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Project Blogger Weekly Rankings

"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. Logo Mike 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

Galen 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)

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238 Comments on Project Blogger Weekly Rankings

MAY

2007

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

MAY

2007

Caleb,

Go Mary Go Mary !!!!

MAY

2007

Caleb,

Can we vote for our favorite bloggers?

Scott Voting for week 4 is here.

Thank you.

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

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.

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

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.

MAY

2007

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.

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.

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

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.)

MAY

2007

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.

MAY

2007

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.

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

MAY

2007

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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!!! :-)

Any word on when Week 3 will emerge?

Is there a judge for week 3 at all?

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

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

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.

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

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

MAY

2007

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 resulting leads than 400 readers and 3 leads, as an example. And my blog is hopefully designed to that end. At least that's what I'm working towards. How do you 'judge' these things? Which brings us to the rules- they are what they are. Imperfect, flawed, sometimes vague...Just like us? Okay, me. :)

BUT, let me state for the record, everyone: judges coaches bloggers of the apprentice, non-apprentice, lurker variety are all fantastically supportive strong criticism or strictly cheering from the sidelines. This has been an amazing ride so far!!

Thank you.

Teri AMEN. I have given up on anticipating what part of my blogging efforts might be judged from week to week. BUT I'm learning a ton just from paying attention to what is working for everyone else, and from the correspondence I've shared with some of the nice folks here.

MAY

2007

Wow, Mary, I'm impressed! I remember when you first signed on to this project, and now look how far you've come in such a short time!

Linda - thanks for the kudos. Now I just have to convince my husband that blogging is not a waste of time (he remains unconvinced).

Caleb - thank you for posting the scores so fast!

OK now the comments are starting to confuse me.... I was having deja vu reading the comments... Caleb said vote for week 4... then Mary commented :

"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

by Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES

Then I paid attention to the date.

You are going to town on your blog Mary.

great job Caleb, i say bravo to all participants keep up the good work.

Half way through - too soon to see if it's going to be a photo finish. Congratulations to all the bloggers.

JUN

2007

Maureen thanks for the kind words.

Traffic has been really low this week. Think everyone is on vacation already?

JUN

2007

Great Job Bloggers & Mentors!

Caleb,

What in the world is that thing in your picture? (Other than weird?)

Are you coming to Chicago?

Lucky :)

JUN

2007

Lucky, Caleb wrote elsewhere that it's seaweed from the Oregon coast!!

Mary,

Smells fishy to me! (Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun) :)

Lucky :)

Have you lined up a judge for week 9 yet?

I was wondering too. Knowing Caleb, I didn't dare venture a guess...but seaweed was my first thought.

Ardell,

What was your second thought?

Lucky :)

Just posted the Id of week nine's judge, Jessica Swesey. Yes that's 100% Florence, Oregon Seaweed ;)

Wow....congrats to all the apprentices. They are all doing well. It's a close one.

The comments by the judges are getting better - no doubt it's a learning experience for them as well as for the apprentices and coaches. David's comments and suggestions were very useful. Point to note: link - link - link.

Thanks for the update, You can definitely see the leaders starting to separate themselves from the pack. And the three teams tied for 10th -- what a lost opportunity.

Caleb, thanks for the update. We're only halfway through the judging...still anyone's game (and I'm running hard)....

I would love to see a post for your favorite bloggers ;)

JUN

2007

Mary

This is what Caleb wrote:

....Remember Kevin didn't enter his posts until late and has quickly ammased a healthy amount of points....

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck!

Kevin, Yes, I reread and deleted my comment... Not sure what he meant but I do get your point (hence deleting my comment).

Yeah it was mean, no?

Caleb- I'm not sure if it was Jessica acting on her own or AR's gentle prodding, but I see she used a very similar format for judging to the one David used last week. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate it. It's made a huge difference to me to get clear concise feedback, and I would imagine that someone playing along at home would feel the same way. We can all use each other's feedback to critique our own blogs using this format. Really awesome! Please keep it up!

Kev I've had way too many misfires of communication with the printed word to assume I know what someone means each time I read a comment. Honestly, I'm not sure what he was driving at. I do understand why you are taking it badly.

