The Ranch Post

While oil and gas exploration continues to expand across the rural west many communities are growing concerned as they look how the “energy boom” has left towns like Pinedale, WY “mired in inequities.” Energy companies generate “hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to state and county governments”, but this “wealth also brings heavy traffic, housing shortages, inflation, noise and higher crime.” As communities struggle to create an infrastructure capable of accommodating the arrival of large scale oil and gas activity there are valuable lessons to be learned from towns like Pinedale. Click here to read the full article.

The Washington Post is reporting today that the U.S. Forest Service may be moved from the Depart of Agriculture’s jurisdiction to that of the Department of the Interior.

The National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management are already managed by the Interior Department, and proponents of the transition say that moving the Forest Service makes sense because these other agencies are essentially “bureaucratic cousins.”

Those against say the move “might send a symbolic message that national forests are to be preserved and enjoyed, not harvested and developed…which could be perceived as a threat to the timber industry.”

Read the article in its entirety at The Washington Post website.

You may have noticed his photographs on our website. And many know him for his books Colorado 1870-2000 and Colorado Then & Now, where he compared his current Colorado photography to photos taken by William Henry Jackson in the nineteenth century. (If you’ve been in a bookstore in Colorado anytime over the past 10 years, you know the books.)

According to the Denver Post, now famed landscape photographer, John Fielder, is working on a new book that will feature 50 “multigenerational, centennial-quality ranches” in Colorado, “about two-thirds of which have conservation easements on them.” His work will show the success and importance of the tax credit “program for preserving Colorado’s ranching heritage.”

“A percentage of sales will go to the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, Colorado Open Lands and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust.”

For more information, read the article.

One of the little-known marketing tactics that Mirr Ranch Group utilizes is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the practice of improving website traffic from search engines via non-paid search results for targeted keywords. We can accomplish this through strategic content and coding on our website, as well as campaigning for other highly-ranked websites to link to our website. It’s a long process, but mandatory in today’s electronic age.

Content and Coding
MRG is frequently updating our content and coding to show search engines like Google that our site is relevant and worth ranking well. Google crawls every website on the web constantly looking for relevant information for all search language, and also confirming that they are directing users to a quality website. Obviously, the more information it can gather about us, the easier it can classify and rank us for specific search terms.

Links
Basically, it’s like high school all over again. If someone links to our site, it’s like they’re voting for MRG for class president (or in our case, #1 in Google for specific search terms). While it’s a popularity contest, sure, they wouldn’t do it unless they felt our content was beneficial, and our platform, well, was relevant. Also, the vote from the most popular kid in school or the class valedictorian has more clout than say, the class clown or new kid in town. The same holds true for websites. A link from the Wall Street Journal does more for our website ranking than a website that was just started by a new company.

Now, the important thing to know is that you can’t become #1 in Google or Yahoo overnight. This takes years and a lot of work. Mirr Ranch Group is committed to this process though, and continuously improves in our rankings.

Also, we’ve done an excellent job in aiming for targeted words. This decreases bounce traffic from our website. (For example, if a web user was to type in the search term “ranches,” they may not be looking for a ranch brokerage firm. They may be looking for ranching equipment or a dude ranch for spring break. If Mirr Ranch Group was #1 for this term, many people would visit our site, determine in a matter of seconds that it’s not what they’re looking for, and return to the search engine.) On the other hand, Mirr Ranch Group has a very low bounce rate. In fact, the average visitor spends around 5 minutes on our website! That is unheard of in our industry.

In the end, MRG aims to send qualified and relevant traffic to our website over quantity, a goal that differs from our competitors. If you’re looking for a ranch broker, ask yourself this question: what’s the point of sending a farmer who is only looking for a tractor to look at your ranch for sale online, when MRG can deliver the serious, qualified buyer who is specifically looking to purchase a ranch or sporting property, cash in-hand?

To find out more about SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), another tactic that Mirr Ranch Group employs, check out this recent article in Advertising Age. (Ad Age is to marketers/advertisers as Wall Street Journal is to investors.)

