When BlogRush went live several weeks ago, John Reese – the founder – promised that it would help small, young sites like mine generate more traffic. All you have to do is install a box or widget, which Mr. Reese said, would display targeted blogs’ latest post. For Free.
Free traffic? Music to my ears!
I was excited, so I signed up and installed the widget. I categorized my blog under “Personal Diary.” (The categories back then were limited.) I was one of the many people in the first batch, thanks to John Chow’s post.
I monitored my site’s stats on a regular basis, and checked whether BlogRush was true to its words because I didn’t want only traffic, I also wanted readership.
The first few weeks, I saw people coming to my site via BlogRush. I was happy. Some passers-by even commented on some of my posts. Some awesome bloggers like Vic Grace, Jeni Hill Ertmer, and Awannabe came from BlogRush. That was great. What’s marvelous was when I visited some sites, I saw my blog on their widgets! (In some cases, in mine, too!)
When BlogRush recently launched Phase II, it talked about more promises. But since then, my traffic and click through rates from BlogRush appear to be declining. From experience, I knew that if I leave my latest post on top for 3 or 4 days, it would be syndicated (or picked up by other widget-carrying blogs) at least 800-1000 times with 1 or 2 clicks. However, the last 3 weeks were really below par.
Below is a snapshot of the report since I installed the widget. The posts are arranged from oldest post to latest. You will see that the last 3 weeks, I only received a staggering 2 clicks!
This led me to thinking: Are bloggers already blinded by BlogRush? Do they still pay attention to the widget? Or does my title simply stink and doesn’t sound interesting? Is BlogRush a scam that many bloggers claim?
John Reese said that bloggers should put the widget on a higher location, to get more credits and clicks. I put mine a little higher. As a matter of fact, it is on the upper half of my sidebar, but I see no difference. So I don’t think location is the case here.
A quick query on Technorati, I have only read black and white stories about BlogRush: it’s either bloggers find it useful or useless. Nothing in between, unlike my story. A certain Rich from Ohio says he’s been “a booster of Blogrush eversince it went live”. On the other hand, Caroline Middlebrook was not thrilled with the 14 clicks she received despite thousands of impressions.
I was wondering if there are others who share the same sentiments as mine: huge traffic rush at the beginning that is now gradually trending down.
To end, I still want to thank BlogRush and still intend to use it. Somehow, it brought me fantastic bloggers whose blogs I also enjoy reading.
But the recent downward trend of blogrush click-rate has led me to ask: Dear BlogRush, have you forsaken me?
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If you wish to try BlogRush, get an account here to drive more traffic to your site.
To view more BlogRush stories in Technorati, click here.
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I feel the same, I don’t think I have had any one at all via Blog Rush and according to it I don’t have any one read my posts which I know is incorrect. I have been debating removing Blog Rush from my site.
Thanks for the link
I always have, and still do, like the utility of Blogrush. I see the widgets and I click on them. I spend several hours a week just going from one widgetized blog to the next, reading whatever looks interesting.
Unfortunately, I’m feeling pretty lonely in that regard. It’s clear from the minuscule click-thru rates most bloggers are seeing that not many people are actually using the widget. Are most bloggers using it, rather than just displaying it? Probably not.
I wouldn’t do anything as pointless as make a plea for more bloggers to click their own widget now and then, but it seems a little ridiculous for those same bloggers to expect the rest of the blogosphere to click the widget.
All that said, if the click-thru rates don’t improve, eventually I will remove the widget. While it doesn’t cost me anything to display it, there’s no point in offering an exit point from my blog if I get nothing from it.
I don’t recall if it was you - or Vic Grace - who told me about Blogrush. But I didn’t sign up for it mainly because I am too naive about some of these things pertaining to blogging - no comprende ya know. I’ve just sort of been plodding along -seen my numbers rise a good bit via the Viral meme things and through some of them, I picked up some new blogs that I added to my site too. I’ve decided till I have more of a clue what I am doing or should be doing, etc., I’m just gonna continue on my slow pace here.
saedel,
just like you i wished i had readers (more of it), but then again it’s like calling on a million people and expecting half of it to hear you.
so right now, blogging is just a past time. with or without readers i’ll post as soon as i have a time and an idea, of course. it’s like vandalizing a wall, not knowing if anyone will actually read or take notice of it. however, blogging is just formal and somehow sharpens one’s intellect…hopefully.
@Vic
Wow, me too! I saw tons of hits the past month on my referral stats but BlogRush seems to report inaccurate data on its dashboard.
@Rich
Thanks for the visit Rich! I should be thanking you for your article that I used. I’m with you, by the way. I’m giving blogrush until it finishes its Phase II and then I’ll check it improves or not. If it doesn’t, then it’s a goner. I’ve read in your site about BloggingZoom, is it good? I’ll check it out one of these days.
@Jeni
I haven’t done any viral linking, but it’s pretty effective in increasing Technorati Authority. Thanks for all the links! 
I’m pretty sure it was Vic who told you about BlogRush.
@Cris
You’re spot on. *thumbs-up*
Just read your comment to me - try the Viral link - just copy over from my blog -starting with what Vic Grace said - she’s the one who started that piece there -and then, at the bottom, add in any links from your favorites list and post it. If everyone whose blog is listed on there would take a few minutes to add people from their blog to that list and post it - just think how far it would go then and keep the rankings, authority stuff moving upwards, not on a downhill spin.
Give it a shot! It’s helped both Vic and I a lot with our blogs!
