The Beta News

BlogRush. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last week, you probably already know what I’m talking about. I will however spend a couple of words explaining what it’s all about and how to get it.

BlogRush is very similar to BlogBurst, except everyone can instantly get access to BlogRush and everybody has written about it. The whole concept of BlogRush is pretty simple, you place a widget on your blog showing articles from other blogs within your blog’s topic. You earn syndication credit each time the widget is loaded, used or by referring users. (*COUGH*Sign up here for BlogRush*COUGH*). Each credit represents a widget on another blog.

Now how can you get the most out of Blogrush?

1. Since BlogRush only shows the headline of your posts, the first tip is free – Write excellent, compelling, intriguing, exciting, provoking…. or just write headlines that attract attention. A little bonus tip: Write headlines after you’ve written your post. BlogRush supports up to 40 characters, so make sure you write short headlines or else you’ll lose vital information and potential readers. Oh and don’t write anything in your headline that isn’t true.

2. I have a sneaky suspicion that many BlogRush users are like StumbleUpon users – If the first thing they read isn’t interesting, they click the Stumble or BlogRush-button and you might not see them again. Your headline might be all dressed up and ready to ehmmm dance, but if your content sucks it doesn’t matter. So keep the readers attention and write brilliant posts, just like this one.

3. The creator of BlogRush, John Reese, has done something clever. You get syndication credits each time the widget loads. This means that less popular blogs also benefits from BlogRush. This isn’t a thing for big blogs only. BlogRush might actually help you breakthrough the blogosphere.

4. Now that you have the reader on your site, why not lure him or her into reading more of your brilliant stuff. Use the Related Post plugin if you are running WordPress. Find a way to show off your posts.

5. If you share traffic with others, then perhaps they will share traffic with you too?! Don’t hide the widget, but don’t give it the most prominent spot either. I’ve decided to replace it with my sidebar Google Adsense ad and have it below my site’s navigation.

As you can see there are no excuses not to sign up. So if you haven’t already put the widget on your blog, head over BlogRush.com, create an account and get some free traffic.

If you want to know about 7 Critical Mistakes you can make with BlogRush, read Andy Beard’s post. Another post about BlogRush by SnowBoard John might also have your interest. I don’t agree with him on all points though. I still believe in the power of the social media buttons, besides they don’t take up that much space.

What is your experience with BlogRush? Did you try it and then decided to remove it again?

UPDATE: I just noticed that my good friend, Mark Blair, has written a great post about controlling what gets published on BlogRush by customising your RSS feed.