTML for used on sites like Craigslist or ActiveRain, PDFs that can be emailed or printed, and listing widgets than can be embedded on blogs and social networking sites.


A thorough judging analysis for week 10 was conducted by Marc Davison of 1000Watt Consulting. With 25 years in Advertising, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Marc Davison is bringing a lot to of experience to the Project Blogger competition. Beyond this competition, 1000 Watt consulting brings a lot of that experience to The Real Estate Industry in general , working with brokers, associations, and technology vendors the company works on strategic planning, website analysis and other aspects of marketing and advertising. Marc, put a lot of time into making notes for everyone this week.

I'm very excited say that Judging this week we have Jessica Swesey Managing Editor of Inman News the largest online real estate news service providing information to both consumers and industry professionals. Jessica serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Real Estate Editors, a national trade group of real estate journalists and public relations specialists. She received her bachelor's degree at West Virginia University. Jessica has done fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program, which helps fund research and community programs for all types of blood cancers. She also volunteers her time maintaining the team Web site and enjoys training for marathons.

Thank you David Gibbons, Director of Community Relations for Zillow. David put together a terrific critique of the contestant blogs for this week. I had the pleasure of meeting David at the Recent ActiveRain Gathering here in Seattle and he's wonderful to talk to. I love the input he's given us this week. I think all of us can gain a lot of information from looking into his efforts.

Judging for Week 7 was by Keith T. Garner of The Center for Real Estate Technology

Keith Garner is credited with bringing blogging to The NAR. Keith is the Managing Director for the Center for Realtor ¨ Technology. He's been with the center since the beginning in 2001. He's been involved with the creation of the Realtor ¨ Secure Program. Keith worked with the Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS). He is an information source for NAR's leadership, and has written a number of white papers and delivered quite a few presentations.

Judging for Week 6 was by Mike Simonsen of the Altos Research

Altos Research Corp. LogoMike Simonsen is co-founder and CEO of Altos Research Corp., the premier source of real-time real estate market intelligence. The company helps real estate agents and brokers easily reach their clients through innovative local real estate market analytics, reporting, and web tools. He's been blogging for since 2005 and cites it as the single most effective market channel his company uses.

Judging for Week 5 was by Galen Ward of ShackPrices.com

ShackPrices LogoGalen Ward is the co-founder of ShackPrices.com, a Washington state real estate search website with an innovative map-based search interface. Galen created ShackPrices.com in 2006 with partner Doug Cole with the belief that home buyers need context when they're looking for a home. At ShackPrices you can learn about the surrounding area, the nearby shops, the character of the neighborhood and the style, size and price of a "shack." As a member of the Northwest MLS, ShackPrices lets people search through over 40,000 Washington State homes for sale.

Galen was one of the first co-bloggers to join Rain City Guide and blogs from time to time on the ShackBlog. Galen understands that any criticism he gives other bloggers could easily and accurately be applied to him.

Judging for Week 4 was Caleb Mardini of The ActiveRain Real Estate Network

Judging for Week 3 is undecided. (I'm working on it.)

Judging for Week 2 was Jonathan Washburn of The ActiveRain Real Estate Network

Judging for Week 1 was Matt Heaton of The ActiveRain Real Estate Network.

 
Posted by Caleb Mardini on 07/17/2007 01:21 PM   Comments (238)   project blogger  
Post is included in group: Project Blogger

238 Comments on Project Blogger Weekly Rankings

Hi Caleb,

Thank you for posting week two's results.  Congratulations to everyone.  This is getting really exciting.  A big congrats to Mary, you deserve it. 

Thanks again, take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

05/01/2007 01:45 PM by Tisza Major-Posner (I.V.P.G. - Inland Valley Professional Group)

Caleb,

Go Mary Go Mary !!!!

05/02/2007 02:55 AM by Aurora Colorado Real Estate Ray Saenz, Colorado Realtor (United Property Brokers, INC)

Caleb,

Can we vote for our favorite bloggers?