Kevin, I'm late to this thread, but I took Caleb's statement to mean that you are doing a great job seeing as you didn't have your home blog up and running until later in the contest compared to some of us. I can't speak for Caleb, I'm only telling you how I interpreted his comment. I thought he was paying you a huge compliment.

Teri I agree with you on the judging and how helpful this format is. It looks like she only used the "outside" blogs this week - that's fine with me but I was just surprised. I think it would be good to adopt a format like this for future contests....

Kevin... I read Caleb's comment as very positive. Not negative at all. He meant that you have been chosen in the top five several times since you started posting.... so therefore, nobody is truly out of the running. I don't think he was talking about polling points. That was not the context of that comment. The context was that it appeared that some might be giving up. He was trying to encourage others not to.

I agree Jeff. That's how I took it as well.

Now, if Kevin could just stop kicking my butt in this competition, I could pull myself out from the hole I've fallen into!

JUN

2007

Allright Mary!

Kevin's hanging in there...and seems he is the ONLY guy who IS at this point.

Caleb,

Thanks for such a thorough update.....As I read it, I wondered just how long it took you to compile this information for us?

Interesting statistics and thanks for taking time to creat this every week for members to check out!

Thank you so much for the update. It must be very time consuming... I do appreciate it.

Great job guys! Thanks for keeping us updated. I can't wait to see who wins.

Ardell,

"Hanging in there" ??? He's doing awesome!

Kevin, I was saying look at these people who have dropped out, they might be in trouble...but then again look at Kevin...he took a lot of time prepping and hit the competition hard and is now doing really well.

I was not talking about polling points. You haven't even scored at the top of the polls.

OK that probably still isn't clear...obviously i need my own coach!

Kevin is doing great and I wasn't insinuating anything.

I love what I'm seeing from all the contestants. Even those who don't post often are writing some really good stuff. Stuff that stands out.

Thanks Caleb.

That is why I took down my comment. It seems the contest is being won by those who write the most. I do feel, however, that a blogger could write ONE killer, insightful and EXCELLENT piece and still win.

I wish I had time to write more, but reality and my business, dictate otherwise.

ps you have a very cool name.

"I wish I had time to write more, but reality and my business, dictate otherwise."

Kevin you seemed to have no shortage of stuff to say for Week 9.

I knew you were gonna clock me on that. ;)

JUN

2007

Can you remind me: is the voting still counting? I don't see scores for the last few weeks.

Thanks,
Mary

Mary...I don't think so. I've been thinking about it for a while because early on the results were off. Kevin and Tisza did a good thing in calling out the issue. We'll likely have public voting or everyone emailing in votes.

Kill this thread already----!

JUN

2007

Week 11 Results are in!

"as a result of manipulations that have been around since early on from Polldaddy" Manipulations?! For Points or Recognition?! Never! :-)

Nice looking blog.

check out this new blog that Realtor.com has just launched. what are your opinions, will it make it or not?

http://jboyer.featuredblog.com/

Caleb

This will be the only comment I make on this weeks judging. Can we please get someone who sells real estate to judge as opposed to someone who sells things to agents? Laurie Manny said it very clearly last week, the judging is very "weighted" to one side and very apparent. By looking at the review, JCM did not win because of her writing, but because of her widgets. BTW, Congrats JCM!!! :)

BALANCE.

Caleb

One last thing, I really posted a lot of material last week in Active Rain. Now that my SBCB blog is set up, I wanted to balance my "serious" blogging between SBCB AND ActiveRain because I wanted utilize all that AR has to offer.

So because I blogged a lot in AR last week (a competition sponsor), I got dinged for it. CAN YOU IMAGINE?

I just didn't write rants or about ghosts, I wrote really good stuff that I would want members and clients to see.

Wow!

