The news of the day for bloggers who use the Entrecard system for blog promotion is that Entrecard is going to start allowing advertisers to pay for ads on blogs in the network.  Even more to the point, it allows bloggers to cash out their credits.  The only stipulation that Entrecard puts on bloggers is that the Entrecard widget must be above the fold (although this standard might be relaxed).

This might just be a good move by Graham to get his lagging blog promotion system back up and going.  Or not.

Here are the pros and cons as I see them.

Pros for Entrecarders:

• You now have network to make money from their ads, and this one is one of the easiest to learn and manage.
• All Entrecard widgets will have to be displayed above the fold (although per the comments on the blog entry, EC management might relax this standard).
• Popularity on the Entrecard network might actually be worth something.

Cons for Entrecarders:

• This actually hurts those bloggers who are doing this solely to promote their own blogs.  They’ll only get a minimum of 50% of the impressions on the most popular sites.
• Having “paid ads” might be a violation of TOS with other networks that you belong to (i.e, blogher and today.com).
• To reject a paying ad, you’ll have to pay a credit fee.
• You have to give up some creative control over the look of your site to place the widget within the designated area.
• The price per credit will be adjustable based on a yet to be determined supply-demand curve.

Pros for Advertisers:

• If your product appeals to bloggers, you have an audience that is used to clicking through to get credits.  Your click through rate on Entrecard ads will be much higher than most networks.

Cons for Advertisers:

• For most Entrecard sites, Entrecard users make up 99% of their traffic.  As a result, the same users cycle through the same blogs (i.e., no new traffic after the first pass).
• Entrecard users are quite industrious when it comes to getting credits quickly.  It isn’t clear that the clickthrough you’re getting will actually get your landing page a good look.
• Most Entrecard users are more interested in earning credits than writing content.
• The demographics of Entrecard are at best “scattered”.  At first, it might be difficult to know exactly who these bloggers are and who their audience is.
• Entrecard is entering a new field.  Their management has had a lot of execution issues in the past.

Yes, this is another article about Entrecard. As you know, I’ve been using it extensively to generate traffic to my blogs. The reason I’ve found Entrecard effective for me is that I am directly rewarded for my actions and I don’t have to beg people to help me. I don’t mind asking for help, but I won’t resort to becoming a StumbleUpon or Digg whore.

A little over a week ago, I set a personal goal. I wanted to get my site, “The Bullshit Stalker” into the top spot for my Entrecard category. Based on where most of the top of category people were points-wise, I figured I’d need to be solidly into the 2000 point club to make it. Well, yesterday I made the top spot in the News and Media category and today I topped 2000 points (currently at 2130).

I will say, this took strategy and effort (and some money). I’m going to share my approach. While I did all of these, you could possibly make it there by picking and choosing. I didn’t want to leave it to chance and, quite frankly, I didn’t have the patience to just dabble here and dabble there. I dove in and the results speak for themselves.

Content, Content, Content
I cannot say it enough. If you don’t have good (and by good I mean relevant and well written) content and if you’re not posting regularly, you won’t make it into the 2000 club. For this little venture, I committed to post at least on article per day. This is no small task, but I wanted to build something here, and that takes effort. I can’t tell you what posting frequency you should have. Considering that you want readers to come back and drop every day, you should give them something for the trouble.

Drop The Limit
Quit whining. Yes, it takes a lot of effort and time to drop 300 each day. But if you’re not willing to commit to this simple task, you won’t make the 2000 club. The scoring system is based on the past five days. If you’re dropping 300 per day and your getting a solid return, you’ll see your score go up. Could you get there without dropping the full 300? Perhaps, but rest assured that the other top spots are taken by “addicted” droppers.

Drop Your Inbox
Yes, you may have a list of blogs you enjoy reading, but to get the volume of drop backs you need, you will want to drop on active droppers. That way, you get as close to a double bang for each of your drops as possible. Over time, you’ll begin to see a trend. The same Entrecarders will be dropping on you every day. These are your best friends in the Entrecard system. Reward them!

Are there cases where I drop on blogs that don’t always return the favor? Yes, I do. There are blogs that I enjoy reading and when I take the time to go there, I will drop. That is one of the advantages of having multiple blogs (see blow).

Use Your Entrecard Credits To Advertise
Just as the saying goes, you have to spend money to make money, with Entrecard, you have to spend credits to make credits, or in this case, drops. Get it in your head that you’ll seldom get a credit for credit benefit for this. I made this mistake when I first started, thinking like most businessmen, that I should get a solid ROI for my Entrecard investment. What I didn’t consider (initially) was the value of exposure. This unmeasurable return, makes advertising worthwhile.

