I have seen a few questions (Tim from Bloggerista.net) floating out there in regards to the importance and scoring of links in RealRank. We have committed to being open about the system and how it works, so I want to take some time to explain. We assign link scores based on ACTIVE links. We define an active link as a link that has been clicked that day. Google (as far as anyone knows) treats all links as active, regardless of whether they have been clicked or not. I call these dead links.
Why don't we count dead links? We all know that link building is a common practice in the blogoshpere and the web in general. Bloggers and companies alike can build up links over time, regardless of whether or not they have quality content and an actual reader base. You can wind up with hundreds or thousands of links to a site buried in directories, infinitely long blog rolls, comment streams and so on. The bottom line is links without clicks don't really mean much - "dead to me".
I know what you all are saying. "Great, I got on all these blog rolls to pump up my PR and now you are telling me that they don't matter". No, that's not what I am saying. If people are actually clicking on those links then they will be counted. However, I will tell you that most people reading blogs don't click on blog rolls as much as they used to. Remember, RealRank is trying to determine reach and influence, not amount of inbound links. That is the beauty of having real stats.
"Ok, so how do I get active links?" Funny you should ask. I have a thought I'll share:
The Remora Effect
While putting a link in a sidebar may generate a few clicks here and there, the most active links in the blogoshpere are found in the body of a blog post itself. The biggest bloggers ("Whales") have known about the value of active links for quite some time and use this principle to generate blog traffic. The Whales create content so compelling that other bloggers write about it and link back to them ("Remoras"). The post from the Remora is then posted in a trackback, comment or within an update of the post itself. This creates what is called The Remora Effect, a symbiotic relationship creating active links for both the Whale and the Remora. This helps bolster each participant's reputation as an influencer and active participant in the conversation around a topic.
As Colleen proved with her post about the IZEA name change, anyone can be the Whale and anyone can be the Remora. In that case Colleen was the Whale and Robert Scoble was the Remora. The key is content. Great content usually equals great influence.
There are plenty of other ways of getting active links, some more effective than others. I invite you all to share your thoughts in the comments.
Technorati Tags: izea, realrank
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Comments (RSS)
Mrs Groovy said...
How do feed readers and direct hits come into play when talking about RealRank?
Nov 27, 2007 8:54:28 AM
Colleen said...
I'm a whale...hmm? Ted, are you saying I'm fat? ;-)
Nov 27, 2007 9:13:17 AM
Qtpies7~ said...
I just don't know how this is actually going to help the smaller bloggers. And with people reading the feeds, it is all going make things even lower than they are.
I am just not seeing how I am going to come out even even to what I was doing when this is all said and done. Google is going to kill my ability to post because no one wants to pay a 0. And now that I have the "technical" pr3 I am going to lose that in RR. I won't be a super low ranking, but it will take me down some.
I'm kind of losing my will to fight anymore.
Nov 27, 2007 9:33:43 AM
Andrew Ian Dodge said...
Have you begun to address the lag issues with the Realrank widget. There has been a serious slow-down in access to my blog since it was turned on; as well as my wife's.
Nov 27, 2007 10:52:03 AM
Ghosty said...
So, since the best way to get "active" links (in RR's eyes) is to get mentioned in blog posts, we should all start writing about each other regularly. :roll:
Didn't I just get done saying something abot a bubble?
Nov 27, 2007 10:59:15 AM
Peter Wright said...
We noticed the slow downs last night and have addressed them as of about 5 minutes ago. We're keeping an extremely watchful eye on it to prevent the slow downs from occurring again. Obviously it's vital with RealRank and the tracker code that it is highly performant so naturally we're taking this very seriously indeed.
Nov 27, 2007 10:59:16 AM
lilian said...
My blog ranks as low as #36 on PPP's RealRank (though it is not a PPP-fied blog but got smacked to zero due to the PPP Direct badge). From my experience, the only way to get lots of 'fresh links' is organic traffic. This whale/remora thingie is going to kill even more bloggers because how often does that happen to the smaller blogs?
Nov 27, 2007 10:59:58 AM
Ted Murphy said...
Ghosty,
I am not saying that the Remora Effect is the best way to gain active links, it is just one example of many ways to gain active links. At the end of the day it almost always boils down to content.
Mrs Groovy,
We are currently evaluating ways that RSS feeds could be incorporated in the score.
Qtpies7,
I wouldn't say it is a fight, but it does take some effort to create something of value to advertisers.
Andrew,
More servers on the way!
Lilian,
The Remora Effect is nothing new. I was simply pointing out a way to get more active links.
Nov 27, 2007 11:44:13 AM
RT Cunningham said...
A lot of author URL's are clicked on in the comments of a blog. I made the mistake of entering the wrong URL on a blog getting dugg into oblivion at the time and had to scramble to redirect the 404 to an existing page.
Commenting on other blogs drives your traffic as well as theirs. Click my author link to find out one way to boost comments on your blog.
Nov 27, 2007 12:01:20 PM
MyGoodFinds said...
I can see how skewed ranking systems are to benefit the sponsors and I totally believe the RR is a better system. But with the advent of Google slashing ranks(mine is from 4 to 0) and advertisers not "getting" the message that link buying doesn't work (risking themselves of getting a PR 0 as well) then keep insisting for bloggers with high PR's for the opportunities, it's tough for us bloggers who have worked hard to get to the point where we were.