Kevin, ghosts ARE good stuff, LOL. (You spend way too much energy worrying about my ghost posts, which comprise only 5% of everything I write about....) When you come to SF, I'll have to nudge you to take the SFGhostHunt tour hahahaha.... :-)

Mary

Sort of just a running joke between us!!!! LOL

Kev yeah I know...but you don't do anything quirky enough that I can harass you about LOL

Hi All,

Kevin, congrats on making the list. This weeks results are interesting :-) I am also curious to what extent our AR participation was valued. It would also be very hard to have to judge a competion where some of the participants were clients or friends as it was in this case.

Kevin, I also think getting someone from the RE community who is not affiliated in some manner with the coaches and/or apprentices would be a good thing. And, in future, if an apprentice or coach is a client of the judge's, then as valuable and valid as the critiques may be, that would serve to potentially compromise the results and should probably be avoided.

Personally, I don't have a problem with judges that have businesses that sell products to Realtors, but I do see a huge conflict of interest if the judges have clients in the contest. It winds up being unfair on both sides. The judge may wind up either being harder on their client than is fair to them in an effort not to show favoritism. Or they may have information about a particular apprentice teams "inner workings" which would not be available to someone without that connection and could wind up judging not just on what is able to be seen and known by all, but on what is not as well. I believe they refer to this as insider information and in some businesses it would be illegal LOL.

Congrats to everyone, whether you got points this week or not. I agree that everyone involved is a winner.

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

Tisza

Tisza I'm missing something. How was this week's judge connected to one of the apprentices?

Kevin
As you pointed out, I think you did write some really good stuff - for sure. But many of us who sell stuff to agents (semi-outsiders to real estate you could say) put ourselves in a potential customer's shoes - believe it or not, we real and write blogs too ;). Chances are your prospects and customers would probably see your SBCB blog first. As I mentioned, judging is subjective and from a customer perspective, I tend to value communication to outsiders (customers) a little more than communication to insiders (other agents). Is blogging an art or is it marketing? Its both. I hope you don't feel dinged and I did really like your blog.
Oliver
vflyer.com

Tisza

As I mentioned in my post, I tried to be as impartial as possible and go with the overall effect the blogs left on me based on my criteria. I don't know that any of the contests were actually "clients" - some I did noticed used our widgets (but any can use them for free and I didn't try and find out any more detail) and I did mention that in my disclaimer. As judges we are not given a set of criteria to use (AR vs Non-AR posts, i.e.) so each one of us has to come up with ours.

Using judges that have no connection with the contestants is probably a good idea but in this small industry they are always going to be hard to find. Another idea is to have 3 or 4 judges that judge EACH WEEK (like American Idol) that span a range of backgrounds but can provide consistent feedback, have familiarity and history with the contestants, i.e. Weekly judging is hard. You have to "jump in" and try and judge based on the weeks posts while taking into mind the bigger picture. Just a few thoughts.

Oliver

vflyer.com

Congratulations to all the participants. There has been such tremendous progress and it has been fun to watch, plus a great learning experience for those of us on the sidelines. Thanks for keeping us posted.

Jeff

I'll be "torking up those widgets"...surely, only to be "dinged" for them next week...one can only laugh at it all....hey...no mention of all that "tax reform" stuff that's pertinent to the Florida Real Estate Market that I write about...And I did two articles with my OWN poll daddy widgets in them about the tax reform issue....I think next week I'm going to talk about "putting fluff on my widgets"...

Seriously, I designed my site to be colorful and 'sizzling' and I do love the widgets, primarily because they add color and things for people to "click on", which, in MHO keeps them on my site longer and 50% of them keep coming back. The first thing Jim taught me to do was add pictures to my posts and how to make them BIGGER...Not one judge has made the connection between the scrolling "filmstrip" and the fact that I do vidcasts....that is hysterical.... I got the Library Thing widget from Jeff Turner and it was SOOO much easier than trying to put the books in the sidebar myself. The one thing that I told Jim from the very beginning was that I wanted to be able to make most of the presentation changes myself. Unless something is very complicated...I create it all myself. Poll widgets, charity widgets, vlyers....links, you name it.

Anyway...thanks Oliver, I appreciate your analysis of my site.

