Yes, I’ve added the BlogRush traffic widget. You may have seen other bloggers posting about it, too. When I first heard the idea, I was skeptical: traffic for practically no effort? Yeah, right. I think I’ll buy that spam-o-matic internet marketing system, too!
Except for one thing: BlogRush is run by John Reese, of Income.com. I have learned some great stuff from John and I respect him. I have been watching him and his team get closer and closer to launching Income.com, which looks like it’s going to be a fantastic resource. John knows his stuff. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had already been reading his blog, I would probably writing a post about how I would be the last blogger on Earth to put yet another widget on my blog.
So, what is BlogRush?
BlogRush is a traffic referral powerhouse. How it works is that it shows five headlines from blogs that are similar to your own, by way of a category you choose when you sign up for the service. Links open in a new browser window. Every time you post, your blog will show up in a related blog’s widget for someone else to click on. You get traffic.
If someone signs up for the service through your widget or link, your blog posts show up in the BlogRush widget that’s on their blogs. When you post, your blog shows up in even more places. You get more traffic. If those people then sign up others, your blog shows up in ever more places. You get more traffic. All without having to submit to any kind of social bookmarking or networking site.
Will it Work?
We’ll see. The referral system works somewhat like a pyramid scheme, so unless you already have some decent traffic and readers, I don’t know what good it will do you. Also, the traffic isn’t free, because you still have to work for it! BlogRush will put your link baiting and headline writing skills to the test! And I don’t see that as a bad thing, at all. Will it become an automated spam widget? John’s pretty strict about not wanting that to happen, but time will tell if he can pull it off.
I was concerned about the terms of service and the privacy policy, but after reading them (yes, you should always read them) I didn’t see anything at all suspicious in them.
Feel the Rush!
So, based on the fact that I already respect John and the clean terms of service, I’ve signed up for the service. But I’ve decided that if I’m going to add another widget to my blog, then I had better get rid of another one in order to prevent clutter. Even though I’m proud of my Technorati authority of over 7,000, I’ve decided I don’t need the Technorati widget if I’m going to have the BlogRush widget.
Would you like more traffic for your blog? If you want to, you can sign up for BlogRush here.
I’m really curious as to what categories are offered to sign up under. Are there many of them? Are they all business related?
Alan, nice to “see” you again! There aren’t that many. I didn’t count but looked like easily less than 50. Marketing is one and so is technology. Some other bloggers have expressed that they’d like to see more, and I agree with that, since it’s all about niche targeting.
I am a bit sceptical about blogrush. There is to much hype and not enough fact, and the few bloggers I have read that haev posted their stats said that they were minimal.
Thanks for commenting, Thomas. I think what the real conundrum is for this is: who are you doing it for? Are you placing BlogRush on your blog because it’s going to help your readers? Or are you doing it because you want more traffic for no work? What benefit will your blog’s readers get from it? Probably none, and if that’s the case, should it really be there? Other than I want to see what happens, I’m really close to removing it because it doesn’t serve my readers.