Blog Linkage, A Case Study

In the world of blogging, there are two types of blogs - blogs and spam blogs. Ok. Not really. There are thousands of types of blogs. There are political blogs (no kidding), medical blogs, science blogs, teaching blogs, literature blogs, cat blogs, dog blogs, horse blogs, diary blogs - absolutely every type of blog - even blogs about guacamole. And every active blogger primarily desires one thing: traffic. Traffic is the currency of the blogosphere for the 99.9% of bloggers that don't blog for an actual profit. It's not that most bloggers wouldn't love to make money, it's just a matter of supply and demand - and at the moment there's a bit much supply out there and not enough demand to spread around. But traffic means other things to the casual bloggers. Status. Prowess. Recognition. Sense of family, obligation, or value to readers. Excitement, not excluding arousal including heightened body temperatures and increased bloodflow... but I digress. I'm sure there are also other meanings that I'm missing. ***For the purpose of this study I'll only deal with praise linking. As fun as it is to point to some assclown that thinks Karl Rove caused 9/11, for example, this study excludes mockery and 'look at that train wreck' links.*** In the Blogosphere, there's no better way to reward a blogger than to steer them some traffic. It's a cyber version of a high-five, pat on the back, flattering comment or a pinch on the ass. There are three primary variations of steering traffic via the link. Here they are in descending effectiveness. The Uber-Funnel Link - This instantly sucks in and redirects almost all visiting traffic to the link in question. It's awesome and extremely effective. The ability of blog readers to gloss over the link is near impossible. It's a plate of fresh-baked cookies to an un-supervised dieter. It's a Playboy magazine found by a group of 12-year old boys. It's a car accident in rush-hour traffic. People are going to look. It's the most effective technique and here are some common examples: Heh. Glenn Reynolds mastered that one. Granted almost any link Glenn posts will be the desination of countless hordes of traffic but middle and lower tier bloggers can do it with similar effectiveness, at least redirect percentage-wise. Can you believe this? The cliff-hanger question is another effective method to direct traffic. Blog patrons are curious cats so they'll absolutely click it to see what in the hell is going on. Of course there are plenty of variations to this type of link. Feel free to try all combinations while pointing to File it Under posts. [87.6% effective] The Quote Grabber or RTR (read the rest) Link - This is the most common type of linking action. All regular bloggers appear to do this fairly frequently. It's not quite as effective as the Uber-Funnel. Readers get a general idea as to what the link holds in store for them - if there's an interest there, then a reader will follow the link but others will glance over and move on to the next post, indifferent bastards they may be. This is still a wonderful way to acknowledge a fellow blogger and to add your own take or comments as well. Example: I don't know what all the fuss is about really... "Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. will delay the earnings report for its most recent fiscal quarter as the troubled doughnut maker continues evaluating its accounting practices, the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday." Read the rest... How can you question such tastyness? You get the gist of the material the link will entail so you may or may not click on it given your taste for donuts, Cheetos, olives straight out of the jar or a spatula full of Crisco. [51.4% effective] The Carnival/Round-up/Trackback Cluster link - Now, now... I know what you're saying - "You hypocritical bastard... File it Under hosts it's own damn carnival! How can you say it's the worst kind of link?!?" Well, first of all, I never said that. I enjoy carnivals and pooled links. There's all kinds of goodies in them that normally Joe. X. Blogger may never come across. But generally speaking, carnivals and similar large-volume info groupings have a diminishing returns effect. It's a simple case of information overload and in some cases, when carnivals are based off of submissions, you run into blatant link whoring which further hurts these types of linkage. Let's be honest - if you come across a listing of 20 or more entries, you're gonna scan for the ones that appeal to you. Given the choice of reasonable political discourse, Supreme Court updates, huge cans or armadillos, what will you select? And as proof that this style of linkage can be very effective, why not try carnival links using the Type 1 style Uber-Funnel links embedded within the carnival? PURE GENIUS! [27.8% effective] Our hopes are that this case-study provides bloggers with the information and foresight to make links to other blogs more effective and that this read has served as an informative primer to future blogging re-directs. Nothing says "Good game!" with a pat on the ass like a hyperlink. Happy Blogging! All statistics pulled from a random number generator Case Study Update #1 - Willisms.com has linked to this post using the Uber-Funnel. With half of the day left we're above our normal daily traffic and almost all of the entry pages are to this post. Willisms.com is a wonderful blog with great traffic so the Uber-Funnel link case holds up. Those looking for Reform Thursday will need to head back over to Will's site. Case Study Update #2 - Mike at Wunderkraut has linked to us using case study point number two - the quote grabber or RTR technique. Since I have not paid for Sitemeter Plus coverage I can't look at referals. Given Mike's extensive commentary and personal testimony, more people probably stay to read his post and don't click over than if he would have used the ol' Uber-Funnel. Previously omitted point - Regardless of the technique used to re-direct traffic, no method guarantees extensive commenting. Subject matter induces the masses to type - the controversial, the better. Given the complete VOID of comments (zero as of this update) I'll conclude that this study was a spot-on 100% accurate success.