The markets a changin’…. Yup, she’s changin’ alrighty…
As could could be easily assumed I’m an Alexa fiend. I check my alexa ranking all the time. I’m obsessed. We’ll maybe I’m not obsessed, but I do like to keep a cloe eye on my numbers every singe minute of every single day - lol. During my last check yesterday I noticed I was trending up. This is always a nice thing, but I also noticed many of the net’s most prolific bloggers are trending down - a LOT. I checked again today and I’m up again, but they’re all down. In fact I out rank John Chow, Shoemoney, Entrecard, and the Top Affiliate Challenge site, and according to Alexa I’m almost tied with ProBlogger, for now at least.
Now for me, this is AWESOME. I mean John was the dude that inspired me to start my blog after I read an article about him in entrepreneur magazine. I’ve also looked up to Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker for a long time too. I just knew I could emulate (on some level) that picture with him holding the Google check for like $127,000 some odd dollars for one months earnings in adsense alone - that was DOPE, and I’m going to do something like that too - soon (I’m on the right track, you’ll see 
).
Here a shot of the Alexa chart from the 4th (the most currently available data):
Not too shabby - for me, bummer for them…
Why is this happening?
Well, I’d like to say it’s because I totally kick ass and am just the best blogger out there, but I really think it’s the exact opposite. Not that I’m not a swell blogger, but there’s a LOT of swell bloggers out there. The days of Shoe and John battling for the lions share of blog traffic while ProBlogger simply had to post anything to stay king are gone.
I’m certainly NOT saying their blogs are loosing value or are declining in the quality of content, there’s just SOOOOO many other good blogs to read. Many with less paid crap and fluff content (take this blog for example! ;Although I’d like a little more paid crap -) ).
The thing that’s lead to my success with TysBlog.com is my constant work communicating with my readers. Darren Rowse from Problogger.net is a champ at remaining personal with his blog. Of the three, Darren’s the only one that has never failed to answer an email from me (like, maybe two in 6 months - I’m not stalking anyone). I have only emailed Shoe once (looking for a contest sponsor), and John twice (for an interview request and for an endorsement for the Top Affiliate Challenge). While Darren wasn’t interested in what I had to ask/offer of him he was nice enough to personally email to decline. I’ve never heard a thing from John or Shoe (although I’ve seen Johns MyBlogLog avatar in the sidebar, so I know he’s been by). Although, it is likely my emails just got lost in the masses of emails they receive - I’ll just look at it that way (I mean if they noticed it was an email from ME I’m sure they woulda replied. I mean it is me after all - lol)
My advice?
If you want your blog to continue to grow you MUST remain in contact with your readers. You HAVE to answer emails (even if the email consist of only “no thanks” - and not a word more). This could become time consuming, sure, but so is constantly rebuilding your reader and fan base. Besides, its the long term readers that will eventually buy the affiliate products you’re offering, click on your ads, pay YOU for a review (also the reason any company will pay you for a review), and more importantly, it’s the loyal fans that recommend you to their friends - and a strong word-of-mouth reputation is absolutely invaluable. I can also say without doubt, it’s my strong reputation helping people and actually answering their emails personally that has me in 1st place on TAC.
Be personal or loose out to someone that will be… That simple
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13 responses so far ↓
1 ameo // Jun 6, 2008 at 6:34 pm
nice , i didn’t actually notice that drop in top bloggers traffic [ may be coz i don't care
]
i agree with the gettig in touch with readers ,
and the presence of contact form on each blog is super important
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2 Alfred Saforo // Jun 7, 2008 at 4:13 am
I am impressed. Thanks for the link in your blogroll too. I wish my blog could be up there with yours Ty, sometimes i barely have enough time in the day for myself, not to even mention sending email to my readers. I need help man. Please Help.
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Ty Hurd reply on June 7, 2008:
LOL - we all need help!!! My fiance gives me a hard time because I work 24/7. One of the trade offs to not having a “real” job, but i do get to set my own hours and “work” when I want/need (which tends to be all the time to keep up with everything). There’s only so many hours in the day, just do what you can, be dedicated, don’t give up, and you’ll do great I’m sure!!!
