I’m sure this one is going to be all over the blogosphere soon enough - it’s already hitting the social networks and the Internet marketing forums.
John Reese, Internet marketing mega-guru, has released the first part of his master plan for Income.com, which is a blog traffic exchange widget called BlogRush. You can read over the release process as John talked about it on his blog over the past few days.
BlogRush is essentially a way to syndicate content across blogs. It reminds me a lot of a service that one of Mike Filsaime’s websites offers where you can put a widget on your website to display text box ads and for each impression you delivered from your site, your ad would be displayed on other sites who used the widget. Looking back further and this concept was taken from the old banner exchange networks, where you receive exchange credits for showing banners on your website, which were “cashed in” by showing your banner across other sites in the network.
About a year ago when I first heard about Mike’s system I thought to myself the concept would work well for blogs too and lo and behold, BlogRush has made it a reality.
BlogRush is a simple idea. Place the BlogRush widget on your blog and earn a credit each time it is displayed when your page loads. You are rewarded by using your credits to display your blog content on other blogs that use the widget. This happens automatically and it’s set and forget - stick the widget on and you start earning credits immediately.
BlogRush works by taking your RSS feed content and syndicating articles across the network at blogs that are topic-related to yours. Using a combination of context matching and the category you choose for your blog, BlogRush attempts to place your articles on blogs that it thinks are similar to yours. This should increase the click-through rate and I’m sure as more blogs join and the technology improves it will be possible to quite tightly match content, probably not quite to the level of Google AdSense, but certainly better than just random impressions.
Referral System
BlogRush has a ten-tier referral system, which means you earn credits for bringing people into the program up to ten times below you (yes, it’s like a super pyramid scheme or MLM program). When someone you bring into BlogRush begins earning credits you are rewarded with credits. When you referral brings in someone else and they earn credits, you get some more again, and so on and on until ten levels below you.
Obviously because of this structure it pays to join and promote early before everyone is on board, hence I’m writing this post on the weekend :).
Will You Get Traffic From BlogRush?
The short answer is yes, of course you will get some. However don’t expect miracles. Even if the uptake on BlogRush is significant, which it will be, in my experience the click-through rates on these sorts of traffic exchanges are terrible. Even with BlogRush’s context and category matching, the placement of widgets like these in sub-prime real estate (usually in sidebars below the fold, just like on my blog), means that they don’t get a lot of attention in the first place and there are five links competing for what attention there is, so the chances of a visitor clicking through to your blog is low.
That being said, as with all small communication channels for bringing traffic, which BlogRush is one, the effect of compounding does make a difference and all traffic helps, so it’s worth giving it a shot.
If you would like to get in on the BlogRush and grab referrals before everyone is on board, now is the time to join and stick the widget up on your site. Here is the link -
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Dear Yaro,
I’m afraid you were not quite quick enough this time!
I had already signed up through Daniel Scocco’s Daily Blog Tips.
Let’s see what happens.
Cheers anyway.
I just recently wrote about this too. Yes, the word is spreading each and every second. Hopefully, BlogRush will turn out to be a success.
I guess it pays to check email on the weekend! Thanks for the tip, Yaro.
Thanks, sounds like a great idea, let’s give it a try
Hi, I’m trying to sign up this morning, but when I enter my feed url, which is http://www.imhappyfish.com/blog/feed, it keeps saying it’s not an valid feed url,how can I fix it? Sorry to ask you here as their help section is not up yet :p
Thanks a lot,
Joanne
http://www.imhappyfish.com/blog
I just added it on my blog earlier also.
Will be interesting to see how it does on a smaller blog like mine.
[…] about a new system called BlogRush. I have been reading all about this at ShoeMoney, JohnChow, Entrepreneurs Journey, etc. So I decided to go a head and just join. You have all probably heard about it from emails and […]
Hmm, this could be an experiment I wouldn’t mind trying. Then see how much traffic is gained through a period of 2-3 months.
Get in On the Ground Floor NOW! Beat the BlogRush!