By Mallory Boyce, Marketing Manager for Mirr Ranch Group

La Mancha Retreat, an estate for sale in Buena Vista, Colorado, is House of the Week in today’s Wall Street Journal. Check it out, and please contact Tommy Latousek if you have any questions or would like to schedule a showing.

This month’s National Geographic has an interesting article entitled “Drying of the West.” The author takes an in-depth look at the long-term water situation in the western United States, narrowing in on the Colorado River, which “supplies 30 million people in seven states and Mexico with water” and “irrigates four million acres of farmland, much of which would otherwise be desert, but which now produces billions of dollars’ worth of crops.”

National Western is outgrowing its aging, 95-acre complex in North Denver, the location of the annual National Western Stock Show (currently underway Jan. 12-27th). As such, the organization is in talks with International Speedway Corp. to build a 1,000-acre complex near Denver International Airport. The new complex would host the stock show in the winter months, and be open for Nascar Events and possibly Olympic sports training in the summer months. The project would cost a projected $600 million to $800 million, and would “require significant public funding.”

What are your thoughts on a possible tax increase to fund such a complex?

For more information, check out the article in this morning’s Denver Post.

And while attending the stock show this year, take some time and browse the incredible art collection at the Coors Western Art Gallery on the 3rd floor of the Expo Hall. Mirr Ranch Group is the official sponsor of the Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale, and all proceeds benefit the National Western Scholarship Trust.

The Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale at the National Western Stock Show, an event that Mirr Ranch Group sponsors, has received some coverage in local/regional newspapers this week. Check out the following articles:

• “The ‘hidden treasure’ of the National Western Stock Show,” Daily Camera, 1/11/08
• “Traditional, new styles share art spotlight,” Rocky Mountain News, 1/11/08
• “Parker: Western art exhibit draws sold-out crowd,” Rocky Mountain News, 1/10/08
• “Exhibit will try to clarify Western art confusion,” Denver Post, 1/7/08

All of us at Mirr Ranch Group are excited to be the official sponsor of the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale at the 2008 National Western Stock Show. As Ken Mirr wrote in the Buyers Guide, “We share a common vision with the National Western Stock Show in perpetuating and preserving the culture of the West and educating the stewards of tomorrow.

The Exhibit is a celebration of the western landscape and its heritage, and we are truly fortunate to have the quality of art represented in the collection. To kick off this year’s event, a Red Carpet Reception was held last night, which featured many talented artists from across the West. Good food and drinks were enjoyed by all, and a silent auction was held to benefit the National Western Scholarship Trust. This trust awarded 74 scholarships for the 2007-2008 school year to college students pursuing an education in agribusiness and/or rural medicine at universities and colleges in Colorado and Wyoming! Attendees could also purchase work from the gallery, and the proceeds from those sales contributed to the scholarship fund as well. We’d like to thank all whose time and generosity made this event and scholarship possible: the hard-working team at National Western; members of the Coors Western Art Advisory Committee; the title sponsor, Coors Brewing Company; and all patrons, buyers and volunteers.

All and all, it was a great night, and we invite everyone that is interested in western art to check the gallery out while attending the National Western Stock Show this year. Please help contribute to this all-important scholarship trust, and in turn, you will be preserving our beloved ranching culture and tradition.

The Coors Western Art Gallery is on the 3^rd Floor of the Expo Hall at the National Western Complex, and the Exhibit and Sale runs January 12-27, 2008. For more information, check out www.nationalwestern.com.

Photo: (From left to right) Mac McWhorter, Pat Lancaster, Jeff Hubbard, Mallory Boyce, Ken Mirr and Duffy Brown at the 2008 Coors Western Art Red Carpet Reception.

Read the last of David Frey’s 5-parts series on finding the “next Aspen.” In this last installment, he discusses the evolution of Aspen, including its high cost of living and housing, its search for working-class workers to keep the town running, how high class labels have chased ma and pa shops out of town and how Aspen has worked to save some local stores to preserve the resort town.

Links to the 4 articles that precede this one can be found on this page as well.