Hi Oliver,

Thank you for your comment and your willingness to judge. Both are appreciated. Also, I want to STRESS that I do believe that you did your level best to be impartial, and for that I am also deeply appreciative and very impressed. I don't know if I could or would honestly be able to do that myself. And you are quite right, it is a itty bitty teeny tiny little world so finding someone to take up the mantle of judge without having any connection to anyone involved in the contest is difficult if not impossible. That being said, I also think that it is neigh on imparitive that that is exactly what is done in the future.

I also like your idea of getting more than one judge to look at each weeks efforts. Different people and different perspectives give even more value to the results. Perhaps what would work would be to try to get three different people, even if it means weekly judging and not a consistent, continuing panel, who come from three different places in the blogosphere.

One could and should be a Real Estate/Technology insider who would be able to understand and speak to the technical aspect of blogs. One could and should be a non-Real Estate Blogger - someone with no connection with the business or the industry but who does understand blogging (I don't think it would be difficult to find folks that are successful bloggers who are not in the RE business as there are still a whole heck of a lot more of them out there than there are of us :-), they would also serve as the voice of the client so to speak, as they would be reading for content value and how it strikes them more than for anything else. And one should be a Real Estate Blogger, preferably an agent or broker who is successful in using their blogs to attract most if not all of their business. They would provide the blend of the two, that of the understanding of the unique position that the Real Estate blogger occupies and how to serve both masters... the client and the community.

I understand that you folks who judge are given the same criteria as we the contestants are (that would be very little to none and very loosely structured) and that makes it as difficult for you as it is for us :-).

Please understand that any criticism that I may make is not directed at you personally, your company or your decision as a judge, but merely expressed in an effort to help ensure that some of the stumbling blocks that we as the inaugural group of Project Blogger participants (coaches, apprentices, judges and organizers alike) have encountered in our journey. Some have been pebbles, some have been potholes and some have proven to be roadblocks, but all have served to make the journey more interesting, the path more challenging and the experience more enlightening.

Thank you for your effort, as I have said publicly many, many times before... I do not envy you your task, but I am grateful to you for being willing to tackle it.

I sincerely hope that one of the outcomes of this experience is a true blueprint, by way of a post-morteum of the Project upon it's completion by all involved, on how to improve for the future. If that occurs... no, I am going to say when that occurs, no matter who gets the accolades we will all have won the game.

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

Tisza

Oliver,

No worries and THANKS! I'm a big boy

I sent Caleb a note but I don't think I understand why we have had no points since the first week. There has been activity, but not a lot. Please let me know. Send an email to: teresa(at)tboardman.com or leave it in the comment section of my AR blog

I'm sorry. I don't quite understand. Does Oliver feel that AR is not a relevant vehicle for reaching consumers?

I think AR/Localism is great myself and much more powerful, at this point, than my SBCB. Should we as apprentices not post on AR for the consumer? Jonathan/Caleb?

Oliver- thanks for the input.

Wow, the first and second places are close. It's going to be a photo finish. Everyone get their cameras ready!

JUN

2007

Caleb,

I agree he's doing awesome, as is Ines, even though they are where they are. I don't like competitions. Never did. When I was asked to Coach, I only thought about the educational part and the team part...not the chart part :)

Because occasionally it's fun to poke rattlesnakes...It's my week to ask:

Is week 3 going to get judged? :D

We are all laughing, right? Honestly, I have written it off, but I would be curious to know what the official explanation for the week 3 omission was. Did I miss that?

I think the official explanation is "It's water under the bridge" :)

Teri I IM'd with Caleb a few weeks ago about it and he told me he was going to do it but busy.

A couple of weeks ago I realized that no matter who "wins", everyone is going to say, "oh it was not a fair competition from the beginning" and even whomever does get to assign the charity money is probably not going to really feel great about the situation. And that's too bad. At this point it's probably down to the top 3 or 4 candidates but there's no slam dunk. A couple of weeks with any participant scoring zero and everything changes.... I hope that when it's over though, we can all sincerely congratulate one another for our hard work during a sometimes bizarre contest with changing criteria. I know I have a lot of respect for the rest of you who have not quit mid-contest. . . .