Consider Buying Entrecard Credits
It takes quite a while to earn enough credits to get yourself over the hump. I’ve been a consistent member of Entrecard for well over a month, but I felt it would be best if I went ahead and bought some credits to supplement my campaign. I originally thought I’d use these credits for a contest (and I still might), but spending them to advertise gave me a huge boost. I was able to get upwards of 22 ads going at a time. That pushed me well over 500 unique visitors from Entrecard in a single day.

Have Multiple Blogs On Entrecard
This is good if you have the time and/or don’t want to pay for Entrecard credits. You can transfer credits earned from the other blogs to your primary blog. While I’ve made up to 900 drops in a day, it isn’t something I can do consistently. That is why I bought credits. But having multiple blogs is a good way to have more credits available to push your primary blog into the 2000 club.

Another reason I think multiple blogs are a good idea is that it allows you to really focus each blog on a different aspect of your life. As a result, you’re able to keep each blog on topic. The Bullshit Stalker has a very particular niche, and while this blog is a bit more open, I post my personal items in Fat Bastard. Having three blogs gives me that flexibility and, more Entrecard Credits.

Pay To Advertise On Entrecard Sites
Many Entrecard Sites offer ad space through Project Wonderful and others. This is especially good for Entrecarders when these ads are above the fold and next to the Entrecard widget. I chose to do this for a number of reasons. First, I wanted to test how cost effective advertising on these blogs would be. Secondly, I knew it would attract more Entrecard users to my site. And finally, it would get me noticed by more Entrecarders.

Be Active On The Forums
Networking with other Entrecard members is the best way to build loyalty. The forums are the best place to start. Then expand to other places. As noted above, I’ve begun advertising on various Entrecard sites. Also, I had an Entrecard user, DotComMogul, design me an Adwords background. This cross involvement helps solidify your position in the community. And that community pays you back!

Other Considerations
Take some time to look at the sites that are on the top spots in your category. Rest assured that they do most of the things I’ve mentioned above. Here are a few things that they don’t do:

• Have music play on their site. I am often listening to music or a podcast when I’m dropping. And my girlfriend is often asleep in the next room. The blaring music, regardless of whether I like it or not, is irritating and I often make a mental note to never return to that site.
• Have so many widgets that your blog takes forever to load. Did you know my computer comes with its own clock? Who’d have figured? So, that clock widget on your site is just wasted space (and time). There are many people who still log in through dial up or wireless broadband (mine crawls when I’m in two bar territory).
• Crash people’s system with their blog. No, you can’t test every type of browser on every type of operating system, but you should be reasonably sure that your site is clean and tight. This relates to the previous item as it is typically the abundance of widgets that cause this.
• Hide the Entrecard Widget. I probably should have put this first, but then it might be better to have you leave with this thought. The best place to put your Entrecard widget is by itself on a sidebar above the fold. I know this is prime real estate for a website, but if you’re committed to make the 2000 club, its well worth it. If you think hiding the widget gets users to read the articles, you’re sadly mistaken. Solid, compelling content gets them to read. Give them that, and make the Entrecard easy to find and you’ll have a winner.

So, now is time to get to work. If you haven’t dropped on me yet, please do. And while you’re here, here is the one I really want your drop on:

I was reading some blogs as I bopped around doing some Entrecard dropping (yes, I do read the blogs that interest me).  And I came across a blog post by Alan LeStourgeon at Affiliate Confessions entited: Taking the 30 Day Blogging Challenge. There is nothing like a challenge to get my blood pumping (although I should be sleeping right now).

I’m going to do just that.  I’m comitting to post at least one entry per day for the next 30 days.  But I’ll be doing it on the new site/blog I’m doing, The Bullshit Awards Blog.  I will track the results as I go.

I should see a marked increase in traffic for a few reasons.  We’re in alpha testing of the site, and I should be ready to start beta testing in a couple of weeks.  I’ve set up a ton of ads through Entrecard that are starting to hit in the next few days.  Also, I’ll be going through the 30 day challenge, which I expect to improve my Internet marketing skills.  The culmination of all of these things should mean big things for the blog.

So, go on over and check it out!

Fantasy Baseball is holding what has turned out to be the biggest Entrecard contest ever. Okay, I’m kicking myself for not being a Sponsor, but now I get to enter! Yay for me!

