BlogRush arrived with much fan fare – many bloggers installed the widget and waited – and waited – and waited. Therein lay the problem. They waited, but didn’t act. BlogRush relies on bloggers checking the widget and clicking on articles of interest. The big problem is, the widget sits in the side bar and most bloggers don’t look there. They see it every day – they are blind to it.
So what about visitors. As a blogger, it is hard work getting a visitor to click on anything within your blog. The BlogRush widget has to compete with every other ad or menu item within a sidebar.
The concept of BlogRush is fairly good. Gain credits from the number of visitors with those blogs not getting huge traffic getting bonus credits. The credits are then used to display your posts on the widget in other blogs. Great concept. Evens out the playing field and gives the smaller blogger the chance to get more exposure. So why isn’t it working? See paragraphs one and two.
The real problem is very simple – incentive – or lack thereof. As there is no incentive no one bothers to even look at the widget. With poor traffic flow from the widget, more and more people are dropping out. I know from my experience I am getting about one visitor per 5000 impressions – it is just not good enough. The one saving grace are the statistics. While only simple stats, I do like the 30 day graph that shows me which days are performing well and which days are not. I know I can get those statistics elsewhere but the BlogRush widget is a quick and easy access point.
What needs to change? Somehow they need to incorporate an incentive program. Perhaps changing the bonus credits to an earn by the click system. Without an incentive to click, BlogRush is going to be crushed by the likes of EntreCard. At present, I see only a limited future for BlogRush which is a shame as the concept is quite good. RIP BlogRush.
Eh. I see one thing that Entrecard has and BlogRush doesn’t: social networking. It’s not the usual networking that we all know, but the social system is there. Once you set up the BlogRush widget, that’s it. Like you said, users just wait. In Entrecard, users interact by visiting other blogs and dropping their cards. Users also have the choice in which blogs will show up in their widget, and the choice in which blogs to advertise on. That’s the main flaw in BlogRush. There’s nothing to do but wait.
Also, what the heck. Review me. Heh.
Hello Les:
Just wanted to thank you for visiting BloggrZ.com and submitting your blog. The site is still in its very early stage and participation of blog like yours means a lot. And, this is very critical for its success.
Thanks a lot again,
Pranaya
- Since you constantly talk about blogging tips, I’d appreciate if you’d write a quick review of BloggrZ.com.
Thanks.
I tried to bump up my Blog rush users so icould get more credits, but once again the big blogs killed it for the little guys as they found out about it first and got the most credits off the hop so there posts get the most exposure. It would be nice of someone to start something that works for the little guys not only the big pro’s!
** Baddie – your added to the list in the new year for reviews. I agree about the social aspect – BlogRush has no incentive attached so no one bothers click.
** Pranaya – always willing to give something new a try. Will do a short review with a follow up down the track – but as you can see with BlogRush – if it doesn’t produce any results then I will say so.
** Collin thanks for commenting again – always much appreciated. I totally agree with the getting something started for the little guys – I have tried a few things but no one seems interested – will have another crack after new year.
Have a happy new year to all and a very prosperous 2008.