I saw Jay’s post on Technorati Favorites Exchange, and read the associated Dosh Dosh article that inspired him to promote reciprocal favorites. It will certainly help a new blog to be put “on the map” if they start with a decent amount of fan base, as ranking sites like the Blog Juice Calculator uses Technorati score as one of the factor of a site’s popularity. But somehow it didn’t sit right with me, so I started digging some more into it.
There’s an article by Darren Rowse citing his concern over Technorati favorite swapping. His main point is many people are fixated on being in a Top List in some sites, they forget their number one objective is still to write good content. In Darren’s post, and in Maki’s follow-up post, they both mention the traffic they get from moving up the Technorati ranking was not much. This is not surprising. How many of us actually use Technorati to find new sites? I don’t even use Technorati as a bookmark or social networking site. At one time, I did use it to find the top blog sites. Maybe people use it to figure out where to start browsing – and I’m willing to bet they won’t start from the bottom of the list!
Then, there’s a question of “quality” traffic. Maki noted 47% bounce rate with his experiment. That’s decent because Dosh Dosh has excellent content to begin with. For most of us, it’ll probably be in the high 70’s or 80’s. This is the same complaint I noted with EntreCard users. Ranking sites are generally used for exposure, but not necessarily for conversion. In my experience, if I visit a blog via a ranking site, the first 5 seconds of my attention is important. If the content is interesting, I will read some more and may leave a comment. Otherwise, I will move on.
So this exercise to gain Technorati ranking, or any other ranking systems out there, by using reciprocal method or exchange, has its merit and have been done before with much criticism. Does it stop people from doing it? Probably not. Jay has gotten over 100 responses from his post. Maki got over 400 responses! Am I tempted to be a part of this? Sure, I posted my link at Jay’s and favorite a few. I’m not expecting to get much from Technorati though. I apologize in advance that I don’t favorite everyone involved.
If I have to exercise reciprocating to promote my site, I will use these to say “Thanks” for visiting:
- Reciprocate comments. I respond to every comment, either on my site, or on the commenter’s site.
- Reciprocate EntreCard drops. I don’t get many, maybe 20-30 a day, so it’s manageable.
- Reciprocate help. When people help me, I try my best to help them back in any way I can. Perhaps through encouraging words, or by offering my advice. I also try to give a relevant link to their blog when I write my post.
Thank you for reciprocating!
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Interesting thoughts here Rudy, thanks for weighing in.
I’ll be posting a wrap-up later tonight that deals with the good and the bad.
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I think reciprocating comments is the most important thing you can do as a blogger. I think that Dosh Dosh article was written before Technorati instituted their authority system. He did a follow-up:
http://www.doshdosh.com/techno.....-new-look/
I try to do other things such as adding someone to my blogroll or writing about an article that appeared on their site that I liked. I have given away Entrecard credits and written recommendations. I stumble pages and I add people to my favorites on Technorati. I am not above trying some of the methods for increasing my rank, but I just feel like it doesn’t serve a purpose other than to appease my curiosity. I see blogging the way I see life…it is about the quality of friendships not the quantity.
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I like the opinion upstairs, we should enjoy blogging life, 🙂
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@Jay: Looking forward to see that wrap-up.
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@beeker: Thanks for the link to Maki’s follow up. I read it and he basically talked about the authority system being how many sites link to a blog. That’s almost like Google’s page rank system. What is interesting is that Technorati uses link in the past 180 days. So if I have links to my site over 6 months old, I can’t use it and drop in ranking? That sounds like hard work to be in their top list.
I like the list of things you do to reciprocate. It is about building a community and having friends.
@Franca: I don’t know who lives upstairs that enjoys blogging. 😉
I did the technorati thing too even though I don’t use technorati for anything really. I agree with your reciprocating philosophy. I find that being part of the blogosphere is much more satisfying when you’re involved that way.
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Unfortunately T-rati has a max of 200 favorites and I maxed out at least a year ago.
@Periapex:
Engaging in conversation and discussion are more satisfying. Being in a community, no matter how scattered we may be, is more satisfying. I have yet to cultivate this intelligence of the masses — but the potential is there.
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@Jason: have they maxed it out to 200? I’ve seen the Top 100 having more than that. Maybe they’ve changed it recently, last year.
Here’s a screenshot of what I get when I try to add you http://www.flickr.com/photos/g.....344505339/
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Ah, ok. I interpreted your comment backwards. A site can be favorite by more than 200 people, but one person can’t favorite more than 200. I guess it’s their counter-measure against people who have been gaming the system.
Comment reciprocating is top one on my list of blog to do’s. I try my best to email and or comment back on my blogs.
I really dislike when you comment and it seems to fall into a black hole somewhere!
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Hi Connie,
Thanks to Carolyn Bahm, I got a WP plugin that lets me email my comment replies directly to my commenter(s). It’s quite useful and makes it easier to reciprocate and inform.
Rest assured your comments will not go into a black hole in my blog! 🙂 Unless, of course, if it’s spam.
Comment reciprocal sounds good. However, my blog is just new and it has no definite traffic and readers. Maybe I should concentrate with blogs related to my niche, what do you think?
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Hey Hye,
We all start from zero traffic and reader. You made the right decisions by joining blogging promotion tools like EntreCard to start off with. The rules are very simple: Blog for yourself, and post often. Don’t be discouraged. You’ll bound to hit a topic that people like and it’ll catch on like wildfire.
I just checked out your blog. I think you’re off to a good start. Keep up the good work!
I think easy way to get links from other sites is through posting comments on blogs. The same energy can be use in order to achieve the same result. However getting good technorati authority needs patience and time. One must be consistent in getting the links because technorati rank based on fresh links.
Most sites has “nofollow” on links in comments. So leaving comments will not give me any link love.
You’re right about getting fresh links being the best way to get better rankings via Google or Technorati.