I could really use the 10,000 credits, or the month on ImpNERD. I don’t enter many contests. Why not? Because I don’t consider myself lucky. But, I want to support the cause and with my jet lag, I really couldn’t think of anything better to write.

The announcement for the contest was made on the Entrecard Blog. So, rather than regurgitate all of the sorted details here, I’ll let you check that out for yourself. But, being in the spirit of actually winning this thing. Here are the sponsors of the contest (Copy and Paste).

SPONSORS

Fantasy Baseball - 10,000ec — You can trade in 10,000ec for, like, Graham’s car or something.

Q3-n - 5000ec — Q3-n is selling their 1950s dinette furniture to finance this contest. They say, “You’re welcome.”

Øblog - 4000ec — Wow! 4000ec is going for like $30 on the Entrecard market. Thanks, Weird Oh.

Evil Woobie - 3000ec — Hey, maybe she’s not so evil after all! Or is she? You make the call!

Turnip of Power - 1001ec — He was going to go with 1000 then he found an extra credit in his couch. Thanks, Turnip!

Celebrity Pictures - 1000ec — Credits were acquired through legal means. Supposedly.

Evil Entrecard Kid! - 1000ec — Entrecard trivia: Evil Woobie and Evil Entrecard Kid are not related. Yet.

Modern Glam - 1000ec — With the 1000ec, perhaps you’ll buy an imaginary 1000ec pashmina and hang it around your virtual neck.

Dot Com Mogul - 1000ec — With this 1000ec, you might be able to buy back Q3-n’s dinette furniture.

Blabberwocky - 1000ec — It’s a play on Jabberwocky.

Looking For Scoop - 1000ec — Nothing says “I can buy one popular ad” like 1000ec.

Eyespi20.com - 1000ec — And she’ll teach you how she does that weird signature thing. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, look at her site.

Travelin’ Show - 1000ec — Message from the year 2012: Macy’s is now taking credits and a 1000 gets you one earring.

The Hypnotist - 1000ec — She will put you under a spell. Recognize!

Diet Pulpit - 1000ec — You can buy a lot of imaginary rice cakes with 1000ec. Side note, imaginary rice cakes taste better than real ones.

The Realtor - 500ec — You want insight. Listen to her write. It’s like magic beans growing in the backyard of your brain.

Romelo - 500ec — Romelo, Romelo, wherefore art thou 500ec?

WebATBP.com - 500ec — With gas prices soaring, it won’t be too long before 500ec goes for 501ec.

Inspire Emotion - 500ec — Almost pay for your favorite 512ec ad!

Sue Doe-Nim - 500ec — She’ll probably give you the credits then mock you for wanting them. That’s right — bonus!

Thailand Land of Smiles - 500ec — Actually, that’s 500 smiles.

FitnessLifeClub - 500ec — You’ll have to promise not to blow these credits on any fattening foods.

Lisa Cooking - 500ec — Surprise the whole family with 500 Entrecard credits.

JunkieYard Dot Com - 500ec — If you put these credits in a 401K, in 45 years you’ll have enough credits for a free e-card.

Movie Reviews - 500ec — You can’t buy a movie ticket with Entrecard credits. Yet. (Graham twirls his mustache. Contemplating world domination.)

PRIZES THAT ARE NOT CREDITS (BUT STILL WONDERFUL):

Aerten Art - She’s donating a painting. Seriously. Go look at her site and tell me you wouldn’t want a painting. Now. We’ll wait.

ImpNERD - 125×125 ad for a month — Let’s see, ImpNERD usually sells advertising for 256ec/day. You get this for a month. Um, yeah, you want this.

PoemsofQuotes - A cheesy poem about the winner’s topic — Win this and then ask them to rhyme something with, “Orange.”

Eyespi20.com - A custom made 125×125 card. Some of you need this. You know who you are.

Diet Pulpit - One week ad spot right below the banner and a personal greeting from Lady Rose saying, “Congratulations!”

JunkieYard Dot Com - Three blogroll links. Okay, the thing is, you can’t just get these. They’re prizes only won here.

The Hypnotist - A Hypnotic Audio - I don’t think this will simply be trance music. I could be wrong.

I’ll start with this: The premise and design of Entrecard is brilliant. Graham Langdon has developed a great tool for promoting a blog and discovering other blogs. It has drawn a solid cadre of very experienced bloggers, from whom I’ve learned a great deal.

