BlogRush: The Concept, Realization and Aftermath

Category: Web Development Author: Gary R. Hess

BlogRush is a “small” widget that runs on a blog pages. Each time the widget is loaded it contains 5 clickable headlines to another users’ posts. Clicking on any link opens a new browser window and loads the blog and th entire post. Users earn “syndication credits” based on how many times their blog is loaded with the BlogRush widget as well as with each time one of their referrals (users that signup through them) loads the widget. For each syndication credit one recent blog post will be served to another users widget.

What it looks like:
BlogRush widget

The Concept

The basic idea of BlogRush is great. Someone visits your site, then your widget is showed on someone else’s site based on how many times your widget is loaded. Someone clicks on your widget, someone then clicks on your headline. Sounds great, tons of free visitors and all you have to do is give up a little real-estate—and the traffic is well targeted since you choose what category your ads will display in.

The Realization

BlogRush was released September 15th with an incredible amount of support. Shoemoney, DoshDosh, John Chow, Problogger and others were quick to see what type of damage could be done with the widget. Within three days of launch, Shoemoney was credited with referring 600 bloggers, a great triumph for BlogRush and a quality launch.

The Aftermath

After its release BlogRush received criticism for giving too much traffic to the big guys and not enough to the small guys. The term pyramid scheme has been used countless times when referring to products like BlogRush (the guys at the top get everything while the small guys get nothing). Bloggers like Shoemoney, John Chow and Problogger have millions of unspent credits. Since BlogRush uses an ten-tiered referral system, for every person a blogger refers and any blogger that refers, ten times down the line, the original blogger receives syndication credits for the number of times the widget is shown.

So lets take Shoemoney’s BlogRush referrals for an example:
Shoemoney originally referred 600 people within three days. If say, 20 of those refer someone else, then 5 of those refer more, then one of those refer someone else. He is receiving credits for all referred within his referral tier. So instead of just gaining credits from his massive traffic amount, he is also gaining credits for 627 other people. And that is just three days worth.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Shoemoney did something I have yet to see any other big name guys do—give his credits away for free. Nonetheless, the point remains.

John Chow stated while on the Shoemoney Show how he had a great number of unused credits, several million. He said that around 1% CTR is what to expect in most cases. So lets low-ball it and say it was just 1,000,000. One-percent of one-million is still 10,000 visitors—a nice amount, even for John Chow.

The Recommendation

For most blogs, BlogRush is not the answer. A blog receiving 1000 page views per day is possibly getting 10 clicks, probably less depending on how well the title is written, where the BlogRush widget is placed on the blog showing the headline, the right BlogRush category, etc. And how many of those that click actually stay and read? Again, depending on how well the content is written or catch the eye, accidental clicks—a 40% readership is a fair number. So out of 1000 page views, 4 people will read the blog, given everything goes right. Still confident? Then BlogRush is for you. It is always worth a try.

For others with a large blog readership or those who can get referrals easily, BlogRush is a great choice. The more page views the more readers, the more referrals the more readers. It is quite simple really; well, if you write intelligent headlines it is.

Still want to join? Sign up through me.