Ardell- I would agree it is water under the bridge. I'm just being naughty

Mary- thanks for the info. For the record, I will never say it was not fair. I will say, and have said the rules are vague. But unfair and vague are not the same thing. Each of us has had a completely different obstacle to overcome- hopefully people watching could learn from each of us.

Personally, I'm positively thrilled with how my blog is doing in this, for many reasons which I'll not go into right now. I'm proud of what I've done, I'm pleased to be competing with such awesome bloggers.

The other apprentices are the reason I'm still here- we are each setting our own goals, and focusing on those now- is there any other reason to blog? I believe everyone has learned tremendously from this- The point of the whole bloody thing. *group hug*

Hi All,

Mary, I heard a similar explanation regarding week three and since I trust them, I am sure that they will get to it when they have time. After all, the contest officially ends with July 14 so they have two weeks between then and August 1st to get it done, right? Actually, I am ready to suggest that they just give everyone 100 points for that week and call it square LOL.

Oh, and regarding the contest is unfair thing... To anyone who would say that it was "unfair" my response would be "My but the grapes are sour where you are." We have all worked hard. We have all struggled with the same challenges and we have all earned our spots as the first ever PB apprentices. Those of us who are still in the game, and I don't mean according to points, I mean still writing, already won.

Teri - you poke rattler's really well :-) I agree that vague and unfair are not the same thing. I want the cash for the charity that I support too, but it's not like if I win the money would go to charity and if someone else wins the cash is going to buy a round in a bar. It does good wherever it goes. I agree wholeheartedly with you regarding how I feel about what I have done and how I feel about everyone else. Great group. Great experience. Great Scott isn't it over yet LOL!

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

Tisza

JUL

2007

Ladies - you are quite right, "fair" isn't the right word. I think what I meant is that there wasn't balance in the judgement, or perhaps that the judging wasn't consistent or.... I'm not sure how to word it, Perhaps the whole think is a little "cattywampus".

In any event, I agree with you both that whoever is still blogging and improving his or her posts at this point is a success.

I've just returned from vacation in Oregon and Washington. It was hard, even with pre-planning, to keep up (this week I scored exactly 0 points). I looked back at my week's work and thought, you know, given that I was on vacation, I'm really happy with what I did accomplish.

Like most of the apprentices, I am moving away from "how is it going with the competition" to "how am I doing in this relative to life". And I think that is the real test, after all.

Hope you'll all be at Blogger's Connect. I'd love to share a glass of vino with all of you and toast you all :-)

i think this shows my wife how blogging is important...

JUL

2007

what happened to the popular vote... does it still count or not ?

Caleb, very nice and really shows the effect put forth.

Caleb, thanks for updating the scores so fast.

What happened to the popular vote? Why is it gone? Does it still count in some way?

Will vidcast, polls or important information that pertains to our community count? Please let us know what is happening?

What - No more popular vote for Project Blogger? Does this change the rules of the contest? If so, what are the NEW rules?

Also, how much weight is being added to those bloggers who are using additional tools like vidcast, polling on related articles, etc.? What about relevency of topics?

INquiring minds want to know? :)

I'd like to commend Jackie Colsen-Miller with www.realestatesizzle.com for her excellent articles and information. I have particularly enjoy your articles on Property Tax reform in Florida as this is a hot topic for ALL Floridians and your other real estate related articles.

I have made www.realestatesizzle.com one of my favorites and read it everyday. Thank you and keep up the great work!

JUL

2007

I just started to use Vflyers..they are pretty good and may continue them if I see some extra exposure they say they provide.

I have watched this contest from the beginning and have been amazed at the mess that the judges have made. I have often wondered if they even READ what the contestants are writing because so many gave points to the ones who wrote lots of articles, even though they were about NOTHING interesting to someone buying a house in that area.

As a buyer, I want to read articles from an agent who is focused on what a client wants not an agent that is constantly complaining about the contest or writing more about her blogging life than her city, and things about living there.

FINALLY it seems the judges are actually reading the articles and seeing which contestants are focusing their efforts and their design in the right way. I hope this continues.

One other comment. I agree with the others. Taking away the readers vote was wrong. I voted for my favorite every week and most people agreed with me. What does that tell you about the judges vote since they were rarely the same. When you have hundreds of votes against one vote. It's good we don't elect anyone like that.

