BlogRush: A Pyramid Traffic Scheme For Bloggers
Any new blogger knows that building reader traffic is long and hard process. I have been going through this process myself since inception of this blog. Bloggers typically use recommendations from experts like John Chow, ProBlogger etc. They offer multiple strategies for building traffic over time.
These strategies are sometimes expensive or really slow. BlogRush a new beta service aims to solve that in a very simple fashion. Once the blogger registers on their service, they receive code for enabling a widget (just like the one on the right column) on their respective blog.
The widget displays posts from other blogs with similar topics. However the important thing to note is that BlogRush displays posts from the registered blogger, on other blogs as many times the widget gets displayed. So if the blogger gets 100 page views, her / his blog headlines will be displayed 100 times on other blogs hosting BlogRush widget.
It gets even better. BlogRush has enabled a very smart pyramid referral scheme. If other bloggers register onto BlogRush from your website, you get even more page views. So in the earlier example, in addition to 100 pageviews the orginal you shall receive additional displays caused by the referrers.
Check out their video below explaining the details of the service. I recommend this as a good method to increase traffic. So if you are a new blogger go register.
Can you post an update on your BlogRush Experience?
[…] Another blogger, Abhiskek Tiwari, calls it a “A Pyramid Traffic Scheme For Bloggers. […]
Sure I have installed the widget just yesterday and will be monitoring the traffic closely. I will try and report in a week’s time.
The setup and install was smooth. Took me under 5 mins.
This is one of the lamest and most abusive methods of increasing blog traffic I have ever seen. As a professional blogger that literally spends more than 40 hours a week creating content for my publications, I find the fact that someone could use this tool to get hundreds of thousands or even millions of page views (are real people actually viewing this content anyway?) to be completely deceitful and contrary to the entire value proposition of blogs and damaging to the value and integrity of blogs built up to popular status by legitimate hard work and good content.
This has the potential to completely destroy the nature of legitimate blogging and the creators and users of this software should be ashamed at getting a high rss or page view count using this despicable method.
When I saw it the first time I thought that pay-per-post was bad but at least people on pay-per-post still have to work to build traffic for their blogs. This is just a linking scheme plain and simple and I sincerely hope that technorati and Google will automatically block any and all sites using this tool to protect legimate bloggers with legitimate traffic from real links with real readers.
I’m sorry you think this is cool or would recommend it. The only explanation that could possibly reduce your culpability here is that you are a total noob and simply didn’t know better but truth be told I don’t think you’re that ignorant which leaves me to a much less respecable conclusion
@Oliver,
Thanks for your frank views on the subject. I do agree with you that at a high level this is nothing but a improvised linking scheme, with some categorization feature built in.
I also see eye to eye with you around this being at some level shameless promotion scheme. However in that stream of thought this is no different from other traffic generation schemes promoted by folks like John Chow, Jeremy Shoemaker and Darren Rowse. For example:
1. StumbleUpon
2. Digg
3. Link baiting etc
4. Buying adwords and running promotions
These all are schemes which draw people in and have nothing to with the content. However you do have to realize that it ends there. If one does not have good content, no one is going to come back. Users aren’t that foolish to spend their valuable seconds on a useless blog.
Yes I am somewhat of a “noob” in this domain as my blog is only 2 months old and definitely do not have as much experience as yourself. However I and most other bloggers have learnt (the hard way), that having great content is just the start. Its not enough. New bloggers must take steps to increase their traffic and get the word out there.
Even if I get some spike in traffic due to one of these schemes, I know well enough that it will be only for a day and most users wont come back if there isnt good content.
Now I do sound very bullish on BlogRush in my post. However I havent had too great a experience with them after a week or so of the service. As I mention in my earlier comment, I am planning to post a follow-up with my findings.
Hope you understand where I am coming from. It aint that easy for new bloggers. You are very well established in this field and have great affiliations. Hence you can draw great traffic on that reputation. It isnt the same for everyone else. We still have to produce good content and on top of that try to sell it…
abishek,
While it is true that I am now reasonably established, I wasn’t always. For the record I necer once used any of the cheap trick short cut methods that you mentioned and to be honest neither did any of the bloggers that I respect.
I EARNED my traffic through hard work consostently good content and posting early, often and with novel and news worthy content.
I think it is both a cop out and a lame excuse to say that because getting traffic is hard work or because it takes a long time to build to reasonably high levels of readership that it is okay to use blogrush or any of the other methods you mention is simply a cop out.
Further your contention that it does no harm is flat out wrong. People who add a blog to their RSS readers don’t often delete it thus your artificially elevated RSS count devalues blogs that have a lower count earned through legitimately gained readers. I find it especially sad that people like you who use these tools are very likely going to damage the value of the honest blogs to the point where there is no financial incentive in the medium for anyone.
If you want to be a respected, let alone a professional blogger I urge you to renounce all these low life dishonest means of building traffic and urge your readers to do the same. Blogging already suffers enough from an integrity problem- especially compared to mainstream journalism you have a choice you can either do what your statements in your response indicate you already know to be the right thing or you can stay on the path you seem to be on now and manufacture your false numbers using dishonest tactics regardless of the damage those tactics do to blogging as a whole or bloggers like myself who make some or all of our living writing real blogs for real readers who have each and every one been earned through the creation of quality content.
Incidentally both dig and stumbleupon can be gamed but they can also be the legitimate opinion of the masses. They also do frequently point to valuable or interesting content. Nothing that is total crap makes it to the front page of dig.
One can’t say the same for blogrush which gets you pageviews regardless of the quality or value of your content. That is not the same thing at all and you know it-how many times have you made it to the top of digg? Without asking friends to help you out? Ever? Never? I rest my case.
ps: I
both these comments written from iPhone so please excuse the typos etc.
Oliver,
Few facts:
1. There is no (and never will be) any false count or artificial elevation of RSS count on this blog. Also I dont even have any count posted here anyway, so your allegations there are baseless.
2. My use of BlogRush has been two-fold, one to comment on the service itself and yes to see if it can bring in new users who may not know about my blog otherwise. It is in no way, shape or form a dishonest means of building traffic. Users follow a story from a certain web-page, because they are interested in it. Its legitimate behavior and no one is tricked into it.
As I mentioned before, irrespective of any of these schemes, any blogger has to put in the hard work. I do take pride in the posts I write, as it is hard work for me. I know that if I didn’t have that, no one would show up. No matter what traffic garnering scheme was applied. I think you should give more credit to the readers. I can say it by simply monitoring my traffic patterns. People ain’t that stupid.
Yes I understand that building a reader base is a long arduos process and these methods maybe a cop out. They also maybe a negative impact to blogs in general. However that I think you should take it up with people who are considered blogging authorities and most new bloggers (including myself) look at them for such insights.
In closing, I completely agree with the fact that hard work is primary in this space. Without hard work and great content no one will show up. Believe me I know it. However as and when blogging grows, you will see such new schemes being introduced and most people leveraging them. With respect to BlogRush, I am pretty close to stopping any use of it because it doesnt quite work for new bloggers and tends to favor well established blogs.
Finally I wish you could provide your valuable comments by not getting too personal. This is a constructive conversation and I appreciate you taking the time for it.
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