Okay, by fluke, it seems, a website called Alpha Inventions started showing my blog in a series of rotating blogs. It increased my traffic in seconds–with one caveat–it did not increase any clicks on any pages.
Here’s what happens: the carousel of blogs go round. They are random. Often they are from people who have come there seeking info about how their blog got on the carousel. You can pause a blog and read it.
If you go there, you’re in control. PAUSE something and read it. Go browse on pages you find interesting. I found a few blogs myself that are pretty nifty.
Some things that do cause a little concern on the site: I just started noticing advertising on the page, and that the blogs which had been shown at 30 second intervals are now at 2 second intervals. Not a lot of time to see anything of interest, or even for the pictures on blogs to download all the way. Kind of defeats the purpose.
My assumption, and I can be wrong, but it seems that Alpha Inventions, then, is just using your blog to get people to stay on the site to read the advertising. From about twenty minutes on the site, where the blogs rotated fast, it seemed the Mormons were a top benefactor. It’s unfortunate that Alpha Inventions will not show you what information they have gathered about you, so I couldn’t find where on the blog that my post was listed or how people were coming here. Since they no longer show blogs for more than 2 seconds, its not a great way to browse blogs— Are they simply another commercial-producing site that uses my blog to hawk other people’s wares? Maybe. Those who subscribe get multiple showings. But with two seconds, what are you getting? What you paid for?
And since I didn’t give anything to Alpha Inventions, is it just this entry that attracts the roving blog-grabber? I don’t know. But it seems that it capitalizes on a blogger’s desire to be seen, and so he/she puts their blog into the queue. But it’s random, doesn’t last long in the queue, and you have no way of seeing how your blog got nabbed in the first place to get the attention.
For something I don’t know much about–and which uses my blog to advertise other stuff–I’m a bit wary.
Bear Witness 
It’s funny. I did a Google search for “wordpress blog increase hits” and your site came up. So I read the post and now am posting (following your advise). Thanks for taking the time to lay out some of your thoughts. I’m also working on driving readership to my blog by making my Facebook status updates reflect the fact that I’m writing a new post, etc. That seems to help, as well. Anyway, great post.
Actually there is a glitch with the two seconds thing. refresh the page. They’ll slow down again. And if you aren’t happy with AI then why are you still using it?
Clearly real people hit the pages, so it’s not just an automated bot that hits the page. Cheru has made that clear. As for the spam he’s working on it. I notice there is a lot less spam than before. As for the churches and stuff like that, let them have their two seconds.
Actually, Zodi, I’m not using Alpha Inventions. Alpha Inventions is using me. I never signed up for it, never wanted the traffic. Initially, I was curious about how my blog ended up there–but you can’t find that information out. It’s not available for you to see how Cheru got your blog. And that’s okay, I guess.
So, I wrote a piece about being “selected” by Alpha Inventions. I was off the queue for a year or so, I think, and now I seem to be back on. About 17 people a day are coming to this post from Alpha Inventions.
Oh, I know that real people hit my page. I never said they didn’t. I’m trying to figure out what the purpose is… Is it just to select random blogs and invite readers to look at them? Is it to sell spots in the queue so that you can get your blog looked at? I thought that was it. And that’s cool–he’s offering a place for people to get their blogs looked at….
But I didn’t pay for it, so what is he gaining from showcasing my blog? I don’t know. I can’t find out much information even when I look on the ABOUT page. So I’m a little suspicious, and had to make up my own mind what the service was about. Since I kept seeing the Mormon blog pop up–multiple versions of it—and seeing the Mormon name in a link and it stayed there, unchanging, even when I refreshed the page–then I had to assume that the Mormon church had bought ad time there.
Hey, they can buy whatever ad time they want, but I don’t want my blog to be a part of the queue. So I rewrote my earlier entry, which was ambivalent about AI, and now it happens to be negative. I admit I might be wrong….but all I have is the evidence in front of me.
Thanks for your comments.
It seems like an automotated “next blog” button on Blogger w/out the common platform. Not sure what I think of it either. I did see a few interesting blogs on it and have received traffic. Thanks for posting.