I have LOVED the info and entertainment from Jackie Colson-Miller. She has taken" realtor "to a new level.

She is an informed advisor, and I have learned much from her blog.

Keep on keeping me informed Ms. Sizzle!

There's going to be a vote toward the end of the contest account for audience votes.

Mathew, the judges have opted to take their individual experiences and understandings of blogging, marketing, and real estate to evaluate the over all efforts of each team.

There were guidelines (rules) at the beginning by which the blogs (or teams) were supposed to be judged. What we discovered in the course of the project was that a lot of it was open for interpretation, and the reward/punishment changed from week to week and there was a lot of contradiction between the judges from week to week as to what was good and what was bad. This was pretty upsetting to the participants, who felt like drivers in a car with passengers all shouting "stop! go! left! right! you're turn indicator's on! why isn't your turn indicator on?" and so on. So the rules really just plain disappeared, much to everyone's frustration.

I don't think it's Active Rain's fault, or Caleb's fault, or anyone's fault. But it's something that should be fixed before there's another project like it so that there is consistency from week to week.

And the voting got to be a problem too, either from misunderstandings or a virus or who knows what.

I love the idea - I think it is Ardell's - about multiple winners. Both Ines and Kevin brought up complete blogs out of nothingness during the course of these 14 weeks and their blogs are fantastic. How about "most improved" award for them? The contest was supposed to factor improvement in, but in reality, that hasn't really been the case at all. In effect, they were penalized for not having outside blogs when it began. I think both of them do deserve commendation for what they've done.

I think, too, that there should be "most helpful coaches" (both to their own mentors and to the rest of us for the amount they participated and shared). Jeff Turner and Ardell DellaLoggia get my vote.

And then there are others who weren't officially in but who helped a lot: Cheryl Johnson, Laurie Manny, and Maureen McCabe are heros there.

And I could go on and on about the pros to all the apprentice's blogs and what the mentors have contributed, but I recall reading on Ardell's blog how that's not so good to do. OOOPS.

Anyway, it's been a learning curve and I think everyone involved HAS learned.

Kind of unfair to change the voting rules during the middle of the contest. Reminds me of hanging chads in the Florida elections in 2000.

Wow, first and second are still so close. Good luck guys!

Thanks for the mention Mary but I am just an innocent bystander. I have enjoyed reading the whole thing though and I have learned a lot.

Now that it's almost over, I really think the winner should be celebrated. The more we pick on the contest, the more it feels like the winner shouldn't be very, very proud of having won. And that is not the case. Mary, you came in first five times with five different judges. Be very, very proud of that. These last two weeks of judging will be interesting.

I didn't understand the International flavor of Jackie's blog, so I got lost there...but her signs are really Fabulous, don't you think? I don't think they'd play here in Seattle. But I think they are a great idea.

Tisza, you could were your clown outfit :) I'm sure people would notice signs like that.

Caleb...it's almost over. We're going to have a VERY BIG DRINK in San Francisco. Do they still make "Big Mothers"? I think they are like Long Island Iced Teas.

Everyone recommend the drink we should have at the end of this. Kamikazees? Obviously I'm not up on the latest drinks :)

ARDELL,

You are so very, very right about that. I for one will be celebrating the achievement of having been allowed to participate. I also think that recognizing the efforts made on all fronts would be appropriate. As for the drinks... I tend to be a Diet Pepsi girl myself but I may just decide to tie one on, throw caution to the wind and down a Shirley Temple or two :-)

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

Tisza

Pills and Kami's and of course a cig!

Ardell... you are right on point. And I'll take a Jack on the rocks, please.

JUL

2007

Ardell, I know there will be some drinks on the 31st - something called Bloggers and Beer. I'll go for Webloggers and Wine myself. Or maybe Merriment and Margaritas. Would any of you like to plan a PB get together on the 31st after the Bloggers and Beer thing? Ardell, thanks for the nice words. Family creed on success: do your best and be happy with it. I do feel like I've worked hard, and I believe I have done my best. I know I've learned a lot. So whether I come in 1st or 2nd or who cares where, I'm happy with my own effort and relatively happy with where things are (now I just need to get clients out of the LILG blog). Looking forward to seeing many of you soon in SF.

