BlogRush. Will it stay or will it go?

September 28, 2007 at 1:05 am · Filed under Predictions, Advertising, Online Marketing, Beta

At the time of writing this post, I am testing BlogRush on this web site as well as another web site.

BlogRush sprang onto the web scene “…to help bloggers solve their #1 need: More Readers for their Blog.” The concept is simple. You register your RSS feed, and then place a widget on your blog which displays the titles of posts on other blogs that are of similar subject matter. In return, your articles are featured on other blogs.

It all works on a points system. For each impression on your blog your receive a point. When you have a point, you get impressions for your articles. But, there’s more. There is a multi-level/pyramid aspect to it also. As people join BlogRush as a result of a referral from you (clicking on your BlogRush widget, or, by a URL supplied to you that credits you) and earn credits, you earn credits also. There are several ‘tiers’ of earning percentages.

Note: Not all multi-level systems are bad. The word “pyramid” describes a structure, but also had the stink of being illegal in some way due to its usage, and I want to clarify that there is certainly nothing apparently illegal or foul about BlogRush employing a multi-level structure to drive user promotion.

OK. So far, so good. The multi-level thing sounds a little creepy, but its nothing new. It makes enough sense. And, the way it comes together there is enough surplus that they’ll be able to easily introduce pay-per-view advertising into the system later (or some other monetization model). Yes, plan on monetization. John Reese is an entrepreneur and marketer. His URL is income.com. This isn’t being built to make the world a better place, it’s to make money at some point.So, what’s not to like? Try these on for size (and, again, at the time of writing this, I do have BlogRush on this web site to test its impact or lack thereof):

#1 - BlogRush may violate Google’s AdSense Terms of Service

Don’t have AdSense and don’t care? Skip to #2. Have AdSense? Here’s the AdSense verbiage that is being spoken of (bolding is mine):

We understand that our publishers are always looking for ways to attract interested users to their sites. But using third-party tools or services to increase your site traffic may lead to invalid clicks or impressions and result in your account being disabled. For this reason, we’d like to provide you with some guidance about this.

As many of you already know, our program policies strictly prohibit any means of artificially generating ad impressions or clicks, including third-party services such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, auto-surf, and click-exchange programs. These programs offer incentives for users to view web pages or click on ads, resulting in activity that is harmful to our advertisers.

We occasionally receive questions from publishers interested in using traffic exchanges to bring traffic to their site. While these services may help advertise your site, we don’t recommend using them, as they may also result in similar invalid activity. We realize that you may have questions about a specific traffic service and whether it could potentially create invalid impressions or clicks. However, please understand that we’re unable to comment on any particular third-party service.

My honest take on this one is that I’m not buying it, but I can see how some people may. BlogRush is promoting your articles, not traffic. For someone to end up on your web site, they will have to (a) be interested in the title of your article and (b) click on it.

However, while the system doesn’t encourage bad behaviors, it certainly does reward them. Since it is based upon a points system where views on the blog owners’ sites drive traffic back to that site, sitting on your own page and cranking on the refresh button is like patting yourself on the back. This is precisely what has happened on BlogRush since its launch (although it’s likely something more automated than a human pushing the refresh button), and the reporting system has been down for two days as they are making changes to the system in a frenzy to eradicate what gaming they can detect.

#2 - BlogRush in no way guarantees you traffic

How do you get traffic from BlogRush again? As mentioned above, for you to get traffic to your blog, someone will need to read one of your headlines on another blog, and, be compelled to click on that title. Er. You can currently get your blog posts syndicated on a myriad of sources, also free, where your article title (as well as an excerpt) will be displayed for clicking. Let’s forget about that for a second.

So, you could still get some traffic from BlogRush. But, let’s think this through, there’s likely a very low conversion rate, unless people are having the BlogRush widget masquerade as their primary navigation, which they probably are not. So, what’s the best thing you can do to drive traffic to your site? In both models mentioned, one thing always works in your favor: increasing impressions. In the syndication model, I don’t have to do anything to ensure my posts are being displayed. But at BlogRush I do. Further, I can increase the impressions that my blog titles will get if I have more ‘credits’. Again, credits can be gained by impressions that occur on my blog, and impressions on sites of those whom I’ve signed up (and so on, and son on). So, what is the biggest motivator right now: Getting on board and getting people to sign-up as your “downline.” There is some conversion rate out there (albeit dependent upon how catchy your headlines are, and how relevant the site they are placed on), and regardless of what it is, the more visibility your headlines get, the more potential you have for traffic.

Is it all hype? No, there are people that think it is a great idea. I don’t think it is necessarily a bad idea, I’m fairly certain that what it provides is not what people are being led to think it will.

#3 -Communication that comes from BlogRush is worthy of infomercial status

Every email I get from BlogRush makes me feel like I’m being marketed to by a used car salesman. Reminiscent of those oh-so identifiable ClickBank sites. Late night TV. Kevin Trudeau. You know the drill.

This might change. But, at this point, the kettle is black. The easiest way to explain their communication style is to read the last email BlogRush sent out before addressing the fraudulent activity that members were taking to game the system. The email was posted in its entirety on John Reese’s “income.com” blog: Shocking Changes at BlogRush!

So, take BlogRush for what you want to.

I have a strong feeling that it will have a surge and then flame out. The idea isn’t all bad. I just don’t forsee it driving a substantial amount of traffic to anyone’s blog, and based on that alone, I think it will likely fade into obscurity.

One last take:

Could BlogRush work (as a business, not for the bloggers out there)? Absolutely. Here’s the scenario:

• Hopefuls install BlogRush in force (this is happening now-there needs to be far more users, but it is underway),
• Google either isn’t offended or doesn’t take action, thus regardless of good or bad traffic volume, people don’t have a compelling reason to remove the BlogRush component.
• BlogRush leverages the number of blogs that they now have a footprint on and introduces advertising into the mix bringing an ad format to the table that has a better page presence than a text ad would (think multimedia or video-something more compelling than some text links on a page).
• Voilà. Bring on the investors.

Only time will tell.

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