The problem is that BlogRush arbitrarily removed many good blogs and left many spammy ones in during their last purge. I and many others who’re quite annoyed at them won’t click the widget or simply adblock it. You can read the “BlogRush Sucks” category on my blog to find out more.
They’ve got another purge coming up and you’ll probably be kicked out then since your widget is below the fold. Their motto is top billing on your blog or else you’re gone.
Hi Frank, thanks for the comment. You must really dislike BlogRush, you even have a category for it.
I just made a quick visit to your site, and I’ll visit it again to check out BlogRush entries and other posts. I have an experiment on BlogRush which I’m sure is going to tick you.
Hi Jeni, I’ll probably wait for the next “meme”, probably the week of Thanksgiving to try the viral linking. Hope it turns out good.
Hi Saedel,
I’ve gotten more traffic from announcing my dislike of BlogRush than from the widget itself (on sites where I used to have it installed). I had the #1 spot in Google for the term “BlogRush Sucks” for a while until some bigger sites got angry with them too.
at least BlogRush bring some unique visitors to visit your site. But in my opinion, I think BlogRush will be punish by Google soon
Since the “Upgrade” BlogRush has not worked as well as it did sending traffic before.
All those “bad” blogs must have been good for sending traffic because people must have been looking for something good on the site.
I think I will be pulling the plug on BlogRush in the next few days.
If you want traffic, Blogging Zoom is the ticket. A little bit of work, but it really works.
Hi Saedel, I jsut checked my stats for BlogRush and they are not pretty My stats for the two months are as follows:
Credits earned: Credits Earned: 1,474,924
Readers: 314
Percentage conversion: 0.02%
It is even worse when you consider that my top post brought in 87 of those readers by itself. Without that post, the conversion rate drops to 0.015%.
That is a rather low conversion rate. The way I look at it is that I am providing a reasonable amount of advertising space for not a lot of return. Would I be better served by using that space for advertising?
Hey Pro, wow, that’s a lot of credits earned! When I commented on your site I thought you haven’t been approved yet by them.
I’m actually considering taking off the BR widget. Apart from my BlogRush readers that stayed in my site, the only reason the widget is still here is for my experiment that I will be using on my next post.
James of DigitalKeyToInfo (see comment above yours) said on his website that he’s also removing BlogRush in favor of other widgets. So I guess we are not the only one. Based on your credits earned, your traffic is looking good so my guess is advertising would be a sound move, although personally I won’t be doing that for now since I still don’t have PageRank. (Missed the update).
Thanks and hope to see you back!
Hi Saedel, sorry I should have clarified my comment. The figures are from one of my other blogs which gets a fair bit of traffic. The data is still bad though. I think the space the widget occupies would be better served with ads. Also, check out my new post on Flogger Friday, you may have something you want to contribute there. It is for fun…
i too concern myself with these same concerns as it concerns blogrush (hahaha…like the repitition?). wouldn’t you know that i came to your blog by way of my blogrush widget!?
much like yourself, i am listed under the ‘personal’ section because my blogs caters to personal matters. also just like you i wonder how many people actually pay attention to the widget. i know that i do, but do others? i could give a damn about traffic, i WANT readers! these readers help my presence on the net. readers are more important to me than just having my blog flashed throughout the network.
i do my part and pay attention to the widget and try to build my network of readers manually. ninety-five percent of my readers are those that i manually contacted by way of posting comments on their blogs-much like i am doing now with your blog. i have come to the conclusion that all of these widgets and blog submission services hardly work and i get my best results when i actually take the time to find the blogs that i like and connect with other readers the old fashion way. my method seems to work for me because i get a good stream of consistent bloggers and i return the favor by going to their blogs and leaving my comments. it really is about teamwork to a degree, so i am here to help you as well
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Wow, nice comment Marcus. And yup, it’s quite ironic that you came via blogrush.
Like you, I have also commented to some blogs that came here via blogrush, and even made an appreciation post for them. Most of them are passers-by and didn’t return the favor, but it’s ok. Some bloggers I mentioned in my original post above came via blogrush, and that’s the main (and only) reason why the widget is still in my sidebar.
I’ve made a quick visit (because it’s already past midnight here
) to your site and will be definitely coming back again.
Thanks for your comments, and hope to see you back.
-Saedel
PS. By the way, there’s a new blogpost submission service called bloggingzoom.com, you might want to try it. It’s similar to Digg.com but it caters more to the bloggers. The community is still growing and there’s a good chance that members will go to your site if you submit good posts. Might or might not work for you, but it’s definitely worth a try. Also, you can pick up good blogs to read there if you just want to lurk around.
Hi Saadel,
I discovered Blogging Zoom two days ago. I am amazed with it. It is far better than BlogRush. It is a social bookmarking site like Digg, Plugim, and many more. It was launched in Public Beta on 1st of November, 2007. What makes Blogging Zoom so special is that after you submit your blog entries, you are promised to get better search engine placement.
I have been using it since Friday, and so far get 25 unique visitors, which is fine when compared to BlogRush. Plus they are working on search engine placement of my submissions. If you are interested, please read my blog post :
See How Easily You Can Increase Traffic
I installed a stats widget on my blog a few days ago, and I have been analyzing where my traffic comes from.
Surprise surprise.
No one has visited through the Blogrush widget these past few days.
BTW I got here “this time” through technorati blog reactions.
Hi Mert, Good to see fellow zoomer here
and I agree with you regarding BZ. one more thing I like BZ is the community. It’s warm and welcoming and I don’t feel intimated.
Hi awannabe, thanks for stopping by. By the way, had any of your articles been “skipped” or blocked by BlogRush from showing into the widget?