With the upcoming Super Bowl, which I am mustering the nerve to watch since I am not a Patriots fan, we can all get a glimpse of extraordinary marketing. I haven’t heard whether GoDaddy will be doing one of their illustrious campaigns, but every ad should provide a lot of material for marketers to digest. So I’ll be watching as much for the commercials as I will the game itself. I’ll post more on that after the fact. For now, on to something more fun.

Everyone do the BLOG WAVE

Jeff over at BuzzMyBlog.com suggested we celebrate the upcoming Super Bowl with a blog wave. What is a blog wave? Each blogger adds their name to the list and the next adds his until the entire blogosphere stands up in unison to cheer on the Giants! (ok, maybe not.) Everyone get in on the fun and stand up for a moment… 

Here’s how it works:

1. Copy this entire post and repost it on your blog.
2. Join “the Crowd” by adding a link to your blog at the TOP of the list.
3. Drop a quick comment to the person you copied the post from (don’t spill their beer!).

How is this a Blog Wave you ask? Good question. When you publish this post, you will be adding your blog to the top of the list. The general assumption is that blogs at the top of the list are likely to get more traffic than blogs down at the bottom. So if we were to flip through the Google Analytics of everyone doing “the wave” in order, we’d theoretically see a blue tidal wave of traffic moving left to right! Who knows if it will work - let’s find out!

The Crowd:

• [Add your blog below this note!]
• Jason Boom dot com - Exploding on the Internet
• Buzz My Blog - Let’s Make Money Online By Working Together

So you simply copy the indented post to your own blog, and update the Crowd section with your own link. Get in the spirit. And, remember Patriot fans, nobody likes perfectionists!

Does that headline ring out for syndication? I put it there as an experiment. Maybe since I target BlogRush itself, this article will receive some syndication buzz through their widget.

I know I’m late to the party. My blog just began and BlogRush has been around for a while now. I get it. I just wanted to lament that I received more traffic from a comment on a neighboring blog than I ever have from BlogRush.

Maybe it’s my fault? 
I might be writing terrible headlines. My titles just might not sell the article. I have Blog Gangland, A Man from Nantucket, Big Bang…you get the idea. Obviously these titles are not exactly link bait, but they should at least strike curiosity. But no, not even a click for Blog Gangland. Why then should I continue sporting the BlogRush widget in my sidebar?

 I actually use the damn thing. Can you believe that? I look at it on my own site from time to time, and it does take me to genuinely interesting content around 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time I realize I’ve been duped by a linkworthy headline and a crappy underbelly article. It’s usually someone bemoaning a lost boyfriend with a headline of sheer, curious torment.

And What’s with Their Interface? 
I understand their buzz meter. I know when someone reads my content that it registers as heat for the meter. I actually like that element.

I think how you accrue syndication credits works. But why can’t I control syndication, using my credits the way I see fit? I want to push out my best content with the whole bank of my credits, not just the most recent article. Of course, maybe I don’t understand their system entirely.

I have only been able to find instructions on other blogs. Oh, sure, they have a video which would take me around 15 minutes to watch, but I’m a reader. I’m not a watcher. I like to search FAQs and How Tos for my tidbits of insightful information. I don’t want to hear someone yammering about a page for a few minutes, which contains stuff I already understand.

And What Incentive Do I Have?
As a blog owner I receive more credits when my widget gets shown, but who cares about credits when I can’t control syndication of my articles. This blog network seems to cater more to the large blog sites than to the little guy. I’ve constantly seen the same 27,000 dollar check article from John Chow’s site on various widgets, but have yet to run across my own articles. I know his site probably earns millions in syndication credits, but can’t we somehow bridge the inequal gap between a site like his and a site like my own?

Conclusion
I want to like BlogRush. I want to believe it will someday bring in tons of traffic. I just don’t think that’s the case. Of the two visitors I’ve had from the service in two weeks, one bounced while the other stayed for several minutes. Maybe the lingerer subscribed to my rss feed and enjoys my content now. I think I’ll keep it around for a while, just in case.