Once upon a time a there was a man with a dream, and that dream was to bring to life a site that would one day link to all the coolest blogs in the blogosphere. That dream, in part came true on December 12th 2008 when Cool Blog Links came to life.  That man just happened to be yours truly and in almost 18 months it’s member base has grown to a whole 19! Yes you have heard right my treasure dream site has 19 members. OK, who the hell is that laughing in that background? Obviously not a member. Could someone please show that person the door, Mitch I reckon you can escort that low life out.

Yes, our member base is low but that doesn’t matter because our members are the best of the best and it’s only a matter of time before we will be beating them back with a stick.

Seriously folks even with a relatively small member base Cool Blog Links has still obtained a PR3 ranking. As in the past I have decided to reward the top 10 members, that is those members that are currently ranking in the top 10 at the time of writing this post. The first such post was published on March 29th 2009 and the second on November 11th 2009.

As you would expect the top 10 blogs change as time goes by and so without further ado I would like to present the latest top 10 cool blogs.

1. Tech18.com: Although a relatively new comer this blog has shot to the top.  It’s latest post, HTML5: What? Why? How and When discusses the enhancements to HTML that will may or may not be the bees knees in HTML? See what Sunil Jain has to say about it all.
2. So, You Want To Be A Banquet Manager: Was the top dog for quite some time but is now running second. This blog is full of entertaining stories about what being a banquet manager is all about. It’s latest post, Hey Sales Chick – Breakfast is Only For An Hour and a Half! is just a sample of the interesting things that can happen when working in the hospitality industry.
3. I’m Just Sharing: Yep, my good mate Mitch has shot to no.3 overtaking his good mate in the process. His blog covers many topics and is always a great read. It seems that one of his latest posts, My Gripe With WordPress.com Blogs outlays some of their short comings.
4. Work From Home Business Blog: Peter Lee has been in the top 10 since day one and that’s not at all surprising seeing how he’s always writing great content in his quest to keep his readers up to date such as helping those who Wanna Know What Google Sees In Your Blog’s Home Page?
5. The Shadows Of My Mind: If my memory serves me Lindsay is a fellow Aussie blogger and his blog also covers a wide range of topics. His post on Final Fantasy VIII – First Impressions also talks about his first encounter with the latest 3D movies.
6. What A Load Of Bullshit:  Yep this is one of mine and it does really well in the SERPS.
7. Wassup Blog: Yeah, there’s no need to tell you anything about this blog
8. Scenic Adelaide: Yep another of my blogs. Imagine that, I have three blogs in the top 10. Not happy with that? The why not join and try to knock me off my perch.?
9. Anne On Life: Anne is the one of two women to make it to the top 10. Way to go Anne. Anne can be hormonal at times as she admits in her post Every Child Needs Love, but then what woman isn’t? Only kidding ladies, you know I loves ya all.
10. Expressive World:  Another lovely female blogger, Ana, owns this site and her blog is all about expression. She loves to post beautiful photos each one accompanied by something meaningful. I particularly like the Your Beauty In This World.

I’ve decided to make this post sticky for awhile so that those listed in this post will get the most benefit from being on the front page of a PR4 blog. Naturally I am hoping that this post will attract more members and there are advantages other than be listed on future Top 10 updates such as being listed on a PR 3 site, not to mention the added traffic that Cool Blog Links will send your way. I’ve just checked my Google Analytic and I was surprised to find that it is the number one source of traffic to this blog, no.2 being Twitter.

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Even though I have an ‘About‘ Page I reckon there would be a fair few people who have never bothered to look at it and so they wouldn’t know that apart from some other blogs I also have two photo blogs, Scenic Adelaide and Photo2Blog as well as  Top Sexual Aids blog which is just starting to pick up steam. This post has nothing to do with SEX, I just thought I would give it a little plug, and all to do with the right things to do with a photo blog.

I’ve seen a fair few photo blogs that have some fantastic photos but very little traffic and there is a very good reason for this. All the blogger has done is paste the photo with little or no dialogue to support it. One thing you have to remember is that the Googlebots don’t have an eye for photos at all, so unless you write something about the photo they’re never going to find it.

Let’s take the following example;

It’s a nice enough photo but those damn Googlebots aren’t going to pick it up at all so it will never get indexed unless you write something about it. Googlebots aside you really should give your visitors some information about the photo as they more than likely want to know something about it.

That particular waterfall is known as First Falls and it can be found at Waterfall Gully which is a suburb of Burnside. The falls itself is part of the Cleland Conservation Park and is about 15-20 mins from where I live.

It really is a lovely spot, one where you can take long walks along the tracks or even stop in for a bite to eat at the Waterfall Gully Restaurant which is only metres away from the falls itself.