Mary... I'm up for a PB bash. Count me in.

Jackie's site is great. I really appreciated all the information and insite she provided about the Florida Tax issue. I also enjoyed her latest blog on "Green Homes". Keep up the great work Jackie.

I would like to kick in a very brief comment about improvement for next time, and I do think you should do something like this again. A panel of judges- absolutely. Also, I would like to see each apprentice's goal for their blog stated up front, and at least part of the judging based on how well each team met their goals, how they accomplished those goals, and how feasible it is for someone at home to accomplish this. Yes, this will become a post on it's own this week, I just wanted to throw these thoughts into the mix here. Have a drink for me in SF! Jeff, I'm a Jack on the rocks chick myself... :), I'n fact, I just might be sitting in a brick ranch in Huber Heights, having my own little party. woohoo :D

Five days to go...we've all had quite an experience and we're all up and running. I know, personally, that I would not have cranked it this hard, if not for the contest. I am thrilled with my readership and how I have pushed myself to investigate what they want to read. My challenge will be to see if I can continue to grow those numbers exponentially and continue to add more of my International Business. When the judges didn't "get that" I focused on Tampa. Now I can go back to the original mix of content.

I agree with Teri...there should be another Project Blogger. We were the "learning curve" for the future...it has been both fun and frustrating. A "panel" of judges is a must...and consistent rules and guidelines from beginning to end. Perhaps more time to choose an apprentice who really wants to participate to eliminate the "fall out".

The most interesting thing to me is the wide variety of the look and content of our blogs...so very different from a static website and the very reason a panel is so important.

Here's to the finale....I'm drinking Tequila!

It's been a long and tough contest everyone. I am happy with the results. I've seen definite improvements. I appreciate that so many of you have done so well. I'm going to have to get to week three soon and see how that changes things ;).

One thing, if you've read the home thinking post I'd appreciate it if you'd give the judge some thanks for taking the time to offer such constructive criticism to the posts. She put time into understanding what previous judges had written as well.

Jeff, I'll count you in for the PB get-together on the 31st. Tisza and I are coming up together and I'm sure I can talk her into joining us ("party? where's the party?" she'll be saying) and I'm sure Fran will be nudged into it as well, along with Joeann Fossland, who indirectly got me into all of this.

You know, Irish Coffees were invented in San Francisco, so perhaps we should all head over to the Buena Vista for a nice cup.

Remember that Mark Twain once said, "The coldest winter I ever had was a summer spent in San Francisco". PACK WARMLY, people. You may want that Irish coffee!!!!

I'm happy to help arrange the PB dinner or whatever after the B & B on the 31st....

Mary

Caleb- thanks for the reminder. Been meaning to leave a comment at HomeThinking....

Judging results for this week (13) will be posted on Monday. This judge is going to take a different tack than the others and focus on some slight different things that I think will help us all. Please Keep blogging everyone the competition is not over yet. And we've still got some great judges lined up!

Thanks for the update, Caleb. Who's the judge for the week?

JUL

2007

Caleb,

I'm hoping at least one judge is going to look at the whole blog and not just the posts of the week.

Ardell- you are right! Progress, at some point in time, needs to be addressed: Where did you start, where did you end up? If not this time around then put it on the list for next time.

Jackie's Real Estate Sizzle is Outstanding. It has been a great way for us to keep up with the Florida Tax Issue and also the insurance angle. Keep up the great work. We look forward to more articles and updates.

Teri and ARDELL,

I couldn't agree more. Comparing our individual efforts without taking into account the differing needs of our communities and giving some degree of weight to growth would be a shame.

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

Tisza

Ardell, there have been judges that looked at the "whole blog." Marc Davison looked at the whole thing not just posts, This weeks judge is doing the same.

Hi Caleb,

That is wonderful news! I am hopeful that they will give equal weight to our public offerings here on AR as well as those on our personal sites since both are available for our clients to read. That will of course, undoubtably make the task even more challenging, but I am confident that they are up to it.

