Participation in two link trains pushed my Technorati authority from 22 to 128 in four weeks.
You may be thinking, "Yeah, Let me get some of that!" but there is more to it than you are told in the beginning.
The concept of a link train is simple enough. A blogger simply copy and pastes the list of links to other blogs into a post on his/her own blog and ads a link to themselves onto the bottom of the train. As other bloggers copy the link train from them and post it to their own blog they begin to gain back links and their Technorati authority rises accordingly.
In theory, everyone who participates in the train updates their link list regularly to include all of the new addition so everyone gets the same number of links. In reality this almost never happens and that is why a link train is akin to pyramid marketing. The folks who truly benefit are the ones that get in early. If you come along late you'll be fortunate to receive a handful of links for your effort.
I was fortunate enough to join two trains at their very early stages and that is why my authority was affected so dramatically.
The biggest problem comes from the fact Technorati only looks at the last six months of activity when assigning scores. This means the only way to avoid a sudden drop in rank is to continue the same things that got you where you are. It's like telling a lie. You have to continue telling more and more lies to keep things from collapsing around you.
This artificial inflation is little more than a feel good sham to give yourself bragging rights about something everyone knows is bull.
The final consideration has to do with your purpose for blogging. Are you here for yourself or your readers? I try to blog for my readers and have caught myself rationalizing link trains as something that improved the blog and thereby was beneficial to my readers. I have felt guilty every time I participated in link trains but took part anyway. For this I apologize to you.
I really feel like link trains are an abuse of your patience and loyalty. If you are going to take the time to come to my blog or read my feed I am going to at least try to reward your effort with worthwhile content.
Link trains are an addiction as real as crack cocaine or cigarettes and that is why I will no longer participate in them.
I'm not condemning other bloggers for participating in link trains. I'm simply explaining why I will no longer participate in them.
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Link Trains Are Technorati Crack
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9 comments:
I quite agree.
I've been submitted early on in Link Trains, but don't take part myself. Tbh I don't see the point. Maybe I should write a post saying "Don't submit me to link trains!"
I know what you mean. I feel bad about the guys that have put me on recently.
There's no other way to stop than cold turkey.
Interesting. I've never really gotten into Link Trains. I've done Thursday Thirteens for a while, and admit to using them on one of my blogs even now as a way to try to get new readers to stop by and check out my content-- but even they are kinda depressing. I've found that even after I spend the time to gather 13 things on a topic they still only read the first couple and say "Happy TT." I try to not do that when I read others... but it's tough.
Interesting post but it is sad to see you leaving link train. You are the best and most responsible person whom I have seen updating participants. Sad but I understand. Congratulation on your technorati authority and I hope that helps in the next pagerank adjustment.
@ MInTheGap - I think the "Thursday Thirteens" would actually be classified as a meme and I think these can be very interesting. I especially like the ones where bloggers give random facts about themselves.
@ Hin Man - Thanks! and thank you for understanding. I just feel like they are something that once you start you can't get away from.
Cold Turkey, Shmold Turkey...lemme ha' som-mo' uh dat crack. The ViralTags train is still showing its face in my WordPress dashboard. Amazing.
Derrich - I understand, it is an addiction that's hard to break.
haha Good point. I just started doing this wondering why. My auth and ranking sky-rocketed, but like you said, it will just drop off. I guess I'm hoping readers will come back when they see my page and it won't mean I have to participate in the link trains :? Have a great evening!
Rhonda - It's very cool in the short term to see your rank rise. I'm paying for it now though. My rank is falling like a rock. Oh well, it was fake anyway ;P
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