Monday, December 22, 2008

Blog Rankings

On my side bar you can see BNN "Most Influential" rankings, when there is nothing there for this blog it is out of the Top 20. I'm not too sure how seriously I take that ranking. Look here, it is an ego stroke to be ranked in the Top 20 of a statewide pool of anything. The following is their description of the critera.
BlogNetNews' Blogosphere Influence Rating combines a variety of data sets to determine which blogs are most powerfully influencing the direction of the Oregon political blogosphere. The exact method BNN uses to calculate influence scores must remain proprietary in order to prevent attempts to game the system. BNN's methodology takes into account the fact that all Internet data is profoundly limited in its reliability by using multiple data sets that, when combined, reveal a fair picture of activity in the blogosphere.

I have no idea how one would game the system and I don't do anything to try to affect it. What leaves me puzzled is I know my readership numbers and how they break down and my link ins and I do not think of this effort as influential. I try to be fair, I try to be interesting, and I try to maintain a voice that is friendly without being condescending or unnecessarily dense in language. I'll be the first to admit that my writings are uneven, that's a result of most of it being first draft with spelling corrections. I know how to spell but I'm damned sure my fingers don't...



Rank Blog Prev
1 Jack Bog's Blog 4
2 NW Republican 1
3 Oregon Catalyst 3
4 Mover Mike 5
5 MaxRedline 8
5 Land Use Watch -
7 Newshoggers.com 7
8 Preemptive Karma -
9 Ridenbaugh Press 12
10 The Rev. Chuck Currie -
10 RoguePundit -
12 BlueOregon 9
13 Oregon Media Insiders -
14 Grumpy Forester -
15 Chuck for ... 20
15 Write Idea -
17 RINO WATCH 13
17 Oregon Natural Resources Report -
19 Oregon Biz Report 14
20 Robin's Nest -

This wholesale copy/paste isn't about who should or shouldn't be on the rankings, you'll find some of these folks on my sidebar, I wouldn't do such a ranking. If I did such a thing, it would be entirely subjective - suitable for me alone.

BNN keeps these stats in several formats, Liberal has "Chuck for..." at #8 and previously at #8, in the 12 Week Average All "Chuck for..." is at "nowhere to be found" in the Top 20. Last time I checked that, a couple months ago, it was around 14.

Does this "influence" ranking apply to this blog?
You bet it does
Nope
Yes, but you should be much higher
Yes, but you sure don't belong in the list
Stupid answers for stupid questions
I'd rather have ice cream
pollcode.com free polls


Curiosity more than anything, I cant think what I'd do with the information.

If you'd like more numbers....Technorati Ranking 21 at 290,009; a few months ago this thing was at 48 and 180,000. That is a major slide.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Depends on what kind of ice cream it is.

:)

Chuck Butcher said...

Icecream is doing best, big surprise.

Anonymous said...

Well, personally I've long suspected that these sorts of ranking engines operate similar to search engines. And there is a definite science to being well situated on search engines.

I was fortunate when I first designed Preemptive Karma back in 2004 to have access to a freebie service that helped one situation the header info so as to maximize search engine ratings. It has proven spectacularly successful. Whether we're getting a lot of hits or not so many hits at PK, the overwhelming majority of them have always been from search engines.

Unfortunately, while the same service I used still exists (last I checked, that is) but it is no longer free.

In short, I think these things have to be taken with a few grains of salt.

Chuck Butcher said...

Oh I'm a search engine monster on some guns. Not so much otherwise, though the alphabet does favor a "C"