BlogRush can suck it.Yeah, I took their dumb-ass widget off my blog, after three unanswered emails over the issues I had with them. And then they have the temerity to send me an email asking me to PUT THEIR WIDGET HIGHER ON MY BLOG!!! Excuse me? How about getting the titles of my posts right, first of all?
Also, their stat-counting sucks as much as their trouble-shooting. Besides BlogRush, I have 3 other stat-counters on my site, and they rarely agree. I understand that; some counters count every single bot, and some don't. However, I had one of my highest-traffic days EVER yesterday, since the Ron Paul piece was also linked on a Ron Paul-oriented blog. All my other counters reflected this; in fact, it was how I discovered the link. BlogRush? Counted it as one of my LOWEST traffic days. Huh?
And then, to top it off, I read this:
Is this where I mention that I've gotten ONE WHOLE HIT from BlogRush in the entire time I've had them linked on my blog?
BlogRush (system@blogrush.com) wrote:
THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS *CRITICAL*
INFORMATION. PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT
TO READ IT RIGHT NOW.
In This Message:
- TrafficJam.com Is Coming
- 42% Increase In Free Traffic
- Widget Performance Monitoring
- All Members Must Be Displaying The Widget
- Closing In On ONE BILLION Blog Headlines
We’ve received TONS of positive feedback on the
release of “Phase 2″ for BlogRush!
Members are really happy with the new Dashboard
stats and reporting as well as all the new
features — including the new “thin widget” option
and “BUZZ” meter. And many are especially excited
about the important news we released about our
upcoming “TrafficJam” sister site.
If you haven't yet experienced the new
"Phase 2" of BlogRush (and viewed the
new VIDEO inside) make sure to login
to your account to check it out:
http://www.blogrush.com
*********************************************
TrafficJam.com Is Coming
*********************************************
TrafficJam (which will be located at
TrafficJam.com) will take the hottest posts from
across the BlogRush network and rank them by
category based on our “BUZZ” meter technology.
This site will be another way for our users to
drive more free traffic to their blogs.
We expect many Internet users will start using
TrafficJam to keep up with the latest news about
the niche they are interested in, as well as a
great resource for bloggers to find important
blog posts from other bloggers so they can then
write about them (and link to them!) on their own
blogs.
*********************************************
42% Increase In Free Traffic
*********************************************
42% Increase In Free Traffic Sent To BlogRush
Members In Last 48 Hours
Since releasing Phase 2 we’ve seen a 42% increase
in click-rates (i.e. the free traffic members
receive) across the entire network. This is
mostly due to the release of the thin widget
option.
Many of our users had blogs that could
not accommodate the standard widget size and
were forced to place the widget at the very bottom
of their pages — this was contributing to lower
click-rates across the network.
And we’re about to make additional changes to
dramatically improve the click-through rates
which is what will send every member even more
traffic…
*********************************************Maybe before he goes all gung-ho, he ought to deal with some of the PROBLEMS people are complaining about. Also, how about the accusations of homophobia?
Widget Performance Monitoring
*********************************************
The #1 reason BlogRush isn’t sending the maximum
free traffic to all of its members is simple…
many users are placing the widget very low on
their blogs where most people won’t even see it.
Did you know that over 1,500 BlogRush users
(across nearly all network categories) are
receiving average daily click-through rates
between 1% and 2% on the BlogRush widget on their
blog?
And it should also be no surprise that these
users are getting a higher rate of referral
activity than everyone else — more bloggers click
their “Add Your Blog Posts” widget link and sign
up for BlogRush. (Because more people SEE their
widget.)
ALL of those users have ONE THING in common…
they have the BlogRush widget positioned high up on
their blog where a lot of people will see it!
So right now you could be receiving 10 TIMES (or
more) traffic from BlogRush, but the reason why
you don’t is because so many of our users are
placing the widget very low on their blogs where
it’s not being seen — and those poor performing
widgets are hurting the overall network
click-rates.
YOUR BLOG POSTS are only appearing inside those
1%-2% click-rate widgets on rare occasion (which
is what will send you the most traffic). The rest
of the time your posts are appearing inside
widgets that no one can even see! (Which is why
you aren’t getting more traffic.)
Here’s What We’re Doing About It
We’ll soon be adding “widget performance
monitoring” to our network. Any users that have
low-performing widgets will be automatically
notified that they need to improve the
positioning for the widget on their blogs.
Failure to improve their widget performance
(which can be done by giving the widget higher
placement) will remove that user from the
network. THIS IS THE ONLY *FAIR* WAY TO DO IT.
