There’s nothing wrong with Alexa. It’s just that they have overhauled their ranking system and it’s now in effect. That’s the reason why Blogging Mix’s Alexa Traffic Rank dropped from 65,798 to 169,276. Although the effect of the new ranking system is not good for Blogging Mix, I’m still glad that Alexa did the necessary changes in their algorithm. These changes make Alexa an even more credible traffic measurement.

Image Source: Alexa Company Announcement

If before, Alexa Traffic Rank is computed base on the the Alexa Toolbar users, the new Alexa ranking algorithm is now based on more sources of data. This enables a more accurate presentation of a website’s real traffic rank. This also means that the Alexa Traffic Rank is no longer skewed towards technology related websites.

Check out the changes to Alexa Traffic Rank of these websites. (Source: AmitBhawani.com)

Shoemoney.com : Was 2xxx Rank : Now 19818 Rank
Problogger : Was 3xxx Rank : Now 12917 Rank
JohnChow : Was 5xxx Rank : Now 17088 Rank
DigitalPoint : Was 3xxRank : Now 938 Rank
Global Internet Index : Was 66000 Rank : Now 45323 Rank
JimKarter : Was 40xxxRank : Now 187845 Rank
AmitBhawani : Was 70000Rank : Now 54006 Rank
Labnol : Was 19000 Rank : Now 14626 Rank

Here are some details regarding the changes in Alexa Traffic Rank.

When Alexa began displaying rankings in 1998 it was with the goal of showing Alexa Toolbar users how popular any given site was within the Alexa community. We generated the rankings through an analysis of Internet usage by people who use the Alexa Toolbar. Since that time we’ve been delighted to see that the Alexa Rankings have become a yardstick by which website popularity is measured. We are grateful to the thousands of people who come to Alexa.com each day to check the Alexa Rankings.

In recent months we’ve heard from our Alexa users that understanding Internet usage beyond Alexa Toolbar users was increasingly of interest. Ask and you shall receive!

We listened to your suggestions, and we believe that our new rankings system is much closer to what you asked for. We now aggregate data from multiple sources to give you a better indication of website popularity among the entire population of Internet users.

You gave us many other suggestions as well, and we are working hard to implement them. We won’t tell any secrets just yet, but you can expect to see new features rolled out over the coming weeks and months.

What was the effect of the changes in Alexa Traffic Rank to your blog? Did your rank improved? Share the changes in your Alexa through the comment.

Thank you for your time!

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Here are the latest happenings in the blogosphere that I thought you should know.

• After Bryan Clark got back OneMansGoal from Austin late last year, he OneMansGoal is once again sold. This time, it was sold to Marc Galeazzi, who seems to be a total newbie. What’s unbelievable is that Marc paid Bryan a sum of US$10,000 to acquire the dying OneMansGoal blog. I’m not sure how Bryan pulled it but he did a good job at convincing poor Marc. Bryan must be laughing his ass out loud by now. The sad thing is, Marc used his savings to purchase OMG, with hopes of making some money out from it. The sad reality is, I don’t think OMG is doing well lately. Well, let’s just wish Marc good luck.
• Vic who always considered Bryan Clark and Yaro Starak scammers made a post about what a dumbfuck Marc Galeazzi is. In fairness with Marc, I think that he was taken advantage of considering that he barely knows how this business works. Read what Vic has to say and go on reading his other posts. I personally recommend his blog if you’re looking for real, no-bullshit kind of stuff about making money online.
• Beware of the comment spam from Darren Rowse of Problogger! Of course it wasn’t the real Darren who’s responsible for all the spamming. If you receive any comment spam from someone using Darren Rowse as a name or someone who associates himself to Problogger, kindly shoot Darren an email with the comment, link and the IP address of the commenter.
• Earlier this week, I posted about the US$9,000 Guest Blogging Contest over at Search Engine Journal. Today, there’s been an update made and the prize is now over US$10,000. Read the update post to learn more about the competition and find out the fantastic prizes waiting for you.
• This week, Entrecard introduced some major changes in their system. The price valuation of your blog is no longer dependent on how many drops made on your Entrecard widget but will now be determined by the market demand. You should read the Entrecard Blog to keep yourself informed about the latest changes at Entrecard before you go on posting that the changes were bugs.

