In case you have not noticed, I am very optimistic by nature. I always try to give things the benefit of the doubt and believe in second and third chances. However, when it comes analyzing how your blogs advertisements are performing, this type of mindset can cost you money.
Case in point, while I was maintaining this blog at wordpress.com, I was very frustrated that I was unable to put the Blog Rush widget to my site. In fact, one of the first things that I did when I moved this blog to my own domain was to apply for Blog Rush and immediately get it on my blog. Now I was ready to have my posts “automatically promoted on related blogs across the internet” while Blog Rush “works to exponentially grow my blog’s traffic.” Well, I waited and waited for all of this traffic, but it simply has not happened. I received exactly two hits while I had the widget on my website.
I should have pulled the plug on Blog Rush a month ago, but I was reluctant to give up. I guess I just have a hard time admitting that I wasted my time and made a mistake. However, my point here is simple–in the blogging world (and real world) we must carefully analyze what is working and what is not. Mistakes will certainly be made. Still, it is how quickly we recognize our mistakes and move on from them that will determine our success level.
In other news, today I got my first payment from Yuwie, a social networking website that pays you to use it. I will be adding my Yuwie payment of $12.81 to my Current Earnings Page shortly. As with all of the programs I use, I do not include my earnings until I actually have the money in my hands. I also added a new wIdget to this blog that will countdown the time remaining until my beloved Scarlet Knights face Fresno State in the 2008 season opener.
I’ve tried Blogrush a lot. I used to have it on my personal blog, and received maybe a handful of hits. I decided to give it a try a couple of weeks ago again on my two blogs. I’ve received three hits, and that can be blamed on Firefox. I’m probably going to remove the widget from both my blogs by this weekend. It’s just taking up space.
Gina
http://celebritytoday.today.com
http://ginasramblings.blogspot.com
I don’t think there are many shortcuts to getting readers and traffic. You have to write original, compelling content. A thought to SEO also helps, and some shameless promotion in as many channels as possible never hurts.
-bob (also learning this the hard way)