A true definition of referrals....

[Mert]

Hi guys, I have been thinking long and hard about how to make money from real estate referrals based on website (not talking about state reciprocal pages) while still having a white clean seo on your website. Anyhow here is my take on it. I believe every agent that is being your referral partner should have its own specific portfolio page for a small geographic area. The page should be written well thought out combining the characteristics of the local area with the experiences of the agent that qualifies him as the agent you would refer every client to. I would love to see the expert panel's opinion on this topic.

[kensmith]

Any agent to agent linking just isn't the way to go IMO. Trying to come up with a new way to do the same old thing just isn't the answer. Think there are to many ways to pick up links to waste your time with any form of agent to agent directory style linking.

[Mert]

I was not talking about linking. I was talking about referring people on websites to actually make money from referrals. Anyhow I had a link to a post on my blog about the subject but had to take it down that explains it better.

[kensmith]

In that case I think that building it up to collect referral fees is a great idea. Sorry I took the question incorrectly.

How to set it up? Look at homegain or some of the other large national sites to see how they structure things. They rank for thousands of cities nationwide. No reason to reinvent the wheel on this one.

[Jim Messenger]

This still looks like an attempt to disguise a reciprocal link building effort.

Mert said: "I believe every agent that is being your referral partner should have its own specific portfolio page for a small geographic area."

If I understand your comment correctly, you propose setting up a page on your site for "any of your referral partners." What is your end objective?

Who are these partners? Partner, by definition is "two people sharing with another or others in an activity".

What is the activity you share in? Hmmm, Is it I'll build a page for you on my site and you build a page for me on your site?

Or, are you just going to be a really nice guy and build a page on your site for anyone who wants one - without regard to whether or not they do the same for you? Otherwise known as "reciprocate."

Now we approach another issue:

Let's just imagine that you are going to build these "referral partner" pages without any reciprocal requirements. If these pages start ranking for their keywords - which are not in your market - you can bet that the agents that do work in those markets will call it Spam! Expect - in advance - that you will be the target of many filed Spam notices. It's not necessary for us to debate whether it is or isn't Spam. Just know that you will be a target and, if you choose to implement such an approach, accept the consequences should they arise.

Here is what Ramez Naam with Yahoo said about this at SES San Jose last year. He said that if it is also an issue on how your pages rank. If your site is about Florida and because of anchor text on your page it shows up in the results for Illinois, then that’s not a relevant result for their users. (Ramez didn’t use those specific states - I just can’t remember which ones he used.)

Jim

[naplesrealestate]

I am wondering, using Florida as an example. If I were to create pages for other towns or cities where an agent works that I would refer business to and the agent would be doing the same thing.

Would that be as bad as creating a page for an agent in another state?

[Mert]

Originally Posted by Jim Messenger This still looks like an attempt to disguise a reciprocal link building effort. Mert said: "I believe every agent that is being your referral partner should have its own specific portfolio page for a small geographic area." If I understand your comment correctly, you propose setting up a page on your site for "any of your referral partners." What is your end objective?

My objective is to make most money for my real estate brokerage by actually creating meaningful referral pages rather than blank state pages.

Originally Posted by Jim Messenger Who are these partners? Partner, by definition is "two people sharing with another or others in an activity". What is the activity you share in? Hmmm, Is it I'll build a page for you on my site and you build a page for me on your site?

Partners are you will send me your Phoenix referrals I will send you my Chicago referrals. That is why knowing each other is a big deal before posting the person on your website.

Originally Posted by Jim Messenger Or, are you just going to be a really nice guy and build a page on your site for anyone who wants one - without regard to whether or not they do the same for you? Otherwise known as "reciprocate."?

I want to build a site that will actually rank for that small area keyword.

Originally Posted by Jim Messenger Let's just imagine that you are going to build these "referral partner" pages without any reciprocal requirements. If these pages start ranking for their keywords - which are not in your market - you can bet that the agents that do work in those markets will call it Spam! Expect - in advance - that you will be the target of many filed Spam notices. It's not necessary for us to debate whether it is or isn't Spam. Just know that you will be a target and, if you choose to implement such an approach, accept the consequences should they arise..

It entirely has to do with website and webpage representation of your company. There are relocation companies out there and there are lead generation companies out there (homegain etc) that rank just fine. It is a human decision and so presentation should be made fit to the human eye. Of course you have a point that 99% of the real estate agent sites will not be able to sell the idea as you said in your last paragraph Jim. For example Baird & Warner largest illinois real estate brokerage (1800 agents) also has a relocation division. Are you telling me that if they created a relocation page for clients who are moving to Chicago from Arizona, that is irrelevant????). In my opinion it is a matter of how you present the page. And as long as there are no irrelevant link backs from other agents' links pages or such it is legitimate (and yea I dont recommend actually putting links to those agents' sites. I actually think you should really just put contact us forms (adrhi example).

Beyond the human eye also spider based relativity calculations can be done by simple sidebar internal link editing. Ken knows this tactic the best as his old site used to rank for the state relocation keywords bringing decent traffic i am sure to those pages.

[Jim Messenger]

Originally Posted by Mert For example Baird & Warner largest illinois real estate brokerage (1800 agents) also has a relocation division. Are you telling me that if they created a relocation page for clients who are moving to Chicago from Arizona, that is irrelevant????).

Obviously, I can not comment on an if. Show me a page and I'll give my opinion on whether or not it is irrelevant.

Originally Posted by Mert Ken knows this tactic the best as his old site used to rank for the state relocation keywords bringing decent traffic i am sure to those pages.

It still does...

[Mert]

Ken erased those state pages if I am not mistaken. I was talking about specific relocation pages for each state on his site *when he had the aa design*. I know he still ranks highly for his site.

In terms of Baird & Warner, of course they dont have the state pages but if they did in this page where they talk about their "strategic alliances" with each major company out there and what areas these alliances are
http://www.bairdwarner.com/content/Page.asp?PAGE=bawmoveout

you could see how it could make sense. It is a matter of representing yourself as a major corporation.

[Jim Messenger]

Originally Posted by Mert It is a matter of representing yourself as a major corporation.

So, it's a matter of representing yourself as something you're not? That - in of itself - is revealing.