I’ve written about Entrecard a few times, so I’ll avoid doing yet another overview. What I’ve discovered is that the core concept of visit and drop has a fundamental flaw. This flaw is partially to blame for the higher normal bounce rate, but is more clearly felt on the forums with a regular, unanswered question.

Why visit a blog that doesn’t have any new content?

Entrecard users drop to earn credits and many of us return the favor by visiting their blogs and dropping back. We work our inboxes, often visiting sites that haven’t been posted to in weeks. Are they bloggers or droppers?

There have been a few “cultural movements” in the history of Entrecard that have distinctly highlighted this flaw. I’ll spend a bit of time discussing each one:

UDropIFollow
Initially, I thought this was a very good approach to Entrecard. Because I couldn’t fully commit to dropping on my droppers each day, I didn’t don the badge. But I didn’t try to work my inbox diligently.

I recently did a very unscientific experiment. I visited and dropped on the self-proclaimed founder of the UDropIFollow movement, Lee Doyle. I dropped using bot of the blogs I have at Entrecard. I did this for eight consecutive days. How many drops did that get me from Lee Doyle? Zero.

Wait? You mean the founder of the movement can’t or isn’t walking the walk? No, he isn’t. But maybe he was away? He was on the Entrecard forums regularly during the time I was doing this experiment. Maybe he gets more than 300 drops each day? Perhaps, but I did run this with two blog accounts for eight days. In the not so tactful language of my other blog, UDropIFollow is bullshit!

It isn’t enforceable. It isn’t sustainable. And it misses the true value of Entrecard. I considered carrying on the experiment a bit longer, or extending it to other bloggers, but other cultural movements at Entrecard woke me up.

Entrecard Bans Quick Drop Sites
When you’re dropping just to earn credits, quick drop sites rock! You get your credit they get their credit. Quick and easy just like a hand job in the alley. If credits are all you want, then Entrecard isn’t for you.

The ban and subsequent removal of the quick drop sites will do a lot to improve the quality at Entrecard. I applaud Graham and the crew’s efforts on this. I’m only now understanding this well enough to appreciate the ban.

Comment Bomb!
What if we collectively visited a blog with fresh, good content, read the post, dropped an Entrecard, and then wrote a comment? Novel idea? Not really. That is how I imagine Entrecard was initially envisioned. The results of the comment bomb were magnificent and energizing.

I felt a spark of home emerge. What had become a chore with a hint of addiction, now had a much more pleasant aroma. A glow of promise where 300 drops per account wasn’t a goal, but was a commitment to the community.

Digg Community of Entrecard
Graham next posed the suggestion that we form a collective Digg by Entrecarders. I had always seen Digg as a big tool for a small blog, unwieldy and cumbersome. But as a collective, we could do something cool. We aren’t one small blog, we are a network of thousands of blogs. The forums and comment bomb had made us a community. I now had over 250 friends on Digg (in a single day). With careful management (Digg will ban you for violating their TOS) this could be very powerful.

Then the shouting started. The incessant shouting! “Look here!” “Please, Digg this!” I taught my daughter that if she begged me for something she wouldn’t get it. It goes the same for me with Digg. Why on Earth should I Digg a post that consists solely of a YouTube video the blogger didn’t make?

So here we are. What did we learn?

Dropping for the sake of dropping isn’t productive and degrades the Entrecard community. While the premise of UDropIFollow is noble, in practice it isn’t working. There is a community here, but mining the value of that takes focus.

To make Entrecard matter, we as a network have to start where all great Internet media does, excellent content. We need a constant stream of blog posts that entertain and/or educate.

How do we do that? I don’t know if a technical solution exists. It starts with the users. We have to stop rewarding stale blogs.

Here is my approach:

1. If you drop on me, or get my attention on the forums or on Twitter, I will subscribe to your RSS feed.
2. Through my RSS reader (Bloglines), I will drop from at least one of my blog accounts on the blogs that have new posts.
3. If you have written a good post, I’ll Digg, Stumble, Reddit, etc. If the Entrecard community is behind you, it is likely I will be too.
4. At least once per month, I will post a “featured” (i.e., relevant) blog posts I found and enjoyed, with full backlinks.

Entertain and/or educate me and I’ll pay you back.

I moved my Entrecard widget to the sidebar “above the fold” because I believe in the Entrecard community.  I hope you’ll join me in pushing mediocrity out of the system.  Are you a blogger or a dropper?