I am also happy to see Ted Murphy answering the questions here because I can't rely on the Customer Love for now. The wait queue is quite long. I have a ticket dated October 26, 2007 and until now I'm still on wait. I normally get answered within a week but for some reason I have been on the wait line for a whole month.
Nov 27, 2007 1:18:19 PM
MyGoodFinds said...
I might as well post this one here since I know that Ted is reading :) . I read a post from TechCrunch about Izea and this is my reaction:
"There is a discussion over at TechCrunch, actually it is more of a poll if TechCrunch should accept advertising from Izea(PayPerPost) for RealRank or not. For me, I would say that CEO Ted Murphy of Izea should just put the money in keeping the PPP bloggers happy by giving Christmas bonus opportunities for everyone. Why give the money to someone who has lots of it already and makes a fuss over taking advertising money. PPP bloggers have been hit hard with the Google PR fiasco and I’m sure it has made them less interested in logging in to PPP.
Please give the advertising money to people who would appreciate it. "
Nov 27, 2007 1:24:57 PM
Ted Murphy said...
MyGoodFriends,
I am sure the posties like that idea! However, with real rank we need to look outside our network and get adoption by the general blogosphere.
If you send me a picture of yourself I will send you a limited edition SocialSpark long sleeve in a postie pack.
Nov 27, 2007 1:44:34 PM
MyGoodFinds said...
It's MyGoodFinds ;) Sir. Thank you, I really appreciate your time answering and a request for a picture to boot. I am actually planning to have a special pictorial specially taken for Izea with the MacPro bought with pure PPP juice. I still have to write a little bit more sponsored posts, it's gotten a little bit tougher. Here's my updates:
http://mygoodfinds.org/?s=Mac+Challenge&submit=search
I'll send my picture as soon as I reach my goal.
There are other people out there who are driving hoards of readers like ShoeMoney and Darren Rowse. They emphasize on having great content to keep readers coming back for more. They actually teach helpful stuff to bloggers.
Nov 27, 2007 2:12:11 PM
MyGoodFinds said...
It's MyGoodFinds ;) Sir. Thank you, I really appreciate your time answering and a request for a picture to boot. I am actually planning to have a special pictorial specially taken for Izea with the MacPro bought with pure PPP juice. I still have to write a little bit more sponsored posts, it's gotten a little bit tougher. Here's my updates:
http://mygoodfinds.org/?s=Mac+Challenge&submit=search
I'll send my picture as soon as I reach my goal.
There are other people out there who are driving hoards of readers like ShoeMoney and Darren Rowse. They emphasize on having great content to keep readers coming back for more. They actually teach helpful stuff to bloggers.
Nov 27, 2007 2:12:13 PM
Liza said...
A small question... if I have clickable images inside the post, and they get clicked, does that count towards the "active links" count in the RR (real rank) or not?
Nov 27, 2007 2:21:39 PM
OK said...
Dear Ted,
Hello. Just occurred to me that the RR system may not impact the blogosphere as much as envisaged by PPP/IZEA. Why? Well, simply that many Bloggers in many blogging communities in cyberspace do not have access to their templates!
And, if I recall correctly, RR depends on a blog template accepting the code before the 'real' stats can flow - unlike Google's PR. I mean, can RR have a significant reach outside the PPP community?
For example, I have a blog with good PR and Alexa scores that was accepted last year but later rejected by PPP simply because it's blog format required one extra click in order to read a post in its entirety - and also because the blogging site considered PPP code as spam and refused to take it in any post.
So, how will Posties and advertisers be better off in the long run with RR's attempt at competing directly with PR, Alexa, etc.?
Nov 27, 2007 3:12:19 PM
jonrez said...
the remora effect is a good thing to try and do. but too bad we could't have it as we don't know how it can be installed or have it in our blogs being small bloggers that we are. the frequent visiting to other blogs and leaving comments works better as well. any other suggestions out there? with regards to achieving that "active links", i somehow agree with Ghosty, we should start writing about each other regularly then? hehe... i'm game! :D
Nov 27, 2007 3:30:00 PM
Jack Spirko said...
Here is a question. When I log in to buy posts I select Real Rank Between 1-9.
When I log in as a blogger my blog has a real rank of 808.
What is the deal? Does 808=8.8? What is the value of my blog in real rank?
On the other side how do I as an advertiser know what the "real rank" is of the bloggers that take my opportunities.
There sure seems to be a disconnect between the numbers on the advertiser side vs the numbers on the blogger side.
Nov 27, 2007 5:31:52 PM
Wolfie said...
@Jack Spirko
As I understand, you are selecting a percentile of bloggers when you select 1 through 9; select 9 and you get the top 90%, select 1 and you get the top 10% (and the costs adjust accordingly, I'm sure).
The figure that you see as a blogger is your position within all the blogs that are currently ranked; the smaller your number, the higher you're ranked.
So, if there are 100,000 blogs ranked and you wanted to select the top 20%, you'd have access to 20,000 blogs. Select the top 50% and you'd have access to 50,000. And so on.
At least, that's the way I've understood it (Ted, Pete and the guts can correct me, I'm sure). And from what I've heard, it's really going to come into its own in SocialSpark.
Nov 27, 2007 6:22:03 PM
Wolfie said...
Sorry, that should be Ted, Pete and the guys. Damn keyboard never types what I want it to type. :-)
Nov 27, 2007 6:23:35 PM
David Mackey said...
Now that was a good post Ted.
Nov 27, 2007 6:58:46 PM
on said...
www.hotcelebs.org
Nov 30, 2007 7:18:58 AM