BlogRush Phase 2 went live about 30 minutes ago.

Login to your account and check out the new VIDEO. (The link is at the top of the Dashboard page.)

We’re moving the new Phase 2 release until Midnight EST, 9PM PST tonight.

We’re changing some minor configurations on the load balancer — since we’re expecting the site to get hammered.

Thanks for your patience.

IT’S OFFICIAL:

Our massive BlogRush PHASE 2 will be released to the public on Tuesday night (October 30th) at 9:00PM EST.

Here’s Just Some Of What You’ll Experience:

- Per-Post Statistics (Syndication, Clicks, “Buzz Meter”, and more)
- Custom Reports (Enter a date range and see the entire activity for your account during those dates)
- More Categories For Improved Relevancy And Click-Throughs
- NEW 120-pixel Width “Narrow” Widget Option
- And Much More.

I hope to post a “walk-through” VIDEO tomorrow showing all the new features and explaining how to use them. Stay tuned.

I’m kidding. But that’s what some people have been saying.

I apologize for the extended delay. We’re making last minute changes and everything will be ready to go. As mentioned a gazillion times before, it will be well worth the wait.

Thanks so much to everyone for their patience. We had hoped this major update would be released nearly two weeks ago but when you’re dealing with several BILLION (yes, with a “B”) pieces of data it can create some challenges.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that the BlogRush “Phase 2″ is getting very close.

I wanted to release it today but the dev team wants a couple more days to stress-test it.

It’s coming very soon! Thanks for your patience.

We just completed our Quality Control audit. You will now notice that all non-English, spam, and low quality blogs (or others that didn’t meet all of our guidelines) are GONE from appearing in your widget. We removed over 10,000 blogs from our network.

You will enjoy visiting blogs that show up in your widget now more than ever! You should also start seeing an increase in the traffic you receive from the BlogRush network. (More traffic on the way!)

We will be rolling out the new Dashboard and other changes in the coming week — sorry for the delay. It took about a week longer than we originally expected.

* If you were one of our members that had their account deactivated, you will notice that the widget no longer will load on your blog. For now, please remove the BlogRush code from your blog. When you login to your account you will find instructions for how to resubmit your blog for review to reactivate your account.

If your BlogRush account was made INACTIVE recently, please don’t take it personally.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE understand… we had no choice but to move to a strict, quality guideline criteria system. It’s the same thing that many other Internet services use.

And, no, it’s not always fair and impartial. Mistakes ARE made. Good sites can and do end up getting mistakenly rejected. If YOU feel a mistake was made with your blog, as was previously stated, you can resubmit it.

Thank you for your understanding and please do not take it as any kind of sign that we think you’re a spammer or a bad marketer, etc.

If you had a “make money” related blog you should know that we had to be extra strict with that category — because most of the blogs in that category were heavy with ads and promotional material compared with the ratio of tips, techniques, and true unique “helpful” content. Ultimately, it was a judgement call by whatever one of our reviewers reviewed your individual blog.

If you want to see examples of “make money” type blogs that got approved, you can check out the following to get an idea of what we were looking for:

http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/
http://www.andybeard.eu
http://www.internetmarketingsweetie.com/blog/

As your notification stated, you can resubmit your blog after the “suspension period” is over.

Best Regards,

John Reese

We have temporarily disabled the comments on this blog. Understandably, some people are upset that their accounts were made inactive. Unfortunately, a few of these individuals started posting all sorts of profanity and other junk comments on the blog so we have temporarily disabled comments.

We’ve finally completed our massive “quality-control audit” of our entire network…

By the end of this weekend, over 10,000 blogs will be removed from the BlogRush network for not meeting our quality guidelines and criteria. We’ve begun the removal process and it will take about 3 days to complete.

By Monday, BlogRush members should no longer see spammy, non-English, or poor quality blogs appearing in their widget.

We took a lot of heat about the initial spam and abuse that our network suffered, and many said we wouldn’t be able to stop it.

Well, they were wrong.

Every blog in our network will have been manually reviewed (now and in the future) and we will uphold strict quality guidelines. These guidelines can be viewed in our updated Terms Of Service agreement.

We’ll post more news about all of this by Monday, and include information for those that might have their accounts deactivated; including how to resubmit a blog for review and/or make changes to meet our guidelines.

As I have previously stated more than once, we will not rest until our service provides tremendous value for our members and helps drive a long-term, steady stream of new readers to their blogs.

Have A Great Weekend!

Just a quick update…

We’re working through some minor server issues and we will start deploying “Phase 2″ piece-by-piece shortly. Thanks for your patience.

ALSO…

We’ll soon be launching a new BlogRush Blog on the blogrush.com web site and moving all of our news and updates over there.

This blog will resume with videos, tips & tricks, and further discussion of marketing and moneymaking techniques. (Like it was before the launch of BlogRush.)

UPDATE: Tuesday, October 16th: We’re experiencing a delay with some minor server issues. We are working on them and will start releasing Phase 2 piece-by-piece very soon. Thanks for your patience.