That should do for this week.

Thank you for your time and have a great weekend.

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I will not say that Entrecard is a perfect system. I have had my own share of unpleasant experiences with Entrecard but I decided to keep it because of its benefits. So far, the advantages, outweighed the disadvantages. Unfortunately for some bloggers, Entrecard didn’t work well for them or Entrecard didn’t meet their expectations.

A couple of blogs who have removed their Entrecards are now predicting that Entrecard will not be around in 6-month time. I’m not sure if that is the reason why they removed their Entrecard widgets but I have a strong feeling that they were disappointed with the new pricing system. Disappointed or jealous? Either way, the point is, they predicted that Entrecard is bound to fail.

How Exactly Is Entrecard Going To Fail?

I have read several negative publicities made about Entrecard. The latest of which was a post from Jason of TheUniversityKid.com. In his post, Jason argued that Entrecard is bound to fail because:

• Entrecard allows credit exchange.
• Phirate and Graham, founders of Entrecard, have no idea how to monetize it.
• Entrecard is open to third parties.

Like most negative posts I read about Entrecard, Jason wasn’t really able to prove his claim. On the contrary, Jason’s arguments as to why Entrecard is bound to fail prove otherwise. Allow me to explain why.

Entrecard allows credit exchange. – If Jason was referring to the “U Drop, I Follow” movement of LeeDoyle.com, where members are suppose to visit and drop their Entrecards to those who drop to theirs, then he’s certainly wrong. I won’t deny the fact though that “U Drop, I Follow” movement may result in a high bounce rate to the members but there’s more to Entrecard traffic than a high bounce rate. Moreover, only a few advertisers are bounce-rate-conscious. Besides, it’s always easier to lower your high bounce rate than to attract more traffic.

The ”U Drop, I Follow” movement consists of a portion of Entrecard. This movement has its drawbacks, but ultimately, it gives more reasons for Entrecard users to participate and remain active in the network.

Graham and Phirate have no idea how to monetize Entrecard. – Hmm… considering that Entrecard was their idea, I refuse to believe that ran out of idea this time. The monetization should come easy as Entrecard has a huge traffic, not to mention the loyal users.

Entrecard is open to third party. – Come on, look around the Blog-o-sphere, most of the successful sites of today are open to third parties.

The Gold Farming that Jason mentioned in his post is actually one of the reasons why the World of Warcraft continue to thrive. The value of Entrecard credits in monetary terms have improved over a short period of time and considering the high demand for it, we can only expect its value to improve. This situation has created an opportunity for Entrecard users to monetize their blogs. More imporantly, it has created another reason for bloggers and webmasters to join Entrecard.

Is Entrecard Bound To Fail?

No! And you can take my word for it. As long as traffic is an important element of a successful website, Entrecard, having been able to establish its place in the Blogosphere, will continue to grow.

And like I said on my first sentence, Entrecard is not a perfect system but the recent changes implemented are proofs that Graham and Phirate listens to Entrecard users. This perhaps, is the best reason why Entrecard is NOT bound to fail.

Now if you decide to get rid of Entrecard, here are the benefits you will lose.

• You’ll lose lots of traffic that have the potential of becoming your subscriber or avid reader.
• You let go of the opportunity to be discovered by other bloggers.
• You’ll miss the opportunity to advertise in other blogs. Sad for you, you need to pay thousand of dollars to advertise at Problogger.net and JohnChow.com.
• You’ll miss improving your Alexa Traffic Rank. Since most Entrecard users are bloggers, most of them have Alexa toolbar installed in their computer.
• You let go of potential income for your blog.
• You’ll miss the chance to network with other bloggers.
• You’ll miss the opportunity to shop at Entrecard.
• You’ll miss being linked to by other Entrecard users.
• You’ll miss comments on your post.

And the list goes on.

Do you honestly believe that Entrecard won’t be around after 6 months? Don’t forget to support your answers.

Good luck to your blog and thank you for your time!

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