Martha:

The Point2 performance index is only a characterization of how much money you spend with Point2 and how much editing of the site you do... it is not really relevant to how your site does on the web... for example, when we had purchased 5 neighborhoods via Point2 our rank was 3rd in the state... by simply not re-purchasing those neighborhoods our site went to rank 9...

However, we promote the site well, and our rankings in Google are much better, and the leads we get from the site are numerous despite this ranking... I would look to other indecies of how your site is doing, rather than worry about the Point 2 performance index... it is really quite meaningless.

Martha:

I am with you, sistah!  I check my PI daily.  I have worked hard and have acheived #1 status in my state.  Honestly, though, all I truly care about is being #1 in my city because I think when people search houses, that is where they are going to look.  On the flip side, by doing this, I am keeping my content fresh, I am making sure that I take full advantage of the services P2 offers for my sellers by keeping plenty of photos and other content on there and syndicating to the P2 partners, etc.  What this does for me is keep my site sticky (I hope) and remind me to keep up with it.  I stay on top of my prospects better, as well.  So while I enjoy the competition and being #1, top 10, or wherever I am ranked, I really do it because it improves my website and the services I provide my clients.  What I am focusing on these days is SEO and natural search engine placement.  Maybe you should check that out and you can start obsessing over that with me, too!  :)

Marcia

Hey Susan, I found myself checking it everyday, but decided it had nothing to do with the amount of business I was trying to keep up with.

I am 5th in the state of Kansas and last week was 4th, I was a little bothered but can't be consumed as I am busy with buyers and sellers and that is what matters most in my business. Not my ranking.

My website is out there, it is getting constant hits and I am getting calls and emails so numbers aren't bothering me at this point.

Which would you prefer, being number one in the rankings and get minimal or no income from your site or not caring where you are in the standings and getting good income from your site? In both cases it doesn’t matter how point2 decides to rank you, all that matters in results from your site. Stop worrying about the rank and only concentrate your time on making your site better to provide more results that turn into clients. Their algorithm does not factor in your commissions, for that I am sure!

Hey, listen to the "cheeks". Right on Gary.

I agree....I wake up every morning and the P2 ranking gets checked... To my despair this morning it went down for the first time ever..  Oh..what to do.  There are some advantages as listed above..however I find it abit sophomoric.  You do understand that the ranking is in fact their 'stickiness' gimmick...don't you?

Marcia makes good points.  With the well-worn statistic of up to 80% of consumers beginning their real estate search online, what better use of your time and money can there be besides ensuring you have a top-notch website?

I don't find it a waste of time at all.  I have noticed that of the individual rankings P2 gives my site, my 'community' ranking is the lowest, which is exactly the area of our website I want to improve.

I don't stay glued to the stats like I do the ones that show how our listings are being viewed, but the performance index is a useful tool in my book.

Surprisingly, I have a number 1 and have for several weeks now.  I am not obsessed with it but I find it more of a curiosity.  

As for ranking, when someone goes to point2homes.com, clicks on the agent tab to find an agent, then pulls up a particular state, the ranking kicks in under the featured agents pictures.  To me it is worth being at the top there.  Kind of like search engine results..... to not be on the first page is bad.  

I know what the P2 website says about performance index, but I'd like to hear P2 weigh in on this thread, perhaps with some actual statistics of page views and organic rankings, etc as they relate to performance indexes.

Great comment "Yankee"!  :) I would actually be very interested in those same statistics!

I like competition, always have, always will.  Regardless of that, it makes sense to me that if my score goes up because I am placing value added tools and content to my site then my visitors should be having a better home shopping experience and should stay on my site longer and return more often.

And when I visit the sites of the "Top 100", I get great ideas on how to improve my site even more.

Continuous improvement is very important in any business and I have not purchased any other web solution that actually indicates how I am doing compared to the other professionals using the same tools.  The point2 rankings motivates me to continually improve my site, which is a good thing for me and for consumers.

I think it is great!