We’ve received a TON of feedback to our announcement about BlogRush Phase 2!

90% of the feedback we have received is extremely POSITIVE. The majority of our users are excited about all the changes we’re making. BUT…

Some of our users expressed some concerns and I want to address them…

“It seems like you’re threatening some of us or calling us cheaters!”

We’re not trying to “threaten” anyone. We have no choice but to set some RULES for BlogRush or the service won’t be fair and just won’t work. We can’t allow some users to do one thing and others to do something else. Please understand that. All we can do is the best we can to benefit the entire network. If anyone is not willing to abide by the rules then they can’t use the service. There’s just no other fair way to do it.

“My blog was rejected. I thought you were out to help the little guy?”

We have quality guidelines that we must stick to in order to maintain the content on the network. If your blog is not approved for the network it doesn’t mean that we think you’re a bad person or that we think you’re a spammer or anything else. It just means our Review Staff didn’t think your blog was right for our network.

It might be that your blog is too new and needs to have more posts before we can approve it. Or it might mean that your blog is primarily using content from other sources and contains very little original content. Or it might mean that we just feel the quality of your blog’s content isn’t up to the standards we are setting.

Again, this isn’t a personal ‘knock’ on you, your business, or your work. We must maintain a certain level of quality so our users are happy to be recommending resources on our network (showing the widget) to their blog readers. Please understand, this isn’t an EASY task. We’ve had to make some tough decisions.

If your blog is not approved you will be able to resubmit it in the near future for reconsideration.

“I’m afraid you’re going to delete me from the network (without warning) over this Widget Performance issue!”

We made a decision today that we are not going to remove any users from our network (due to this issue) without at least giving them a warning first.

There has also been a concern that a low-traffic blog will not be able to meet our Widget Performance criteria. Traffic levels have nothing to do with this performance. It’s all based on average click-rate activity (and other metrics we aren’t making public) and NOT on the number of total clicks. So a low-traffic user is at no disadvantage.

“How can you expect me to give the widget high placement when I’m not receiving much traffic from it?”

You aren’t receiving much traffic yet because so many other users are taking the same approach and have the widget placed very low on their blogs. This is the reason we are putting in our Widget Performance criteria.

We totally understand your point of view. But at the same time, we’re doing our best to improve things so the network sends you tons of traffic. In order for that to happen, we need our users to cooperate in the best interest of the network and everyone work together.

Anyone not willing to do this doesn’t have to participate and can remove the widget from their blog. This is the only FAIR way to do things.

PERFECT EXAMPLE: In the last 24 hours alone (since making the Phase 2 announcement and mentioning that users need to give their widgets higher placement) the overall click-through rate across the entire network HAS DOUBLED. This means that on average every user is now receiving TWICE THE TRAFFIC than they were before — and this will only get better.

But the improvement only happens when everyone cooperates. So please understand this. We are doing the best we can to make the service the best it can possibly be for driving tons of free traffic to your blog.

“But I can’t give the widget higher placement because the widget is TOO WIDE to fit on my blog!”

We’re working on a narrow version of the widget (120 pixel width) for all of our users that have narrow blog templates and can’t use the standard (180 wide) widget without it “breaking” their blog design.

Here’s a prototype of a 120 pixel width version of the widget:

We’ll have it available in all the other colors like the standard size.

As you’ll notice, this version is a bit TALLER than the standard widget. We have no choice but to make it taller in order for it to contain the same amount of headline text. So it’s a trade-off. If you want to use a more narrow version of the widget, you’ll need to sacrifice a little more height.

Please post your comments below (for all the users with NARROW BLOGS) and let us know what you think of this prototype. Other users can opt to use this version if they choose; regardless of their blog design.

FINAL NOTE: We’ve gotten a lot of feedback and comments about us making the widget in CSS variables and other options so users can more closely customize the look and feel. We’re working on some alternate options. The “challenge” that we are faced with is providing options that would allow users to remove all attention from the widget design (which will eliminate the click activity). We’re running some tests, though, and we hope to have other formatting options in the near future. One step at a time.

UPDATE: Tuesday, October 16th: We’re experiencing a delay with some minor server issues. We are working on them and will start releasing Phase 2 piece-by-piece very soon. Thanks for your patience.

BlogRush will soon unleash PHASE 2 of its network.

This is a MAJOR update. The service is not even 30 days old, yet we’re about to release more changes than most Internet startups do in their first 6 months.

Here Are Some Of The Changes

- New User Interface

More options, more reporting, more features.

Here’s a “spy photo” of what the new Dashboard looks like:

- Per Post Statistics & Addition Of “Buzz Meter”

Now you’ll be able to see how many times each of your posts is syndicated across the network and how many people clicked to read that individual post.

Next to the statistics for each post you’ll see a “Buzz Meter.” This new meter will tell you if that post is HOT, COLD, or somewhere in between. The meter ‘temperature’ is calculated based on the average click-rates per headline for your blog’s category.

