Linking in Comments For Real Estate Agents
Let’s face it, real estate agents are known and stereotyped for their relentless marketing. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but online there are tricks that will help you to be successful when you leave a comment on a blog.
The best way to be successful with a comment is find something that adds to the post. Bloggers are not omniscient. We do not know everything and we do make mistakes. But if you find something that can add to the post, add a link to your comments.
You never know, we may add the information to the post as a true in-line link. I did so yesterday.
Bloggers love comments. I am not good with interacting with them, I readily admit it. I have a very hectic schedule and fail to jump into the conversation. But I read them all and manage them through the day.
When you post a comment, there is a field for your website. Use it.
When you finish your comment there is no need to put your website on the bottom of it. First the software no-follows the comment, meaning you get no benefit from Google. Second, it crosses the line of blogging etiquette and takes whatever positive you have added and turns it into a negative to the reader and blogger.
I have taken the time recently to start removing the extra links if they do not go to anything that adds to the conversation.
Oh, and if you are looking for link juice, I have the most recent comments do-followed on the sidebar. Since the GoogleBot was at my site 70,891 time in November, or 1.6 times every minute, there is a good chance that Google will give you some good link juice if you comment.
But that will only go to the comments that are recent and the URL that you put in to the form where it says website. Everything else is no-followed. So if you are in this for pure ranking help, that is the way to go. Honest. Really. No kidding.
I will continue to delete the links and other marketing information that are placed inside comments while keeping the comment.
And do not get me started on the paid comments. Jay Thompson did an excellent post on these, and you can put me in the camp of deleting obvious spammed comments. To those thinking of buying them, I promise you they stand out like a sore thumb, and you will look ridiculous… Promise.
Well Tom, once again you have said it much better than I could have. Unfortunately the folks at Move, ...
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I HAVE 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS..HOW DO I APPLY AT KAI. 
Definitely not a fan of Move Inc.!!! 
A lot of you really need to go back to kindergarten and learn to spell correctly. If you cannot spell ...
In 2008, there was an extension to push first-time home buyers to purchase their homes quickly since the program did ...
I also need HELP and don't know what to do about my problem. I have a garden apartment off ...
I have the same situation. I sold my home in July and am scheduled to to close in a few ...
My cousin in Maryland going thru same thing as Jack Thomas. Have loan Mod Agreement from Countywide dated April 2009, ...
Print Ads is the popular way to advertise among seniors in the business industry but today it seems like it ...
Comment by Michael Daly on 6 December 2008:
Great points – Thanks for educating us to the evolving etiquette issues. You’re right, all those links and titles in the new chat world is cumbersome and outdated…md
Comment by Douglas Rill on 7 December 2008:
Realtors work on commission and are paid only if they sell a home to someone like you. Since sales are down, we use every opportunity to find interested parties. Like a television show you don’t like, or a radio show, there is an off/on button. If you don’t like the show, turn it off, and if you don’t like the blogger comment, ignore or delete it.
As far as putting a web site link at the bottom of you e-mail I am not offended when Starbucks or Pottery barn or Victory Secret sends me stuff, with their web info….if I want more… I click. If not I don’t.
Thanks for listening.
Comment by Tom Royce on 7 December 2008:
Thanks for the response, Douglas.
What one needs to remember is that when you agree to accept an email from these folks, you have already given your consent.
When I agree to accept comments on my site, I have a set of parameters. Fortunately I have been blogging for a while now and feel I know what readers, and I, like.
The fine line of social media and promotion is hard, I understand. I have these ads on the site to support the costs and myself. But there are many other monetization strategies that I could use that would be annoying to my readers. So I avoid those.
Finding the balance in this day and age of permission marketing is what will make one successful. Too forward and you will be avoided. To passive and you will not be profitable.
But the key to this specific discussion is that I need to do what is best for the readers of the Real Estate Bloggers, so this is the policy I have created.
Comment by Kevin Tomlinson-Miami Beach Real Estate on 8 December 2008:
Hey Tom!
How are you doing? Anything with a link in the comments on my blog staying in moderation—and lately there are a lot of them.
The problem is a lot of agents have found the “golden nugget” of leaving links and commenting for link juice—but never learned the etiquette.
Happy Holidays.
K
Comment by Tom Royce on 8 December 2008:
Kevin,
This is how it works for me too. Also, comments are moderated until the first one is approved.