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The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World
Who is the greatest real estate agent in the world? Right now it’s a title up for grabs, but on May 1st, 2008, we will find out which agent, according to Google’s search engine, is worthy of the title “The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World”! Thanks to Eric Bramlett, the Austin Real Estate Agent who came up with the idea for a contest and title, and Morgan Carey of Real Estate Webmasters, we will soon be able to recognize real estate agents for their constant drive to learn effective ways to market real estate properties online.
Among other things, a great real estate agent is an expert in communicating, listening, understanding and real estate. They meet the needs and exceed the expectations of their client’s throughout the entire process of listing, selling or buying a home. The winner of this contest won’t necessarily be the greatest real estate agent known to man, but they’ll prove that they’re educated in search engine optimization, a crucial part of marketing your real estate listings online.
The goal and how to win the title:
The winner of this contest only has to meet one requirement, get to the top of Google’s search results for the phrase – greatest real estate agent in the world – and still be there when the contest ends May 1st, 2008. Of course, there is a lot that goes into reaching and maintaining good Google rankings, and with some of the best search engine optimization experts from around the world competing for the title, all contestants will have their work cut out for them.
On May 1st, 2008, the person holding the top position after a keyword search for: greatest real estate agent in the world; will win the title and prize (mentioned below). Google operates multiple data centers around the world and results for searches can differ from one data center to the next, so determining the winner may be a little difficult. I’m not sure if the contest includes Google domains in other countries.
The Rules:
No cheap shots below the belt or in the back of the head, no biting, no head butts and no kicking when your opponent is on the ground (Yeah Right!).
Contestants can use any domain in their control. This means anything from a MySpace page to a blog-site and everything in between. In addition, they need to follow Google’s Guidelines for Webmasters. I believe contestants are also encouraged to share things that they’ve learned from others during the experience but it’s unclear if this is expected before or after the contest.
Other than that, unless I’ve missed something, it’s going to be a contest full of traditional search engine tactics, creative practices and hopefully new experiments yet to make it into the mainstream field of search engine optimization. I doubt any webmaster will participate in shady schemes as most of their techniques will be under the watchful eye of their competitors.
The Prize:
The prize is a free Real Estate Webmasters (REW) template website, free hosting for a year on the new V 2.0 REW platform and the company’s $2500 CORE IDX accompanied with the $360 yearly fee on top of it; total value of the price is well over $4000. The prize is fully transferable – if you’re a real estate broker and you win, it could be a nice incentive package for a top performing real estate agent.
The announcement of the contest and its prize were offered by a well know Real Estate company, Real Estate Webmasters, the company specializes in custom web design, IDX/MLS solutions, search engine marketing and website templates.
The contest will likely help many webmasters better understand what’s needed to compete in today’s real estate industry and more importantly educate them on the best techniques and practices to use when engaging in search engine optimization. The contest will be both fun, and entertaining as we watch some of the best Internet real estate experts compete for a new title and worthwhile prize. In addition to the many contestants and sideline enthusiasts, there will be a few critics of the contest voicing their disapproval of the possible spam associated with such an event.
Who do you think is going to be the first winner of The Greatest Real Estate in the World contest? Can they find you a kitchen like the one below?
Link to the New Homes Section Blog
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9 Comments Received
February 21st, 2008 @2:06 pm
It’s hard to say at this point who will be the winner. The top 30 have been bouncing all over the place this week.
February 21st, 2008 @9:45 pm
I have a feeling some of the top results will overdo it and get penalized.
February 22nd, 2008 @7:38 am
You are right Mike. There is a lot of good competition out there. Some even have teams of 10 or maybe even more. So I guess we will see how it turns out. Good luck to you sir.
February 22nd, 2008 @10:09 am
Anything can happen before May 1. I think the contest would have been better if it were streached out until November 1 though.
February 22nd, 2008 @10:58 am
Sounds like a groovy contest. I’ll see if I can help you out a bit.
February 22nd, 2008 @4:18 pm
Thanks Pixelhead
Mike D - hopefully G won’t hand out any penalizations since the keyword isn’t competitive, If anything it’s a good way for them to recognize patterns and devalue them in some way. They probably learn more when people have contests than the contestants.
February 23rd, 2008 @7:33 am
Mike D - “hopefully G won’t hand out any penalizations since the keyword isn’t competitive,”
Is that how it works? Competitive words bring scrutiny by competitors who then report anything they see as spam. This is a competitive phrase, now, and powerful eyes are watching. I’d bet it’s safe to say there will be some burning embers after this, sadly, for it’s a whim term and not money phrase.
The “hope” is that people see that this is a contest for a barely searched for term so that scrutiny isn’t necessary - though there will always be those in the dark that giggle at destroying others, even if over a whimsical game.
The feather in the cap goes to who pulls it off, not who pulls the others down.
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