Blog traffic and popularity and what this blog is all about

I meant to post about this a while ago, but forgot. Anyway Dfinitive.com posted a few weeks ago a list of the Top 30 UK Affiliate Marketing Websites according to Alexa. It was cool to see that mine was the top blog listed. I was also pleased to see that out of the 28 blogs listed in the "Affiliate Programs - Weblogs" category in Alexa that I was number 2 overall. And number 1 was given to Linda, over in the USA. Now before anyone else says it I will: Alexa's stats are not accurate. I know this so no need to email me :) What Alexa's stats are good for is to give you a rough understanding of traffic levels for a particular site/niche. But by no means should you mistake their stats as being 100% accurate, apart from the stats for this blog, that is ;) This leads me onto something else that I've been meaning to post about for a while, namely: What this blog is all about Affiliate Marketing my way. By "my way" I mean I write my posts off the cuff and from the heart. A recent email from one of my readers summed it up nicely..

I really like reading your blog, it kind of reminds me of having a beer in the pub back home - honest and to the point.

That's exactly the vibe I'm going for. I don't like these blogs that hide behind smoke and mirrors and don't display facts and figures to back up arguments. Or that hint at things that may or not be true. Instead I just shoot from the hip, if I offend anyone then I'm sorry but its just the type of person I am. What this blog is NOT about Press Releases/News Items - a lot of blogs just regurgitate press releases and news items that you can find anywhere. Not here (pun intended) of course I will and have publish press releases from time to time, but only if I find them genuinely interesting or if I have a different point of view to express. Serious - There are a lot of really good blogs that are serious. Take Sam's for instance, a good blog just not where I'm coming from. Same too for Wayne, another good blog but waaaay too many long words. Do you see what I mean? These blogs are well written but I feel as though I am reading a newspaper, and I don't really connect with the writer. I'm not saying I don't write about serious issues, I do, but I also like to inject personality. Paid For - A load of blogs now are offering paid for reviews through the likes of Review Me or Pay Per Post for example. Now I've used these services to buy reviews before but there is something in my head telling me not to use them as a source of income for this blog? Why? Well I don't want the blog to become ultra boring and full of paid reviews, just look at Tyler's blog, its full of paid reviews, I just skip over them now. This is probably due to the fact that he only charges $70 a review. I'm guessing to write a full well thought-out and well researched review would take an hour so I just think that an hour of my time has got to be worth more than $70. Maybe, just maybe I would write reviews for £500 a go, that's what my time is worth to me. Problem is that nobody would buy any at that price, not when there are so many other blogs out there charging similar rates to Tylers. Full of affiliate links - Loads of people ask me that seeing as this is an Affiliate Marketing blog, why don't I write more about affiliate programs that I would recommend to others. Well, up to now I've just had loads of other stuff on my mind to be honest. But from next month I'll definitely start to do this a little more. As always, I hope you can trust me only to recommend programs/merchants/networks that I have had personal dealings and experiences with. So keep reading as come September there will be some really good tips and recommendations I'll be passing on. But I must stress, this blog will not become over populated with links to stuff just to make a few quid. I could very easily promote some programs or ebooks on here that I know would make me a lot of money, but I never will as again its just not what I'm about. What I'm listening to right now: Sheila E - "Love Bizarre"