Subscribe via RSSrssHugger Blog Directory: the Right Model?
November 23, 2007
Yesterday I found rssHugger blog directory by reading a ReviewMe post on JohnChow.com. My first impression for it was... "another failure". rssHugger start up asking people to pay $20 to get a blog listed for 10 years.
But hey, here is a big news: Collin LaHay has revamped his rssHugger model after receiving a lot of comment from the review on JohnChow.com. I got a feeling that rssHugger is going to beat up their Competitors with the right model.
It's a similar case as 1CoolFile.com did after receiving negative feedbacks from his ReviewMe post on JohnCow.com. However, Collin made a much better decision and adjust the plan with huge differences.
The good differences
The exceptional change is that, rssHugger now offer 250,000 free blogs within the first year of operation.
What are the requirements for free listing?
- You need to write a blog post to review rssHugger, otherwise you have to pay $20 fee
- Your blog must meet the quality standard and manually approved.
Standout benefits for bloggers:
- Monthly top 100 blogs listing gives more exposure to both viewers and search engine.
- Random listing gives more exposure to viewers (not search engine exposure).
- New RSS Feeds listing gives explores for newly listed blogs.
Some very common benefits:
- Raise awareness of your blog
- Send tons of visitors to your blog
- Share traffic with the community
- Be part of a viral/buzz marketing campaign
- Get new interested RSS subscribers who view your content on a regular basis.
Some limitations
Even the biggest boys of the Internet have their limitations, so does rssHugger.
- The search feature is still in the browsing form of navigation. This mean... people have to dig for your blog, and less likely it will work.
- 250,000 blogs is big number, but very small compare to "over 112 million registered blogs, with about 175,000 new ones per day" (Collin LaHay), so if we are late to sign-up we may have to pay that $20.
- Currently it's totally blogger oriented. Visitors who come to this site will bounce back because they see the home page is promoting some blogger benefits, not for them.
- The directory is actually located in the "Search" tab. Confusing enough and hard enough to be found or clicked. Worse yet, it's nearly the last tab you can see.
My suggestions
Collin LaHay really needs to consider many more factors invovled in the grow of this unigue model of directory. He may want to look at the following suggestions:
- Implement the search function as soon as possible. Without a search form it will just drive visitors away. Temporarily use Google site search the programmers are still working on it.
- It should focus more on the visitors than the bloggers. After all the true purpose should be to benefit the readers, and that's what blogging is about, too.
- Put the directory right at the homepage, improving the exposure of the blogs. What if visitor type the URL http://www.rsshugger.com and found the promotion for bloggers?
- The promotion should be done on the "Blogger" page, which explain the benefit of this site to blogger alone. The home page and everything else should be for readers.
- The about page should be focused on promoting the site to visitors. It's best to avoid mixing bloggers with readers, because not every reader know what is a blog.
- The registration form need to be more instuitive. Especially to what you will use as the login name. I thought my name will be used but it was the email. It's confusing. And the registration should have email confirmation, for security reason.
Errh, btw, I'm not a lazy bumb sitting at home pointing my finger at somebody just for fun, you can read the about page to find a little more about me, Binh Nguyen.
Generally speaking, a new site always need to learn more. Keep improving is the way to survive as well as to grow.
Just a big of history
My initial comments on JohnChow.com:
I agree with John Chow about the “wrong model”. I suggest the site to start with first blog post for free and additional blog post pay. Everyone love free stuff, especially bloggers.
I’m a blogger too and I hesitate to pay the money knowing it’s just $1/year. The problem of uncertainty always refrain us from taking action.
A lot of blog directory list for free, and they have PR 7+, then why we pay for a lower PR directory some amount of money and then wait for it to grow?
Recently 1CoolFile.com also got a JohnCow review about the same thing. The different is that he got a PR6 site, but lack of series marketing and web-design.
...
RSSHugger should consider about the stronger competitors and lower its hat to new comers.
Then here is what followed up by Collin LaHay:
Due to the overwhelming comments and contributions, I am going to be revamping the business model (much like john recommended), as well as adding a few things I had planned so that everyone with a quality blog has a shot and listing their blog.
Conclusion
Being listed on a paid directory for free is something really fun and should do? Yes, we enjoy the benefit of being a paid member and get tons of traffic from rssHugger.com for free while rssHugger is doing all the hard work promoting it.
But don't worry, it will cause them no harm. Ethically speaking, go for it. Why? Doesn't that make a win-win situation for both blogger and rssHugger? By providing their service for the first 250,000 blogs for free, rssHugger is getting back tons of backlink and PR juice from those 250,000 free blogs would get them to PR 6 in no time. In return they pass back those traffic to us bloggers.
What's next
I'm trying to have my blog be one of the first 100 blogs listed on rssHugger. Be with me there and let's see the grow of a brand new generation of blog directory.
Feel free to feed me back with comments and I will attend to it as soon as I can.
Nice review and very detailed. I also like your site. It makes me think that Christmas is almost there and the year 2007 is almost over.
[...] every hour. Yet, I still am not satisfied with their navigation structure and wrote it here: rssHugger Blog Directory: the Right Model?. 1CoolFile should do better than rssHugger if it want to stay in the [...]