From time to time we do check out the Real Estate Webmasters forum just to see if the former Canadian porn webmaster turned Real Estate sales evangelist is slamming UltimateIDX or PREN.
Today I forgot to turn my Fire Fox DoFollow link checker off before I went to the Real Estate Webmasters forum and low an behold I noticed a Member with over 500 posts had “nofollow” tags on all of his signature links. I remember hearing something about REW Members with less than 300 posts would have the “nofollow” tag on their signatures but had no idea that was implemented or substantially raised until today.
It now appears that the figure to achieve before REW Members get any credit for posting is over 650. Please don’t take my word on this. Check it out for yourself. Now that seems like one hellofalot of work on Morgan’s website BEFORE you get any link love.
My question is what will REW raise it to the next time 1,000 posts, 1,500 posts or??? And do New REW Members know about this?
OK I admit my curiosity kicked in and I really needed to know “the rest of the strory”, so I started checking further. Right off the bat you can see that REW places a “nofollow” tag on any text links within a post and it is obvious that Google has substantially devalued REW Blogs and any inbound links from these blogs.
So then I wanted to know what kind of link juice the Real Estate Webmasters forum generated for the “Uber Real Estate Webmaster” Members (aka “Kool Aide Drinkers”). I targeted a Members website that primarily only had REW inbounds. This REW Member joined back in 2005 and had in excess of 1,100 posts and a multitude of blog posts. The Member’s website displays a dismal PR1 for all the hard work and effort.
Now if the same REW Member had posted over 1,100 blog comments on 1,100 different websites, posted to his/her own Blog the same amount as he/she posted to the REW Blog the Member’s PR would be significantly higher. This is a no brainer folks!
Now you can call me bias all you want (and yes I am). But do the research yourself. Please don’t take my word for it. Regardless or whether you are a new REW Member or a Kool-Aide drinking “Uber Real Estate Webmaster” the Real Estate Webmasters forum is nothing but a huge waste of your time.
What was most shocking is that Morgan Carey even applies the “nofollow” tag to REW Clients!
Admittedly, Morgan Carey is one of the BEST self promoters I have ever come across, however his loyalty is strictly to himself and enjoys the fruit of his Members labor to glorify and promote who? Not you!
About the author: SEOWolf
K.M “Mack” McMillan comes from a family of REALTORS® and was a Broker himself for 14+ years. Mack built one of the 1st real estate websites in 1994 which helped his family run Agency become the most successful Brokerage in south central Missouri. As the original founder of the UltimateIDX in 2000, Mack continues to serve the real estate community and maintains an advisory role in UltimateIDX.
Ultimate IDX is powered by Buying Buddy IDX CRM
Get a demo of the Ultimate IDX plugin and CRM Marketing system for Agents and Teams
Input your search keywords and press Enter.
That plugin is great, I had not heard of it before, but I just downloaded it. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
“Canadian porn webmaster turned Real Estate sales evangelist…” You’re hilarious, buddy!
Yep – Morgan is a piece of work isn’t he? He likes to point out what ever body else is doing,but doesn’t seem to think that three of his own fingers are pointing right at him 😉
I think anyone that has to knock a competitor to feel better, especially a competitor that has a much better product is a very insecure unprofessional individual that should not be trusted.
If you had a good product you wouldn’t have to worry about REW or how they operate…
Now I would have never have taken you for a foolish Kool Aide Drinker. Thank you for identifying yourself.
I spend far less time on REW than they do on little ole me. I only bother going there to see what slander has been written about me or my sites lately. As far as comparing products you are absolutely clueless as you well know. I have former REW clients that are currently using my products. REW does NOT have even one of my former clients so I have first hand knowledge about who has the “better product”.
I was not “knocking” REW as a competitor. This post is about REWs practice of using nofollow tags in their forum. Even on their own clients. Something you failed to even bother addressing in your obviously biased comment.
You mentioned “insecure” and “unprofessional” and lack of trust. That is often used when someone talks about something they have absolutely no knowledge of.
In this case, that would be you sir!
~SEOWolf
It´s really a great plugin. It really help me, very recommended 🙂
You are right. I agree with you.
.-= Bhing@Remax Atlanta Realtor´s last blog ..FREE Dunwoody Home Search | Dunwoody MLS | Dunwoody Real Estate =-.
That one reason that I stopped using REW, not worth using if they are going to use the nofollow on your links in your signature. There are plenty more Real Estate forums out there that are just as good or better that will allow your links to be followed. Never thought I was going to hear anything about it anywhere!
I See REW in some of the leading sites I’m competing against in Denver and the mountain communities west of it. I’m considering your product because of the increased ROI for a similar product.
.-= Conifer homes for sale´s last blog ..Conifer Mountain Homes =-.
Hi Bob,
We have only been in the Denver Metrolist market since July 2009. I am sure some of your competitors will be moving to the UltimateIDX in the near future.
Give us a call when you are ready.
