2.0 MyBlogLog.com

I've got this really bad habit. I get very into whatever I'm doing. So a few hours ago I started looking into a site that many bloggers LOVE, and lucky the academy awards is on in the background, because I've just looked at the time, and it's been a good couple of hours...

Lucky I can just say I was watching the Academy Awards!

So what got my attention in such a big way. Blogging!

I've been blogging for a few years now, but it's really starting to take off both for company's and individuals.

Some bloggers use their blogs to generate traffic for their main sites and some bloggers have set up their blogs as stand alone sites.

So I wanted to find out about MyBlogLog which is very popular amongst bloggers. Basically, a lot of blogs have a bunch of pictures of other bloggers that have visited their sites often.

So for example, if you look at the latest postings of prolific bloggers Dave Duarte and Mike Stopforth you'll see down the right side of both their pages, a widget with lots of pics of their visitors.

I was curious to know whose these visitors are. Turns out if have registered with MyBlogLog, AND you are logged in to the MyBlogLog site, that whatever blog you visit that runs MyBlogLog's recent readers application will show your profile image.

But at the current time, only certain blogs are able to run the MyBlogLog widget (typepad, wordpress, blogger etc).

MyBlogLog is actually about TRACKING outbound links to see which links are most popular on blogs, BUT it appears that the images are the pulling power for MyBlogLog growing at a rapid rate. People like to see people, and so it's kewl to go to your favourite site and see who has visited recently that you know. And that means stickiness for the site.

I set up a few profiles, in my own name and in company names...

THIS IS THE INTERESTING PART..

Unlike MySpace, where more profiles lately are profiles in the name of the company or organisation, MyBlogLog mainly has INDIVIDUALS. So the company's haven't caught onto this - YET...

A few individuals have started creating their image with their company name on it - this is probably the best way of doing it, as:

...It's an individual that is moving around rather than a company, and so the person can develop relationships. It's different creating relationships when your name, profile and personality are CORPORATE.

Also, I set up a demo using a site that isn't a blog. And created the image with a Call to Action. Then I went to a couple sites with "readers images" on it - sure enough, within a few minutes, we had exposure on a couple of sites. However, if you aren't regular readers of the blogs that have the "readers images" on, you're probably wasting your time trying to get traffic this way, as very few people will click on your profile image (no matter how "call to action" it is) and even fewer will click through to your website.

BUT...

If you are a reader of lots of blogs, then EVEN if you DON'T have your own blog, go to MyBlogLog, create an account (I'd recommend a personal profile rather than a corporate profile), and then when you are reading your favourite blogs, MAKE SURE you are logged into MyBlogLog.

Also, this is the Essential Part - have your image as either a "Call to Action" OR your company logo. Very few people will click on random faces of people UNLESS they know them, but they will click on a company logo or call to action. I tried one of the names as the name of the website, but I think that is taking it a little far, as it looks a little spammish - your company image, with the name of your website NEXT to it. eg WebsiteExampleDotCom - rather just call yourself something which creates you as an individual and have your image speak for itself.

I don't think this is a HUGE traffic spinner, but if you are a big blog reader, then there it can just get you MORE traffic (and perhaps some internet friends) by being logged in when you visit the sites.

NOW LETS LOOK FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN:

I first thought that this was a fantastic idea for all blogs to have the "recent readers" pictures on - it creates stickiness.

But I quickly changed my mind, as your competitors would be spending the whole day on your site tracking who was reading your blog. So on the TrafficSynergy Blog, a lot of you are affiliates with us already, or will hopefully soon be working with us.

I'd love to see whose been reading our blog lately, but I KNOW that a couple of our friendly competitors would create camp at our Blog.

The academy awards are now over, a BIG THANK you to Jonathan Leger who has refunded me while I was writing this, (see "I feel Honoured"), and as usual I haven't packed, and I'm leaving for JHB tomorrow (luckily in the afternoon, but i'm already pretty busy, so will have to find an hour to throw some stuff in the case).

Keep those questions coming. I'll try answer as many of them as I can...

EE

I feel HONOURED...

It's been a number of YEARS since I set up TrafficSynergy.com.

