Build My Blog

This post is a response to a comment I recently recieved from Alban..

Currently, Blogrush is the only tool I know of that is specifically designed with blog trafficking in mind. I know they are currently dealing with explosive growth and trying to wipe out all the abuse of the system that thay have recieved. There has been numerous scripts designed to game the system and rack up credits.

I am also in the dark with everyone else in checking out reporting. Currently this blog has a small readership so I know that I haven’t been racking up impressions, but from my stats I know that I have had 14 visitors from Blogrush in about a week and a half. Not too bad, could be better.

Here is a little trick that so far is not misuse or abuse of the Blogrush system. Keep in mind that the policy could always change. I am not responsible for any consequences.

Create another rss feed with just the post you want to show up in the widget. Use one with a good headline. For instance, I am using my post “A Blog Post is Like Trying to Get Laid“. It has an attention grabbing headline and may be more likely to be checked out. Here is how my Blogrush RSS feed is set up. Copy and paste this to a text editor and change the relevent titles and links. The first is the info about your blog, the second is the actual link that will show up in the widget.

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”ISO-8859-1″ ?> <rss version=”2.0″>
<channel>
<title>Build My Blog, The Dollars Experiment</title>
<link>http://www.buildmyblog.com</link>
<description>An experiment in making your blog profitable.</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<item>
<category>BlogRush</category>
<title>A Blog Post is Like Trying to Get Laid</title> <link>http://www.buildmyblog.com/2007/09/19/a-blog-post-is-like-trying-to-get-laid/</link>
<description>
This description is not used by BlogRush.
</description>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>

Save that as BlogRush.rss and upload it to the root directory of your site. Then log into Blogrush and go to the settings tab. Set up a new blog with the rss feed being the one you just saved. You will get a new widget id code.. paste that back into your blog over the old one and you are all set.

You could also add a few other posts as well in the rss feed if you wish. So this is how you control which of your posts will show up in the Blogrush widget.

When you link to different websites that discuss some topic or has something worthwhile on it, you are sending your traffic away. The other sites love it and who knows, you might get a link or two back in return.

Now, let’s say a reader is at your site for the first time. Would you rather send them elsewhere or would you rather they stay at your site. Easy answer. So why not link to different articles you have written on your own site rather than writing posts sending traffic away.

Suppose you have written a post about how you can make money online, why not link to that to offer a reader another article on your site. You may be able to hook readers to come back if they find what you have to say is useful or they enjoy your writing. Linking within your own site also helps with SEO. The bots will crawl all over your site.. sounds kinda gross, but it is a good thing.

I have just installed a wordpress plug-in to show related articles at the end of each post in hoping to give an interested reader some other articles to read instead of them bumbling around or worse yet leaving me.

So don’t be afraid to link to yourself. Have your reader stick around your site instead of sending them off.