Tilting at Wankmills

Yesterday, I read an old (October, 2010) but still relevant post by Rob Hahn (The Notorious Rob) on SEO, the Real Estate Blog, and Competition By disposition and vocation, Hahn is an industry gadfly. Plus, he has the mental and verbal muscularity to deliver his perceptions with lucidity and punch. Not saying this to flatter, but to point up something that gets lost in the scrabble for rank: quality thinking and writing endure.

Discussing the impact of SEO on organic search results, Hahn says,

“if you believe that all or some of these things do make a difference, then it’s hard to understand why you believe an individual real estate agent can make SEO a cornerstone of his/her business strategy…. Because from where I sit, they all look like fighting on the opponent’s chosen battlefield, using tactics that the opponent is really good at, and trying to out-Walmart Walmart.”

Hahn concludes with questions. “What is the advantage that the individual agent or the small broker has over the Big Boy or Big Guys? How can that advantage be exploited systematically?”

To the first question, I offer a December, 2009 post by writer/blogger Jay Hathaway, Cold Content Farm, that remains my blog manifesto. Responding to the question of whether he “does content,” Hathaway says,

“Content: that most formless, most beige, most indifferent of nouns. You’re comfortable with “content,” because what’s actually contained is irrelevant to you. You don’t wonder whether it’s writing, because you don’t intend to read it. You don’t care whether anyone else reads it, either. Words aren’t for reading; they’re for indexing, clicking on, optimizing…. I want writing with skinned knees.”

Linger on that one for a moment.

If the little guy has any chance against The Machine,  it is through quality thinking and writing. Hathaway aspires to write “deftly and honestly.” And he does. So does Hahn. So does William Reichard, author of the blog Technoagita, whose post, Wherein Some of Your SEO guilt is Absolved, was the inspiration for this post.

The little guy’s only advantage may be intelligence, authenticity and soul. But it’s an advantage that keeps the poems of Rumi fresh centuries after they were written. Or on a humbler scale, causes old posts by all of these writers to resurface long after their publication date. As for Hahn’s second question, “how can that advantage be exploited systematically?” for that I do not have an answer.

I do, however, have my trifurcated slingshot: my blog, our business, SantaFeRealEstateDowntown.com, and Changing Gallery. And the commitment to support individual excellence wherever I encounter it. This much I know:

“Life’s too short to dance with ad hucksters, get-rich-quickers, bot-feeders and human acronyms” (Jay Hathaway). Confine your dances to partners with skinned knees. And go read those posts.