Spoken Gently's Blog: All Categories

In light of some recent safety news with real estate agents, I wanted to post an entry on real estate agent safety. I am a former U.S. Marine whose specialty was security, plus I have several years of civilian security experience and a few college minors in Criminal Justice/Pre-Law. Safety is important to me. I geared up to do an exhaustive post on safety and early (fortunately) in my research I came across this free download for real estate agent safety. Saved me a lot of work, as this pamphlet is excellent and a must read by women and men alike.

National Association of Realtors® | Real Estate Safety Council Free Safety Pamphlet from Washington Realtor®

This brochure is not just for women, but for men as well. From the first page of the brochure:

In…

Click To Read "The Bankrupt Homeowner"

Hairspray, Yakima Capitol Theatre and Tri Cities Washington Toyota Center | Looking for something to do this weekend? Consider viewing a performance of Hairspray. KNDO writes:

It's time to let your hair down at dance the night away at the Hairspray musical. Be swept away to 1960s Baltimore in this smash hit musical, piled bouffant-high with laughter and romance - and enough deliriously tuneful songs to fill a nonstop platter party. Hairspray will be performed at The Capitol Theatre, in Yakima, WA. The event takes place on February 23, 2008 at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM.

The musical also has a showing at Kennewick's Toyota Center, Sunday, February 24th at 7:00pm. From the Toyota Center website:

Broadway’s Tony Award® - winning musical-comedy phenomenon…

The TRAC Home & Garden Show is one of the largest home and garden shows in Eastern Washington. Put on by the Home Builders Association of the Tri-Cities, the 3-day show features the newest ideas in home design and landscaping.

• Home & Garden Show Location: TRAC Center, 6600 Burden Blvd.
• City: Pasco
• Phone: (509) 735-2745
• Start: Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:00am
• End: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:00pm
• Friday hours from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sat. from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sun. from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

We've seen Google come down on unnatural linking patterns and/or link spam in previous years. In the past year, we've witnessed Google come down on real estate agent's state reciprocal link pages, paid linking, directory linking, contextual linking, etc. I suspect the next wave of Google penalties will be in regards to what I will coin as selective dofollow comments in blogs and web pages. Let me explain.

Selective Nofollow Comments

Many blogs are selectively allowing comments to have the dofollow attribute.

I have two blogs and have the comments turned to off and/or needing moderation prior to approval. Well, I am embarrassed to say that I wasn't paying attention and this real estate blog had 12,000 comments waiting for moderation! WordPress only…

With the recent seo contest and the quick ranking of some of the press releases associated with the contest, my attention has turned towards press releases and other venues of publicity. I've sought many types of links, however, I have never submitted a press release, so I thought I would do some investigating. Here are some resources I've turned up:

• For starters, Ryan Ward just published a blog entry on his take on press release preferences. Ryan recommends and/or discusses Free Press Release and I-Newswire.
• A few additional pr release service companies I consistently stumbled upon in my research (some are paid, some free): 24-7PressRelease | PRNewsWire | PR.com |
• Publicity Insider publishes a list of pr links and resources for not only…

Happy Valentines Day Colleen! You may not win the Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World contest, but you are certainly the apple in my eye! Actually, you are the Greatest In The World period! I guess that puts us officially in the competition. Not sure we'll win, as I can see all sorts of time, money, and effort put into this thing by a lot of folks.

I suspect the person that wins the contest will be the person willing to work the hardest at it, and employ the most creative link building methods. Speaking of working hard, did you see Dennis Pease's Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World Squidoo page, or Ryan Ward's Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World pr plug? I am certain Eric Bramlett's Greatest Real Estate Agent In The World campaign will include…

I haven't blogged in a while. Figured I'd start some place! :)