MyBlogLog is a relatively new player in the blogosphere. It offers a mix between MySpace, Technorati and Google Analytics in that it spans multiple services in one convenient package.
That being said, do we need another MySpace or Technorati competitor?
MyBlogLog was originally launched as a blog analytics service back in 2005. However it soon became apparent that MyBlogLog was being used for building communities moreso than analytics. According to reports, MyBlogLog claimed to have 70,000 registered blogs in February 2007. In January 2007 the company was sold to Yahoo! for a rumored price of $12 million.
So now that you have a brief history of MyBlogLog, let’s look at some of the features.
The first feature is the analytics.
It is quite easy to implement. You just need to add a line of Javascript to your page templates somewhere in the body. Once you re-publish your site MyBlogLog will start tracking your traffic.
The nice thing about the analytics is that, in a concise summary you get to see where users came from, what they read and where they clicked. They even track clicks on ads, such as Google AdSense ads, or affiliate program clicks. And while the reports for the analytics seem simplistic at first, once you begin digging into them you realize they are anything but simplistic.
Granted you aren’t going to get the detail you would with heavier duty packages like Google Analytics, but remember this analytics is geared towards bloggers.
If the standard reports don’t provide you with enough detail you can click on the “reports” tab and create some custom reports.
What about the Widgets?
In reality, though, you are probably going to use MyBlogLog for community building. That means you will most likely want to add the widgets to your site.
There are currently 2 widgets to be found on the site but I expect as time goes on more will be added. They include a “recent readers” list and a “top links” list.
Recent Readers
By inserting a few lines of javascript you can add a list of recent readers to your blog. This does a few things.
First, it puts pictures to the people. This helps encourage others to both join MyBlogLog and then visit your site. That is because they now understand that the readers of your feed are real, and not you just subscribing to your own feed a few dozen times.
But by adding this widget you also advertise to other MyBlogLog users that you are a member, and since members tend to stick together they will subscribe to your feed and send you messages in order to help build both of your communities.
Top Links
As with the recent readers, you can also add a “top links” widget. This shows your site’s visitors what links are most popular on your site. These are the links people have clicked on which take them off of your site.
This is popular as, again you are helping ot build the MyBlogLog community. Further, it encourages other readers to perhaps spend more time on your site looking for that link.
With both widgets you can customize the look so that they fit within your site’s template.
Simply pick the colors and set other options, then copy the code into your blog templates.
The Real Benefit of MyBlogLog – Communities
If you are like most bloggers, your biggest problem is lack of readers. Because, let’s face it, there are probably a few dozen and as many as a hundred other blogs out there with the same message as yours. It can be extremely difficult to compete.
MyBlogLog can help with this as users find you through others in the community.
By signing into your account you can gain access to tens of thousands of other sites that use MyBlogLog. Simply adding them as friends or contacts, or subscribing to their groups helps get them to your site, perhaps subscribing to your feed and becoming regular readers.
Personally, I’ve experienced about a 5-10% increase in regular traffic since I signed up with MyBlogLog and my feed readership has increased by a similar amount.
But, that does require you to do a little work. Don’t just sign up for an account and forget about – do take some time to browse what the service has to offer, and see if there are other users you want to have as contacts. Be sure to invite them to view your site.
As with any community, there are rules but if you follow them, you should be able to build a nice group of contacts which will ultimately result in more traffic.
For more reviews of MyBlogLog, we recommend the following sites:
MyBlogLog Case Study from Startup-Review.com
MyBlogLog Review from BlueFur.com
Cool Tool Review from EssentialKeystrokes.com