05/09/2007 12:19 PM by Scott Daniels Florida Real Estate 2.0. Agents Earn 100% Commission. (Florida List For Less Realty, Inc. Broker/Owner. )

Scott Voting for week 4 is here.

Thank you. 

05/09/2007 02:48 PM by Caleb Mardini (M2M)

Now I am really confused, after seeing the current numbers. How are the points working? How much does voting factor into the points? Thanks, Mary

05/09/2007 05:17 PM by Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES (Keller Williams Realty)

Mary the numbers are posted here: Project Blogger


Top five from the judges receive the following:

100 points for 1st place
80 points for 2nd place
65 points for 3rd place
50 points for 4th place
35 points for 5th place.

Top five from the voters get 15% of those numbers. 

05/09/2007 05:57 PM by Caleb Mardini (M2M)

Thanks for posting both sets of results. It's interesting to see the disparity between the judges and the Active Rain voters.

05/09/2007 06:10 PM by Sharon Simms St Pete Florida CRS CIPS CLHMS (RE/MAX Metro)

Caleb thanks. I was just confused about how the points from the AR community counted.  Now I understand. Essentially the AR community vote weighs 15%.

Sharon I agree with you. I know that I have resisted the temptation of just telling everyone I know to vote for me, and I know some others have too. Maybe everyone has, I don't know. But that's my only question about that facet.

05/09/2007 07:46 PM by Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES (Keller Williams Realty)

Mary...  much congrats from me. You're working your tail off on this! Where is your coach though? I can't find anything from her on either of her blogs.

05/15/2007 06:25 PM by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Caleb, this must be an incredible amount of work trying to read all of them and then keep the scores tabulated. Thanks for keeping us posted. They've all been working and improving as evidenced by their blogs. And to have such great mentors at their disposal makes me terribly jealous.

05/15/2007 06:40 PM by Sacramento Real Estate and Luxury Homes, Assoc. Real Estate Broker,Gena Riede (Remax Gold, Assoc Broker)

Hi Caleb,

Thank you for all of your very hard work.  I know that since I discovered the Active Rain Network and blogging, I don't sleep much anymore, so you must not sleep at all. 

I must admit I am curious about the whereabouts of the mysterious results for week three.

Oh, and Gena don't be jealous, that is the beauty the blogosphere, everything that is available to all of the apprentices is being shared with everyone.  I have to say that this aspect of the event has been the most gratifying for me.

Take care, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

05/15/2007 07:07 PM by Tisza Major-Posner (I.V.P.G. - Inland Valley Professional Group)

Tisza I agree with you 100%. The best part has been the exchange of ideas, the encouragement, and the friendship. (And if I can find a way to pull it off, I'll go to LA for that AR party. I want to meet you and Kelly and Jeff and everyone else.)

05/15/2007 07:11 PM by Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES (Keller Williams Realty)

Thanks Gena, Mary, Tisza and Sharon.

Tisza the results for week three?  Yes, I'm very sorry about that.  I'll have those together soon.

05/16/2007 03:08 PM by Caleb Mardini (M2M)

Caleb - I am on vacation but checking in to see about Week 3.  Can you please update us?  I have two questions: (1) Is there a judge for this week?  (2) When will the judge have the results?

Jeff - I know, I know. I've been nudging Fran. She's been super buried with work but I will nudge again.

05/20/2007 09:02 AM by Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES (Keller Williams Realty)

Hi All,

Mary - I have given week three up for dead and am now beginning to think that perhaps I imagined the whole thing.  Perhaps what we should do is offer to judge it ourselves, all of us the apprentices.  And then take the best average score and go with that.  Or we could just decide that week three was a twelve way tie for first and award the points accordingly. 

What do you think?  I think I am on to something here :-)

Caleb - I know how much of a challenge this contest is and continues to be so please understand that the ribbing is not directed at anyone in particular, and that I really do see the humor in the situation.  Hey, you could always ask Drew to judge that week.  I wouldn't mind a bit (and with my luck, it would not be the advantage that some might think it would be :-)

Take care all, have a super day and help lots of people!

