Blogsoldiers: A partial revision
After receiving 3 comments and 1 email today from blogsoldiers surfers (thanks guys) I have to at least partially retract my previous post. So it seems that there are soldiers out there who actually read other people's blogs, while they are building up credit for their own...
I still suspect that there are users who dont read the other blogs. One reason for this is that a small number of blogs showed up multiple times after I had surfed only 50-100 sites using blogsoldiers. These bloggers must surely either buy credits or sit there clicking and not reading other people's blogs. However, out of about 25 referrals today from blogsoldiers, I got 4 responses. That's actually not a bad conversion rate. Of course, the title of my post was deliberately provocative - I claimed that blogsoldiers didn't work knowing that I would have blogsoldiers traffic directed to me. Would I (or others) get this many (not that 4 is that many!) different responders to less provocative posts?
A more important question is probably whether it is worth the investment of time to browse other people's blogs in order to have some traffic directed at your own. Would it be more beneficial to focus on writing good quality content, or to advertise in other ways? If you already have a decent readership, then a focus on content makes sense. But what about when you are trying to build up a readership?
I dont have any definite answers here, but I can say that blogsoldiers does indeed generate traffic, with at least some of the readers being prepared to take the time to read and respond to your content. Its probably a reasonable option if you dont have many readers, or if you enjoy randomly browsing other people's blogs.
I still suspect that there are users who dont read the other blogs. One reason for this is that a small number of blogs showed up multiple times after I had surfed only 50-100 sites using blogsoldiers. These bloggers must surely either buy credits or sit there clicking and not reading other people's blogs. However, out of about 25 referrals today from blogsoldiers, I got 4 responses. That's actually not a bad conversion rate. Of course, the title of my post was deliberately provocative - I claimed that blogsoldiers didn't work knowing that I would have blogsoldiers traffic directed to me. Would I (or others) get this many (not that 4 is that many!) different responders to less provocative posts?
A more important question is probably whether it is worth the investment of time to browse other people's blogs in order to have some traffic directed at your own. Would it be more beneficial to focus on writing good quality content, or to advertise in other ways? If you already have a decent readership, then a focus on content makes sense. But what about when you are trying to build up a readership?
I dont have any definite answers here, but I can say that blogsoldiers does indeed generate traffic, with at least some of the readers being prepared to take the time to read and respond to your content. Its probably a reasonable option if you dont have many readers, or if you enjoy randomly browsing other people's blogs.
posted by Gordon Simpson at 9:29 PM
10 Comments:
I seem to hit your site about every dozen ones that I browse with blogsoldiers.
Hi Jay,
That's interesting. I've been surfing blogsoldiers a bit myself just to test it out and build up a little traffic. But I've only been getting ~20 visits per day. Are there really that few other blogs that mine should come up so frequently for you? Or maybe you have selected only a subset of categories and/or blocked a bunch of sites?
Or another possibility: if you spend say half an hour surfing sites on blogsoldiers, and build up a few credits, how quickly are those credits used up by return visits to your blog? How do you know if they would be different surfers or the same surfers seeing your site multiple times? Maybe if there are only a few people surfing BS at a particular time, they will get driven repeatedly to those sites with current credits to be used...
Hi, I myself use blogsoldiers and have to agree that the traffic is not that great due to it being completely untargeted, and i also agree that there are bound to be many who do as you say just sit their clicking the next button, but I do receive some comments from people I believe found my blog through blogsoldiers and, therfore believe it to be a worthwhile website to be a part off. If nothing else it gets your blog out there a bit.
PS just for your records i did not find your blog through blogsoldiers instead from your profile after you left a comment on my blog. BTW Cheers for that comment.
Hi Ashley,
Yep, the traffic is untargeted which is a problem. But as you say BS does get your blog out there and there seem to be some genuine viewers who will take time to read. BTW - it was your recommendation in your article about increasing adsense revenue that put me on to BS in the first place!
you're wasting your time. Just get your frinds to digg you, and Bob's yr auntie.
Oh, and it would help if your posts had a few buzzwords, like web2.0 and war on terror.
How about a squid2.0 section on your site?
Thanks Y - I think you are right, but first you need a few friends on digg in order for it to go exponential - else the story will probably just get lost in the noise. I already dugg squidsquid - got a couple of diggs but then dont think anyone else has seen it...
I've been thinking about squid2.0 actually - forum/ feedback etc. TBD
Hi, it's me again!
I wanted to share a few thoughts about all this blogsoldiers thing.
First of all, as we already established, there aren't many surfers willing to read the content of the blog they're currently browsing (i.e. they are only surfing for credits). Then, there are semi open-minded people (like myself) who will always take a quick look around during those 20 seconds and if the site is interesting they'll spend more time there.
So, the crucial thing is to have something that can grab the viewer's attention quickly located somewhere on the "hot" part of the screen. When you're surfing via Blogsoldiers, a part of the screen is taken by the BS window with timer, banners, options, etc. Another big part is usually occupated by that huuuge title box. And if you have a Google ad or two underneath it, only the title of your top blog post will be visible. A good example of this is my blog, which is probably terribly designed and has to be changed extremely soon. If that one visible title is very very very interesting (like "Does BlogSoldiers work?"), it is more likely to attract those casual visitors. That title was what caught my attention and brought me to this site, though even if it weren't for the title I would have checked the side, noticed that it is about making a website (always an interesting topic) and added it to my list of sites to visit. There you have it :-)
Btw, how do you make the ads appear under every post? Where exactly do you insert the code?
Hi Aleksandar,
Yes - I think you are right about having a catchy title for blogsoldiers viewers - actually that's partly why I called that entry "does blogsoldiers work?" - just to see if anyone was actually reading it!
If you want to try another blogging community thing - try blogmad.net. It gives a 1-1 ratio as opposed to blogsoldiers 1-2 - and the interface etc is nicer. However, I am coming to the conclusion that these aren't the best ways to publicise your blog - I'll be writing an entry soon about digg, shoutwire, netscape.com etc that potentially privide you with much better/ more traffic...
Great! I'll be sure to read it.
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