Unfortunately it’s not open all the time. Last I looked it’s open Thursday to Monday 11.00am – 5.30pm and Friday evenings but bookings on that night is essential.

Of the two Photo Blogs Scenic Adelaide gets a hell of a lot more search engine traffic and that’s probably because the subject matter involves places of interests rather than photos of flowers and stuff. As can be seen from Cool Blog Links it rates in the top 10 blogs.

Speaking of Cool Blog Links, Google has seen fit to give it a PR3 on the last PR update so if your the kind who’s interested in increasing your PR you may even consider joining and get some of that link juice.

Sorry about that, I got a little sidetracked with some self promotion Let’s get back to the photos shall we. I know that there are some of you who are thinking that you’re wrotten photographers, well guess what, so am I. The thing is today’s digital point and shoot cameras are so good it’s not all that hard to take a good photo. That and the fact that you can take virtually hundreds of photos using different angles and perspectives means that your bound to get a few really good shots.

The fact that you can post it straight onto you blog means that there aren’t any development costs. Another thing to remember is that every photo can be a story unto itself and so they can make great filler posts when you’re stuck for something to write.

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How fortunate was I to have run into Maddy Cuttsworth, one of Google’s big boys, and to have him agree to an interview. How lucky are you, my loyal readers, to have access to this exclusive interview with one of the most famous faces behind the huge Google machine.

Naturally, once I got him on his own I wanted to grill him, to learn as much as I could about what Google sees as important as far as PR updates are concerned.

Exclusive Interview With Maddy Cuttsworth

Sire:  First let me welcome you to WassupBlog, I’m sure my readers are waiting with baited breath to learn all that they can from you Maddy.  Before we start, how’s the cappuccino? Does the fact it’s laced with truth serum affecting the taste at all?

Maddy: Truth serum?

Sire:  Never mind that Maddy, let’s get on with the interview shall we? I’m sure my readers would like to know what Google considers important when handing out it’s PR. Take dofollow vs nofollow, for example, is it true that Google would penalize dofollow blogs.

Maddy: Nope, sure Google would like people to believe that Google would frown on dofollow blogs as it upsets the figures collected by our bots, but it’s all too hard to monitor so we don’t bother with it. It’s enough that we spread the rumors that it could harm their ranking and then we let bloggers willing to spread the rumor run with it.

Sire: So, are you saying that when I posted The Myth That Dofollow Leaches Your PR,  I the nail right on the head?

Maddy: (frowning) Yeah, we weren’t at all happy when we saw that.

Sire:  OK. Most people would agree that a blog’s PR should reflect the quality of the content as well as the popularity of the blog itself. Would you agree with that?

Maddy: Yes, of course.

Sire: Well then, can you tell me why my What A Load Of Bullshit blog has never gone above PR0, especially considering it is both popular and has good content?

Maddy: It’s because of the name of the blog. Google does not like profanity.

Sire: So you’re saying it’s because Google does not like the word bullshit. Don’t you realize that bullshit is NOT a dirty word? So you’re trying to tell me if the site was called What A Load Of Cow Manure, it would have a better PR even though the former name would be more accurate?

Maddy: Well yes.

Sire: Seems to me that Google is a bit up itself, but let’s move on shall we? I and a lot of others have noticed that the A Listers of the world tend to have a higher PR even though their blog posts are no better than many of the other bloggers out there. Why is that?

Maddy: I think I can safely say it’s because they do all the right things to make Google happy.

Sire: Oh, so it’s not all about content, it’s just that they are so far up Google’s ass that Google rewards them. Seems a little biased wouldn’t you say?

Maddy: Well yes, but how else can we get people to conform to what we want?

Sire: So Google is more into conformity than it is about quality? Now, let’s tackle those bloggers who have been Google Slapped because they decided to do paid tasks or accept paid links on their blogs. Why is that?

Maddy: Well, it upsets our statistics so we let it be known that we don’t like it.

Sire: So it has nothing to do with the fact that it also affects your bottom line?

Maddy: Yes, that too.

Sire: So once again PR is more than just ranking a site on quality it’s also about making sure they once again conform to Google’s rules.

Maddy: Why am I all tied up, and who the hell are you?

Sire: Oops, looks like you’re all out of cappuccino there Maddy. Reckon that concludes our little interview. Thanks so much for being part of Wassup for today.

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First off I would like to wish everybody a Happy Easter. I’ve been listening to the radio a lot, as I am wont to do, and I’ve noticed a lot of people complaining how they are tired of us Christians forcing our ways onto them, how they are going to eat meat on Good Friday and they hope the smell coming from their barbies are going to make us jealous.