Tisza

05/20/2007 01:29 PM by Tisza Major-Posner (I.V.P.G. - Inland Valley Professional Group)

Gosh, Caleb, and we think we're busy in the rain !!

05/24/2007 01:11 PM by Missy Caulk Ann Arbor Realtor Ann Arbor Real Estate (Keller Williams Ann Arbor)

It's interesting to read these judging posts, but also hard to follow some of the actual judging, like this chart.  I don't think I've seen numbers used before when the judging has been posted, but perhaps I just missed.  What do those numbers mean under the different columns?  And I thought it interesting as well the vagaries between the AR votes and the way things stacked up with these weekly judges.  It's all a mystery at times.

Ann

05/24/2007 04:47 PM by Portsmouth NH Real Estate ~ Ann Cummings (RE/MAX Coast to Coast - Portsmouth New Hampshire)

Thanks Anne, My college teachers would have been very upset with me for not defining my chart appropriately!  I've updated it.

05/24/2007 04:58 PM by Caleb Mardini (M2M)

Now, if I could just figure out whcih of Julie's blogs are going to be judged... last week much of the judging appeared to be done on the AR blog side. Which is really being judged?

05/24/2007 05:22 PM by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Hi All,

Thanks for putting things in an easy to read format.  I would still love to know what kind of read rates folks are getting.  Mary and Kelly have both shared their numbers as have I.  My information is available on my post entitled "You Show Me Your's And I'll Show You Mine", and Mary's numbers are available for all to see at the bottom of her website page on LiveInLosGatos.com. 

I think that it is important because by sharing that information publicly, for the duration of the contest, that will tell everyone especially the participants, they are getting the kind of traffic that should ultimately convert to leads.  And I think that is ultimately the point, right? 

I mean, you could have the best written, greatest looking blog on the face of the earth but if no one outside of AR is reading it...

It might also help to clear up some of the discrepancy between the AR voting and the judges voting.  Although, personally, I think that the AR vote should be decided based upon average read rates for each contestant's posts here and on their individual sites.  Especially since that shows a better picture of whether or not what you write is being read.   Also, since the AR voting is being done by a poll that does not require that you be a member of AR, it can become more of a popularity/networking reflection than actual read rates are. 

Thank you to all of the judges for their time, attention and effort.  And thank you to all of the coaches, contestants and spectators for all the information, knowledge and support that have been offered and shared.  Here's to a very exciting second half!

Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

05/24/2007 05:49 PM by Tisza Major-Posner (I.V.P.G. - Inland Valley Professional Group)

Tisza... I vote to do away with the poll as a way of measuring, even though we seem to do well on it. (Not that anyone is asking for my vote) And I agree, since it is open to the world, it's not just AR that's voting. 

 

 

05/24/2007 05:58 PM by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Hi Jeff,

I would agree as well.  And for the very same reasons.  I think the better test would be to share with the judges and the other contestants/coaches, if someone does not want to share the info with the world, the read rates to see how we are actually doing on getting new traffic to our sites.  And, for anyone that is not using a personal blog site, then use your read rates on your posts to see how things shake out. 

Take care,

Tisza

05/24/2007 06:05 PM by Tisza Major-Posner (I.V.P.G. - Inland Valley Professional Group)

Tisza... that's a tough one though. Plainfield, IL is not going to generate as much natural traffic as Miami or Malibu, for example. A post on a Mailbu blog about Lindsay Lohan's new beach house could drive a ton of increase in traffic and no return at all from a business perspective.

05/24/2007 06:23 PM by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Tisza- >"I think that the AR vote should be decided based upon average read rates for each contestant's posts here and on their individual sites. "

I post on small groups, I also post to 'groups only' and have posted on the Bloodhound Blog. Those posts don't show up anywhere except those groups and are not getting counted in the contest. My choice completely, I'm just saying if you are going to "count" things, then let's count apples to apples. How can you do that?

