It’s great to be included, and a few visitors arrive that way, but I have a hard time being able to tell if really means anything.

I just left a lengthy message at Copywrite Inc., but in brief here is what I said:

1. I don’t write for links, I write for readers.
2. Three months ago, Technorati had me at about 9,000. Today, I am at 12,000+, still a strong presence and bizsolutionsplus remains among the Ad Age 150.
3. During those three months my readership increased from about 80 a day to about 125 a day, with a three-day high recently of nearly 1,000.
4. Before I launched my blog, I created a marketing plan with measurable goals. The goals were based on average daily readers and revenues (jobs) created by the blog. Back then, I didn’t think about links. A mistake but not a disasterous one.
5. My firm is on target with readers and exceeded my revenue’s goals. (That only tells me I didn’t stretch the goals enough.)

My blog represents my brand to my readers. I promised them they would get business information (as well as an occasional political or music piece). I owe it to them to keep my promise, so I try to provide serious discussions on business topics. To do less would be dishonest and unprofessional. I believe that good writing and content will deliver the links necessary for SEO, so dropping links doesn’t worry me unless it crosses the line where search engines don’t direct readers to my blog. So far, a majority of my readers arrive from Google, so I seem to be okay.

Good post, Geoff.

As for Susan’s concern, the subjective rating is still done by ToddAnd. If you see something amiss just shoot him an e-mail. Get in touch with me directly if you need it.

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was “new” at blogging and have managed to move into these lists somewhere in the magic middle.

And Todd, I feel your pain, it seems I go in and out of the top 10K every month. It is painful to watch, so subsequently, I hardly check anymore. I gauge my success more by the quality and quantity of the conversation (not even traffic), because as Todd says, how many people actually even care about the narrow topic area in which we write?

I agree that the Ad Age reliance on BlogLines may favor blogs with longevity. Most of my RSS readers are using Google and Netvibes, not Bloglines. I also wonder about the value judgment score, as I have noticed blogs shifting focus, posting more or less original content, but the value scores remain unchanged.

But I don’t fuss about any of this too much. Do what you love and the readers will follow.

Occam’s RazR moves up to #361!

If I can inch up another 349 slots I’ll be eligible for a BCS Bowl bid!

@Ike Too late, brother. The Buzz Bin is de-listed. I have to look at the benefits of branding at #23x versus the OPML file. I honestly get 3-5 clicks a week from Ad Age, and feel like I can make that up pretty easily.

1) Scrolling through the rankings and seeing that disparity would be enough to give me pause. If everyone with a low Bloglines pulse dropped out, the metric would not expose its flaw.

2) Being on the list gets you into the Ad Age 150 OPML file. As more non-tech-savvy communicators and businesses start to come around, they’ll see the value in importing the entire list. Mike Driehorst commented yesterday that the real value of Social Media is the rich data to mine. Steve Rubel is re-adding feeds he doesn’t read, just so he can use the new Google Reader search function.

I admire your stand, but consider all the ramifications.

I was thrilled when my blog was in the Top 10,000 and crushed as it sank into the 14,000 zone where it now resides — all in the span of 2 months or so.

As the blogosphere grows with more and more legit blogs (i.e., blogs whose caretakers truly invest in cultivating their presence vs. sample & abandon), these rankings will be tough to maintain. I like to joke that if there were 20,000 blogs about Lindsay Lohan, my blog would no doubt be sunk in the 40,000 zone: the stuff that you & I and our peers blog about are really of interest to a select group, when ya think about it.

Anyway, you’ve made outrageous strides since you kicked this blog into gear. Truly impressive. Congratulations!