The weekend, marketing superstart John Reese launched BlogRush.
BlogRush is similar to a traffic exchange. You are provided a widget (our’s is located to the right in the sidebar just under the search feature). Each time the widget is disp…
[…] just read an article from Yaro about this new blog widget/technology called BlogRush. Intrigued, I went to take a look and after […]
Hmmm… sounds interesting. I will try anything to gain a little traffic. Thanks for the tips, Yaro!;)
Thanks for the heads up. I just might use it.
Traffic exchanges are pretty old hat. You might want to take off adsense if you join the program.
I’m skeptical.. this reminds me of MyBlogLog and I think it will get a lot of spam. Other issue is adsense usually doesn’t like traffic exchange programs. And.. it is random traffic. But.. I could be wrong!
As Jeremy said, worth trying on a few smaller blogs, and implementing it on the main blogs too if all goes well.
Good one Yaro
Can BlogRush really increase traffic for small blogs?
I joined yesterday. I hope I will get a lot of targeted traffic from it.
Let’s test this, like John always say.
It’s really cool, I already clicked on a related post on your widget.
[…] you will probably have already read about a new site called BlogRush. ProBlogger, John Chow and Yaro Starak amongst others have been discussing […]
“You might want to take off adsense if you join the program”
Back when I used to use adsense I e-mailed them and asked them if they allowed 1:1 advertising programs (like BlogRush). They said they didn’t mind them, they just didn’t like exchanges that artificially increase your count like traffic swarm or blog explosion.
That’s not to say their stance hasn’t changed, but they have no reason to no allow it. For a user to visit your site they still have to physically click on a link, thus not causing an artificial increase.
Excellent Post, and very interesting topic. I think it may show promising results.
Yaro,
Thanks for letting us know about this powerful widget we can add to our blog. I am looking forward to seeing how it works!
I don’t think it will perform as well for getting traffic as everyone thinks, there’s lot’s of people swearing it will do miracles for traffic but they’ve only been members for a day! see how many adsense ads there are for it on google and you’ll see that people will say anything to get you to signup through their referral link.
I give 7 reasons why I wont be using it on my blog, it takes up a lot of real estate on the sidebar for what comes down to providing links to strangers who might be your competition.
I prefer to link to places that I visit myself or to the sites of my commenters.
it is a clever way of Reese to get other people to build his list for him though!
The problem with blogrush is that if your blog does not get enough traffic then blogrush wont help you much. I think the tool needs some work yet.
Just joined blogrush, I believe that it’ll help my blog’s traffic grow a lot faster.
Thanks for your info.
the filers that are supposed to block content based on your keywords don’t work. I tried it and it seems like it’s just ignoring them
[…] BlogRush - Will it Increase Your Blog Traffic? […]
After John Reese recommended Auction Ads - which I find terrible- I’ve been skeptical ever since. Blogrush does seem a lot like Mybloglog and all those other scripts. Frankly, I’m getting a bit tired of yet another thing that clutters up blogger journals. I dunno but I guess I don’t mind losing out on this one.
http://www.entrepreneur.com.sg
Sounds like it might work for a while anyway. I know everyone is going gaga over exitexplosion and its nothing more than a spiffyed up TE.
Yaro ,
It still remains to be seen …
Anyway , I’m looking forward for its +ve effect .
Rgds ,
[…] Starak’s very thoughtful, sober piece, probably the most useful I found - BlogRush - Will It Increase Your Blog Traffic? Will You Get Traffic From BlogRush? The short answer is yes, of course you will get some. However […]
hi Yaro, thanks for your email just read it now. I’m happy to say i’ll be adding the widget too - lets see how it goes. Thanks again.
[…] at least for the immediate future. Many of the big names in blogging have been talking about this already with varying degrees of scepticism and/or hype, but at the end of the day, no one really […]
I blogged about Blogrush today too. I think it’s a scam.
i think it may not bring any significant amount of traffics. when too many blog join in, our blog link may be in the widget for a few seconds before another updated post comes in and push the link down, then gone.