Thanks again for everything.

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

Tisza

I agree that the whole blog thing is a good idea. One week I might do a few history pieces (interesting places), others I might focus more on real estate, and still others, events. Our readers don't view just one week so I love the idea that a judge would view it as a whole.

Thanks :)

Celebrating in San Francisco sounds like a great idea! if know its' been a learning experience for everyone!

And, yes, I did help get Mary into this when she offhandedly said "I want to learn more about blogging:

I'm sure she is going to be more careful about what she wishes for!

Hi Joeann,

What a good thing you did for all of us :-) And you are quite right, I think Mary might be a touch more careful about what she wishes for in the future... Actually, when I met her in Long Beach I do remember seeing her standing quietly in a corner of the room with her eyes screwed shut tight, her fists balled up and hearing her chanting under her breath over and over "Pay no attention, I didn't mean it, I don't really want the pony..." over and over and I wondered what that was all about, but I didn't want to pry...

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

Tisza

Too much control from outside AR

Joeann- you take intentionality to a whole new level. And I love ya for it.

Tisza - lol you are soooo funny. I have NO regrets with any of this. It has been a bit of a wild ride, but I've learned a ton, very fast. Of course now I have a lot of questions that I didn't use to have, but they're more sophisticated than the old ones :)

Like Howard Brinton likes to say, it's been like drinking water from a fire hydrant!

Larry I'm not sure what you mean. You mean too many judges from outside of AR? Or too many comments from non-AR members?

JUL

2007

What is the contest? What do you win?

congrats mary

Larry - I think there is great value in including people from outside our platform. There is a much bigger blogosphere out there that we need to explore and acknowledge. As wonderful as ActiveRain is, we can all benefit tremendously by networking with other leading blogging/social media experts.

Congratulations Teri for number one for week 13 if I am reading this right. Congrats to Mary for second place in week 13. #3 Kevin / #4 Tisza / #5 Jackie congrats! Mary is still ahead but there is one more weeks of entries to judge... and isn't there going to be voting by us? Congrats to all who have stuck with Project Blogger. Pat Kitano's review is a very, very interesting read. I probably learned more from this review / judging than I did any other week (not that I am judging the judging... much...) The thing about the Technorati authority of the Project Blogger blogs is very interesting, I can't help but notice the comments about Mary's RT blog not ranking well on Technorati although it's got the content since I have an RT blog. I am not sure I agree we need to write national 'flag poles' on hyperlocal blogs...I think that is what he called them. I don't think we need to write for one another on our blogs maybe I am delusional but I still believe local people read my blog....

Thanks all for the feedback.

A flagpole article just attracts readers... many of them are topical - takes on Redfin or Zillow, the local/state economy, the changing demographics of an area, new technologies for agents or CONSUMERS, the Sellsius blog tour, a pictorial of the history of the hometown... Don't take the flagpole metaphor literally, every blog has popular articles that google tends to find. Just put these great articles out there on a "Top Article" list so readers will find them and even bookmark them. When I peruse a new blog, I check for a "Best of" right away.

Yes, hyperlocal blogs are perfect for agents focusing on their local markets. I think it's easy to slip in an article that others outside the area might find interesting too... and it never hurts to network with other agents outside your locale.

Thanks to all of the fantastic bloggers, you give me a lot to aspire to.

JUL

2007

Thanks for the continued updates. The learning even for us non-PB folks hasbeen great.

Jeff

There's a great table on Bloodhound Blog in a recap of PB or a summation of PB as Teri's coach.... a continuation of the Technorati info that Pat had in his PB review, #'s. Good info. Just another way of looking at it.

It might be interesting, from a long haul point of view, to follow up with our blogs some time out. 6 months, 1 year, whatever. If the point of this is to teach how to blog, then the long haul is truly what it's about... And might be of value...Just thinking out loud....OTOH... Forget it....;)

we'll all be able to say... "I knew Teri (Mary, Kevin, Tisza, etc.) way back when she /he started blogging six months from now when you are the movers and shakers in the RE blogophere.