I’m watching the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World Contest and what’s happening is what all web property owners need to learn.

The rich get richer. But new wealth can be made.

The “natural” creation of “rank” theoretically is based partly on Democracy. Links to a site from another are votes, right? The more votes, the more authority, right?

But the topographical landscape of the internet is not “fair” as those with new sites wish.

Think about your site, its presence and reach. Where does it reside within your niche? And who within it already has it?

The layout is such that a new site, without tricks, is rendered virtually invisible unless established within a stream of current traffic or distributed by one with it. And who’s going to link to a site if it can’t be found?

Look at the 3D graph and think of each bar as an individual site. The higher the bars are to the red indicate rank. They have garnered enough links to make them an authority and further their reach. Then think of your new site as a flat little blue bar on the floor. Who will you naturally look to, just like the tall buildings in a cityscape? Who will you link to merely because of their presence?

They found you, that’s reach.

These sites attract more eyeballs merely for their presence, the rich do in fact get richer.

Then you realize that in order to compete you need to get creative. Some go the “black hat” way, some find a current clickstream to inject themselves in and others just work hard. That’s what the players in the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World contest are doing. Just as in the real world, they are reaching out and conversing with each other.

Yes, sites with established authority have a greater chance of competing as shown in the current SERPS for the contest query. But, people are working on it.

The darker side of this contest is that it defies the true definition of Authority.

It’s sad that truth doesn’t matter online. What is believed to be true is what matters. What an Authority says must be true, right? That top Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World could be selling Viagra by the end of the contest. It could be a mortgage scam or a defamation site.

But this contest tails into reputation management too and teaches some lessons there too. Behavior of people can be curtailed by the fear that it can be exposed by the online authorities. Unfair and unethical treatment of others can be distilled to many people, and even threats of suits won’t change the defamation statutes. The truth, however irritating or damaging about the target is perfectly lawful to publish (Except Defamation Per se).

This contest teaches people how to do this; to build authority and increase reach.

All contestants are talking to others in their niche, they are writing, they are linking. They are doing for themselves what they’ve been wishing was gifted. They are taking an interest in their web presence.

Real Estate Webmasters, Eric Blackwell and Eric Bramlett (the contest originators) put a fire under the feet for many to start taking an interest and try to better themselves. They’re taking pride, learning and working harder than before.

It’s nice to see a friendly (hope it remains this) contest spark it and maybe the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World could actually be - a REAL ESTATE AGENT! That would be great. The contest reminds me that hard work breeds success.

This is unlike others who frown on the contest and can only negatively comment on it. Those that do are the current established authorities but an incumbent never flatters a contestant.

I love this - I can’t say I’m competing though (I don’t do real estate seo) but may try something similar in my niche.

Competition is vital to growth. It’s the basis of capitalism and innovation. It took the U.S. from a barely inhabited forest to a world power in 200 years while nations with stifled thought and effort fell and marginalized themselves.