It’s a happy day here at the MarketingProfs Daily Fix: the great Technorati gods have finally updated our links and rank, showing after three months of publishing that this blog has garnered 990 links from 467 sites….
Prior to yesterday, the Technorati link count was like a dog with a pork chop — it bared its teeth and refused to budge off of its stance of 66 links from 32 sites, no matter how much I begged and pleaded and tried to play the alpha. So, for most of the first three months of this fledgling’s life, the Daily Fix appeared to have Failure to Thrive syndrome.
Then, suddenly, Technorati budged, ranking us 3,436 in its relevance algorithm. Cool!
I guess. Because my next thought was–well, so what? Why does Technorati matter, really? And why are links truly important?
The textbook answer is this: Linking is important because it gives a snapshot of the relevance of any given site on the Web. In other words, our number of links give a tangible view of how often the Daily Fix is cited, and subsequently considered an authority.
Links are the currency of the blog world …. they are traded and leveraged, creating a sense of community and conversation, and at the same time offer relevancy and timeliness. In essence, the “link count” offers nothing more than a sense of the breadth, readership, and respect a blog maintains in its online crib.
As for the rank–again, the textbook holds that a Technorati ranking measures the number of sources that point to a particular weblog, relative to other weblogs. So the more sources referencing a weblog, the higher the ranking in Technorati.
The updated Technorati ranking might be momentarily thrilling for someone like me, who puts a lot of my own heart and soul into blogging. But in a sobering, larger sense, Technorati really doesn’t matter, because it doesn’t measure what is most important.
While Technorati (or any other blog-ranking tool) does a good job of showing how well-regarded a blog might be in the so-called blogoshere, it doesn’t at all indicate how important a voice it has outside of that cozy world. The important question is WHO is reading our blogs …. not just how many.
In other words: How often is mainstream media picking up on what we are contributing? Are traditional marketers who aren’t bloggers reading? Are we doing a good job educating them about why they should? Truly: how relevant is what we are saying to the bigger conversation?
Believe me, I love this cozy space of the blogoshere. And because I do, I want to see more of us get the attention and readership of the more general population.
Not to get more links and a higher rank, but to truly be heard.
Congrats Ann, links sure are important, although the number of sites matters a lot more than the number of links.
I wish that technorati differentiated different kinds of blogs for their top 100. A top 100 for blogs is as relevant as a top 100 for sites. It doesn’t take into account the powerful niche nature/long tailness of blogs.
K
Amen Ann! Raw link counts are pointless. There are easy ways to fool the various bot link counters. But what good are are links unless they deliver a truly interested person to your content?
Eric
You can see that the MarketingProfs main site has a rank of 2,337 in Technorati, even though we never did any tagging, etc. In fact, we never considered the main site a blog, which raises the question. If Technorati is supposed to track blogs, then why are non blogs in there. And if non blogs are in there, and that is correct, then what is a blog anyway? I’m seriously confused
I think Technorati is very useful for tracking what topics and posts are popular RIGHT NOW, but as far as a cumulative link-count to determine a blog’s ‘worth’, it’s pretty meaningless. Remember Scoble’s ‘breereport’ nonsense? He got hundreds of cheap links over that. And Technorati rewarded that ’stunt’ by boosting Scobelizer’s rank up the Top 100.
Again, Technorati is great for judging what’s popular RIGHT NOW, but that’s about it. Thanks for reminding us where our focus should REALLY be, Ann.
Great post, Ann. Even though the engines sometimes lag in crediting blogs or websites with the links that they deserve, it seems that the one constant is that blogs or websites that offer something of value to the visitor are always rewarded eventually. Yours is a perfect example.
Scott
Thanks, all, for the comments. As Scott writes an article in next week’s MarketingProfs newsletter, making a site an industry resource offers natural boost to rankings, which sort of dovetails into the thinking implicit in the thoughts expressed by Eric & Karl & Mack.
Ann,
You’re so right to focus on readership and engaging their interest rather than chasing stats. Just, fyi, however, you do have a couple other nice stats: Google page rank is 7/10 (very solid considering the newness), Alexa traffic rank of 5,713 (again nice).
I’m begining to look at Feedblitz subscribers as an early indicator of readership interest. People won’t subscribe to the blog unless the content is good.
Thanks!
Sridhar
Thanks, Sridhar, for your comments. My guess is that the Google rank and Alexa traffic would be for the whole of MarketingProfs (the marketingprofs.com web site and related services, like the Know-How Exchange) — since the blog doesn’t have a separate domain. At least, not yet. We hope to make that transition on Friday. (…if the creek don’t rise, and all that stuff!)
“In other words: How often is mainstream media picking up on what we are contributing? Are traditional marketers who aren’t bloggers reading? Are we doing a good job educating them about why they should? Truly: how relevant is what we are saying to the bigger conversation?”
I guess it’s nice to be picked up by mainstream media, but is that really the place or the point? We truly need to be a part of a bigger conversation, but sometimes it works just as well as a support group for those trying to change the conversation from the trenches.
A lot of times we probably are preaching to the choir, but people like yourself are equipping a growing community of marketers with the tools to sell and defend our individual and collective visions of the future. Right now, the idea factory of the blogosphere is attracting the insight and conversation. We don’t need the mainstream media to expediate change if the game keeps changing like it is.
Or, maybe I’m just rambling because Typepad’s hasn’t flipped the on swich!
Excellent post, Ann! You impress me. According to the blog value calculator, the marketingprofs blog is worth $19K http://www.business-opportunities.biz/projects/how-much-is-your-blog-worth/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.marketingprofs.com – and it’s still in its infancy. You go!!
“I guess it’s nice to be picked up by mainstream media, but is that really the place or the point? We truly need to be a part of a bigger conversation, but sometimes it works just as well as a support group for those trying to change the conversation from the trenches.”
I think the point Ann is trying to make, which I agree with, is that while it’s great to drive your points home in the blogosphere, the mainstream is where those points will get acted upon. And for the most part, the mainstream ‘doesn’t get it’. It’s like when you were a kid at Christmas time, every other kid you knew understood completely why you should get a FOURTH video game system from Santa, because the other 3 you have now are ‘no good’ anymore, but you have to sell mom and pop, who have the money(or Santa’s ear), on the idea.
“…to truly be heard.” That is the spirit! I am an evangelist for the blogosphere. I talk about blogs and other tools to anyone who will listen. This fall, I have the opportunity to teach marketing communications at a local college — it is there I hope to spread the word even further (WOM)…to make the case, why does it matter to me?
Good job on your ratings. I am a sucker for looking at them too, but stay grounded and focused on your blog mission.
William — That is a great tool…! Not sure any of that value could actually be realized, but it’s a fun tool. Anyway, I take any scrap of inspiration that comes my way… (LOL!)