A bit of banter was created a while back about a list. The list in question was one of those “Top 100″ lists, within a week there was hundreds of posts about the list, some good, some bad. Either way, he did well from it as he says in Video 1 and Video 2.
So, cue the latest bit of linkbait from Blogstorm is the top 100 UK bloggers, why do I care? Well I have come in at 35th place, sandiwched between Samizdata and Tim Worstall.
For one, I’m only 35th (if we’d taken into account a category such as, I dunno, physical attractiveness, then I’d be first), but I beat such rubbish blogs authors such as Belle De Jour, Girl with a One Track Mind and Random Acts of Reality. So, where’s my book deal? I can only assume it’s been lost in the postal strike. Yes.
But it’s interesting to read the list, especially marketing and SEO blogs doing well over other blogs. Hell, apparently the only reason I did well was because I was “gaming Technorati” (according to Andrew’s blog, where I found this story), and I do suspect that Internet Marketing and SEO blogs would be high on the list, after all if they are not, then what sort of marketing or SEO blog would it be?
I just have a feel that if it was more of a subjective list, then the results would be so different. I probably wouldn’t feature on the list for one (ha! I lie, I’d be top again), but years of having subjective lists from the media it’s nice to have a little change.
There is a reason why this is one of the first objective lists of blogs in the UK, and I think Patrick summed it up best:
Some people feel the UK blogosphere trails a distant second behind America. In truth, the UK blogging community is alive and well with thousands of hugely popular blogs creating quality content every day.
UK Bloggers I believe are a lot more of an entertaining bunch than the rest of the world. The top US bloggers are there to inform, I believe the top UK bloggers are there to entertain. Take the second site on the list, b3ta. B3ta couldn’t exist anywhere in the world but the United Kingdom. It’s sick, it’s purile, it’s ball-achingly funny.
However, that is one of a few blogs who’s sole purpose is to entertain you. The big hitters in that list are people who attract the sizable US audience. And how do they do that? Simple, by being informative. I’ve noticed it on my blog. By and large when I talk about myself or crack a little anecdote, most of my traffic comes from the UK. When I write an informative post about something, most of my traffic comes from elsewhere. Anybody else find this?
So, I’m 35th on the Top 100 UK Blogs (a list devoid of heavyweights such as Scaryduck or Diamond Geezer), will we see a program about us all on Channel 4 hosted by Jimmy Carr? Well, looking at the people who are actually on the list, I shudder if it happened.
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Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay.
number 35!
I knew that advertising deal with you was worth it!
I have noticed the same sort of thing happening with traffic sources on my blog, personal posts and meme’s get a lot of attention from Singapore, Malaysia and the UK. Informational posts seem to get all those AND America so as long as I mix it up a bit, I’ll be on the top 100 soon (I hope)
Haha, I knew should’ve charged more ;).
You caught me in “Post holiday happiness” mood
It’s obviously a highly flawed list, as I’m not on there! Not only is my blog entertaining, witty and full of exciting news from the world of code, but it’s also got a higher technorati and alexa rank than a good 50-75% of those at the lower end of the list. Ridiculous!
Ego aside, I do wonder how they made the list from a technical point of view. Did they scan the WWW for blogs on UK servers, or does that matter? Is it only listing a certain type of blog, only blogs who have certain type of posts?
I don’t get it
I don’t know. I’d love to know though, even though if you manually submitted yours you’d probably knock me down to 36.
I guess it could look for “Wordpress-like” files on the server, but then what about b3ta and sites like that?
Well… That’ll teach me to just write stuff, I obviously need to ‘game’ more. Perhaps a few posts on Paris Hilton or something?
Actually, having a look at the list are we sure that their ranking engine doesn’t give +5,000 points to blogs about marketing instead of them just being good at talking about themselves?
(And this is *after* they reduced the effect that Alexa had).
Ah - it’s all good for a laugh, as these things normally are.
So blogging from the republic of Ireland doesn’t count to get into the list?
Last time I checked, the ROI was a seperate cuntry
Aw man, and there’s no-one here to crucify you over that typo!
(Comments wont nest below this level)
Nobody’s generally here anyway most the time
Getting your blog rank up is all about crafty SEO.
Hey Rhys, have you ever looked into doing SEO? I have heard that those that are good at it make quite a pretty dollar. You’re already on the right track. A mate of mine has started to get into optimisation. He has started doing deals with businesses, and is starting to set up different plans. Like, an ongoing SEO for the site, with a % of profit from the site passed onto them.
Worth thinking about, if you haven’t already.
Meanwhile, I think I may have outdone your geekiness ahahhahaha.
Thats really cool you made this list, congrats.