My website/blog is now – and always has been – ad free. In fact, I work very hard to make it clutter-free. Instead of linking to hundreds of other wine blogs, which is the formula for garnering more eyeballs and higher ratings, I link to just those few that I personally read and find most rewarding. I have an rss feed and a Facebook and Twitter link, but that’s about it for clutter. I have worked very hard at designing an easy-to-scan, no b.s. look and feel. Hopefully, you readers find it to be just that.
I point this out not to pat myself on the back, but to mention that, as a result of these decisions, this blog generates not one cent of income. And since it does not, and furthermore has been essentially designed to make it impossible to monetize, I have not paid much attention to blog ratings.
I know that there are various metrics that can be used, and various enterprises that can tell you how you are doing, but so far I have not really had a grip on any of that, other than the occasional PG post that rises to the top of the daily/weekly/monthly winebusiness.com rankings.
The other day I received this note, from a ranking service called Wikio.