Why Include The Numbers on Your Blog

Many bloggers including myself have one or more ranking numbers on their blogs. For example I have Alexa, Page Rank and visitor numbers on my blogs.  The reality is to the average non-blogging reader these have no meaning.  The numbers have little bearing on affiliate advertisers because they have their own method for determining your traffic and how they pay.  The numbers take up blog real estate that could be used for other content.  So what is the purpose for putting the numbers on your blog? 

The numbers are symbolic of your blog's success to other bloggers and reader who know what they mean.  From a blogger's perspective it is a way of telling others how well your blog is doing while reminding you that there is room for improvement.  In some cases the numbers mean something to other bloggers when it comes to exchanging links or deciding whether to advertise on your blog.  When it comes to link exhange requests PR does matter.  If your blog is a PR 0 and you ask someone with a PR 4 to exchange links they may decline because your blog acts a hole in their PR bucket.  The traffic number may determine whether or not another blogger will advertise on your blog.  Having these numbers on your blog makes it easy for another blogger checking out your blog for the purpose of link exchange or advertising to make their decision without having to do the checking themselves.  In this respect the numbers become a courtesy for those interested in your blog. 

While the numbers aren't mandatory blog elements I think they do serve a useful purpose.  The numbers don't take up a lot of blog real estate.  All three numbers can be added in less space than a 125 x 125 ad.  The traffic number is generally added at the bottom of the blog well out of prime blog real estate.  For these reasons I put the number on most of my blogs.

Garden Gnome
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