Get a RealRank for Your Blog!

The following is a Sponsored Review for IZEARanks, a site recently launched by PayPerPost. The IZEARanks service provides a free and useful tool for bloggers who want to measure how well their blog "really ranks".

According to the IZEARanks site FAQ:

"IZEARanks ranks the top blogs in the blogosphere via actual site statistics, not an extrapolation of estimates".

"The data is used to define an individual blog's overall standing relative to other blogs participating in the program as well as in specific categories such as entertainment and technology."

The way IZEARanks does this is by each blogger installing a piece of Javascript code (called the IzeaToolbarKit) into their blog template. The code records traffic stats by measuring a formula of 70% on daily unique visitors, 20% by daily active inbound links and 10% by daily page views as reported by the ITK (IzeaToolbarKit). This determines your "RealRank". You can then compare how well your blog is doing by measuring it against other bloggers who are using the IZEARanks service.

The main purpose of IZEARanks is to provide you, the blogger, with a more conclusive way to measure your blog instead of Alexa Rank or Google Page Rank. RealRank is considered the first site ranking service that focuses exclusively on measuring traffic and influence of individual blogs throughout the blogosphere. The service is also very important in helping advertisers make "informed decisions for the long run" in terms of which blogs to advertise on.


IZEARank Charts your Blog's Success:

(The above chart gives comparison of the RealRank of 4 blogs over the past week. On the site you can compare your blog with other blogs based on their RealRank, page views or unique visitors).


Other important notes about the IZEARanks service:

The IZEARanks code differs from the code you install for PayPerPost. Therefore, bloggers shouldn't worry about their Google Page Rank being affected if they use IZEARanks to measure their blog.

Your IzeaRank stats can be made public or private based on your preference and settings. You can choose to display your daily traffic/unique visits, or just your RealRank.

IZEARanks launched a new service, ROIRank, or "Return on Investment Rank". This service which was released in January helps advertisers see the return on investment they can get from advertising on a particular blog.

During the next four weeks, IZEARanks is holding a contest to award $1,000 to the Top Blog on their service, in terms of ranking. The Monetizer is wondering why the mighty Problogger or John Chow have not entered this contest yet. As of a check today, ohgizmo.com was listed as the top blog in terms of IzeaRank.

This may become the next useful service to see just how your blog stands in the blogosphere, as more bloggers decide to turn to Real Rank instead of Google's Page Rank. If you'd like to use the free IZEARanks service, head over to see how your Blog Ranks!

The Art of Advertising - Superbowl 42 & GoDaddy.com

First off, a huge congratulations to the New York Giants for pulling off one of the biggest upsets in recent NFL history. They upended the New England Patriots, 17-14 and basically spoiled the Pats bid for an undefeated season. Many say this game was one of the best of all time in Superbowl history, and the New York Giants definitely had a well executed game plan. Bravo for New York sports!

This isn't a football blog, but one which talks about making money. The Superbowl of course involves money in many ways such as betting on the game, blogging about the NFL, and advertising. The most expensive way of making money is seen by advertisers spending on catchy 30 second commercials which appear throughout the broadcast. According to financial stats, the price of these ads averaged 2.7 million dollars for just one ad running for 30 seconds. This morning the favorites were announced and included the Clydesdale horse ad by Budweiser, as well as the Coke ad with Macy's balloons, and Pepsi Max ads for people being woken up by the newer beverage.

Donny Deutsche of CNBC's "The Big Idea" was part of a 2 person panel on NBC's morning show, and they discussed the ads. Deutsche applauded GoDaddy.com for its advertisement, and I'd have to agree. Go Daddy has been making controversial ads for several Superbowls, involving wardrobe mishaps and the "sex sells" idea. They did it once again this year, but used it to drive 1.5 million visitors to their website. Basically, the ad showed racing star Danica Patrick unzipping her jacket to be "exposed". The ad stopped short, saying it was Explicit and people would need to see Danica Exposed at godaddy.com. I haven't read yet how many new domains, hosting or other services sold due to this, but it definitely gets Go Daddy into people's brains. The other advertisers such as Coke, Pepsi and Budweiser are noteworthy too, as they have built very strong brands yet continue to shell out the dollars to make sure we are thinking of their products.

So one major point to take away here is to utilize any advertising opportunities you get for your blog in the smartest ways possible. Whether it's Entrecard or running a 125x125 on John Chow, make it count. And once again, sex sells, so maybe The Monetizer logo will soon feature a bikini model..

View the World's Largest Registrar - GoDaddy.com

Microsoft+Yahoo vs Google

The big news that rocked both the business and technology worlds was Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo for 44.6 billion. You'd have to believe this could make MSFT a serious competitor now for Google. It makes good sense, as Yahoo and Microsoft are the two other major search engines. Microsoft had lost ground to Google which seems to be like the Berkshire Hathaway of internet stocks. Google basically encompasses so many functions and features it's mindblowing. Now it will be interesting to see how Microsoft merges its programs with those of Yahoo. For example sites like MyBlogLog are already owned by Yahoo. Then you have the search engines themselves, Yahoo's website hosting plans, advertising program (similar to Google's).

Speaking of Google, I received an interesting email earlier (not from Google) which discusses how Adsense publishers are reporting mixed results lately. Some publishers are seeing a serious downturn in earnings while others have seen an upswing. What I've noticed is interesting. Organic search engine traffic has been moving up for several of my blogs and click pricing has been lower. But I've still done well due to all the new traffic. The email mentioned that this drop in earnings could be directly related to advertisers pulling back on spending which is due to economic worries.

So it's a tough call with Adsense, but it still continues to be a top earner for many. I still agree with John Chow's guiding advice, to find as many monetization sources as you can for your blog or site. It might be nice to enjoy earnings from something like Amazon or an Affiliate sale while you're waiting for Adsense to increase.

The Winner of 777 EC's is...

Drumroll please..We have a winner in the first ever contest here at The Monetizer blog. This is the contest to giveaway 777 Entrecard credits to one lucky winner. And the winner is...

Laura Williams Musings!

Congrats to Laura, you'll be hearing from me to receive your 777 credits with Entrecard!

Thanks to all otherwho hentered! Here's some link love for those of you I could provide links for! If you're listed below without a link and want a link to your blog, just drop me a line here, or contact me: monetizer[at]myway[dot]com


SEO Rob - Increase Online Traffic
C-Squared
Evelester - DillyDesigns.com
Zoran
Jaklang
Laura Williams' Musings
indoconsoles
br3adman (clint) - PromoMaker
asif - Youth Cocktail
sarah rebecca - This is Not My Bag of Sunshine
emiliana - Bizpreneur Blog

(If your name/link is not listed above and you entered, please contact)

Congrats again to Laura, don't spend all those 777 EC's in one place! (Well actually you will have to spend them through EntreCard)

(Note: The first winner drawn didn't seem to have Entrecard or a real blog entry...So a winner was drawn randomly for a second time at MathGoodies.com)