My blog is designed to be read by a very small population. My read rates would be low.  And how to measure that fairly across the board? A blog in Miami (large population) will/ should be read by more folks than a blog in Huber Heights. One would hope, anyway. And I'm in a city with declining population, not at all tech savvy. Do we throw in a handicap for both of those? If you get my drift...The rules are what they are.

Jeff- >"Not that anyone is asking for my vote"   You can vote for me!!! :-)

05/24/2007 06:47 PM by Dayton Realtor ~Theresa Lussier~ (Exit Realty Central)

Any word on when Week 3 will emerge?

Is there a judge for week 3 at all?

05/24/2007 06:56 PM by Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES (Keller Williams Realty)

OK... I just read Julie's posts for week three. I'm ok if we get a judge for that week now. :)

05/24/2007 07:11 PM by Jeff Turner (Real Estate Shows)

Hi All,

Teri, I share your challenge with regard to a small local population.  Currently, Claremont has a population of around 37,000.  And we have a whopping 126 homes/condos/townhomes on the market.  I agree that we should compare apples to apples.  But, if a post is published here on AR and it gets read by fewer than 200 people total, especially if it is not restricted in some manner (not members only or associates only), then I think you can safely surmise that on AR, at least, what is being written is not being read.

On a personal site, you can look to see if the site is increasing its traffic from week to week.  Using something like Google Analytics will actually tell you not just generally where your reader's are coming from, but specifically (provided they disclosed that information to their isp) where they are coming from.  For instance, I can see that my traffic comes from all across the US, Canada & Europe, but I am most interested in seeing that my site is getting read more by people in California than in any other state, and that I am getting readers from Claremont and surrounding communities.  Seeing that information would tell me that what I am writing is being found by my target audience and that my site is doing it's job. 

Since one of the reasons for creating this contest, was to my understanding, to build a successful Real Estate blog site and a successful Real Estate blogger, if we don't look at this information, how can we really determine when that goal is accomplished?  Yes, some cities might have a bit of an advantage in that they are not as geographically small and that they are technologically more astute, but the internet really does even that out.  If someone is not tech savvy, they aren't going to find a site anyway.  And the very fact that they have found a site, leads me to believe that they are indeed tech savvy and therefore are part of the audience that I am writing too. 

By the way, Claremont, despite the colleges, would not be considered a tech haven like. say Seattle is.  We have a very large senior population and historically, seniors are not known for being on the blades edge where technology is concerned. 

I just think, even when I benefit from it, that the poll is an inherently flawed way of computing AR's reader's interest in the pieces we are creating.  Especially since you don't have to read a single word on the site to cast a vote. 

I am a big proponent of "fair" and I don't see that as being fair to either the "winners" or the "losers". 

Just my opinion. 

Take care, have a great day and help lots of people.

Tisza

05/24/2007 08:35 PM by Tisza Major-Posner (I.V.P.G. - Inland Valley Professional Group)

Caleb~ 

THANK YOU so much for putting this energy into highlighting so much talent. I read your updates and then I know I'm going to be spending hours into the early morning (and after) reading...Oh Well! I am also knowing, tired though I may be,  that I'll be getting to quality posts from really interesting BLOG-Folk. Again, thanks for this.

05/24/2007 09:04 PM by Asheville's GREEN Land & Homes ECO-Steward Realty

Caleb - thanks for keeping us posted. Now it's time to go back and read the various blogs.

05/24/2007 10:01 PM by Sharon Simms St Pete Florida CRS CIPS CLHMS (RE/MAX Metro)

Nice to see the results like this all in one place. Interesting that the judges and Rainers have only agreed on #1 one time.

05/24/2007 11:33 PM by John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace)

Howdy Tisza- I believe we kinda sorta agree. I suppose I'm looking more for a read to lead ratio as a judge of success, rather than just reads. I would much prefer 4 readers and 3 res