Second Thoughts on BlogRush

I recently installed BlogRush, a link/traffic widget, which I wrote about last Sunday.

1. I wonder if the nature of it is such that it doesn’t really increase traffic for you unless you’ve already got huge traffic. If anything, it might increase the disparity between popular blogs and newly established blogs.
2. Whether or not BlogRush does what it says on the box, we all look like a bunch of sheep–or maybe lemmings!
3. Will BlogRush filter out any unpleasant news about itself?
4. I’m curious to see how visitors through BlogRush will appear in traffic analytics, such as SiteMeter or Google Analytics. Will the referrer be the blog that hosted the BlogRush widget, or will it be BlogRush itself?
5. If it’s all free, how is it being paid for? The terms of service and privacy policy don’t have anything suspicious or unusual in them. What is BlogRush doing with massive amounts of data now being gathered about every blog that has it? Will they sell this data? Is BlogRush the tip of a wedge of other services through Income.com?
6. How do I know the links I’m seeing in the BlogRush widget aren’t just paid links? (Update 3: They are. Thanks to Shane at ZoomStart for pointing that out in the comments.) Especially if some of the big names in blogging are using it, like John Chow and Yaro Starak. Why do I not see their posts on it? Update: I now see posts from Dosh Dosh, ShoeMoney, and Strategic Profits, three sites I expected to see.
7. I’ll give it a month and see what happens. If it works or doesn’t, I’ll let you know.

Update 2: I emailed the folks at BlogRush and asked them point blank if the BlogRush widget violates Google AdSense terms of service and if BlogRush sells paid links that show up in the widgets. I told them I would quote their answers in a post. I hope to hear from them soon, though no doubt they’re busy!

Update 4: John did spell out what was going on with BlogRush on his post More BlogRush Details, which had escaped my notice earlier. I recalled the details about fighting spam, but not about paid links. They say memory is the… well, I forget. Anyways:

“How will BlogRush make money with this? Will there be an ad bar added to the widget? Will it contain somekind of AdSense ads?”
The company will primarily make money from the “left-over” blog title spaces across the network. When all the math is calculated on all 10 generations of referrals, it will leave 10% of the spaces (i.e. 5 spaces per widget, so 1 out of every two loads of the entire widget [10 total spaces] leaves 1 empty.) We will most likely add something so users can purchase more syndication credits if they choose to. The inventory that can be sold will be from these left-over spaces.

So… basically… BlogRush is an extremely clever way to sell paid links while providing a way for bloggers to get more exposure and traffic. It isn’t presented primarily as such, but you can’t do something like this without having your revenue model down, so the emphasis is John’s to spin. I’m not saying it’s bad. In fact I love clever win-wins.