There’s always something to howl about.

Are we looking for (link) love in all the wrong places?

I wrote a PG-13 rated post about 10 months ago about a few sites that only had links to each other (grin), but rather than point at what not to do and be negative and all that, I would like to throw out some (possibly) new thoughts and ideas on building online authority.

WHY NOT BE HYPERLOCAL ABOUT IT AS WELL AS REALTOR TO REALTOR??

Good SEO requires effort at building online authority (read: LINKS from other sites into yours). It was the basis of how Google’s algorithm was founded. Simple as that.

Great SEO builds authority and relationships (and PROFITS) and take links into SECONDARY consideration, but finds creative ways to do it in a DEFENSIBLE way that others cannot match, duplicate or replicate.

I don’t find it strange that MUCH of today’s REALTOR online authority (links) are built like a referral network from REALTOR to REALTOR. It is the most efficient way to build authority that Google would recognize.

But if you REALLY wanted to impress the search engines, why wouldn’t you build LOCAL online authority ? This means that you would be able to bring much of the chamber of commerce to recognize YOU as the real estate authority. They would link to YOUR blog or YOUR site. If they link to you because they know you, or you have done something nice for them, why wouldn’t they REFER you to their friends?

That would bring BUYERS and SELLERS to you as well as links! It would be true authority IMO.

I DO find it strange that less REALTORS use THAT approach as well as vying for respect among PEERS.

I have prepared some specific techniques and ideas on this subject for the REW conference in September, but IMO the specific techniques are NOT AS IMPORTANT AS STARTING WITH THE RIGHT GOAL. THE GOAL IS TO BUILD ONLINE AUTHORITY AND EXPOSURE AMONG YOUR CUSTOMER BASE AS WELL AS YOUR PEERS. It is about a diverse and defensible reputation. (And a cash flow POSITIVE one (from referrals) as opposed to paying others for links). In my opinion, it is not just about seeing how many peers you can get to link to you…

I would love your thoughts on the subject.