Why I Should Tear up BlogRush
Written by Jason Boom on January 28, 2008 – 8:44 pm
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.
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Tags: blog networks, BlogRush, syndication, Traffic
Posted under Traffic |
January 28th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I fully agree with your sentiment, i too will be removing the Blogrush widget here very shortly. After being down with them since inception. I haven’t seen any justification for keeping them around.
entrecard has been a much better and robust arena, by far.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Entrecard has brought me so much traffic — it’s my highest referral source right now.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I have left it on just cuz I am too lazy to take it off. It is doing me NO good either. I want to like it, I really do, just like you but it seems pretty worthless to me. I have 2 people that signed up under me but I don’t know who they are. I have a ton of credits on my dashboard. I had the widget on there when I got my 32,000 unique visitor spike from Stumble, so I really racked up the impressions. Oh well. Live and learn, I guess.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I declared BlogRush dead shortly after it launched, and I hold to that.
http://www.joetech.com/2007/09/24/5-reasons-blogrush-has-already-failed-and-why-blast-will-take-over/
January 28th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
@Joe: Thanks for the link. Good stuff…everyone should check it out.
January 29th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I have come to a similar conclusion, using a catchier headline: http://somebodyunfamous.blogspot.com/2008/01/blogrush-sucks.html
January 29th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Thanks, Jason.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I was not impressed with it. I had it up for a few weeks, realized I was not getting any traffic from it, and then took it down. Maybe I will try it again some day, dunno though.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
“Flush the Rush”. That’s what I recommend doing. I’ve gotten better traffic from putting them down than I ever did from their spam spewing widget.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
@Frank: Hilarious. I’m going to flush it. Especially considering they censored this post from syndication. Screw ‘em.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Good to know that one more thing I didn’t really know what it was when I saw it that I should not worry about learning. Thanks for the article it likely saved me some time in the future. I know I saw this on NorthxEast and wondered what it was. I’ve been hearing good things about EnteCard. Sounds like I should learn about that one.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:35 am
I kick blogrush away last week. My blog received 1 visitor via Blogrush.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pm
@Steve Good. I’m doing away with it very soon.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Blogrush seems like a really great concept, but from what I have read it just doesn’t hold up. That’s too bad.
I have to admit that I have seen the Blogrush widget hundreds of times on hundreds of blogs and yet I have never clicked on a link within the widget.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
It’s got nothing to do with you, Jason. I’ve literally tried all ways to use up my existing BlogRush credits but at the moment it’s at 2.9 MILLION and just not getting used up. It’s my fault if the click-though rates aren’t good, but if the posts arent being syndicated enough, then it’s definitely BlogRush’s failure to produce the promised they’ve made..
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
BlogRush was horrible for me also, so it is definitely not your fault. I tried it for a few weeks and then took it off, which is what most people have done.