~SEOWolf
Mack, this is great info for all to really see the true colors as they are I think as time moves forward all colors will be shown and things will speak for themselves.
I have a PR2 site which I optimize it for organic traffic but I do not know how to monetize it. Sigh. All I can do is earn from a CPA. And the CPA is paying me so little. Feeling so frustrated. I guess SEO is just one part of internet marketing.
Real estate field is the only field which can never get affected in the recession time. Your post is really very nice collection of real estate information.
Nice post,
Personally i see the real estate webmasters forum very usefull.
Regards,
I have not visited REW for awhile now. Thanks for informing me about the “no Follow” It is much appreciated.
I’m a broker in Ca. Thanks for the insight…. no time to waste on the real estate webmaster forum.
.-= Ko@hollister ca homes for sale´s last blog ..Buying Tips For Your First Hollister Ca Home =-.
A real estate forum where the top real estate agents and brokers learn and teach how to generate leads from the internet.
I will not even bother posting on a nofollow blog or forum, why waste your time providing them with content if the page does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for you in return. Just my 2 cents 🙂
I agree with you 100%! If one invest time providing good content to a site they should get rewarded. The Internet is a big place and it makes sense to hang out where you get the best return. Doesn’t sound like REW is a good investment.
.-= rodneyash @ home builder lead generation and marketing´s last blog ..Our newest product offering NewHomeStepscom Launched today! =-.
REW is a waste of time in my opinion. I spent hours making useful unique blog entries, and then find out one day that all my links had been turned to no follow for violating something. I tried to figure out why, but never got a response. No worries though, there are plenty of social media forums out there…
well I think it’s a useful place to check out now and again…
.-= The Foreclosure Compendium´s last blog ..Know More About Tax Foreclosure Properties =-.
I guess I’m not yet a Kool Aid drinker of REW as I’m not a client, but I will say that I have learned a lot from reading the posts of the active members of the group. There is definetely a wealth of knowledge to be gained even if there isn’t much gain from an SEO standpoint which is disappointing.
I appreciate the tip on the Firefox Plugin. Also like the bit about dofollow. I don’t know much about REW, but I do wish more sites would consider using dofollow.
.-= Tampa Commercial Real Estate Broker´s last blog ..Asking Rents in Tampa Projected to Fall by 3.9% + Other Lease News =-.
Well i think Real Estate Webmasters Forum is a great resource for most of the people because here you have a chance to know many things about the real estate. So i can say that this is a great way to enhance the knowledge. Anyways keep it up and keep continue.
The plugin is great, thanks for the info, I also think the the real estate forum is good, but by using no follow tags it wont do much for anyones seo, and this also doesnt encourage anyone to spend time posting on it.
For SEO some forums can be a bit of a waste no matter how many links your allowed to get. I would apply the REW fact to most other sites as well (even if they don’t have a particular nofollow practise).
There are plenty more Real Estate forums out there that are just as good or better that will allow your links to be followed.
kemer
It might be a good way to learn more about your industry and networking with people in the same industry as yourself. There are some benefits to the forum even if there is no SEO value for you.
I like the information on the forums a whole lot more then the links they give you. They give you the information to go out and get links rather then spam there forum for links, which is the whole reason I use REW. I could careless about some lousy signature links.
I definitely use the nodofollow plugin. Glad I figured that out in a hurry! I actually noticed the same thing with REW forum. Very interesting…
I have to agree with you. I simply asked the guy (Morgan Carey) at Real Estate Webmasters for some advice and got one of the rudest, uncalled for e-mails back. Yes… he does not appear to be particularly pleasant.. read this:
“Hello Brian,
You are right, I have absolutely no interest in referring would-be competitors to qualified developers.
Sorry, you won’t find any help here”
I am hardly a competitor, what arrogance.
Expecting members to post such high number of posts for some “gratitude” in return seems extremely high. I think posters should be treated “fairly” and likewise rewarded for their input to help the development of a forum.
Seems like a lot of work for the unknown value of the REW forum. I wouldn’t waste my time on REW.
Thanks for the research on the miserly approach to giving out link-love on that other real estate forum. When we provide our comments and participation I’m OK with a reasonable hurdle if in place to mitigate the comment spam but, the numbers you found out go way beyond reasonableness in my opinion!
Yes you are correct in saying this… that the webmasters are looking a website that already has same sort of standing in the search engines…
Thanks for the heads up on that one. It would be so sad to post 1,100 times on a site and not get anything above a pr1. The real estate webmasters forum did a good job of showing they didn’t care about one of their most loyal visitors. He must have a few good links floating around in another website.
It is really not worth it,posting 1000+ then getting nothing. The real estate webmaster doesn’t care less on the effort of the person! Any webmaster must take this for consideration!
I have checked. senior member signature has dofollow link to their site. I think this discussion made them correct their mistake.
Definitely a hot button issue. If someone is going to spend a lot of time and have a lot of posts, you would think (at least hope) that they are getting credit for the links if they were told they would be…