Blog Traffic Exchanges
Found a review of most of the blog traffic exchanges over at Happy Sam. I think I agree with his assessment of the top few traffic exchanges he has on his list, and now I’m going to have to check out the others I’m not currently using. Here’s his top 12 list with caveats:
“…heres how I would rank them: 1. You must join, 2.-5. High quality expanding exchanges, 6.-10. Potential and Variety, 11.-12. weird.
1. Blog Explosion
2. Blog Azoo
3. Blog Exchange
4. Blog Clicker
5. Blog Soldiers
6. Wolf Surfer
7. Surf Tiger
8. Hit Safari
9. Blog Advance
10. Blog Mad
11. Mad-Den Traffic Exchange
12. Blog Crowd…”
What exchanges do you use and which ones are most effective for generating good traffic?
[tags]web, tools, traffic, blogging, blog exchanges, tips[/tags]
I’m not sure that any of these result in repeat visitors / regular readers / subscribers. People just jump from blog to blog to earn the service credits. When these sites can group blogs into families based on topic & make sure that as a user you see sites that are of interest to you, they’ll be useful… I stopped surfing blogexplosion long ago, because I never saw anything that interested me & I’m sure that the people who were presented with my site at random didn’t like it either. (wow… that’s not a comment, it’s a post!!)
Yeah, I use these exchanged to get the opportunity to see cool blogs I might otherwise get the chance to see. As far as generating traffic, I’m not convinced people actually stop to read at all.
Blog Explosion and Blog Clicker are pretty good. Blog Azoo seems to take forever to use up any credits I accumulate.
I’d have to agree that they’re best used for viewing blogs you’re interested in, since the traffic that usually gets to your site doesn’t really stick around. I’d have to say the best way to create a reader base is to post comments to others blogs as well as to message forums. People that actually stop by then tend to come back now and then.
yes mojotek you took the words right outta my mouth. i use blog explosion, but mostly just to find new ones to read, if i get a few extra hits because of it, great.
I am a mod over at BlogAdvance… (#9 on the list). You should check us out… we have some excellent services to provide bloggers (we have free hosting, free image hosting, dead link checkers, blog reviewing, directory addition, and much more.)
I use BE once in awhile, but I’ve found that I’ve gotten more visitors from word of mouth on other blogs..
Just signed up with Blogazoo. I wasn’t totally convinced… Hopefully, you get referral credit though.
Maybe I’m doing something worng, but I hardly get any traffic thru exchange programs - except BE. Mostly from google. But what the heck I know anyway.
eric: yeah, me too… I think I’ve actually found a lot of readers because I stop and comment on their own blogs using BE, Blogazoo, or BlogClicker.
Laurie: Yes, definitely… making relevant or funny comments on other blogs seems WAY more effective for getting people to read your own.
RockyJay: I wish I got a lot from search engines… I think I’ve screwed the pooch on keywords for my blog, because I get a lot of “thug/rap” search results. Oh well, at least the people that stop by regularly are cool.
BE is okay—I just like their pinging options, so that your site will go on all the search engines, however, there are only 35 people on there or something…not many people. Why is that?
I also found that commenting on other blog gets traffic, but the main thing is, having good content in your blog to make them come back. (which you do Mojo!)
It’s important that you want to blog, because you have a love for writing- or just posting wacky things- political/religious views, anything really. Just do it for “you”…
Catching up on your blog here Mojo! I always love your rants. :)
~Deb: Thanks! You’re right… it’s something you really have to do just for yourself. Not because you think someone will read it.
If I was to sum up the list….
BE would not be first, they have gone to comercial and its not about getting readers to your blog anymore, its about what clique you can join and what game, who can win on their BOTB etc. Not my style for getting traffic.
Blogclicker is good, but I have been having probs with blank screens showing as of late.
Blogazoo, since its ‘refurbishment’ it looks promising.
BlogAdvance, its new and the potential is good. Great community forum and spirit over there and it seems if it wasnt for BA, some of the options BE have brought out wouldn’t have existed. Forum, Image hosting etc..
Some of the others mentioned aren’t even Blog only exchanges so i won’t even bother with them.