Incoming Links, Technorati, Alexa, Adsense, and Google rank. Should I Care?
Like any blogger I check my Technorati rank and occasionally look up how “effective” my blog is via Google and various other tools available. I would like to think it is more of an idle curiosity than anything else as I don’t have advertisements on my blog and I’m not doing this to make money.
There is nothing altruistic about my non-profit blogging status. I’m sure, if I followed all of the advice and templates out there, I could make a few sheckles. My lack of attempting to do so could be chalked up to laziness, apathy or that I do have a day job that I like. The reality is just that I want to blog how I want to blog and not make posts ad nauseum about SEO and schemes to generate links to increase ranking.
I have nothing against people who do make money blogging. To the contrary, more power to them. They are disciplined and focused and I have to admire the entrepreneurial spirit they exhibit. But is blogging to make money really all it’s cracked up to be?
I visit many other DoFollow sites and other blogs via links and Technorati. I like blogs, and I like having one to be part of the club. Yet I often find myself getting tired of reading post after post giving advice on how to make money with a blog posting about how to make money with a blog posting about how to make money with a blog.
Not all blogs do this and even many blogs that offer advice and tips on making money blogging also have compelling content. But I am starting to believe that many blogs are built around their ads, with actual content bringing up the rear in the echelon of priorities. I like many blogs with ads and many without. All of the blogs that I like have good and original content, and that is what I like about them.
I often wonder if the bloggers that put such an emphasis on their own page ranks for ad revenue ever bother clicking on ads themselves. How often do any of us click on an ad in a blog? I work in advertising and I think it’s a poor approach because of its lack of focus. Of course with somewhere near 100 million blogs, that one in a million click happens often enough every day to encourage it.
At any rate, I’m not ruling out advertising on my blog. If the day comes when I find I can make enough to buy a bottle of Scotch or a box of cigars every month, my inner capitalist will jump on it. I just don’t like the way blog advertising turns normal bloggers into obsessive statisticians and accountants rather than people wanting to say something or just have fun. Not to mention the horrible effect these ads have on the design and layouts of the site.
Yet the more I blogged and read other blogs, I found myself checking Technorati frequently. Sometimes daily. Sometimes more often. Even removing the financial incentive, the peer pressure and the desire to fit in and measure up can be as palpable as that felt in eighth-grade gym class. Now I’m turning over a new leaf. I’m just going to accept what my Technorati rank is, be grateful for any links and exposure I get and just keep on blogging nonsense. Because that’s what I do.
If any of you are wondering, my Technorati rank is 194,358 with an authority of 41. I checked before I wrote this.
Advertising 
Technorati 
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October 23rd, 2007 at 8:41 am
I’ve put up a small box of Google Ad-Sense links in my sidebar just because I figured that my blog was off-beat enough that some useful links might appear. Like you, I’m an ex-pat (Canadian) living overseas.
Sure enough I’m getting links like “German Language Courses”, and “Discount Travel to Germany”. Of course there are other less useful links too, but the box is fairly unobtrusive and I think, low on the annoyance scale.
Make money at it, you ask? According to their own figures, for two months of Ad-Sense goodness, Google owes me 26 cent so far. Those would be US cents too, so we aren’t drinking Starbucks coffee yet.
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I wanted to ask you earlier, where did you get that calendar widget?
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I looked at your site and the ads make sense based on what you’re posting about. It is also unobtrusive enough to where finding the actual content isn’t a problem. I think the problem might be in blogs that talk so much about making money online or making money with adsense that all of the ads become a weird loop about making money blogging. It’s the content that is important and that is even reflected in the ads.
I can’t remember where I got that widget from. Early on I found a site with a list of Wordpress widgets and picked and chose from it. I’ll see if I can find that and get back to you.
October 24th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I hope it helps that I listed you as my favorite in a MercatorNet poll.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Well, thank you. I do like to hear it when someone likes b!c! and tells others. I might end up starting a pyramid scheme if I can figure out how to do it…
November 4th, 2007 at 8:46 am
It is easy to say that nobody clicks on ads but it isn’t bloggers that click on ads, it is the people who aren’t bloggers who are less aware that they are actually clicking on ads.. those people are just trying to find solutions to their problems.
Adsense takes about 10 minutes to install, even if you don’t care about money it can’t hurt to give it a shot for a few week.s
November 8th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Ross, thanks for visiting. I understand that most of the clicks will come from people who aren’t bloggers themselves. My issue with Adsense is one that you indirectly bring up. You say that these ads are clicked on by people looking for solutions to their problems and that is most likely true. Assuming that people visit a blog that has content they are interested in, then the ads will be relevant. This reinforces my belief that good content should be a bloggers first priority, and ads coming in further down the line.
Unfortunately, it seems that the vast majority of blogs with Adsense are blogs about making money… with Adsense. It ends up being a snake eating its tail. I’m sure there are many fine blogs out there with real content and Adsense that are making money and useful to visitors. Like anything else, there are good and bad examples.
There are somewhere around 100 million blogs. Some are good, most are rubbish, and I don’t necessarily count my site in the first category. But this is my rubbish, and I focus on what I want to focus on and don’t give a toss about SEO or Adsense ranking. Like I said, I’m not trying to disparage those who use it and make money, or those who choose to blog about making money blogging. I just like my little imperfect system and stressing about things I’ve added to my blog, not what Adsense has.
December 18th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
i wouldnt really care about those things… especially after the most recent pr update
May 16th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hi! I recently did some SEO on one of my websites that has Adsense running.
This is a niche website and had about 3.000 unique visitors each month but after I did some keyword research to get a better picture of the search volume I now have an average of 7.500 unique visitors.
Since the website is community based it mostly live its own life and by using the Adsense program I earn an average of 350$ each month.
I have enabled a high level of interaction and the website is espected to reach 10.000 users within two months.
The visitors are finding my website through Google (Very good SEO work done here) and also through relevant websites (Adsense). The Adsense income is at the moment funding all the Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing campaigns
I would recommend everyone to start combine SEO, Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and to use viral campaigns.
Thanks for a lot of interesting info on you blog El Yanqui!
You have been bookmarked
December 5th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I’ve noticed lately that Adsense is going down every month and CTR is much lower than on a niche website for example. But, I also agree that people are not writing about what they like or about their hobbies anymore, is all about making a few bucks with Adsense. Of course, the ideal way is to do both but few understand this and start blogging about things they know very little about.