I am obsessed as well.  I wake up every morning and hurry to the computer to check my ranking.  I think it is more important to get the leads, however, those numbers keep you striving to be #1 in your State, Country, & World.  This can't hurt your standing in the World Web.  

I used to be obsessed with the PI index and made it as high as #4 in our State. Then, when I changed offices and deleted all the listings, I dropped dramatically. With everything else remaining the same (message board, REliberation participation, neighborhood renewal, etc.) and adding new listings back in (re-signed agreements), I have never recovered. Now it means little or nothing to me because six or eight listings removed versus six or eight being added did not have an equal effect which I feel it should have.

Now, it is one of the last things I even look at and concentrate on more important things that pay the bills.

I check it daily as well but haven't been spending as much time trying to figure out how to make it higher.  At one point, we were 1/1/2 but now we are 1/9/27 or something.  As long as we are number one in our province, we come up first on the searches and that is important.

Well, I think that the rankings within P2 would only be relevant as they relate to the rank that we show up and THAT page's rankings in the different search engines.  Sort of like trying to get into your house by going through your neighbor's house.  The ONLY ranking that I worry about is the one that pertains to the Web and not within P2.  But I agree with Mandie, I think the rankings have more to do with the amount of money you spend on P2 and the time.  I can't make money by sitting on my computer all day and there is only so much I can add/modify the site before I reach the point of diminishing returns.

Just my .02 worth.

I think the P2 ratings are well, overrated!  Over a one week span I can go up and down 40 - 50 pts. A few days ago I was rated 30something in Ontario and 477 world wide.  Today it is completely different and tomorrow it will be again.  I have long since stopped paying much attention to it.  I improve my site when I am not busy with clients. The way I look at it is, if I am so busy I don't have time to eat, what do I really care what my P2 number is.  I am obviously getting enough business and there is always the winter....

I'm not sure exactly how it works either, but as my page views and length of stay get longer my rating has gone up.

My uncle, a broker, does not even have a web site with P2 or anyone else. He has made so much money in real estate (primarily as an investor and builder) he just smiles when he hears things like this. I can just hear him telling me, "You sit and stare at your computer, I'm too busy out making money." He'd say he judges where he's at by the reports he gets from his accountant not a website rating.

Having said all that, I love technology, the Internet in particular. I too check my rating, etc. I am glad I have him keeping things in perspective for me, however.

I was obsessed a while back, but I did better before I spent time doting on my site.  This week, added another listing, dropped a couple ranks.  I believe the PI is meant to drive us into purchasing more products (i.e., neighborhoods, send NLS invites).

And so long as more people continue to locate me via Google than P2, I can't sweat this out.  My focus is on commissions, not ranking.

I don't really spend a lot of money with P2.  I have the professional website and I buy one neighborhood when the price drops to $20.  Other than that, I just make sure I keep plenty of photos on my listings, I log in every day to just check things out, I use the virtual tours, I use third level domains for my listings, I upload disclosures to my listings, I set up the seller area for my sellers, I respond promptly to all prospect requests, I approve all handshakes, I regularly update my content on my website, and that is about it.  All of those things I listed are free and all of them increase the quality of my website and my web presence.  And to top it off, I get my competitive nature fed by getting great rankings.  

It seems the higher my ranking with P2 the higher it is with Google, Yahoo, etc. and the more page views per visit. Today I'm 2/24/38. Point2 Homes Traffic - Week Ending Apr. 23 was 181,322 visits and 1,754,468 pageviews. I want as many of those 181 thousand visitors as I can get, just like I want as many of the Google and Yahoo searchers. I have a professional site, no neighborhoods. Last time I looked there was a handful of standard sites on Michigan's top 50. I get enough business of my site to keep myself and 2 buyer's agents busy. $39/month as opposed to $59/month for my Homes.com site.

Let's see - 1) worry about the rankings, or 2) concentrate on developing business and satisfying customers?  Hmm. I pick door number 2.  

While I'm Numero Uno in my state (and have been for a while), I have watched my ranking in the country and around the world drop drastically. Worried? Nah.