Blogging Zoom and ScratchBack, the wave of the future?

After several weeks with BlogRush, I am going to let it go in a couple days.

BlogRush has actually done better for me than I thought it would. However, that is not good enough. It has been a net positive gain in visitors versus those leaving by the widget. I have not complaints. It has brought a few visitors.

I seem to be getting less traffic even though I am giving more pageviews to the widget.

BlogRush actually seemed to work better for me before the quality improvement a bit ago.

I wonder if it was because visitors on poor quality sites were looking for somewhere else to visit? Either way, visitors from BlogRush since have been even less. Very few visitors that I know of have left here through BlogRush.

Would I recommend BlogRush to others?

Maybe. It does add another method to getting visitors to your site. It does not require any effort on your part. It is free. You can even leverage your traffic when other blogs sign up under you. It is not a bad deal.

The reason I am removing it is I want to use the space for something else.

There are more productive uses of the space. Even a larger MyBlogLog widget seems would be more productive. I do get more traffic from MyBlogLog than BlogRush. I am contemplating another widget and I think it is getting a bit crowded. So, BlogRush goes because it has not proven to be a performer.

3 Readers with over 14,000 syndications?

If you really want traffic, spend a bit of time with Blogging Zoom.

Blogging Zoom takes more work, but sends infinitely more traffic. Don’t forget to Zoom this post if you find it useful. *Update-Blogging Zoom is no longer and the domain is used for something else.*

What About Text Link Ads?

I am going to be telling them I do not want new TLA ads after the currently paid ones have ended.

As opposed to BlogRush, Text Link Ads has been a performer.

I have made many times more money with Text Link Ads on this site than I have with AdSense. I really hate to say goodbye to them. I have nothing but good things to say about TLA as a source of income. It is every bit as good as it claims to be for the blogger.

Everyone knows the situation with Google and paid links.

I really feel the situation is unfair. Not only to TLA but to bloggers. I do not like the idea of being told what to do with my site. I sincerely hope TLA continues to create new services that bloggers can work with.

I am replacing Text Link Ads with ScratchBack.

The widget in the sidebar that says Top Links is the ScratchBack ad. This system uses nofollow so Google can’t complain. I also realize that a nofollow link is not as valuable as one that does not have nofollow tagged to it. In other words, I won’t make as much money because the links are not worth as much.

Right now, the cost of a ScratchBack ad on this blog is $1.00.

When the 10 link spots are filled, they begin to bump off the older links. Once the 10 spots are close to being filled, I will raising the price. Once filled, I will raise the price again. I will be doing this to give value to those who have already paid for a link. When (not if) the cost of a link gets close to the price that TLA charged for a link, I will switch from bump off to a monthly or bi-weekly pay for the links.

Why would you want to pay for a nofollow link?

Because I will be working hard to have good content that brings traffic to the site. That traffic should bring traffic to your link.

Why use Scratchback instead of doing it myself?

It would be easy to set up something like this just by doing the links myself. ScratchBack does take care of the maintenance end of it. They will also make you a custom widget if you want them to right now. I am using them mostly because it looks nice. They are working on a marketplace that should help get more buyers.

Note that ScratchBack considers it a tip and I retain editorial control.

If I reject your link, you still pay. If there is any question about if your link might be rejected, contact me before you pay. I will let you know if I would reject the link before you pay. But hey, it’s only a $1.00 anyways right now. You can get your own widget at the ScratchBack site.

I can honestly say PageRank is not the reason I am not going to be using Text Link Ads.

If it were just the PageRank from Google, I would probably stay with TLA. It is profitable.

The real reason I will stop having paid links on the site will be the subject of my next post.

If you are not subscribed to my feed, subscribe now. My next post may surprise you. It may scare you. You do not want to miss it.

This is probably not the post you think-pay attention.

There are five reasons I am keeping the BlogRush widget on this blog.

Now, this is not going to be the list of things that most might be looking for. I will not have a neatly paragraphed list of reasons why. In fact, I will be able to summarize it all in one subheading.

I have had BlogRush send 5 readers to this blog in the last week.

Yep, five. Some of you may be thinking that is terrible. A waste of space. A joke.

It sure is not the rush of traffic I am sure most envisioned.

It is much more than I really expected. I really did not expect any. By my figuring, the numbers where just not going to work at all for this blog.

This is not a high traffic blog – yet.

This blog does not generate that many views on BlogRush on other blogs. Five visitors is not a lot but it is still a positive flow. As far as I can tell, I have had only one reader leave here from BlogRush.  The odds of someone even seeing one of my views is small, especially when you realize that nearly everyone puts the widget at the bottom of the page.

While I cannot say it will continue working like it has, I will keep it up a bit longer.

It has been working for me. I still get more visitors from MyBlogLog, but it is working. It also does not take the time that MyBlogLog does and often, MyBlogLog members never visit the blog, just the community.

I also want to point out that the traffic stats I am using are different from BlogRush’s stats.

BlogRush is still developing their stats. In fact, I still have not been able to see what is supposed to be under the report tab at the BlogRush site. The stats I use are extremely conservative (I check the free MyBlogLog stats), so it is very likely there are more readers coming than my stats are showing. The last BlogRush visitor came from JohnCow.com.

Have you tried BlogRush?

What results have you gotten? Positive? Negative? Nothing? Let me and others know.

If not, you can get the BlogRush widget for your blog here. I recommend giving it a try and watching your stats to see if it works.

Is it the latest goldrush for bloggers?

One of the hottest topics right now with bloggers is BlogRush but could there be a hidden danger?.

At first, I ignored it much like Agloco. You may notice though, that I have now added the widget to this blog. I admit, I am still skeptical about it. With Agloco on the other hand, I do not think you’ll ever see me promote.

The great promise is more traffic to your blog.

Hey, who could be against that? All you do is put the widget on your blog and the traffic will come storming to your front page. Right? Where’s the harm?

There is one possible danger that I can think of.

Are you familiar with BlogExplosion? This is one of the other popular blog traffic programs out there. With BlogExplosion, you get traffic credits while surfing other BlogExplosion blogs. It is my belief that Google considers BlogExplosion against Adsense terms of service and the reason some blogs have lost their Adsense accounts. It was something I noticed with a lot of bloggers that complained about losing their accounts.

However, there is a big difference.

With BlogRush there is no particular reason to click on any links and follow. It really is just another link to another website. BlogExplosion definitely had a click through incentive to go to a site. There should be no danger to your Adsense income with BlogRush.

Will BlogRush be effective?

I kind of doubt it. I have seen similar widgets before. This may be the first one to have the backing of a big name like John Reese, but I am not sure in the long run it will be any more effective.

I suspect for most of us it will be more like the California Gold Rush.

Many will try. Few will get the traffic they thought they would find. Most will not see much improvement at all.

Also, it seems to favor sites with lots of traffic already.

The more often the widget is shown on your blog, the more links to your site will show. So, if you already have 2000 visitors a day, your site will be shown 2000 times. If you have 10 visitors a day, your site will show 10 times. And remember, there is no reason for someone to follow the link to your site.

You do get extra links from other blogs that you encourage to use the widget.

I would love it if you use my BlogRush link to get your widget. It is free after all.

Is it really free?

What is John Reese getting out of this? He is probably getting some real good stats from all the widgets out there. He will know what categories of blogs are getting traffic and what those readers are interested in looking at. You can decide if that is information about your site you want to share. You are probably sharing the information with someone already. Even if you do not realize it.