It's amazing how time flies, but in that SHORT space of TIME, TrafficSynergy has become a well known affiliate network internationally, and one of the largest in South Africa (I won't say largest or best, or most well known, or throw cookies into the mix - South Africa is sooooo NEW at affiliate marketing that ALL of us should be WORKING TOGETHER to educate the South African company's rather than backstabbing!)

Anyway, RANT aside, the TrafficSynergy team have asked me to chat on the TrafficSynergy blog...

So whenever they get a new campaign - which seems to be OFTEN, I'll chat about it, tell you a little about the campaign, and maybe go a little "BEHIND the SCENES". (Perhaps call myself "journalist J")

But I don't want to write stuff you don't want to hear. I do that on my other blogs where I write what I WANT to write - here I want to write what YOU want to hear.

So if you have questions about ANYTHING related to Internet Marketing, mail me at ask AT TrafficSynergy DOT COM

And if I find interesting stuff on the web, i'll let you know...

Speaking of which, Jonathan Leger seems to be the talk of Internet Town this week. He released his $7 ebook and script, which lets anyone sell an ebook easily. I tested it out, and for some reason thought that he was giving the directory software along with the script for selling individual ebooks. He wasn't! And I think that's where the real money is.

I'm still waiting to hear whether I'm going to get refunded, as I don't need to resell his ebook - a little pyramid for my liking, as the first guys as usual will make some good cash out of it, and Jonathan will (HANG ON - IS ALREADY) making a killing out his system...

But I like Jonathan's previous software, and if you like writing, know how to set up sites, don't feel like using clickbank, and want a few kewl extra features in your sales channel (the refer a friend and the affiliate program are nice touches), then IF YOU HAVE the TRAFFIC, this could work for you...

WHAT DID I SAY????

That's right - have the traffic...

coz once again, it comes down to where are you getting your traffic from...

So we're going to go a little untraditional in this blog...

We're NOT going to chat about ONLY TrafficSynergy campaign and news and other COMPANY stuff...

WE ARE GOING TO SAY IT LIKE WE SEE IT.

I'm excited about being given the opportunity of chatting on the TrafficSynergy blog - and if the guys in the US think i'm speaking tOOOOOOO much about South Africa (I do live here after all so might be a LITTLE biased) or the South African's have no idea who Jonathan Leger is...

THEN ASK!!!

ask AT TrafficSynergy DOT com

We're going to HAVE FUN.

Cheers
Eric

It is already over half way through the week, and as usual the TrafficSynergy team is all in agreement, that with this much work, it would be better if today was Monday.

There has been quite a bit of excitement over the last week. But the best news we have received to date is from Musica. As many of you know, TrafficSynergy is notorious for "1 Day Musica Targeted Click" campaigns. This means we set the Musica campaign live for one day, and see how many targeted clicks we can get for Musica. On our last click drive, we achieved a whopping 1000 clicks on 26000 impressions in a single day. And that was on a day when most of the country was surfing through proxy's or not able to connect due to a cable breaking between South Africa and Hong Kong.

And the feedback from Musica….in terms of quality based on all their online spend including OPA registered portals, TrafficSynergy came out tops.

This week we launched *WhiteSmoke English Writing Software.

"Enable your plain sentences to become more sophisticated and professional. Using unique, patented Natural Language Processing technology, WhiteSmoke suggests context-based synonyms from its vast database and synonym dictionary. In addition, this editing software checks and corrects English grammar, spelling, and helps you write with proper punctuation. All of this, for all styles of writing - business writing, legal, medical, creative, and more."

What differentiates this campaign from all others is we are able to give our affiliates the landing page in any language they choose. This makes the *WhiteSmoke English Writing Software campaign available to traffic from anywhere in the world.

BidorBuy bought a stake in Jump for an undisclosed amount. It will be interesting to see the possible synergies between the two. Unfortunately we won’t be watching the merger between Pick 'n Pay and Fruit and Veg. The Competition Commission was not happy for this to play out.

Both topics are of interest to different people, and both will be worth following going forward. Similarly (as seen by the Musica campaign) there are many ways to market a company. Branding through the portals is one way. But there are many other ways which should be explored by advertisers to find the optimal ROI.