It started with an Entrecard Forum post by Entrecard founder Graham Langdon. The premise was simple. What if we all made a concerted effort to post a comment on a particular blog post. This being done as a way of gaining exposure for the commenter and “rewarding” the blogger for their commitment to the Entrecard community. The name was subsequently changed to Comment Rush to avoid any negative vibe from the group action. The intent was not to do this for damage, but rather for positive reasons.

They made a great first choice with Ken Armstrong. His blog post, Music and Driving, was brilliant! Ken’s wonderful writing and well developed blog post took all of us to a place we were familiar with, despite our differences and distances. The Comment Rush produced 165 comments (as of this writing) on this single blog post. It was a very uplifting experience for all of us.

From this, Graham came back to recommend that we form a Digg friendship pact. The outpouring of support for this idea is amazing. We’ve had over 100 people join. The network is building fast (in some cases faster than Digg will let me add friends). You’re welcome to join me there at http://digg.com/users/bsawards and see all of the “new friends” I have!

This got me to thinking. If I want to Drop and Digg my new contacts, what easier way than to subscribe to their RSS feed? I will use Bloglines, but you can use what ever reader you want. I’ll be able to see new blog entries when they arrive. Do my Drop and Digg right there.

You can subscribe to my RSS Feed right here: The Bullshit Awards Blog.

Leave your feed details in the comments of this blog post and I will add your RSS feed to my Bloglines account and will be a regular Dropper and Digger on you. Thank you!

If you’re not a follower/user of Entrecard, then you may have missed the drama that unfolded over the past few weeks.  The short version goes like this:

Posts and claims were made that apparently worked a group of forum regulars into a frenzy.  This escalated despite efforts by the forum moderators to squelch and deflect the conflicts.  As usually goes in these matters, feelings were hurt, bans were issued, and now we have a history mark called Firestorm.

This series of events goes on every day on the Internet.  Especially on internet forums.  There are disagreements, flame wars, and violations of forum rules that escalate out of control until the fire is extinguished (typically within a few weeks).  Everybody will want to point to one individual or one event that set it off, but the reality is, it all comes down to maturity of those involved.

I joined Entrecard for one reason.  To promote my blog.  Over time, I accomplished an even bigger feat.  I learned of some excellent resources and bloggers.  Many of the users of Entrecard are brilliant bloggers who know quite a bit about Internet marketing.  I learn something new every day.  Much of that through the forums.

What most people involved in Firestorm lost site of was their original purpose of joining Entrecard to begin with.  We’re here to promote and/or learn.  To those that left, good riddance.   If you’re too immature to understand that Internet arguments are pointless, then it is better you are gone.  Entrecard is a for-profit service.  One that I’ve found quite valuable.

I’m interested in your thoughts/impressions about the Firestorm.

I’ve been at this blogging for money stuff for about a month. How did I do? Well, I’m not quitting my day job any time soon. But I did learn a great deal!

Lesson #1 – Crowded Market

It is a crowded market. If you’re not offering something of value, something unique, you’ll get buried in the mush. Personally, I know that I have a unique perspective, but I’m not sure I’ll make it as a Make Money Online (MMO) blogger. And I don’t have a passion for it the way some do.

Lesson #2 – Focus

There is no shortage ways to make money online. From ads (text and graphic), affiliate marketing, and pay-per-post, the ways and number of vendors is overwhelming. My advice, find one or two that work well for you and stick to them (especially when you’re new at this). More is not better.

If you focus on just a couple, you’ll figure out how to maximize them for your site. Also, you’ll hit your payout amount that much sooner. It does you little good to have regular, but small earnings on several networks and not ever hit the payout amount for any one of them.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with them, but once you find one you like. Stick with it and make it pay.

Lesson #3 – Integrity

Integrity matters. There are tons of people who use inappropriate ways to make the money they make. They will trick you into signing up for a subscription service when you think you’re buying one e-book. They will lie about various aspects of their strategy or the amount they’re able to generate with a given strategy. Or they will post about something they don’t know anything about or really use all for the sake of getting paid for the post. Don’t sell your integrity. The price goes down fast when you start down that road.

Lesson #4 – Work

Posting fresh, well-written blog entries takes a lot of work. From research, writing, editing and posting, a good post takes a lot of time. Also, to keep an active audience, you’ll need to post regularly. At a minimum that will be two to three times a week. Many MMO bloggers post one or two posts per day. If you’re looking to make a post once a week, you won’t draw much traffic. And if the quality of the content isn’t there, it won’t matter how many posts you make.