“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, I KNOW, I KNOW…”
Since we originally launched BlogRush about 6
weeks ago, we encountered some problems that we
had to deal with… we had to increase our security
measures to stop people from abusing the network,
which we did… then we had an issue with
low-quality blogs in the network… and we worked
very hard to manually review ALL blogs, we had to
make some tough decisions to remove over 10,000
from the network, and now we have a fantastic,
high-quality network of member blogs, BUT…
Before we fixed all of these problems, the
quality and performance of the network was poor
and it didn’t send as much traffic to our members
— which we were very unhappy about, and the sole
reason we’ve worked so hard to fix things. SOO…
it has been a “Catch-22″ for many of our
members…
“Why should I give the BlogRush widget higher
placement when I’m not getting much traffic from
it!”
And for those that have this reaction, it’s
PERFECTLY UNDERSTANDABLE...
*I* would, personally, feel the exact same way.
But we now have the data that PROVES that
BlogRush, as a system for driving valuable,
targeted blog readers to other blogs, 100% WORKS.
It just requires that our members give the widget
high enough placement so visitors will see it and
can use it.
So here’s what I’m asking all of our members that
currently don’t have the widget placed very high
up on their blogs… PLEASE immediately move the
widget higher up on your blog. (Thank You.)
Just give it a chance as we encourage everyone to
give the widget higher placement and at least see
what happens. If you aren’t happy later, then by
all means, remove the widget from your blog. It’s
that easy.
BlogRush was created as a truly COOPERATIVE
system to drive tons of valuable targeted traffic
to blogs. It only works for those willing to be
fair to the other members.
BY THE WAY, if you’re one of our valued members
that DOES have the widget placed high on your
blog, “Thank You!” You’re doing your fair
contribution to the network and we sincerely
appreciate it. (And you’ll be rewarded for it.)
Do we require that the widget be placed at the
absolute very top of your blog? NO. But if you
place the widget so that it is immediately in
view when someone loads your blog, or at the very
least is seen shortly after someone starts to
scroll, you can pretty much guarantee that you
won’t be receiving a “widget performance WARNING”
from our system asking you to improve the
placement.
If you will be unable to give the widget good
placement on your blog (similar to what is
mentioned above) then please go ahead and remove
the BlogRush widget from your blog, because I’m
afraid you won’t be able to meet our new widget
performance requirements. It’s just not fair for
our other users to be giving YOUR BLOG POSTS
great exposure on their blogs if you aren’t
willing to do the same for theirs.
*********************************************
All Members Must Be Displaying The Widget
*********************************************
This is something that we’ve let slide a bit as
we’ve been fixing all the major issues we
encountered. We understand that many users took
the widget off their blog so they could take a
“wait and see” approach before putting it back.
But now the time has come to enforce a new rule
for the network… if you’re not displaying the
widget on your blog you cannot earn or use
syndication credits for your account. For any
time that the widget is not active on your
blog(s) that you have set up in your account,
none of your posts will be syndicated and your
account will not accumulate any additional
credits.
Your referral network and activity will remain
intact, as will any existing credit balance, but
you will not be earning any new credits (or using
any) during the time the widget is not being
actively displayed.
This is the only FAIR WAY for the network to
work. Many of our members that have been making a
solid effort to contribute to the network have
complained that they click on links inside their
widget only to find a blog that’s not showing the
widget.
So we’re putting an end to this as it just isn’t
fair.
And any members that have an inactive widget for
an extended period of time (30+ days) may be
terminated from the network and have their
accounts permanently closed.
Please know that we are working VERY HARD to help
drive tons of traffic to your blog. We’ve got
lots of new services and plans in the works! Our
success with BlogRush is based solely on YOUR
SUCCESS of getting lots of traffic from our
network. So please know that all of these “rules”
and moves that we are making are with that sole
focus in mind.
We are quickly heading towards our ONE BILLIONTH
blog headline served!
Maybe we’ll throw a little party when that
happens? :)
And a big “Thank You” to everyone for their
patience, understanding, and also valued
constructive criticism!
Best Regards,
John Reese, Founder of BlogRush
For my part, I wrote back:
I don't suppose it will matter, since I assume this is a bot, but in the unlikely chance a human being reads this:
Until the problems with my account are corrected, as I mentioned in my blog post of 10/31, about the last 12 COMMENTS in my blog being erroneously sent out as my last 12 POSTS... why on earth should I move the widget? You haven't replied to three emails now, and you send me this one?
I call that chutzpah.
DaisyDeadhead
Daisy's Dead Air
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Listening to: Etta James - Tell Mama
via FoxyTunes