I’ve just installed BlogRush, but I’m wondering whether it will only publicise the latest post, or all your 5 (or any fixed number) latest posts.
It was stated that if your traffic is 100, then your post will be publicised for a 100 times. Does that mean 100 for each post, or per day?
Thanks!
On the point about click-through-rate, I’ve shared some tips on how you may be able to
improve CTR on BlogRush, given a PPC mindset
What do you guys think? Cheers, Hans
Actually, I find it interesting - just another type of RSS feeder on my main page. Found a number of interesting stories that I would have missed, otherwise.
Thanks for the information about BlogRush. I am interested to see how it does on are website.
[…] Yaro Starak from Entrepreneur’s Journey […]
Hey Yaro, my 2nd comment on your blog
Well, I found this post listed in the top entries of google search result for “blogrush”, so I’m here.
The fact is that I’m trying to gather reviews about blogrush to populate my squidoo lens at http://www.squidoo.com/blogrush. I’ve picked up nuggets of thoughts from comments here which I’ll add to it.
Welcome any feedback over there.
Thanks
Hans
[…] exposure for their blog content that they could never achieve on their own.” Darren Rowse and Yaro Starak’s reviews were slightly more reserved but still suggests giving it a go. So with positive reviews from some […]
It sounds to good to be true. But it will interesting to see what happens with it.
Yaro - any ideas on how John will monetize this?
Do you think this is an attempt to build rather substantial numbers then begin charging per impression, per click?
Be curious to see how he turns this into a massive money maker.
Jeff
I have just signed up and I think it`s a very interesting service. After only a day or so, I have received a lot of new traffic to my blog.
It`s free and it seems to be working great.
Well, I am not Yaro (I think :p) but I can think of many ways that could happen, after all they got a 250 x 350 (I am not sure of the exact size) banner on lots of blogs… they could sell sponsored links, sponsored posts, maybe they will offer some kind of affiliate program where the blogger will also get a part of the revenue the widget is generating on its blog… but whatever they do they must be really cautious or all this somehow good publicity they are getting right now can disappear in less than a second.
I have just created my account on blogrush and it looks really interesting.I’m pretty sure that the best way it can bring traffics is to use their banner tool.I’m hoping for it to rush cause I just created my 1st blog and i’m waiting on blogrush to bring me some traffics.
Thanks Yaro for the email about blogrush.
I’ve just signed up for it although I’m not sure how much traffic I’ll receive, I agree that it’s worth a go and a lot of small communication channels will all add up! And I do like the fact that as you say you can ’set and forget’.
I know your widget is below the fold, but with your post being so long you get to see the widget anyway. Another good reason for writing long posts (and not using the more tag) it gives your sidebar more attention.
[…] BlogRush, either through emails or from feeds at my Google Reader. Starting from Gobala Krishnan, Yaro Starak, John Chow and Dosh Dosh, to name a few. All of them were talking about BlogRush, a simple traffic […]
[…] STARAK : BlogRush - Will It Increase Your Blog Traffic? […]
I have added this in hope of creating some additional traffic. Also since it’s in its early stage, and it’s free, it’s also a good idea to try it at this time. You never know what it will do for you unless you actually try it..
Thank yaro
[…] Yaro - BlogRush - Will it increase your blog traffic? […]
[…] to your blog. I say HOGWASH!!! Ok, I hear you saying, “But Fred, ShoeMoney, Darren Rowse, Yaro Starak, Sarah Lewis, and John Chow have all stated that Blogrush will be a great way to drive traffic to […]
While in theory this sounds magnificent, in practice the quality of people who will be attracted to and syndicating content on this network will be found wanting.
Yaro….would you mind sharing your BlogRush stats with us? Low and mid traffic bloggers probably won’t see much click throughs but I’m curious as to how it is performing for A-List bloggers.
[…] about how good or bad BlogRush is so I thought I should do a little follow up to my original post - BlogRush - Will It Increase Your Blog Traffic? - and throw in my […]