Lesson #5 – Promotion

To get and keep traffic, you will have to promote your blog. There are lots of ways to do that, from directories, commenting on other blogs, traffic swapping, and social media. Each promotion opportunity will give you a different amount and quality of traffic. Pick the one that matters most to you. Also, if you don’t continue to promote, you’ll usually lose most of the traffic you were getting. Promotion takes time and effort. Make sure you dedicate enough time to this pursuit.

Lesson #6 – Be The Brand

A blog is an extension of you. If you are an interesting person, with good writing skills, you can be a successful blogger. But, to make that happen, you’ll have to connect it all together. Your promotion should blend naturally with your blogs. Your ability to connect with readers through the comments takes it to the next level. This is the building of a brand. If you have a consistency across all of this, you have a brand. Then you can focus on building the best brand possible.

Lesson #7 – Socialize

The most successful bloggers are very social. They comment on other blogs. They are responsive to readers of their blogs by answering comments and emails (I read about one blogger who even takes phone calls from his readers). They are also active on the primary social media networks, such as Twitter, Digg, and StumbleUpon. While this may be fun for some, to do it successfully as a blogger, you’ll need to make it an extension of your blog persona. And therefore, it is more work.

Lesson #8 – Analyze To Grow

It is vital that you know the details about your site’s traffic. Where are they coming from? What were they looking for? Did they find it on your blog?

There are a ton of questions. The answers come from reviewing the analytics for your site. I use Google Analytics as a means of getting the data I need. I am only beginning to get enough data to be able to know anything. The data is eye opening. I will use it, and as a result, I expect to get better at this.

Lesson #9 – The Art of SEO

Despite what people tell you, SEO is an art not a science. There are truckloads of “SEO Experts” out there trying to sell you on their work or tools. While there are some good general rules to follow relative to SEO, how it will work on your site/keyword situation takes trial and error. And, the rules change from time to time as the search engines (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!) tweak their search algorithms.

The basics of SEO can be wrapped up in one phrase, “Keep It Simple.” If you write good prose, keep your content fresh, and keep at it for a while, you’ll place well relative to your overall niche.

Lesson #10 – Take Breaks

It is easy to get so involved in the whole cycle that you lose sight of why you’re blogging in the first place. It takes a heavy investment in time and effort to get a good blog going and keep it going.

However, you’re human. And that means you need a break from time to time. To be a good writer, you need to have a life. Experience new things away from the blog. Enjoy!

Have you ever gone to a blog and seen comments where the commenter has their picture next to their comment? At first, I thought this was just how blogger or wordpress.com rewarded their members. Mine would always be a gray blob or a gray square smiley face. Well, it wasn’t something they did, it was something the commenter had done.

It is called a gravatar and you can get yours at gravatar.com. At the site, you register the email address that you use for your blog comments and upload a picture. That’s it. Blogs that allow gravatars will pick up yours based on your email address.

Why is this important? Blog brand. Yes, your blog has a brand, whether you want it to or not. And if you aren’t maximizing your brand, you’re minimizing it. Like the flavicon I posted on last month (see Flavicon From A Picture File), a gravatar shows professionalism and polish.

My flavicon and gravatar… sounds like a kid’s robot cartoon a bit there, doesn’t it? Sorry , I’ll be back on topic. You’ll see that I used the same picture for both. I also use this image for my message board avatars and for Twitter. With this, I’m keeping my brand intact across sites. I’d encourage you to do the same.

Happy blogging!

I’ve seen it happen in the tech industry where various tech companies that compete with each other cooperate (EDS was reselling IBM tools). I’ve seen it in other mature industries (Joint ventures created for oil and gas exploration). But blogging?

Very much so!

The first, and most prevalent form of cooperation that I’ve seen is link sharing (particularly in blogrolls). In this case, two bloggers include links on their sites to other blogs. Obviously, if you like a blogger, you should like the blogs they like, right?

I’ve also seen guest posts. In this case, you have another blogger guest post on your blog (or you guest post on theirs). The blog gets good content and the guest blogger gets more exposure. The goal is to create some reciprocal traffic as the result.

But both of these provide very limited (typically one-on-one) results.

Now, I’ve found a new form of cooperation that has me really excited. Effectively, it is an RSS/Twitter Cooperative. The organizer has created a list in a special format that allows members of the cooperative to subscribe to each other’s RSS feeds through a simple import. As a function of the cooperative, we all agreed to assist each other in marketing to include Tweets, Stumbles, Diggs, etc. This could be big!

I’ll be monitoring the results over the coming week or so and will let you know how it is going in my monthly update.