Posts Tagged ‘Blog rankings’
Mormon Mommy blogs are the traffic queens
A long time ago, I compiled a list of the LDS blog aggregators and made sure that I got listed on as many of them as I possibly could. The effort paid off. Although Google searches are still my number one source for bringing in new readers, being listed with the LDS blog aggregators has brought in a respectable number. In fact, I get roughly eighteen percent of my traffic in this way.
Meta-list for Mormon Mommy blogs
My fellow blogger Megan from Hall Pass announced on Facebook a couple of days ago that she was a guest poster on Mormon Mommy blogs. It got me to thinking about all the MM blogs I’ve seen spring up over the past few years. I wondered just how much traffic they were bringing in. I also wondered if there was a blog aggregator especially for Mormon Mommy bloggers. Yep!
So I ran some Alexa comparison numbers and was shocked to discover just where all the LDS blogging traffic was really going. The aggregator site called Mormon Mommy blogs was ranked higher in Alexa than any of the other LDS blog aggregators out there. Now you may argue with me that it is not a real aggregator, but you might want to take a second look. They are indeed!
LDS blog aggregators
Take a look at the chart I compiled of LDS blog aggregators sorted by Alexa rankings. There are two MM blog aggregators on the list, one right at the top of the list. You are probably familiar with all the others. If not, you ought to be and you should make every effort to get your blog listed in them. They can do wonders for driving traffic to your blog and getting you new readers.
Except for the two MM link-lists, I get referrals from almost all of them except the two from the More Good Foundation. My blog is fed to Mormon Bloggers while LDS Blogs is really more of a hosting site. I suppose they probably don’t really qualify as an aggregator but I do get some traffic from blogs found there. I am pleased to see that Nothing Wavering ranks high on the list.
An amazing contribution
So congratulations to Mormon Mommy blogs, both the aggregator site and to all the MM blogs that are listed in there. You are the queens of LDS blog traffic, at least according to Alexa. If you have never visited their site, go take a look at all the blogs in the different categories. You will be amazed at the diversity and thoughtfulness there as well as many that are just plain fun.
You’ll find book blogs, hair blogs, beauty and fashion blogs, adoption blogs and even some blogs about crunchy moms! There are blogs about homeschooling, infertility, blended families, military life, singles, parenting, spirituality, photography, music, art, self-help, special needs and just about every other helpful topic. What an amazing contribution these women have made!
New home for Latter-day Commentary
I’ve been writing on Blogger for quite some time and have long wished for greater control of the blog. I like the ease of use of Blogger but it does not offer customization features that I have read are available with WordPress. All the old Blogger essays transferred to WordPress without any problems. The links still point back to Blogger but that’s OK.
I’m not sure that I’ll be able to get all the same widgets in WordPress that I had in Blogger but I probably needed to get rid of some of them as it was beginning to look cluttered. I wish there was a way to transfer my blogroll but it looks like that may be a manual process. I also changed the theme to one that promotes the writing and not the design. I like the simple header. It speeds up mobile loading.
Update: three days later
The move is complete. I may still add some widgets but overall, I like the look and functionality of the new site. The biggest hurdle was transferring all my subscribers without having to ask them to subscribe to a new feed. I simply had to break the old feed from Blogger and redirect it from here. Easy, I know, but it took me hours to get it right.
Now I know why I waited until the three-day weekend to attempt this. The learning curve for WordPress was not too steep, but there still were some gotchas. The whole process was rather time-consuming but fun. I’m ready now to do some serious SEO and to get back to writing new essays. Oh, and respond to some of the recent comments.
No blogroll on LDC
I decided not to add a detailed blogroll but will maintain several in separate web pages. The links are at the top left: A new LDS blog aggregators list, the top LDS group blogs, the top LDS solo blogs and a large list of LDS Message boards or forums. These were all previously posted but have recently proven to be very popular reference pages.
Thanks to all the aggregators and fellow bloggers who have linked to the old site over the years. I know some have already changed to the new site. Thanks for your links. A blog is fairly boring without readers and comments. Your links bring me new readers every day. I look forward to the continued dialog and hope my essays are worth reading.
Top LDS Blog Rankings – version 2.0
At Connor’s encouragement, I updated the rankings list of the solo LDS Blogs I read on a regular basis. I now have 110 solo blogs in my Google reader and listed on my sidebar. That’s an increase of thirty solo blogs since I published the last rankings five-six months ago in November 2008. Click on the image of the screen print below to go to the page and view the list with the hotlinks.
Although I noted several disclaimers at the bottom of the published list, I will include them here as well: This is an arbitrary list of some of my favorite solo blogs. It does not include LDS group blogs. The rankings are based on current Alexa rankings. Some blogs may not be strictly LDS. The top 3 are skewed due to their hosting site. All 9′s indicates that I recently added it.
How blogs are ranked
Look for the updated group blog rankings later this week. I classify a group blog as any LDS-themed blog with more than one contributor. In the list above, I have tried to only include those that are maintained exclusively by one person. It is not always possible to determine this so some may be in the wrong list. I move them around as I discover where they belong.
