Nielsen Media Research is looking at blogs, here is how I made the cut last year

Guess who I saw visiting my site today?

It was Nielsen Media Research. Nielsen Media Research put out a list last year called the top 50 Power Mom bloggers. They went around using statistics from alexa rank, traffic, comments, twitter power and content. Their goal was to find moms that are using social media as a part of their daily lives. I remember thinking, I’m still so new I have no idea what I’m doing. Now I also remember that after the list came out Trisha from Mom Dot spoke with them about a few of their statistical measures and how they can be inaccurate because statistics can be influenced and adjusted by asking your friends for help.

(photo take from Neilson’s site)

But if they go off of what they did last year then this is how I think I made the list:

Alexa Rank:

I think you need to work on being in the top 100,000. I was in this number last year. Not sure how, I think it was because of Entrecard and my SEO was attracting business. The combination of dropping 200-300 cards a day and reaching out to business for reviews and them searching me out keeps me below 100.000. I noticed that when I stop dropping that I go over 100,000. I’m sure it’s a fluke but I also go up whenever I have the alexa toolbar installed so I don’t use it. I don’t increase my own rank.

Entrecard helps because a lot of people that use Entrecard, use it only to get more traffic to their own sites. You can either just be a dropper. You drop your card on others and you get one point for every drop. You can see my card on the left if you are using Firefox. I have no idea why but my card no longer works with IE. I blame IE, my husband blames stupid Java or Firefox. Take your pick.

Comment Rank:

My comment rank was the lowest point of my score when I was considered last year for the Power Mom List. It’s still a large weakness on my blog and I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to increase my audience and entice readers to leave a comment. Commenting clubs are difficult because you can put a lot of effort into it and not get anything back. I’m in a commenting club and it’s taking time. Not sure it’s worth the effort but I’m going to give it a few more months. Trisha from Mom Dot is having a weekly comment support group and it was a lot of fun. You have to join her forum but she’s very excited to provide opportunities to help other bloggers learn and grow. She has a very good supportive community that I am proud to be a part of.

Also I think it’s because of her that my comments ranked at the time at all. I paid 10.00 or something to be one of the featured sites that contestants could visit last year to get 5 extra points for her HUGE giveaway she did. I did a lot of work in return though. I commented along with the rest of them and visited so many blogs daily trying to win a prize. What I won in return was much greater than any prize. I gained a following for 10.00. It does take work though to keep it up. I write more than one article a day and try very hard to write something personal more than once a week.

Page Rank and Search Engine Rank:

My page rank has been a 3 since practically the day I started blogging. I have always had my own domain and I think this has helped me greatly. It’s not true for all bloggers, you don’t have to have your own domain but for most bloggers their traffic increased when they either moved from blogger to WordPress and or changed their domain. I don’t think that page rank was a huge factor for Neilson. Everyone knows that Google and it’s formula is impossible to understand and change. They just give and pull very quickly. I don’t even worry about my rank anymore except when some company wants to know. A lot of companies won’t work with just because my page rank is only a 3.

I know I have a very good SEO value because half of my traffic comes from search engines. I get a ton of hits form Google Searches every day. I don’t really know what advice to give on SEO other than make sure your tags are relevant and that you are linking words like Google to Google.com or Elmo to Sesamestreet.org.

How to figure out how to match a word. Take the word you want to link up. Put it in the Google Search Engine and whatever is the top link, if it matches your topic. Link that word with the url. Other than that, your best guess is as good as mine.

Twitter Count Rank:

My twitter count has doubled since last year. I was hoping to increase it even more and that’s something that I spend time on every week. You can’t spread yourself too think when you are networking. You need to set aside time to each area you want to work on. Fame doesn’t come overnight. (I’m not saying that I have fame, I don’t)

Follow who follows you and always look for more people to follow. Hopefully they will follow you in return. Something I learned from Susan from 5minutesformom. You have to be engaging to gain followers. You need to have conversations and not just blog posts going out to twitter. Follow people back, friend people on facebook. Use the social networking to be social, not just for business. My stepmom used to tell me, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. 

