The ancient Egyptians didn’t rush around but they still built pyramids
Author: Tim Nash
Don’t rush to install Blog Rush
Every man and his dog is currently pushing Blog Rush (no link guys not even with condom) which describes itself as…
The fastest and easiest way to drive to instantly drive targeted readers to your blog
Only it won’t and it never would have, this is an absoultely pointless widget backed by one of the most successful marketing strategies of all time.
The Idea
First off you go and install the widget quite blindly not checking what it does is it a trojan, what sort of data its collecting (to the best of my knowledge its clean but that’s not the point). Next you promote the widget and get people to sign up the more people who sign up using your referral link the more referrals and the more time the widget is seen the more time your links are seen by others. Is this sounding familiar?
Oh yes you got it’s a pyramid scheme, sorry its a syndicated content system 
those at the top with 1000’s of page views and 1000s of sign ups dominating the widget the small guy well his blog is no more seen then it was before all he done is promote the guys at the top.
Ok before people jump on me technically its not a pyramid scheme as no money passes hands, and most schemes require money up front or in this case links but you just being semantic, apparently rather then pyramid its a Ponzi scheme. Which is just like a pyramid scheme in the way referrals build up like a pyramid but not a pyramid scheme.
So what I’m an A list blogger I don’t care about the lowly bloggers
Well lets face it if your in such lofty positions are you likely to notice a huge increase in traffic? Well Darren Rowse has already indicated that his click through rate is 0.005% so the answer is its not likely to bring in that rush of traffic, remember we might not be at the peak but nearly every Internet Marketer is talking about it yet in our own field few people are actually using it to find new content.
Your jealous because no one signs up using your links
Bugger your right but to be fair I haven’t even signed up, I just can’t see this working as anything but another ugly looking widget (it won’t even integrate into most blog themes nicely) but I’m not alone Sebastian also has decided against BlogRush his reasoning is:
- You won’t get free targeted traffic to your niche blog.
- You’ll make other people rich.
- You’ll piss off your readers.
- You’ll promote BlogRush and get nothing in return.
- You shouldn’t trust a site fucking up the very first HTTP request.
- Pyramid schemes just don’t work for you.
I agree with all except Pyramid Schemes just don’t work I guess that one really depends where you are in the pyramid 
I can’t stop you
I know your going to do it, by now you have signed up and if your reading this you may have found it looking for “why do I get no traffic with BlogRush” well I’m afraid that’s life. I just wish I had started it the next question is really who going to buy BlogRush 
and its large userbase.
End of Rant
ctabuk
2007-09-20 14:29:30
Tim, you never told me that you were involved in a pyramid scam - shame on you
Tim Nash
2007-09-20 14:44:47
Look its the 21 first century we don’t call them pyramid scams any more, now they are ‘non product driven multi level marketing incentive schemes’
ctabuk
2007-09-20 14:47:01
Oh so that’s what we were celebrating on Dec 31st 1999 - thanks Tim
Sebastian
from Sebastian2007-09-20 20:02:03
> no link guys not even with condom
Since you didn’t sign up, I could lend you my referral link. Oh wait … it’s broke (I disabled it with JS).
Tim Nash
2007-09-20 23:07:54
Estelle
from Estelle2007-09-21 08:22:37
Thanks for “stating the obvious”. OK, so it’s not obvious. But, it seems so obvious. Well, at least to me.
Thanks for putting into words exactly what I think every time I come a across a post about BlogRush.
Slevi
from Slevi2007-09-21 21:18:06
Awesome entry, couldn’t agree more! Let’s hope more people will start seeing the light soon :).
Bobby Revell
from Revellian Dot Com2007-09-22 11:04:16
Well, this is really what I have been thinking. Yaro Starak is an influential “expert” and I did jump on this bandwagon. I have read a lot of different opinions about this thing.
I have noticed a very sharp decrease in my traffic ever since I started into this “blog-rush”
Who should I believe? How do I discern who an expert is and isn’t. Everyone of us has motives behind what we blog about. My blog is about business integrity and blogging ethics. Basically, I really don’t care about making money.
I lost everything I owned in hurricane Katrina. After surviving the storm (Me and my mother were almost killed) I have a different outlook on life. It occured to me that if this widget could increase traffic, it could also decrease traffic!
I am so glad you e-mailed me about this post. I am no dummy and I have to make a decision on whether or not to remove this widget from my blog.
‘non product driven multi level marketing incentive schemes’ ha ha ha…sounds like some fancy lingo for “join Amway Today!”
Tim Nash
2007-09-22 11:57:41
Hi Bobby - glad you enjoyed the article, this blog is all about maximising and enhancing blog revenue. Many people are turning to writing to supplement their living we’re just trying to give them a push in the right direction. I think what makes us different is this is not really a revenue stream in itself it pays for itself and nothing more but we are here hopefully helping people.
With regards to BlogRush I think even those heavily push it have started doing the maths, several have argued that its sustainable because for every 1 credit gained 4 are used up but this just doesn’t take into account the huge and growing spam problem. Ultimately if you don’t have a large number of page impressions or and a large referral base the maths says you won’t get many hits, but you are helping others.
I don’t think BlogRush is a bad thing and it’s doing no harm well except seeping users away, if they implemented a credits for clicks so when some one clicks your link you gain an extra credit this could at least allow a chance that a blogger could get some traffic, it would also shift the balance away from spammers, but would shift it far more in favour of the large impression base bloggers.
Ultimately however most people were never going to see a rush
Bobby Revell
from Revellian Dot Com2007-09-22 12:06:00
I’m looking at this widget in my sidebar and I am advertising a ton of sites I have never heard of and may never read. It’s really starting to bother me!
I don’t read all the big blogs, mostly because when I leave a pertinent comment, it is ignored! I appreciate the fact that you took the time to answer me. That means more to me than just about anything. Thank you very much!
BTW, it is nice to meet you Tim, keep up the great work:)
Aaron Cook
2007-09-22 17:49:55
Actually, a Ponzi scheme requires a monetary investment as well. By definition, a Ponzi is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying returns to investors out of the money raised from subsequent investors, rather than from the profits generated by any “real” business.
It offers high short-term returns in order to entice new investors whose money is needed to fund payouts to earlier investors and to lure its victims into even bigger risks. Since there’s no money exchanging hands, BR cannot be classified as a Ponzi or a as pyramid scheme as both require monetary investment up front. Yes, BR is pyramidical in structure, but it is neither a pyramid nor a Ponzi.
But as for BR itself, I can’t say whether or not it’ll be or remain effective. So far it’s brought me some decent traffic, but whether or not that will continue I cannot say. I have, however, discovered a few new blogs through it, so I think that’s a plus. And I know it hasn’t distracted me from reading the ones I normally read. So I’ll just have to wait until all my testing is done and go from there.
Anyway, really nice blog here. I’m glad I happened across it.
Shine on,
Aaron
komodo dragon
from Komodo Dragon2008-06-03 21:35:22
this is a great post. I love the cartoon. i like how it comically displays what everyone thinks about the pyramid scheme