The top three are hosted on blog sites that include a whole bunch of other blogs. Alexa is unable to split out the individual blogs from these sites – About.com, Beliefnet and BYU. That would make Seriously So Blessed the top LDS solo blog but I doubt that it really is just one person maintaining it and of course, it’s not a serious effort at sharing doctrine. But it sure is fun!
LDS Blog Aggregators
This is in no way a complete list. There are thousands of LDS or Mormon related blogs out there. You can find a lot of them listed at LDS Blogs, which is curiously found at the URL of Mormon-Blogs.com. A big Bloggernacle thanks to David Sundwall of A Soft Answer and Of Good Report who has been publishing this list as a service to LDS bloggers for many years.
You can find many more LDS blogs at Mormon Archipelago, also known as LDSBlogs.org, Mormon Blogosphere, compiled by Dr. B of Mormon Mission. There are several other aggregators, one I especially recommend: Nothing Wavering. Another good one is the Blogregate at MormonBlogs.org. LDS Rankings rounds out the list. LDS Select seems to have disappeared.
A final note
Again, this is just my own list of LDS blogs that I follow, ranked by Alexa rankings. If you want to be added to the list, just let me know. I’ll add you as long as I find your content interesting, current and ranked in Alexa. If you are just starting and aren’t ranked yet, just give it time. You can read more about how to promote your LDS blog at this essay I wrote last year.
Today’s LDS blog rankings
In between helping Carol put up Christmas decorations, I compiled the Alexa rankings of the LDS blogs I follow. Although it is by no means comprehensive, it helps me understand where my blog ranks among solo LDS bloggers. This does not include group blogs which I define as any LDS-themed blog that has two or more contributors. Click on the image for a hot-link page.
I was surprised to find what I thought was a relatively new blog at the top of the list. How in the world did Believe all things get to the top of the list with less than four months of activity? It is one of the best looking sites I have seen and has wonderful content, but still… I was also curious how the group blogs ranked, so I ran the same Alexa numbers there. No surprises, really:
I am aware that this group blog listing is not comprehensive. If you are interested in adding your LDS-themed group blog to the list, just let me know. And while I’m at it, I decided to compile rankings for LDS-themed websites that are not blogs. Of course it can in no way be considered complete. These are just the ones I visit regularly. Click on image for hot-links.
Here are the links to the three lists so you can add them to wherever you keep your favorite links. I’ll probably update them every few months. They’ll change a lot in the next few weeks as I add to them. Please feel free to send me links to your blogs. If you are interested in getting more traffic, refer to this essay I wrote back in May: How to promote your LDS blog.
1. Alexa rankings of LDS solo blogs
2. Alexa rankings of LDS group blogs
3. Alexa rankings of LDS websites
Top 50 Most Viewed Essays
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If you are a new visitor to my blog, you may want to take a few minutes to browse through some of my top essays. These are ranked by page views over the past two years. I have a different list of some of my favorites but these are the most viewed. I hope this gives you a flavor for the kind of material I like to cover in my essays - current LDS topics.
1. General Authority Training – Advanced Subjects
2. How Americans View Mormonism
3. About Tim
4. There is no middle ground
5. It Came From Behind the Sun
6. Elder Packer Was Right about Bearing Testimony
7. My Interview with Mormon.org
8. What they don’t tell you about Bishopric Meetings
9. The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith
10. The Mormon Corporate Empire
11. Getting past prejudices with Rent – the Musical
12. An Evening with Richard Bushman
13. The Endowment is more than the ordinances
14. When Prophets need to know
15. Divine Manifestations must have a purpose
16. Come Unto Christ – my Christmas talk
17. A different kind of knowledge
18. Rachel Esplin video continues to be a hit
19. Shades of grey and relative truth
20. Walt Whitman – the great American poet
21. Mormon visitors from outer space
22. A website for the average Mormon
23. Thoughtful discussion of controversial topics
24. 2012 the movie
25. Revelation and emotional response
26. Add your profile to Mormon.org
27. The attitude of mocking
28. Objections to the Book of Abraham
29. A letter to a reader – burning of the bosom
30. The ambush – a fictional background story
31. Spiritual experiences as a foundation for faith
32. Seer stone in a hat – book of Mormon translation
33. When a prophet gets Alzheimer’s disease
34. The personal power of Hester Prynne
35. Red Sky – an early version of my novel
36. Unique Religion of Benjamin Franklin
37. God even loves computer geeks like me
38. Moving toward gospel promises
39. Sandinistas - missionaries in Nicaragua
40. Mormon mommy blogs are the traffic queens
41. Multiple versions of the first vision
42. And the stars shall fall from heaven
43. Miracles and angels – a car wreck in Oklahoma
44. The government of the United States will collapse
45. Just where exactly are the lost ten tribes?
46. Mormon Church is not the fastest growing
47. Just what was Portnoy’s Complaint?
48. Changes to the Book of Mormon
49. Changing requirements of perfection
50. Public rebuke from an apostle
Written by tmalonemcse
September 30, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Posted in Blogging
Tagged with Blog promotion, Blog rankings, Blog tools, Blogger, Bloggernacle, Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Google, Latter-day Commentary, LDS Blogging, LDS Publishing, LDS Web sites, Mormon blogs, Mormonism, Mormons, Sharing the Gospel, Wordpress