Social Networking Rank:

Knowing people will get you more ops. Find out where everyone is hanging out.  If you ever get the chance to meet Stacy DeBroff from Mom Central do something memorable or hand her your business card. She’s very animated and great to get to know. She is a mom and brings a lot of experience to the table. Mom Central is actually a very profitable blog/social network. Another mom to meet is Jennifer James from Mom Blogger Club. Make friends with her and tweet to her. She’ll also pass ops your way. You can also sign up to be a Mom Blogger Club reviewer. Another mom that I don’t work with very often is Megan Calhoun. I have not had the opportunity to meet her. I have tried to interview her but she was way to busy for little old me.  As far as her ops, I just haven’t seen anything on her site that is a good match for me for the amount of work in it. Check out Twitter Moms and decide for yourself, either way your jumping into a pool full of other moms that are doing the same things you are. You can also work with Maria Bailey. I have worked with her on a few projects, one was paid and another was a sponsored party opportunity that I haven’t written out yet. Sorry Maria, I’ll get right on that. Maria Bailey is Mom Talk Radio, Mom Select, and BSM Media. She’s all about networking moms with businesses. Another mom that works with getting businesses and moms together is Jessica Knows, Jessica Smith. She is a professional in the market and is always working on something new. She’s very eager to help bloggers and business find working relationships. Just check out her new post on what business want to see on your about you page.

It takes a while to be accepted into some of these lists and projects. I mean Stacy told me how long her waiting list was and it’s huge. It took me eight months to be accepted into her program. I was accepted before I met her so it is possible to be accepted. That’s another reason why shoving your business card in her hand will get you expedited to the top of the list. So it pays to know people.

Category Rank:

It’s not just about what you write about, it’s also about how you write about it, how often you write about it and how others interact with what you are writing about. Do you fit into a category?

I’m not always sure that I do but since the majority of my content is either a review or a giveaway. The list says that I am in the Mom Approved category because I’m a mom approving products. My passion is about savings and couponing, but I don’t have the patience to write about all the opportunities out there. I like finding them and using them. That’s one reason why I started my new meme this year. Mom Start Saving; it’s to spotlight all the moms that already do it. And my opportunity to write a passionate article once a week. I write about my family and post pictures. I feel like I cover everything but maybe that’s exactly what makes a good mom reviewier. As mothers we run the house, the budget, the direction our kids go. We are nurses, accountants, and teachers all in a days work. So we are experts in our field.

Advice:

I know there are complaints about the same moms being picked over and over for the larger opportunities. Well, it’s not completely their fault so don’t be mad. It’s a logarithmic formula if you think about it. When a blogger is chosen to write about something big, a search engines find it, comments are made, twitter helps the article be noticed and follower count goes up. Their popularity goes up with each post. Therefore business notice that they have influence and their alexa rank goes up. With more and more bloggers joining the game it’s just going to be harder and harder to get noticed. Review Mom Bloggers are a dime a dozen. We’re everywhere trying to outdo each other every day. If you consider me to be on the “A” list then let me tell you the “A” list is a lot longer than we think it is. I feel like I’m Kathy Griffin and this is my life on the “d” list. I’m loving every minute of it though.

I think if you keep trying and working hard you’ll get noticed. I did, out of all the blogs in the world. I was noticed. I wish you good luck in finding a formula that works for you. My goal is to try and get on the list again next year. It’s the only reason I’ve been getting any invites, oh, and the fact that I constantly work my bottom off with social networking.

Good luck and try to play nice, the companies are on the social network sites and are watching us all the time. You need to remain professional and remember you are not in high school anymore. But, if having fun is what you want do that. Do what makes you happy, especially if you are putting all your spare time into it. If you get stressed, it’s time to get out.

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