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3 Susie // Jun 7, 2008 at 5:08 am
Nicely said Ty, its by example we learn, and thats a great point not to forget. Are the big bloggers just to big, they don’t have the time? Or has it gone to their head, and they just don’t give a damn?
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4 Mark Puckett // Jun 7, 2008 at 9:57 am
Nice post Ty.
I Like reading information like this,When My Blog goes up It will be ranked high with Alexa because of information from people like yourself,thanks for giving back.
PS: Your going to kick butt on TAC.
CHEERS
Mark Puckett
Free Money Ranger
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5 Ty Hurd // Jun 7, 2008 at 10:08 am
Thanks Mark! I’m pulling for you to make the show too!
I encourage everyone reading this to go vote ten for Mark! He’s a hell of a guy and deserves it a ton!!
http://topaffiliatechallenge.com/users/markpuckett
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6 Mike Huang // Jun 7, 2008 at 10:17 am
Ty,
I’ve also saw a change in the alexa stats and I’m with ya man. I check mine all the time lol. You’re also very correct about Chow and Shoemoney. They don’t take their time to reply to e-mails and concerns while Problogger is a much bigger blogger, but has the time to reply.
Chow talks about “networking” all the time, but I don’t get how not replying to e-mails is networking.
As for the TAC, good luck, but there’s something that is bugging me. Why are they allowing these “super votes” in the first place? This just means that votes are coming in with some that are just being paid. Sorry for the rant, I just think that voting should be pure voting and none of that “super voting” crap.
-Mike
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Ty Hurd reply on June 7, 2008:
Thanks Mike. And you’re right, the super voting is a load of crap. It’s not fair at all, but what can you do. The way Thor Schrock has the whole show running is actually really smart. Besides making a ton on the super votes, all the audition videos are hosted by revver and you get paid about $0.01 per 10 views. I know there’s been over 100,000 audition views and he’s making money off all of them. Then the he gets to keep 1/2 the money generated on the show during the daily challenges (the winner get the other half). The sponsors are likely paying for all the productions costs.
The one thing that’s good about the voting system is no matter how many super votes you get you can never get a score higher than your base score x 10, and the fact that you have to give two other contestants a super vote when you get one too helps spread it out and helps to level the playing field. Keep the votes coming and make sure to vote for me during the actual show!!!
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7 Josh // Jun 7, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I dont know if we can have to many small blogs taking the market share of the larger ones running around, that might cause the internet black hole to open up and all of be sucked up into the 7th layer of John Chow hell. I think it is great to have more and more talented people joining the blogging community as a whole adding more and more relevant content to the system.
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Ty Hurd reply on June 7, 2008:
Yup, it’s beneficial to the blogging community to have more talented bloggers out there creating more great content. It will undoubtedly just increase the overall popularity of blogs as a whole and create that many more readers. I do think there will always be some people that will be on “top” and it’s likely these people will be the ones that have great content to offer, but more importantly, are willing to work it 25 hours a day 8 days a week. These people will change from time to time though and there’s room for plenty of people to find success blogging. I have a feeling you’re going to be (are) one of them buddy!
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8 Jeremy Gehrs // Jun 7, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Aloha, and thanks for the great post, it’s an issue which we all could use a reminder. Don’t forget the little guy, and they won’t forget about you! After reading this, I’m making my number one priority adding a “contact me” button or page. Thanks for the great tips, if you keep writing good content, I’ll keep coming back
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9 Jeremy Gehrs // Jun 7, 2008 at 6:14 pm
PS Why do you use MyBlogLog avitars instead of Gravitar ones?
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Ty Hurd reply on June 7, 2008:
Hey Jeremy,
I use MBL avatars because I’m active in the MBL community. MBL is HUGE, and while using Gravatar.com avatars is a built in function of Wordpress (now) MyBlogLog is more than just avatars, it’s a whole community. I can’t garner new readers from gravatar, but can from MBL… Using the MBL avatar’s for comments can only lead to readers joining my MBL community, and the more people in my community, the better!
I wish there was a way to use both, but I haven’t found that solution yet…
Thanks for stopping by, and if you ever have any other questions - ask away!!!
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