Blog Widgets - Which Ones Should You Install?

Here are some info on the blog widgets we use on this blog. Some of the info may be useful, others (like the widgets them-self), not so much.

Skribit finally launched into private beta (part 2). The website has been updated and a few bloggers outside of the founding team have been invited to test the widget out. I can see on some of the blogs testing the widget that the suggestions have been pretty useful. We definitely need some more suggestions on here -- feel free to ask us to write about anything on the right. No logins required! If you currently have a blog and gets about 6000 or less RSS subscribers, let me know and maybe we can sign you up with a test account.

Another widget we've installed on here is the MyBlogLog widget. There seems to be a few variations of this widget out there with different presentations on the blog side but I've found the system to be a bit buggy such that images and profile info I've submitted have mysteriously disappeared time after time. I'm not sure if this is a common bug in the system but you'd figured with Yahoo! backing this thing, that the widget would be less buggy than Skribit, but I guess not.

With MyBlogLog, I have found that if you have a blog and like to surf others, this platform is great for cross linking your blog and getting other users to view yours. You would think that people who visit your blog would have similar interest therefore clicking on those users may show similar blogs. For the most part, you'd be right! Though I have found that some people can game the system based on what profile picture they provide. (Things that make you go hrmm....)

Finally, in another attempt to get more users for this blog, we've signed up with BlogRush as a recommendation from Bryan. So far, I can't say I've been impressed. I've noticed no noticeable increase to our traffic nor have I seen any extremely related recommendations shown in there. The widget presentation is also a bit commercial-like which may make itself an automatic blind spot for users. I'll leave it on for a full month to see if it changes its behavior but so far, even with manual approvals to get in the network, the service seems to be lacking.

I would equate this to be the same as the old MSN bCentral banner network. You get a credit for each impression you show and in turn your RSS title gets shown elsewhere. Except with this system, you're really just helping the rich get richer and not really helping the blog newbies at all.