Ok this will be the last post about BlogRush because I am tired of reading about it on the internet (hopefully). I have found that this little widget really will not work because of several factors and I will list and discuss them. I also have created a mini Google Spreadsheet of my data from last night.
I also found that this really did not match up with my Google Analytics Stats. I will also do a little comparison from my current analytics vs my current BlogRush stats. Well here are some reason why I found my BlogRush CTR low.
- My Headers Need to be More Attractive
- Everyone Puts their Widget in Bad Part of their Website
- Displays Links on ANY blog
- 5 Links are very minimal
- Stumblers of StumbleUpon
- Unable to Adjust Widget
I think these are the top 5 reason why my CTR is low. First Let me do a comparison between Analytic Stats vs my BlogRush Stats. Here is my BlogRush Stats:
Google says I received 1 click yesterday:
Well at least Google and BlogRush match in clicks. Now what about impressions? They do not match at all. If you click on the above picture it says I have 276 impressions for Tuesday. But according to this image to the left I show 189 visits with 301 pageviews, I do not think that equals to 276 impressions, this maybe due to the credit system they have in tact. I might have spent 276 impressions and the remainder will be rolled over, still uncertain.
Everytime the widget is shown on a page (with my link) it counts as an impression or used credit. So this obviously does not match up to my BlogRush stats. That is my little stat summary and now to the reasons why my CTR was real low.
My Headers Need to be More Attractive
Since the titles are only being shown on these little widgets, your title needs to catch the attention of a reader. The link that was clicked on was my short post about a response I received from Google about my Adsense.
I assumed that specific title attracted the user. I try to make my titles attractive with keywords within them, but I think that strategy will not work with BlogRush. Catching the eye of a reader by creating a GREAT unique title will guarantee a click. As of right now I thought my titles were great - catchy and has the proper keywords, I guess I have to make them more catchier.
Everyone Puts their Widget in Bad Part of their Website
What is the point of having a catchy title if it ca not be seen? I have seen multiple blogs, but I see the widget when I have to scroll through the page. I also have my widget in the mid section of my page in my sidebar. Is that a good place? I do not know - more testing needs to be done. But having a banner or link up near the top is optimal for any high CTR. It needs to be seen.
With these blogs that have the widget in the mid section or even at the footer of their page will guarantee them impressions, but what about gathering clicks? Most think why should I direct traffic to someone else, I only want to earn impressions, this should only benefit me, etc. This train of thinking is wrong. So readers only put their widget on their page to gain impressions so BlogRush will only benefit them. If everyone does this - it is pointless to even have this widget on your site.
As for me, I personally do not want to destroy my layout the way it is. It is either this widget will be removed soon or I will leave it where it is.
Displays Links on ANY blog
Now - CTR are base on the impressions your link is displayed on another website. This is a horrible issue because my link can be displayed on a brand new site that gets 1 visitor every 3 days. I do not think this is fair. It creates an impression for my link but kills my CTR. What if my links are displayed on 100 smaller blogs? These impressions will definitely kill my CTR if I appear on a more populate website and I gather clicks.
5 Links are very minimal
The display window of the BlogRush widget only shows 5 links at random on a page if refreshed or new. 5 links is very minimal, I personally do not think that 5 links will definitely attract readers, especially if the contextual engine is still messed up. I sometimes see sports links on a marketing blog - so this mean the algorithm is still not up to par, as any contextual engine is.
By simply having 5 links - which non English blogs are being seen on it as well kills the chances of my links to be shown.
Stumblers of StumbleUpon
Stumblers definitely ruin my CTR. If you are like me and stumble pages to find something new, you just keep hitting the stumble button in your FireFox browser until you find something worth reading.
If you have the BR widget on your website, I gain impression if a link is shown but also kills my CTR - chances are stumblers are just stumbling on pages and staying on that page for no more than 3 seconds and hits the stumble button again. You just lost a credit for a useless reader and destroy your CTR in the future.
Unable to Adjust Widget
I am unable to resize and change colors of this damn widget. I want it to blend with my site, yet I can not do that. I want to give it a white background, yet I can not do that. Why is there such restrictions? This should be able to have it blend with your website, such as adsense. If that little widget sticks out and does not look like its part of your internal website, chances are no one will even look at it or click on it, example banners.
I have learned from working with adsense is your site needs to have a flow. Everything needs to match and be contour to the website. That is why I think I have done pretty well with adsense, even though I was cut off. But in any case - I can not edit the properties of the widget, which will make it hard for others to even look and click on a link.
I hope I have explained these well and I hope I gathered enough information about BlogRush that I understand it. These are just some pointers I realize while I have been playing around with BlogRush for the past couple days.I suggest blogrush creates a credit system that is far better than what they have now, especially if my links will be shown on 100 smaller blogs instead of 50 high traffic blogs.
How are your stats? Are your CTRs low as well? What have you found about BlogRush and what do you want to see improve?