This data, if used properly, can be extremely valuable for your blog — you’ll be able to know what types of posts are getting the most attention in your blog’s niche.

- Custom Reports

You’ll be able to run custom reports and view your account activity by specific date ranges.

- Bonus Syndication For All Users, But Weighted Towards Low-Traffic Members

All members of our network will be receiving bonus syndication but we’ll be giving more bonus credits to our members that need it most — ones with low-traffic.

- More Categories! (A lot more)

We’re introducing tons of new categories to our network. You asked, we listened.

We’ll be adding a lot more sub-categories and niche topics; this will help our users’ widgets serve more relevant headlines for their own blog readers as well as increase the click activity on their own headlines shown across the network.

- Improved Security & Abuse Measures (We’ve already squashed 95% of the cheaters!)

We’ll be rolling out improved security measures, but we’re happy to report that we’ve eliminated about 95% of the cheaters in our network. We’re sure to continue to get a few new ones ‘trying’ from time to time, but we’ll work hard to zap them as quickly as possible.

- 100% Manual Review & New Quality Guidelines

We’ve already launched our Manual Review process… all new users as of today (and for good) will have their blogs manually reviewed BEFORE the widget will even load on their pages. Their posts will not be syndicated across the network until they are APPROVED and meet our Quality Guidelines. If they are not approved the widget will not load on their pages and none of their content will ever be syndicated on the network.

We’re almost finished with manually reviewing all the existing blogs in our network. We should be done with this massive ‘audit’ within about 7 days.

As soon as we complete this full audit there will be a MAJOR SWEEP of our entire network. All the blogs that don’t meet our quality criteria will be REMOVED from our network.

Say goodbye to all the non-English blogs, junk blogs, and any low-quality blogs you may have seen from time-to-time in the widget.

We are committed to maintaining the highest level of INTEGRITY and QUALITY for our network.

We know that you only want great blog posts and resource links showing up inside the widget you serve on your blog and we’ll do everything we can to maintain that.

It will now be a PRIVILEDGE for a blog to be accepted into our network.

- Widget Performance Monitoring

One of the biggest contributors to some of our low, average click-through rates (i.e. less traffic for our members) is due to some of our members giving the widget POOR PLACEMENT on their blogs.

Some of our members have placed the BlogRush widget at the very bottom of their blog templates, or very low where most of their visitors don’t even see it.

THIS IS ABOUT TO COME TO AN END.

The BlogRush system is based on TWO things: QUALITY and FAIRNESS.

On the “quality” side of things we have it covered — manually reviewing all blogs against quality guidelines, and continuing to improve headline relevance; through more categories and better technology.

But the “fairness” element is one that we haven’t really had to address… until now.

BlogRush isn’t about joining the network and just slapping the widget in the worst place possible. Because that’s not fair to our other members that are giving the widget HIGH PLACEMENT and sending more traffic to others.

We are adding Widget Performance Monitoring to our network. If a member’s natural widget performance (the rate at which visitors click headlines and other factors we aren’t making public) falls far below the average activity of other members in their category…

THIS MEMBER WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE BLOGRUSH NETWORK.

We are working on something that might give members with poor widget performance a “warning” to let them know they are in danger of being removed from the network; which will give them a chance to give the widget better placement on their blog so they can, hopefully, rectify the situation and remain a member of the network.

We are not going to require our members to place the widget at the very top of their blogs or put it in any specific location. However, it’s common sense that if someone places the widget where normal visitors aren’t going to see it much, that they will achieve poor widget performance — and will most likely be removed from the network.

DO YOU HAVE THE WIDGET PLACED REALLY LOW ON YOUR BLOG?

If so, you need to move it higher on your blog to give it better placement.

Don’t want to do that? THEN PLEASE REMOVE IT COMPLETELY.

As I said, BlogRush was designed as a FAIR system. There’s a reason it was created as a COOPERATIVE network. It’s so its members can work together to generate more targeted readers for their blogs.

But this system doesn’t work if all members aren’t contributing at least somewhat equally. Why should any member give the widget high placement if other members are not going to? And yet those other members stand to receive the SAME REWARDS? It’s just not fair and, therefore, we have no choice but to make this change.

So any member that’s only willing to put the BlogRush widget at the very bottom of their blog isn’t a member we want in our network — and our network will deliver more traffic, per member, without them.

UPDATE: We’ve heard from several members that are unable to give the widget higher placement because of their narrow blog design. We’re trying to create a solution.

OTHER THINGS WE’RE WORKING ON…

We’ll be adding more features and additions beyond this giant Phase 2 roll-out. More customization options for the widget. New syndication methods and features for generating even more traffic. And much, much more.

And, oh yeah, there’s also the upcoming release of TrafficJam.com that instantly benefits all members of BlogRush — but we’re not quite ready to let the cat out of the bag on that one.

Stay tuned.

SPECIAL NOTE: This major Phase 2 roll-out is taking a bit longer than we originally expected, but we hope to have it completely released within 7 days. Thanks to everyone for their patience — I told you it would be worth the wait.