Firstly, as a Christian I’m not at all fussed whether you eat meat on Good Friday or not. I decide not to and as it’s a choice that I’ve made, so the whiff of steak sizzling on a barbie has no effect whatsoever. I also don’t push my ideals onto others so if you choose to not believe in Jesus and all that he’s done for us, that being that He died on the cross so that those who believed could be saved, then that is fine also.

I know that nothing I can say can make a person a believer, only God can do that, and so I don’t try. I remember Saul of Tarsus who hated Christians, doing all that he could to persecute them, who one day became the strongest of believers. I reckon when God finds someone who has it in them to be a good Christian He will send them a sign, but then it’s up to that person to do with it as he will.

So, if you don’t believe in God, that’s fine, at least use the Easter period to spend some time with your family.

As to PR updates it seems that once again I’ve been given the Google Nod as Google has lifted this evil dofollow blog to a PR 4, once again reaffirming my post The Myth That DoFollow Leaches Your PR! Having said that it could be that it also has a lot to do that I heavily moderate my comments deleting those that I feel do not add something to the post. Yes it’s more work, and yes some people may not like it, especially those that get deleted, but then all they have to do is try a little harder and their comment will be accepted to the benefit of all.

I would also like to thank Jannie for selecting me as one of the 18 reasons why people should subscribe to her blog   If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like spending a whole lifetime of chasing hogs, ropin’ wild turkeys and jumpin’ nekkid into the cement-pond at night you will want to read her blog.

Anyway, the family is starting to wake up, the wife’s made me a coffee and once I’ve had that we’re off to Church to celebrate Easter and then off to some family get togethers to celebrate our the closeness of our family and our faith in our Saviour, Jesus the Son of God.

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First off I would like to mention that I’m not all that fussed with either of them, but of the two I much prefer Alexa. The main problem I have with Google‘s Page Rank is the way it seems to dominate some bloggers lives. They are so taken up with trying to improve their PR that it affects their blogging style, or worse still, ruins their blogging experience. I noticed long ago that I became a much better and happier blogger once I stopped worrying about PR.

With Alexa it’s entirely different as it’s rating is supposedly due to the amount of traffic that your blog receives. Most people assume that it’s all derived from those surfers who have the Alexa Toolbar installed on their browser. If this is the sole method Alexa uses to acquire data then I would say it was rather limiting as toolbars are only available on Firefox and Internet Explorer.

I have several blogs and so I decided to compare the Alexa Rating of the two busiest ones, this one and What A Load Of Bullshit. Of the two Wassup Blog has the better ranking 71,076 compared to 431,546, but of the two What A Load Of Bullshit gets more traffic. If this is the case why does Wassup Blog have the better ranking? Surely it can’t be because there are more people with the toolbar that visit one blog over the other?

A couple of months back I started to increase my posting frequency to see if that would increase my ranking. I figured more posts would generate more visits which would in turn increase the ranking as more visits equals more traffic. I can safely say it worked as my ranking went from 120,000 to just over 60,000. Unfortunately I was unable to keep the momentum up due to things happening in my offline life and once I slacked off I noticed my Alexa ranking starting to slowly increase.

So on these findings I could make the assumption that posting frequency increases your Alexa Ranking but I know that Mitch of I’m Just Sharing posts more frequently than I do and yet his Alexa Ranking is 115,681, and whist I don’t have access to his Google Analytic my Cool Blog Links site shows that Wassup Blog gets more traffic than he does although still not as much as my Load of Bullshit blog.

This gets me to thinking that perhaps there is another or several factors that Alexa uses in it’s algorithm? If you think about it they would be pretty silly to just rely on one factor, their Alexa Toolbar, to base the way they rank individual sites, although one can safely say that traffic has a lot to do with it.

So, I got to thinking, what is it about my site that differs so much from Mitch’s that enables me to outrank him? The answer could well be  because I have Alexa’s widget, as can be seen in my sidebar, installed on my sites where Mitch does not. This leads me to assume that the widget passes on certain information to Alexa, information that is used to help gauge a more accurate ranking.

So, although my Load Of Bullshit site get’s more traffic than Wassup Blog I update it a lot less frequently. Could it be that the Alexa widget is able to pick up when new posts are made using that as one of the many factors in it’s algorithm?

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The FlexSqueeze Theme gives my blog that professional look. I loved it so much that I bought the developers license. It's the easiest most customizable theme I've come across. See how easy it is to change your theme's appearance! Compare it to Thesis to see how much better it is! Check out some of the latest Latest Updates

I highly recommend you to get your FlexSqueeze copy today!